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2007 Legislative Sessionx
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Know Your Florida Constitutional Amendments

By:Alex Leary
St Petersburg Times
May 13, 2008

If you're a Florida voter, prepare for a workout Nov. 4.

Already you will help decide one of the most closely watched presidential elections ever. And all 120 state House seats are up for election, plus half of the 40-seat Senate. Not to mention local elections.

But that's not all. The statewide ballot also contains nine proposed amendments to the state Constitution ranging from a ban on gay marriage to a fundamental change in how public schools are funded.

Here's a summary of those ballot items, in order of appearance on the ballot:

1. Repeal "Alien Land" Law

Would delete from the state Constitution language allowing the Legislature to regulate or prohibit property ownership by aliens ineligible for citizenship. From 1862 to 1965, more than a dozen states passed laws restricting Asian immigrants from owning property. Most states did away with the laws, but Florida has yet to do so.

2. Gay marriage ban

Would define marriage as the legal union of only one man and one woman as husband and wife. Florida already has such a law, but backers say putting it in the Constitution protects from legal challenge.

3. Energy/hurricane tax break

Improvements on residential property for energy efficiency or windstorm protection wouldn't be subject to property tax assessments.

4. Conservation land tax break

Land held in perpetuity for conservation would be exempt from property taxes, and other conservation lands would be taxed on their current use rather than their "highest and best," or potential use.

5. Tax swap

Would reduce overall property taxes by about 25 percent by eliminating most property taxes for schools in 2011. To replace the more than $9-billion, lawmakers would have to increase the sales tax, eliminate sales tax exemptions, extend taxes to services such as lawyers or cut other state spending.

6. "Working waterfront" tax break

Would provide a property tax break for waterfront businesses such as marinas and boat repair shops that do not intend to convert to a more lucrative use, such as condominiums.

7. Repeal ban on funding for religious organizations

Would remove "Blaine Amendment" from the state Constitution, a century-old ban on funding for religious groups. In 2004, an appellate court cited the provision in rejecting then-Gov. Jeb Bush's school voucher program.

8. Community colleges

Would allow local option sales taxes to support community colleges if approved by local voters.

9. School funding vouchers

Orders that 65 percent of school funding go toward classroom instruction. Changes a provision of the state Constitution to allow private school vouchers.

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To Dismay of Some in Florida, Legislators Cut Property Taxes

By Abby Goodnough and Christine Jordan Sexton
New York Times
June 15, 2007

MIAMI - Addressing rising anger about the cost of owning a home in Florida — and the recent troubles of the state’s real estate industry — the Legislature on Thursday approved a plan for a property tax cut it said would be the largest in state history.

The plan was championed by Gov. Charlie Crist, a Republican who has vowed to make taxes "drop like a rock," and Marco Rubio, the Republican speaker of the House of Representatives, who has made property-tax relief the main goal of his first year in power.

The cost of the package was initially estimated to be $31.6 billion over five years, but a last-minute change pushed by Republicans in the Senate may have blunted the savings by as much as $7 billion.

Even so, many local governments that levy property taxes said it would ravage their budgets, potentially forcing layoffs of police officers and firefighters and deep cuts to public schools. Some counties and cities have raised the possibility of a legal challenge.

Florida does not have an income tax, and lawmakers did mention imposing one to make up for lost property tax revenue. Republican leaders had hoped to substantially decrease or even eliminate property taxes in exchange for a sharp sales tax increase. But that idea proved too controversial.

The tax reduction is a two-part plan. The first piece would require cities and counties to roll back rates this fall and impose a cap on future spending that local government bodies could override only with a supermajority.

The second, more contentious piece of the plan is a proposed constitutional amendment for a "supersized" homestead exemption. It would shield from taxes 75 percent of the first $200,000 in assessed property value, and 15 percent of the next $300,000.

Should the amendment pass, homeowners could choose instead to keep their current exemption of $25,000 a year and a cap that prevents assessments from rising more than 3 percent a year for a primary residence. Those measures, in place since 1995, have kept property taxes low for longtime homeowners but not for part-time residents whose primary homes are elsewhere, or for business owners or recent home buyers. They are the ones who have clamored for change.

