by Fred Seely
Editorial Director
The Chamber’s legislative wish list has a familiar look: it hasn’t changed much from last year.
“This is a long-term challenge,” said University of North Florida lobbyist Janet Owen, who chairs the Chamber’s Government Affairs Committee. “Not a short run. It was almost a no-brainer to put the agenda together this year.”
The agenda, which will be presented to the Duval delegation at its organizational meeting this afternoon at City Hall, includes only one new item: reforming the way that amendments can be placed on Florida’s constitution.
“The budget problems that we face have been exacerbated by the amendments which were voted into the constitution this year,” said Mike Hightower, the Blue Cross Blue Shield vice president who is considered one of the area’s most powerful lobbyists. “Sen. [Jim] King [the incoming Florida senate president] says he starts about $1.2 billion in the hole. Florida’s constitution also calls for a balanced budget, so the legislature really is going to have to scramble.”
That means there will be little money for local projects. In past years, for instance, numerous non-profits have received state money for projects but that tap has been closed due to the anticipated problems.
The major part of the deficit will come from the new amendment which requires limited classroom sizes. That amendment, plus the “bullet train” amendment passed in 2000, may plunge the state deeply in debt and could bring about the Chamber’s requested reform.
“Right now, you can stand in front of a Kmart and collect signatures to get your own amendment on the ballot,” said Hightower. “Most of us saw those people in the last year and, believe me, many weren’t citizens hoping to push their own agenda — they were hired by lobbying groups, and they were getting $5 a signature.”
The Chamber’s agenda doesn’t give a specific way to reform the present system.
Other items on the Chamber agenda are leftovers, including continuing reforms to allow affordable health insurance for businesses, lower workers compensation premiums, tort reform and reforming of the funding process for education and workforce training.