It was long, it was arduous, and if you believe that Medicaid expansion as provided by the federal government is the right thing, it was frustrating. On Thursday members of the Florida House rejected an amendment from one of their own – Pasco County's Mike Fasano, from a plan offered from another one of their own – Governor Rick Scott.
Fasano's amendment would have rewritten the House healthcare plan to match a Senate proposal by Senator. Joe Negron. The difference between the two chambers is stark – the House plan would provide healthcare to approximately 115,000 people, while the Senate plan would cover 1.1 million.
The debate degenerated into broad ideological arguments. Governor Scott has never seemed that preoccupied with having the House follow the Senate, opting to not lobby legislators, making some question how much he truly believes in the plan.
But hey, at least the House is going to vote on a driving while texting bill on Monday already passed in the Senate.
Governor Scott and his team boasted that after he took office on how much those collecting unemployment benefits after he took over in 2011. Of course, that was in part due to a new law that added requirements that many of those attempting to collect benefits had no idea about, which the U.S. Labor Department ruled was discriminatory.
The City of Tampa lost their attorney for the past two years yesterday.
And we don't have a feature in this week's CL. But do read the cover story written by Eric Barton on why Florida's gun murder rates are up when there down in much of the rest of the country.
This article appears in Apr 25 – May 1, 2013.