The plan would save property taxpayers an average of $174 this year, and, if voters approve the constitutional amendment, $948 in 2008, lawmakers said.

"I am so impressed," Mr. Crist said in a news conference after the vote, indicating he would approve the first piece. Because the second piece requires a public referendum, it does not need Mr. Crist’s approval — perhaps providing him political cover if it proves unpopular down the road.

The vote on the property tax amendment is scheduled for Jan. 29, the same day as Florida’s presidential primaries. If approved, it would take effect in November, the start of the next budget year for local governments.

But counties, cities, teachers unions and Democrats who oppose the plan say they will strive to persuade voters to reject the proposed amendment. It would reduce public school spending by as much as a $7.2 billion.

"I think we could really devastate education," said Representative Shelley Vana, a Democrat from Lantana and former teacher. "I think we are going off the deep end."

But Mr. Rubio and other architects of the plan said that somehow — they would not provide details — the Legislature would bridge the difference.

Mr. Crist has repeatedly said property-tax cuts would not force layoffs, but local government and union officials insist otherwise.

"They are huge cuts, the largest we’ve ever seen," said Andy Ford, president of the Florida Education Association, predicting that the cuts would block school districts from hiring new employees, from teachers to bus drivers to cafeteria workers. "It will affect absolutely everybody."

The real estate and building industries, which are suffering from the housing slump, lobbied relentlessly for the cuts. The revenue that Florida collects from real estate transactions dipped 25 percent over the last year, causing overall tax revenue to fall for the first time since the 1970s. This year the Legislature approved a series of measures to reduce home insurance rates, which have soared as major hurricanes have struck in recent years. But many homeowners are finding the savings to be much smaller than they had hoped.

Abby Goodnough reported from Miami, and Christine Jordan Sexton from Tallahassee.

     Legislative Wrap-Up
     On the Back Burner

By Daniel Ostrovsky
May 16, 2007

The focus of lawmakers on property tax and property insurance issues, plus the state’s tight fiscal situation, prevented bar leaders and court officials from getting much of what they wanted in the areas of judicial funding, increased pay for public lawyers, no-fault auto insurance, death penalty representation and apportionment of civil liability.

"There were three issues that mattered last session — property and casualty insurance, property taxes and the budget," said Aventura-based lawyer-lobbyist Ron Book. "Those were really the issues that counted, and the rest didn’t really matter."

Debra Henley, the deputy executive director of the Florida Justice Association, which represents the state’s plaintiff lawyers, agreed. "The legislators had quite a few major issues on their plate this session as well as many new members," she said.

But the Florida Legislature did approve a controversial overhaul of the state’s system of providing representation for indigent criminal defendants whom the public defender’s office represents due to conflicts of interest.

Supporters of the bill, which establishes five new legal offices to handle conflict cases, say it will save the state millions. Critics say the offices will be severely underfunded. The offices would largely take over work done by private attorneys appointed by judges from a rotating wheel system. That system was criticized as too expensive and prone to corruption.

None of the 37 new judgeships certified as needed by the Florida Supreme Court was approved.

Florida’s assistant state attorneys and assistant public defenders, who start at an annual salary of around $40,000, will not receive the substantial salary hike many observers say is needed to keep them. Court employees, including judicial assistants and secretaries, also will not get a raise.

Short of a miracle during next month’s special session on property taxes, the state’s decades-old no-fault auto insurance system will sunset in October, leaving accident victims, their medical providers and their lawyers in a more difficult position than before.

Despite the backing of Republican Gov. Charlie Crist, the Supreme Court and lawmakers of both parties, a bill to reopen the northern regional office of the Capital Collateral Regional Office to handle habeas corpus petitions of death row inmates stalled in the House.

And legislation supported by the plaintiff bar that would have required tort defendants who point the blame at entities outside the lawsuit to sue those entities did not pass.

Plaintiff lawyers were pleased that no bills were passed to further limit medical malpractice or other tort lawsuits, a major priority of the Jeb Bush administration.

