by Max Marbut
Staff Writer
“It’s a privilege to serve, particularly in difficult and challenging times,” said Dist. 16 State Rep. Charles McBurney Jr. at Monday’s meeting of the Rotary Club of Jacksonville.
He was elected in September 2007 and serves on the Committee on Business Regulation, the Committee on Local and Urban Affairs, the Joint Legislative Auditing Committee and the Schools and Learning Council. McBurney is vice-chair of the Committee on Education Innovation and Career Preparation.
McBurney was invited to give the club a review of the recently adjourned session of the Florida Legislature and he offered a candid evaluation of both accomplishments and things that were left to be done.
The state’s budget took most of the session to the point that only 8 percent of the legislation introduced was enacted, he said.
“When the session opened we were facing a $6.3 billion — that’s with a ‘B’ — deficit on a $66.5 billion budget,” reported McBurney. He pointed out Florida’s budget has grown each year since 1987 when the total of appropriations was $18.5 billion and added, “Even with inflation, government is growing at an unprecedented rate.”
The lawmakers’ three top priorities were public safety, education and health. McBurney said the process was helped by having each state agency attend appropriation meetings “And justify their expenses and income. That had not been done in institutional memory.”
One of the triumphs he related was being able to create a budget that increased per capita spending on education and also increased funding for higher education.
McBurney said other successes of the last session included “streamlining the laws pertaining to corporations and nonprofits to attract more business to come to Florida,” legislation to allow the sale of underutilized government buildings and a new statute that prohibits “double dipping” by state employees who already receive a state pension.
Next year, McBurney said, the state will launch a Web site accessible to the public that will detail every dollar spent by every state agency and department. He said that will be an improvement because, “It will allow lawmakers to look at the state’s budget with input from 18 million Floridians.”
One piece of legislation McBurney said should have been enacted but wasn’t was a bill he sponsored that would have put civics education back in public schools. It was not voted on by the Senate due to a technical issue last session but McBurney said he intends to reintroduce the bill. It would require students in middle school to take a course in government and how it works.
“A study conducted by The Florida Bar determined that 40 percent of Florida’s residents can’t name the three branches of government but 75 percent can name three of the four Stooges,” he said.
He also said he’s thankful to be allowed to serve his constituents during the current economy.
“People sometimes ask me if I wouldn’t prefer to be in office when money is flowing and programs could be funded,” said McBurney. “It reminds me of that proverb about ‘May you live in interesting times’. Florida has been through challenges before like the Yellow Fever epidemic, the Great Depression and recessions. Each time the state came back stronger than it ws before. I appreciate the opportunity to be part of bringing Florida back to greatness.”
When City Council member Art Graham introduced McBurney he said, “Many of you probably know Rep. McBurney through serving on boards with him. He has served on more than 20 and working for the community like that probably explains why he was elected with 79 percent of the vote.” Graham also commented that he’s looking forward to being one of McBurney’s colleagues in the State Legislature in a year and a half, referring to his plans to run for the Florida Senate.
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