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[ 2008 LEGISLATIVE SESSION ]

Meeting Low Expectations

Published: Thursday, May 8, 2008 at 6:01 a.m.
Last Modified: Thursday, May 8, 2008 at 7:17 a.m.

Just how gloomy was this past legislative session? Legislators were finished with the session by 6:02 p.m. Friday. No frantic race to beat the midnight deadline. No last-minute deals. No celebration. They went home before the sun set. The $66.2 billion budget - smaller than this year's by $4 billion- is the lowest in three years. The losses were many, the gains few. In the end, Florida is a diminished state for what was accomplished, or not accomplished, during the session.

The 2008 Florida Legislature is summed up in two words: budget cuts. Health-care spending for our youngest, our poorest and our most infirm was slashed by more than $1 billion. Education - from kindergarten to college - lost another $900 million. The welfare of foster children, adoptive parents, the medically indigent, the handicapped and those confined to nursing homes are getting less of a hand because of budget cuts driven by the recession and anti-tax Republican ideology.

That's not to say there weren't some victories. The state's Florida Forever land-preservation program was extended through 2020 and allowed to bond $300 million next year. The Everglades restoration project was allocated a needed $50 million.

The controversial FCAT got its first overhaul in 10 years. While standards for reading, math and other subjects will become tougher, the test will no longer be the only measure of the much-followed school grades issued each year. Graduation rates and college-entrance test scores will now be factors too.SMALLER VICTORIESOn the insurance front, policyholders with the state-run Citizens Property Insurance Corp. won another one-year rate freeze, while new rules, mostly regulatory, will give the state more sway over other insurance companies, particularly on rate increases.

There were smaller victories as well. The House blocked a vindictive attempt by Senate President Ken Pruitt to dismantle the Board of Governors, which oversees Florida's universities, saving higher education from complete politicizing at the hands the Legislature. Gov. Charlie Crist's pet piece of legislation promoting greener technologies in energy production and building construction put Florida on the front edge of the issue.

But for all those notable successes, there is no ignoring the bigger, more disheartening story line of the 2008 Florida Legislature. The public policy heavyweights, those things that define a state, took damaging body blows. Schools. Hospitals. Community colleges and universities. Roads and other infrastructure. All given less than last year. All already in need of greater support.

What does it say about a state that approves spending for 10,000 new prison beds and 1,400 new prison guards but cuts funding to educate our children by $130 per student?FAILURE OF LEADERSHIP, VISIONLegislative leaders tried to put a good face on the ugliness. House Speaker Marco Rubio, for instance, said, "I would put the substantive accomplishments … up against any session I've been involved in."

That's empty rhetoric from a man with ambitions for higher office. And it's not the truth. Closer to it was the assessment from former legislator and current lobbyist Sam Bell, who told The Daytona Beach News-Journal: "It's been one of the most unproductive and disappointing sessions. The good news is expectations were so low that I think we met them."

What our lawmakers failed to do over the past two months was lead with vision and innovation in trying times. They did nothing to raise taxes, understandably, but also did nothing to eradicate the gross-and-obvious inequities in Florida's outdated-and-unfair tax code. And the Taxation and Budget Reform Commission, which shamefully played politics with a once-every-20-years opportunity to change our tax system, let the Legislature dictate its agenda. The consequences of that abrogation of leadership, both fiscal and political, may take years to be felt and even more years to undo.

While Floridians have yet to feel all the pain that this year's budget cuts will inflict on essentials such as education, health care and public safety, there is little doubt that there is more to come. A $3 billion tax shortfall that led to this year's budget cuts. State budget analysts, however, are predicting the hole in next year's budget will be even bigger, much bigger, at more than $4 billion.

Budget cutting is a short-term solution that diminishes our state. Tax reform is a long-term answer that can lead to a better future for all Floridians.

This story appeared in print on page A6

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[ 2008 LEGISLATIVE SESSION ]

Meeting Low Expectations

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