A bipartisan coalition of senators bucked the chamber’s Republican leadership Tuesday and rejected a proposal to privatize several prisons, but received warnings from leaders that it will have a cost in further budget cuts.
In a dramatic showdown with Senate President Mike Haridopolos and three other top leaders — one of whom controls the Senate’s budget, one who controls the calendar and one who will be the next president — opponents of the bill managed to kill it on a 19-21 vote.
The odd coalition that lined up against the bill included Republican populists who have become occasional mavericks, Democrats and some members of the GOP caucus that almost always vote with their party, but come from areas laden with corrections officers who opposed the idea.
The measure was sold as a simple savings measure by most of its backers. The bill (SB 2083) would have required bidders to guarantee 7 percent savings over what the Department of Corrections currently spends to run the prisons, which are spread across 18 South Florida counties. That would amount to about $16.5 million minimum in savings, supporters argued.
That “will buy a lot of textbooks,” said Sen. Mike Bennett (R-Bradenton).
Senator after senator rose on the floor to raise objections — some said the savings wouldn’t materialize, others argued the state could just as easily find 7 percent savings if pressed.
Some said the companies that would bid couldn’t be trusted to run them well — or would skimp on safety, all arguments that backers rejected.
Most said they were opposed to the measure because it would do wrong by corrections officers who have a tough life as it is, working for little pay among some of the toughest working conditions imaginable.
Sen. Paula Dockery talked about the nasty working conditions faced by guards, and noted the private companies would likely find the required cost savings by cutting benefits.
“’This is the way we’re going to treat them?” Dockery asked. “’We should be thanking all those brave men and women … and not try to shunt you off on a private corporation who may or may not
hire you.”
Sen. Dennis Jones, who voted against the measure, also spoke up for state-employed prison guards, with a little bit of a jab at his Republican colleagues.
“You know, what’s wrong with state employees?” Jones asked. “They’re our employees. We should be taking care of them instead of kicking them under the bus.”
Defeating the measure would come with consequences warned Sen. Don Gaetz, in line to be the next president.
The Republican from Niceville predicted caustically that many of those who voted against the bill would likely be the same people coming to the Senate’s budget chairman, Sen. JD Alexander, pleading for a few extra dollars here and there for various prized programs.
He said the money already was tight and certainly isn’t there now, with at least $16 million in savings passed up with the rejection of prison privatization.
“The burden lies heavy on those who vote no and then come to Sen. Alexander” to ask for money in the budget, Gaetz said. “At a time when we are stacking pennies to take care of the critical needs of Florida, is there not some way we can find to do our jobs better?”
In addition to Alexander and Gaetz, the bill was also backed by Sen. John Thrasher (R-St. Augustine), rules chairman and the sponsor of the bill.
He acknowledged the gallery full of corrections officers watching the debate and said he appreciates them greatly. But he said he listened to the voters who sent him to Tallahassee.
“They didn’t tell me to come here and grow government, they told me to come here and limit government,” Thrasher said.
A few questions remain about the fate of the privatization effort this year. For one, backers say the governor has the authority to privatize prisons unilaterally, whether the Legislature wants them to be privatized or not.
Also, the Legislature passed the privatization plan last year, though it was stuck in the state budget in a way that lawmakers who opposed it couldn’t really vote against it because they supported the rest of the spending plan.