|
Article Courtesy of The Miami
Herald
By Mary Ellen Klas
Published December 19, 2014
Senate President Andy Gardiner laid out his
priorities in an information meeting with reporters Wednesday and said
he will be focused on implementing Amendment 1, bringing more tax relief
to Floridians and finding ways to help special needs students get
broader employment opportunities.
Gardiner, R-Orlando, who was sworn in for the two-year term as Senate
president in November, touched on several high profile issues that are
likely to become the focus of the 60-day session in March.
MEDICAID -- Gardiner, vice president of Orlando Health,
said he is open to hearing details on a compromise health care reform
plan pushed by a coalition of hospitals this month, that would help the
state move toward expanding Medicaid under Obamacare to cover more of
the uninsured.
ENVIRONMENT -- He said committees will conduct hearing in
January to hear what the authors of Amendment 1 had in mind as the
legislature works on how to implement the new constitutional provision
to dedicate one third of the state’s documentary stamp taxes to land and
water preservation.
CLAIMS --Unlike his predecessor Senate President Don
Gaetz, Gardiner is open to giving a hearing to the 33 claims bills filed
to require state or local government pay a settlement or legal
liability.
TESTING -- He wants his education committees to review the
amount of school tests required of Florida k-12 students. “The jury’s
still out on if we are over-testing,’’ he said. On Common Core, however,
he said there are legitimate concerns about the proposal “but I don’t
support walking away from that accountability.”
MARIJUANA -- He said he was disappointed that the
Legislature’s push for non-euphoric marijuana is still in the
rule-making stage but said lawmakers may revise the law to address their
concerns next session. “Just like any legislation we pass, we have every
right to review it and make changes,’’ he said. “I think we should do
that.”
GAMBLING -- The first week of session, the Senate will
send to the House a bill requiring injury reporting for greyhounds. He
repeated his position that the state does not have to renew its $250
million annual compact with the Seminole Tribe but is prepared to be
out-voted in the Senate. “If we don’t come to agreement on the compact,
so be it,’’ he said.
JEB – He is all but ready to jump on the Jeb Bush for
President band wagon. He believes Bush’s executive experience as
leadership-focused approach to governing is what the country needs now.
Congress is in stalemate, he said, and Bush would change that. “For
those of us who worked through the Bush governship, it was not
do-nothing,’’ he said.
PENSIONS -- Local pension reform is likelier after several
years of failed efforts for an overhaul because of new leadership in the
Florida House.
Last session, a bill that would have revamped municipal pensions for
firefighters and police passed unanimously in the Senate, only to fail
because then Florida House Speaker Will Weatherford linked that bill to
another more controversial pension bill in the House. The second bill
proposed an overhaul of the state’s pension system by requiring new
employees to register for private 401(k)-style retirement plans instead
of the state’s pension system. Several Republican senators, along with
Democrats, oppose changes to the state’s retirement system.
While new House Speaker Steve Crisafulli said he supports an overhaul of
the state’s pension system, he has said he won’t tie it to the reform of
the local pensions that passed the senate. Sen. Rob Bradley, R-Fleming
Island, and Sen. Jeremy Ring, D-Margate, have already filed SB 172,
which is similar to the local pension bill that passed the Senate
earlier this year.
Under the House’s new approach to pension, Gardiner reminded reporters
that there was no turnover in the senate, meaning the odds for the local
pension bill appear strong, while the odds for an overhaul of the state
retirement system are long.
“You know the votes haven’t changed in the Senate,” he said. “We have to
be mindful of that. I did see where the Speaker commented that they
would be separated in the House and not put together, so it may give you
the opportunity to get the local fix and then you kind of wait and see
what happens with the overall (FRS) issue.”
|