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Legislative News
Week 8 Legislative Report
As we enter the ninth and final week of the regularly scheduled 2010 Legislative Session Marine Industry Association of Florida’s number one issue still hangs in the balance. We need each and everyone of you to contact your legislators and express your support for Senate Bill 346 relating to Working Waterfronts sponsored by Senator Charlie Dean.
Unfortunately, the issue has become political and there are several versions of the bill still in play for final passage in the final week. Senate Bill 346 is the only bill currently in play for passage that sticks
strictly to the constitutional ballot language that passed with 70.6 percent of the vote in November 2008.
Every marine industry member worked hard to pass the constitutional amendment and now the implementing bill hangs in the balance once again. We must unite one final time to urge our State Representatives and State Senators to pass an implementing bill this year to allow working waterfronts as defined in Amendment 6 to be taxed at current use.
The simplest message is we support Senate Bill 346 because it mirrors what voters passed when they approved Amendment 6 and oppose Senate Bill 1408 and House Bill 7127 because it adds working waterfront classifications not included in Amendment 6.
Our marine businesses around the state are counting on this implementing language to be passed this year. The marine industry has been struggling and this bill would go along way to assist so many marine businesses and marine related jobs in Florida. We must reach out again with a united voice and a united message to get Senate Bill 346 passed this year!
Week 7 Legislative Report
I am not quite sure where to start this week. I was prepared to write about the budget conference starting this weekend with a hope that the 2010 Legislative Session might end on time. Unfortunately, a few minutes before conference was ready to begin it was cancelled for the weekend and at this time I
am unsure when the negotiations will begin or when Legislative Session will end.
I was originally disappointed that the conference did not begin, but after careful consideration I am hopeful that the additional time will be beneficial as the budget impacts so many Floridians. I know the decisions the Legislature has to make are tough and unfortunately the state does not have enough
money to fund all the programs. I do believe the process up to this point has been deliberative and
transparent on the budget. I expect it will remain that way as both the House and the Senate have
prioritized the budget being conducted in the open. Remember, the Legislature has to wait 72 hours before final passage of the Budget Conference Report.
The next two weeks are going to be tough for all involved. Marine Industry is also under the gun as
the Amendment 6 Implementing Bill has come under fire. It is going to take every voice in the marine
community to urge the Florida Legislature to pass a clean Amendment 6 Implementing Bill that sticks to the Florida Constitution.
Week 6 Legislative Report
The 2010 Legislative Session is moving quickly and it is hard to believe we only have three weeks
left.
As in all years with marine industry issues, we are in a fight and it will come down to the wire. Again, the working waterfront implementing language has become a contentious issue at best. Never would I have predicted with over 70 percent of the vote that we would have this much difficulty passing implementing language.
However, I do have some good news as the other issues we are supporting are moving and at this time any proposed legislation we had concerns with does not seem to be picking up any traction.
As we enter the seventh week the chaos will be begin. Starting this week we will be down to a one
hour notice for meetings and the budget conference could potentially start. A lot is going on in Tallahassee and it is anybody’s guess how this Legislative Session is going to come in for a landing. However,
we will keep our eyes on the prize and continue to fight another day.
Week 5 Legislative Report
The 2010 Legislative Session is half way over as we complete the fifth week of a nine week session.
April 30th is the last day of the regularly scheduled Legislative Session.
As reported last week, the Senate and the House of Representatives spent Wednesday and Thursday
debating their respective Budget Bills. The Senate passed Senate Bill 2700 relating to the General Appropriations Act 39-0 late Wednesday afternoon. The House of Representatives debated on Wednesday and Thursday and finally passed House Bill 5001 relating to the General Appropriations Act late Thursday afternoon with a vote of 74-44. The House and the Senate are ready to begin the Budget
Conference process and it can begin as early as this week or might be delayed until Congress gets back from their break and acts on some funding issues that could impact the state budget. The Senate Budget has close to $3 billion more than the House Budget.
We expected a busy week for Marine Industries Association of Florida this week. Unfortunately, Senate Bill 346 relating to Working Waterfronts was not placed on the Senate Finance and Tax Committee as expected and Senate Bill 1408 relating to Working Waterfronts was placed on the Senate Community Affairs agenda for Wednesday. MIAF has concerns with Senate Bill 1408 as it goes outside the scope of Amendment 6 that was overwhelmingly passed by voters in November 2008. WE have grave
concerns this bill will be challenged in the courts as unconstitutional.