Sen. Victor Crist, R-Tampa, who heads the criminal and civil justice appropriations committee, said this year’s budget was more than $1 billion less than last year, forcing legislators to make tough choices.

"No state employee at any level of government — whether elected, appointed or civil service — got a pay raise," he said.

One bill that passed won’t cost the state any money, but it’s likely to cost apartment renters plenty. The legislation would allow landlords to collect two months rent for an early termination of a lease, even if they already have re-rented the apartment.

The Republican-controlled Legislature also passed several high-profile claims bills filed on behalf of victims of civil wrongdoing by government agencies, to allow them to collect more than the amount permitted under sovereign immunity.

That means that Minouche Noel, a former Broward County resident, and her family will be able to collect an $8.5 million medical malpractice verdict awarded by a Broward Circuit Court in 1999 arising from an unnecessary operation on her spine performed at a state medical facility when she was a baby.

Lawmakers also approved $5 million for the parents of Martin Lee Anderson, whose son died last year at the hands of drill instructors at a state-sponsored boot camp.

But a bill to create a comprehensive system to compensate those who were wrongfully incarcerated did not make its way to the governor’s desk this year.

No-fault Auto Insurance

One of the hottest questions before lawmakers was whether to renew the Personal Injury Protection system, which sunsets in October. The PIP law requires drivers to purchase $10,000 of PIP coverage, which pays for medical bills, lost wages and death benefits of policyholders and their passengers in auto accidents regardless of who was at fault. A high percentage of Floridians lack any other health insurance coverage.

But the insurance industry argued that the best way to reduce fraud and lower auto insurance rates was to eliminate PIP.

The Senate unanimously passed a bill that extended the PIP system until 2012 and provided $3 million in funding for additional fraud investigators and prosecutors. But the House, along party lines, passed a bill that would eliminate PIP and replace it with an emergency room care system for accident victims.

Under the House bill, accident victims would have to go to a hospital emergency room within 72 hours of the accident to qualify for coverage, and they could only receive follow-up care at a facility owned by the hospital or doctors who originally treated them.

The two chambers were unable to compromise. With no last-minute agreement in June, PIP will come to an end with no mandatory replacement coverage.

Cris E. Boyar, an attorney with Boyar & Freeman in Margate who represents PIP claimants, said that an end to PIP will lead to higher health insurance rates and taxes for most Floridians because someone has to pay for the treatment of uninsured victims.

Allison North Jones, a spokeswoman for an insurance industry-backed coalition called Floridians for Lower Insurance Cost, said that the state will be better off when PIP sunsets in October.

Book said that the special session likely will not include PIP and said that legislators may call a special session closer to the October sunset date and hammer out the compromise.

Justice System Funding

The Florida Supreme Court and the Office of State Courts Administration unsuccessfully requested funding for 37 new judges.

In addition, State Courts Administrator Lisa Goodner lamented that lawmakers also did not approve $12.9 million to bump up the minimum salaries of court employees.

"Our beginning salaries are not competitive with other government employers," she said. "We will continue to work on this issue, because it’s a major concern to us in terms of being able to maintain a well-qualified work force and to not have constant turnover."

Overall, the state court system did receive about $30 million in additional funding, she said. That increase includes $8 million for courthouse projects in jurisdictions that do not have a sufficient tax base to pay for such improvements.

The increase in the court system’s budget includes $24 million for building maintenance and other capital projects. For instance, the money will be used to repair a leak in the basement of the Supreme Court’s building.

The 4th District Court of Appeal in West Palm Beach will receive $1 million to fix its air conditioning system, renovate the entrance to the courthouse, and build new offices. Money has also been allocated in the court system’s budget for restroom renovation, carpet replacement, window replacement and courtroom renovation at the 3rd DCA building in Miami-Dade County.

The Legislature approved $4.4 million to trial courts for due process costs, which include expert witnesses, court reporting and court interpreting costs, Goodner said. Goodner said her agency requested $3 million in court reporting fees, but received $1.7 million. The new money will be enough to add 20 case management positions and 15 court interpreting positions statewide.

