Crist says he’ll focus on economy in his last State of the State address

The Florida Legislature's regular 60 day session begins in Tallahassee today, and all eyes tonight will be on Governor Charlie Crist, as he delivers his 4th and final State of the State address at 6 p.m. (which BayNews 9 says they'll cover live).

“The focus of all of us is the economy,” Crist tells the Associated Press.  “It continues to be jobs, the economy, try to get people back to work.”

The South Florida Sun-Sentinel breaks down what they report will be where there will be tension between the Governor and the Republican-led Legislature:

Crist wants to raid state reserves now to increase funding for public education, health programs and the environment. The governor's reasoning: Those are rainy day funds — and it's raining in Florida.

But legislative leaders want to save for next year, leaving at least $1 billion to help soften the blow when money from the $787 billion federal stimulus plan runs out. Rep. William Snyder, R-Stuart, who oversees the criminal justice budget, put the predicament this way: "We're in the desert now. We may be headed for hell."

An interesting development that the St. Pete Times reports on today is the conservative shift of the state senate, which traditionally has been the more moderate body compared to more rambunctious House (think of the Terri Schiavo saga 5 years ago, and how officials like the late Jim King went out of their way to fight Jeb Bush on trying to intervene in the case).

Among the issues that citizens in the Tampa Bay area have voiced concerns about is off-shore drilling.  Late last week the Century Commission for a Sustainable Florida, along with the Collins Center for Public Policy released a report that estimated reserves in Florida waters would provide the United States with less than a week's worth of oil and have no discernible effect on prices at the pump or U.S. reliance on foreign oil.

But despite that damning indictment, lawmakers and drilling proponents don't sound too affected.  House Republican Dean Cannon says his  Select Policy Council on Strategic and Economic Planning won't draft a bill until at" least half-way through" the session.

There will be many other issues that will come up during the session, and we promise you to bring full attention to those bills, especially on how they may affect the Tampa Bay area, over the next six weeks.

This article appears in Feb 24 – Mar 2, 2010.