Fall Legislative Update
Philip L. Leary, AICP Fairs Lobbyist
pleary@LearyGAC.com www.LearyGAC.com
As you read this article the state legislature will be completing their third Special Session of the year. Quite frankly, it seems as if they have been in continuous session since interim committee meetings
started back in January. During the sixty day regular session, the House and Senate failed to pass a budget and subsequently a special session was called and held in June. A 2015-16 State budget was passed and sent to Governor Scott who then line-item vetoed over $450 million dollars of state funding including Fairs premium reward funds that were in the Department of Agricul- ture’s budget. More on that important matter later in the article. Following the winning of a lawsuit before the State Supreme
Court by the League of Women Voters (League) challenging the state’s congressional districts as not meeting the Fair Districts Constitutional provision. The Supreme Court ordered the legisla- ture to redraw the maps, which lead to a called Special Session in August where after the House and Senate could not reach a compromise, adjourned the session having failed to produce a new congressional district map. Sadly, the matter will now be resolved by the courts. In the over twenty two years I have been working in the legislative process, I have never witnessed the almost complete dysfunctionality the House and Senate have displayed in the past nine months, and I am concerned that things are not likely to change anytime soon. In the same lawsuit filed by the League, they also challenged
state senate districts, and rather than go through a lengthy and costly court battle the League, House and Senate reached a settlement where the House and Senate agreed to redraw the senate district maps in a special session scheduled for October. Wrapped around the next Special there will be interim committee week meetings in October, November and December with the 2016 General Legislative Session starting on January 12th. Looking forward to next year’s budget, state economists expect
Florida's economy to continue to grow, with the long-range fiscal outlook, an annual deep-dive into Florida's financial health released in September, predicting a $635 million surplus for 2016-17. But the state's improving bottom line might not be able to save Gov. Rick Scott's re-election promise to slash taxes by $1 billion over two years. Overall state general revenue is expected to grow to $31.5
billion. That's the money lawmakers have the most flexibility over when they craft the state's nearly $80 billion budget. Other portions of the budget are tied to federal funding and specific trust funds. After the June Legislative Special Session to a adopt a budget,
and the profoundly disappointing veto by Governor Scott of fairs premium funds, the Federation sent a letter to the Governor expressing our dismay with his veto and clarifying that his veto message was contradictory to State law (Chapter 616 F.S.). Ironically, the Governor also vetoed funding in the DACS budget for all youth programs including 4-H, FFA and Science Fair awards. In conclusion, the 2016 legislative session will convene January
12th, two months earlier than normal, which means interim committee meetings have begun and time is of the essence in each Fair contacting their respective Representative and Senator. The Governor vetoing the Premium Funding should be a wakeup call for all of us, we need to have strong legislative support for our industry and have House and Senate members request the
30 FAIRCRACKER-FALL 2015
Contact your legislators:
https://www.flsenate.gov/senators http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/sections/representatives Regular sessions of the Legislature begin on the first Tues- day after the first Monday in March and continue for 60 con- secutive days, which may be extended by a three-fifths vote of each house. Special sessions may be called by the Gov- ernor, or may be convened by joint proclamation of the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives. Special sessions may not exceed 20 days, unless extended by a three-fifths vote of each house.
Governor support Fairs and Premium funding for our youth. Please continue to reach out to your Representatives and Senators in support of your Fair and the Federation. I know that Lisa Hinton has provided you with a template for a letter with directions on how to find your Representative and Senator’s mailing address. I urge you to do that as soon as possible.
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