Pay for Prosecutors and Pds

Those who hoped the Legislature would provide financial help for modestly paid assistant state attorneys and assistant public defenders came away disappointed.

Sen. David Aronberg, D-Greenacres, introduced a bill that would repay student loans for eligible career assistant state attorneys, assistant PDs, assistant attorney generals, and assistant statewide prosecutors. The bill went nowhere.

"It’s extremely unfortunate that the Legislature does not get the point that we have a crisis in the criminal justice system in Florida," said Juan Carlos Arias, a former prosecutor who founded Friends of Florida Assistant State Attorneys to push for a pay hike and other financial help for public lawyers. "We are bleeding an unacceptable number of prosecutors across the state, particularly in the big cities."
Sen. Crist said that the Legislature did not act on the issue because of the state’s billion-dollar budget shortfall. "We are aware of the problem and have worked to improve on it over the years."

Arias rejected Crist’s explanation. "It was a bad fiscal year," he said. "But the last four years were great years for the state of Florida, so what was the excuse for the year before and the year before that?"

Conflict Counsel

The Legislature approved a bill to establish a new office of criminal conflict and civil regional counsel in each of the five Florida appellate districts to represent poor criminal defendants whom the existing public defender offices can’t handle due to conflicts of interest.

Lawyers in these new public offices would take over most of this work from private lawyers who are appointed by the courts as special public defenders, based on a rotating wheel system.

The bill would allocate $50 million during fiscal year. That’s about half the cost of the current program of appointing private attorneys.

Sen. Crist said in an interview earlier this month that lawmakers’ decision to create the new offices of criminal conflict was driven by the need to be "fiscally sound and financially responsible."

"This is not a policy we wanted to do," said Crist, who heads the Senate justice appropriations committee. "I would have much rather left it with the private sector."

Death Penalty Representation

In 2003, then-Gov. Bush and his conservative legislative allies moved to privatize the state’s system of providing representation to death row inmates in habeas corpus petitions.

Their legislation eliminated the northern office of the state-run Capital Collateral Regional Counsel in Tallahassee, and mandated a study comparing the cost-effectiveness of private lawyers with CCRC lawyers in the remaining two offices in Fort Lauderdale and Tampa. But Supreme Court Justice Raoul G. Cantero III and others criticized the quality of representation by private lawyers picked from a state registry list.

With the backing of the Supreme Court, Gov. Crist and lawmakers of both parties moved to re-open the CCRC’s northern regional office. But that effort stalled in the House.

Tort Law

The plaintiff bar’s main initiative this session was a bill that would have overturned the state Supreme Court’s 1993 decision in Fabre v. Martin. That decision allows defendants in tort cases to shift the blame to others outside the litigation, without formally bringing them into a lawsuit. Juries may apportion fault to entities not named in the suit that have no exposure to damages. That leaves plaintiffs with no way to collect.

The Florida Justice Association proposed requiring defendants that point the finger at entities outside the lawsuit to sue those entities and bring them into the litigation. Business and insurance groups and the Florida Medical Association strongly opposed the measure. They contended that the bill would undo last year’s law eliminating joint and several liability.

Two defense-oriented tort bills also failed. One would have capped noneconomic damages at $500,000 in medical malpractice suits against private teaching hospitals, including the University of Miami medical school. Similar bills failed in the past.

Another repeat bill, pushed by the Florida Medical Association and insurers, would have required out-of-state expert witnesses in medical malpractice cases to obtain licensure from the Florida Department of Health. Such licensure would have opened them to disciplinary action in Florida if someone accused them of false testimony.

Sen. Crist said lawmakers are reluctant to wade back into the medical malpractice issue. "Changing the justice system, especially litigation reform, turns into a bloodbath and people come away beat up and injured," he said.

Early Termination of Leases

Lawmakers handed landlords a big victory by passing a bipartisan bill giving them the right to collect two months rent for early termination of a lease, no matter why the tenant terminated it. The measure will prevent tenants from challenging early termination payments in court.

