State Rep. Paula Dockery says she's seen legislation being filed "for no other reason than flexing muscles."
For several hours last week in the Florida House, the GOP-led body passed a number of bills aimed at restricting abortions. As Riverview Representative Rachel Burgin introduced House Bill 1397, which would limit abortions performed if a fetus is "viable" (which could by the bill's definition be as early as the second trimester), Florida House Democrats — almost united in their disdain for a bill they did not have the votes to thwart — opted for a little theater. Democrat after Democrat asked Burgin what the legislation had to do with jobs — as in the "Let's Get to Work" promise that apparently helped elect Rick Scott and so many other Republicans.
Miami Beach Representative Richard Steinberg asked, "How many jobs will be created for Floridians under this bill?" Irv Slosberg from Boca Raton followed up moments later, saying, "Have there been any studies determining the economic impact or job growth associated with this bill?"
By the time Deerfield Beach Rep. Gwyneth Clarke Reed asked, "Has the expected population growth associated with this bill been figured into Governor Scott's goal of creating 700,000 new jobs?", Burgin was clearly aware of what was going on, and stopped attempting to respond.
For the Democratic House caucus, the chance to make their point — that the social agenda of the GOP has gone seriously off the rails this spring — held a bit of satisfaction.
But the fact is, rhetoric is all they've got in their arsenal.
No matter how passionate their words, the Dems in Tallahassee are getting nowhere fast, as CL observed last week while watching the Legislature in action. Although some issues provoked stimulating debate, the votes in the House almost always reflected that body's 81-39 split of Republicans to Democrats. As one reporter told CL, "They're all like that," referring to the fact that there has been virtually no suspense (at least in the House) in how the votes will pan out.
Though the state Senate may block some measures that Governor Scott and GOP legislative leaders lust for, watching the 2011 Florida Legislative session in action is to see the power (and the horror) of what one-party rule can do to a state.
Florida may have supported Barack Obama for president, but the idea that the Sunshine State is still a purple/swing state has been seriously undermined. We're not talking just about the influence of Rick Scott. Undoubtedly his ascension has cleared the way for passage of some controversial GOP-favored legislation that had been been thwarted by former Governor Charlie Crist's veto pen (on measures like teacher reform and requiring women undergoing abortions to pay for an ultrasound). But much of the Legislature's actions have been about appeasing their own ideological bucketlist, not Scott's.
Because the Legislature did make a pronounced turn to the right last fall. With the election of two more R's to the Senate and five more to the House, the party built veto-proof two-thirds majorities in both bodies, leading Senate President Mike Haridopolos to crow that "you're seeing the most conservative Senate in your history."
Except for an unexpectedly moderate turn in the Senate this week on the issue of undocumented immigrants, his characterization has proven to be dead on.
• The environment. As one former Democratic legislator who wished to remain anonymous told CL, the old maxim about getting elected in Florida — that Democrats need to be sufficiently pro-business and Republicans have to be sufficiently pro-environment — has been turned upside down.
One bill on the block for possible passage this past week would strip the state's Department of Community Affairs of much of its oversight of growth-planning issues. Also on the table: a plan to limit the public's right to challenge comprehensive plan amendments approved by local governments and a proposal to eliminate the coordination between school districts and local governments to ensure schools are able to accommodate new growth in a community.
• Gun control. If an alien had dropped from the heavens and landed at 400 South Monroe Avenue last week to observe the Legislature in action, he would have gotten the message that the most downtrodden, abused citizen of the state is not a gay teen or an out-of-work construction worker — it's a gun owner.
One NRA-favored bill, called an "open-carry" proposal, would have allowed guns to be carried openly on any public property and, when permissible, on private property. That bill, sponsored by North Florida Republican Greg Evers, later was amended to deal with the heretofore unheralded problem of gun owners' jackets flapping open in the wind and accidentally revealing their holstered weapons, and their according vulnerability to arrest in the absence of an open-carry law. The amendment stated that only unlicensed gun owners who accidentally expose their concealed weapons could be arrested.
Another measure would ban doctors from asking their patients if they own guns. The bill was approved after the Florida Medical Association signed off on a compromise: doctors who ask The Question will now be subject only to medical board discipline — not, as the original bill stated, a $5 million fine (seriously). Pediatricians remain strongly opposed.