Week 4 Legislative Report
We have five weeks to go in the regularly scheduled 2010 Legislative Session.
If you are keeping up with the Legislative Session in the newspapers, then you are aware of many of the big issues happening in Tallahassee. Education, first responder pensions, state worker benefit decreases, banning cell phone texting and driving, Public Service Commission restructure, Department of Health Reorganization, and dismantling the Department of Management Services are just a few of
the issues tackled this week at the Capitol.
As you can imagine, the hallways are tense and sometimes the debate has been heated. With 5 weeks remaining until the end of the 60 day regularly scheduled Legislative Session, I am sure we are going to see a lot more debate on the controversial issues, including the Budget Conference. I also anticipate
that the tension at the Capitol will continue to rise as time is scheduled to run out April 30th.
The Legislature will come back on Wednesday and Thursday during week 5 to debate their respective
budgets on the floor. Both the House and Senate are hopeful to pass their Budget and Budget Conforming Bills to set up the House and Senate Budget Conference to negotiate out differences in the House and Senate Budget packages.
Week 3 Legislative Report
We have six weeks to go in the regularly scheduled 2010 Legislative Session.
The House and the Senate are in the process of finalizing their budget recommendations in their respective committees. Next week the House and Senate hope to pass their budgets out of the full Appropriations committees so the budget bills will be available for debate on the floor of the House and the Senate during week five. Week six will be the beginning of the budget conference process and will
take up a lot of time as both the House and the Senate begin negotiating out differences in their respective budgets. So if you are tracking this on your calendar…that will allow three weeks for budget conference.
Please remember the conference budget must be completed and sit on the members desks for 72 hours
before final passage. This is called “the cooling off period”. Therefore, if we are going to get out on time, the House and the Senate will have to have an agreed Budget Conference Report by April 27th.
Even with all the focus on budget cuts, Marine Industries Association has been working with Legislators on proposed legislation that may or may not pass this session. John Sprague was in Tallahassee this week working with us and meeting with the Department of Environmental Protection and Florida
Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
Week 2 Legislative Report
We are two weeks into a nine week Legislative Session. Both House and Senate committees were
hard at work hearing proposed legislation and preparing to release their respective budgets in the weeks to come.
Appropriations will be the main focus for both the House and the Senate over the next two weeks. The Legislature is focused on passing out their respective Budgets early in an effort to allow more time for conferencing out their respective differences. Last year, the Legislature had to come back for an extra week to resolve outstanding budget issues and pass a balanced budget. The funding decisions ahead are not easy, as Florida is facing a $3 billion shortfall.
The pace will start picking up during the third week as the number of amendments will increase to proposed bills and with the release of the Senate and House Appropriations Bills and Conforming Bills.
Week 1 Legislative Report
Legislators descended on Tallahassee this past week for the March 2nd start of the 2010 Legislative Session. Unlike years past, the first week of Session was not the usual energetic, fun-filled week of opening festivities. This year the mood is tense and the difficult choices ahead for the Florida Legislature are setting the tone for a long, difficult session.
The messages all week have been about jobs, economic development and the bleak budget outlook for
Florida. The Legislature passed House Bill 7033 relating to Unemployment Benefits and the Governor signed the bill into law on the same day. The bill suspends for a certain period of time the changes made last year to the calculations of the unemployment compensation tax.
Also, House Speaker Larry Cretul released a memorandum to all House members this week informing
them that the state is facing a budget shortfall of $1.1-$3.2 billion dollars. Many factors contribute to the deficit, including an increase in Medicaid enrollment due to the recession and substantial losses to ad valorem revenues caused by the decreases in property values across the State of Florida. If that is not bad enough for 2010-2011 Budget, the financial outlook for 2011-2012 is worse with an anticipated shortfall of $5 billion.
The Legislature has a hard road ahead and many tough decisions to make on funding reductions and
proposed legislation. The only constitutionally mandated responsibility of the Florida Legislature each Session is to pass a balanced budget. In anticipation of many tough budget decisions, I expect majority of the Legislators time will be spent working on the 2010-2011 Budget which means very few bills will pass this year before the Legislature adjourns at the end of April.
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If you would like a list of all the bills passed this session, please contact the MIAF office, miafoperations@boatflorida.org
MIAF 2010 Legislative Session:
Senate Committee Schedule
The Marine Industries Association of Florida provides its members with representation before the Governor and Cabinet, Department of Community Affairs, Department of Environmental Protection, Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the Florida Legislature.
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