Chutzpah: Let the Session Games Begin!

I'm not going to lie to you: it's kind of nice that Duncan doesn't have to go up to Tallahassee for what amounts to two months for the Florida Legislative Session, which starts today.  Of course, from a political and more generous point of view I'd much prefer to have her up there with Keith Fitzgerald as he represented District 69... but in a way, it would have been confounding had he won.

See, the Florida Legislature has a veto-proof majority.  There's not a Democrat in the House or the Senate who can do, well, really anything.  Both Keith and Duncan share a love of good, pragmatic policy.  I think with the current crew in charge, they would have ended up very, very frustrated.  

Let's be clear on this point: Republican Senate Leader Mike Haridopolos, Republican Speaker Dean Cannon, and Republican Governor Rick Scott are responsible the creation of every single bill that is signed into law (and those bills which are killed, by the way), and they are in control of every single dollar of state funding.   

They are also accountable.

This simple but important point was driven home to me by my own State Representative Rick Kriseman (D-53), in his most recent blog post.

Now, with their increased power, there is absolutely nothing standing between them and the policies they wish to enact. As such, there should be no excuse for them not creating 700,000 new jobs or fixing Tallahassee. In fact, by the end of the year, we should be close to 100,000 jobs gained.

If these promises end up being empty, figuring out who to blame won’t take long.

Republicans are in charge of this state, they have been in charge for more than 12 years, and if the problems Florida faces aren’t solved in the next two years, Republicans must be held accountable.

The citizens of this state are getting impatient. They’re looking for problem solving, not political posturing. They are looking for jobs. 700,000 of them.

That's exactly right -- these guys have no excuses.  There is nothing Rick or any of his Democratic colleagues can really do.  As they have a veto-proof majority, he and other Democrats have no filibuster power, no power to stop whatever egregious bill comes up for a vote.  The most Democrats can do is effectively use the bully pulpit of their positions to speak out against the most heinous of actions these guys will try to get away with -- and you just know they will.

Let's be clear: the stake are immense.  This NPR story from today on Medicaid cuts -- or even dropping out of the program all together -- here in Florida is demonstration enough of that.  

...Florida's Legislature is planning to dramatically revamp the way the state delivers health care to those on Medicaid. State Sen. Joe Negron has put together a plan that changes the state's relationship with Medicaid recipients and Medicaid health care providers.

"We want to get out of the check-writing business and into the contract-compliance business," he says.

Negron wants to scrap the old fee-for-service model and replace it with managed care. He proposes negotiating contracts with health care providers, which would agree to deliver care to the state's 3 million Medicaid recipients for a predetermined fee.

Negron says it would give the Legislature a way to effectively cap what it spends each year on Medicaid.

"We're going to decide how much we want to spend on Medicaid," he says. Of the state agencies charged with overseeing the program, he says, "They do not have the authority to spend beyond what we appropriate."

From a budgeting standpoint, it's an attractive idea. It passes off the responsibility for controlling costs, and the risk of busting the health care budget, to private contractors.

Hm, private contractors specializing in the health care industry...  Wait a minute... where have I heard... oh, yeah.

What's that?  You don't like where this is going. 

Too damn bad. 

Veto.  Proof.  Majority. 

Look, I agree with Howard Troxler in today's St. Petersburg Times: this is the most signifcant legislative session in decades.  Please click the link and read the whole thing, but here is the general idea:

The governor and Legislature are likely to reduce Florida's growth management and environmental protection, consolidating and eliminating those government functions.

[snip]

The session also will see the triumph of Republican philosophy concerning public education.

This includes abolishing teacher tenure (or multiyear contracts, or automatic rehiring, or whatever you want to call it). It includes basing teacher evaluations in part on standardizing testing.

[snip]

The Legislature will probably change the relationship between the state and its employees. The governor's budget would eliminate 6,700 jobs; even if the Legislature does less, it's likely to require employees to start making a pension contribution.

This is hardly a complete list. Look for industry-friendly laws on topics ranging from insurance to prison privatization. No wonder the CEO of the Florida Chamber of Commerce recently declared to his members, "This is our time to do what we do best."

And as I am fond of pointing out to folks, this is just this year.  We have the same crew back again next year.  If we're honest with ourselves, we probably have them for another two after that.   Of course, Rep. Kriseman has filed some legislation which could conceivably change that as well...

There is one thing I agree with Rick Scott on: we need to get to work.  They've got their hands on all the levers of power, so they are up first to try and get something done about putting 700,000 people to work. 

In the meantime, I'll listen out for leading voices like Kriseman as a barometer for how we're doing.  My guess is that Kriseman and his team will be busy, anyway, calling out all the insanity. 

I'm a political creature -- by my nature I am drawn to centers of power, and Tallahassee is where it's at.  I admit it: I'm going to miss my usual Friday night drive from here to there, listening to music, speeding up to north Florida.  Waking up late on Saturday and going to Cabo's Island Grill & Bar for lunch, then maybe getting a Momo's Pizza for dinner.  Getting Duncan's insider view of the legislature.  The long, kind of sad drive back. 

I'll miss it, sure.  But that was our time.

It's their time, now.  As Kriseman says, they are on the clock.  Let's see if they'll deliver.

NOTE: Kriseman has one of the best websites around. Hope you'll continue to monitor it throughout session.

Cross-posted at the Florida Progressive Coalition.

Twitter tag, because I'm trying: #ontheclock. Let's hold 'em accountable.

Comments

[home security fort lauderdale]

Lets hope they do things right. I don't trust politicians regardless of which side of the fence they stand. With no checks and balances this could be a really good thing or get really ugly for Florida. The one things Dems have going for them is if republicans mess things up it's going to be easy for them to recapture power. My 2 cents.

D