Democratic Representative Dwight Bullard asked Jason Brodeur, R-Sanford, at one point just who actually was clamoring for such a bill (other than the NRA). Brodeur and some of his colleagues have cited one situation reported in an Ocala newspaper last year, but no others. He replied that he was simply concerned about the "civil rights" of such gun owners, prompting the African-American Bullard to reply sarcastically that he "appreciated" the concern.
Keystone Heights Republican Charles Van Zant later chimed in that he looked forward to his eight grandchildren being trained in gun safety. He said that the murder rate in nearby Jacksonville was very high and thus a "well-armed citizenry is necessary."
"Owning guns is a fundamental right guaranteed by our nation's constitution, not to be infringed upon by your doctor," he added for good measure.
• Voting rights. A bill that has enraged Democrats and the League of Women Voters would stop the practice of allowing voters to fill out change-of-address forms at the polls on Election Day, instead letting them vote only by provisional ballot (which would seem to disproportionately affect college students, a key Democratic party constituency). The measure would also reduce the number of early voting days. Both provisions have changed somewhat from their original construction, and the latest proposal would cut back early voting days from 15 to 9, but somehow keep the polls open for the same number of hours as in the past (96).
At a Budget Committee hearing last week, Democrats such as Arthenia Joyner from Tampa and Nan Rich from Broward County were relentless in challenging the bill's sponsor, Miguel Diaz de la Portilla, who said that his research showed that there simply wasn't much early voting going on. (A recent Politifact report challenged that "research"; the statistics do not back him up.) Senator Rich said that on Election Day in 2008, some 12,000 voters changed their address on Election Day in Broward. "They then would have three days to go to the canvassing board. How could the canvassing board handle this?" she angrily asked.
Diaz de la Portilla later said he would amend the bill to allow Election Day changes of address by voters who have moved within a county.
In such an atmosphere, it's not the Democrats, but the occasional stray Republican who stands out.
Some examples include New Port Richey state Senator Mike Fasano, who fought a losing battle with his Republican colleagues on mandating insurance companies to provide sinkhole coverage, which is a major problem in Hillsborough, Hernando, and especially his district of Pasco, the epicenter of such problems. The majority of Republicans took the insurance industry line that fraudulent sinkhole claims have mushroomed over the past few years and cost them significant dollars, and if insurers were forced to deal with such claims, they just might not feel compelled to do business in Florida anymore.
"You're going to drive people into Citizens!" Fasano countered, referring to Citizens Property Insurance Corporation, the state's largest property insurer and one that Governor Scott and others reportedly want to phase out.
Another interesting incident occurred during a debate about requiring federal welfare recipients to take a drug test, to protect "the children," as Inverness Representative Jimmie Smith said. Several House Democrats were joined in their opposition by St. Pete freshman Jeff Brandes, who has otherwise faithfully hewed to the party line on most issues, but objected on constitutional grounds to such an action.
"I don't think my caucus has their arms around this issue," Brandes told CL. "I believe the true issue….is suspicionless search. I had severe concerns about that bill since I first saw it in the Rules Committee."
Another Republican who refuses to blindly follow the GOP's dicta is Lakeland state Senator Paula Dockery, who says she used to consider herself a conservative, but acknowledged that the hard right shift in the Legislature now makes her a moderate. She says she looks at each issue on its merits.
"I ask the sponsor of a bill, 'What problem are you seeking to address?' And in many instances, there are no problems to be addressed, it's just a matter of a philosophical stance or a punishment or a mean-spiritedness." She adds that "what we're seeing this year seems to be [legislation] for no other reason than flexing muscles."
One issue that falls into that category was a proposal to ban unions from using payroll deduction to collect dues. Governor Scott paid personal visits to legislators to get them to pass the measure, but at press time enough of them had resisted his entreaties that the bill's future was in jeopardy. House Speaker Dean Cannon's dream of cutting the Florida Supreme Court in half, dividing it between criminal and civil courts and allowing Scott to name three more justices, was severely diluted Monday night.
Even in its weakened state, the Cannon proposal will go before Florida voters next year, where it would need 60 percent approval by Floridians. Maybe then the people could do what the Democrats haven't been able to do: put a stop to one-party rule in the Sunshine State.
This article appears in May 5-11, 2011.
