Budget Negotiators Big Push Before The End Of Session
TALLAHASSEE (CBSMiami/NSF) – With eyes on the clock budget negotiators in Tallahassee sent their thorniest issues to the respective budget chairmen this weekend, as both the Senate and House lined up priorities for the expected final week of the session.
On a few issues, there was some closure this week. The Legislature sent the governor a bill allowing students to give "inspirational messages" on an apparently limitless universe of subjects from God and the Founding Fathers to the Flying Spaghetti Monster and Kim Kardashian.
While the bill was pushed by advocates for more Christian school prayer, hoping that more of that will happen at graduations, football games and other assemblies, they acknowledge that in an effort to render it constitutional, the plan will have to allow students to say anything they want with no interference from school officials.
Still, the fear remained among those in the religious and political minorities, that it will mean just what backers hope - lots of Christian prayers that will make public school a little more uncomfortable for Jews, Hindus, Muslims and others who thought the state schools were a haven from being subjected to the majority's religion.
One of the main issues which still needs to be addressed are the finishing touches on the budget, which remained unresolved on Sunday heading toward the deadline. Because of the waiting period between printing a proposed budget and passing it, budget leaders must reach agreement early in the week if they're going to finish the session by Friday as they intend.
Budget writers agreed over the weekend on a couple high-profile items - keeping open Jefferson Correctional Institution near Tallahassee, while closing Hillsborough C.I. near Tampa. While the prisons budget is a tiny part of the overall spending plan, the plans by the executive branch to close various prisons this year has been a high-profile fight, mixed in with a fight over prison privatization, that has made the Capitol a second home for hundreds of guys and women who spend their working hours walking through the state's lockups dealing with its imprisoned.
Another budget breakthrough over the weekend was for another of Scott's priorities: freeing up more than $61 million to lure businesses to the state. The economic development money had been in doubt, but Senate Budget Chairman JD Alexander, R-Lake Wales, said freeing up the cash for Scott was a good idea.
The governor, Alexander said, has "made good arguments that in his efforts to sell our state and bring quality employers in there, he needed to be able to make commitments faster." Scott would also be able to ask the Legislative Budget Commission for permission to spend another $25 million in incentives, under the budget deal.
But some of the big picture items were still being worked on Sunday, including how to divvy up nearly $300 million in cuts to higher education and major portions of the state's health-care spending plan.
It's not dire, if history is a guide. Lawmakers often enter the final week of the session still working on a budget, and overtime sessions are rare. It usually gets worked out.
The News Service of Florida contributed to this report