Similar bills have failed in past years because of opposition by Democrats and consumer groups. But this year the Florida Apartment Association retained the services of Book. He said certain changes in the bill this year won over Democrats such as state Sen. Arthenia L. Joyner, D-Tampa, and Sen. Aronberg.

"The bill passed this year because [we] did a much more effective job of explaining to those people who had opposed the bill in the past why it was necessary to pass this bill and how it would help not only landlords but residents of apartment communities," said Jeff Rogo, the government affairs director of the Florida Apartment Association.

               Business Granted Right to Ban Signature-Seekers

By Jim Ash
News-Press.com Tallahassee bureau
Originally posted on April 12, 2007

TALLAHASSEE - Publix sued and won two years ago to keep signature gatherers for a petition drive to decriminalize marijuana off the parking lot of a Tallahassee store.

A House panel Thursday gave the grocery giant another victory when it voted to give all businesses the right to ban signature gatherers from private property.

"It's a business decision, but fundamentally, it's a personal property decision," said Rep. Dick Kravitz, R-Jacksonville. "You have the right to say, 'get off my property.'"

The Economic Expansion and Infrastructure Council approved the measure (HB 559) over the objections of the League of Women Voters and other critics.

"The league is against anything that would make citizen involvement more difficult," said Marilynn Wills, a Tallahassee organizer for the volunteer group that sponsors voter registration drives.

Critics say the move would make grocery stores and shopping malls, the most popular, voter-rich gathering spots, off limits. They also complained that businesses would be encouraged to invite some signature drives but discriminate against others.

And that's the way it should be, said David Daniel, a lobbyist for the Florida Chamber of Commerce.

"Ultimately, there's no right of free speech on private property, the courts have said that over and over again," Daniel said.

Daniel said businesses are growing more worried about aggressive, paid petition gatherers who harass customers.

"Customers were going to managers to complain, and when they called the police to remove them, law enforcement said they couldn't do anything."

Susan Bucher, D-West Palm Beach, countered that the bill would also ban petition drives from town squares in privately owned communities.

"My problem is, essentially, town squares," Bucher said. "They have streets and sidewalks and there is no commerce going on there."

The U.S. Supreme Court began grappling with the issue as early as 1946, struggling to balance the rights to free speech and assembly with property rights. That year, justices decided that a company-owned town should allow the distribution of religious pamphlets because the owner opened up the property for public use.

But subsequent decisions dating back to the 1970s sided with the private property owners.

A companion bill (SB 1920) is making its way through the Senate.

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Crist Offers Tax-cut Compromise
Governor Hopes Latest Proposal Ends Bitter House-senate Debate

Jason Garcia and John Kennedy
Tallahassee Bureau
Orlando Sentinel
April 26, 2007

TALLAHASSEE -- Gov. Charlie Crist sought to end an increasingly tense property-tax fight between the House and Senate by offering a new proposal Wednesday that would save taxpayers $33.5 billion over five years.

Under the plan, the average homeowner would save $340 the first year, growing to as much as $1,700 by the fifth year, Crist's staff said.

The proposal, which Crist said found the "sweet spot" between the competing House and Senate plans, is an attempt to settle a struggle among ruling Republicans that threatens to drag the Legislature past its scheduled May 4 finish.

"I think it's important for me to lead," Crist said Wednesday night before an Orlando town-hall meeting on property taxes. "The people didn't elect me to mark time. They elected me to make a difference."

The new Crist plan doesn't include swapping property taxes for a higher sales tax -- a key component of House Speaker Marco Rubio's proposal that the governor effectively declared dead.

"You know, there's an old song, 'You can't always get what you want,' " Crist said, quoting lyrics from the Rolling Stones. "But if you try sometimes, you might get what you need. And what we need is significant property-tax relief."

The House is seeking $40 billion to $50 billion in tax reductions during five years. The Senate plan would save $15 billion to $20 billion during the same period.

Crist's approach builds on a proposal he made in January, when he kicked off the property-tax-cutting push just weeks after taking office.

It would immediately roll back city and county tax collections to 2003-04 levels, while allowing some adjustment for growth and inflation. It also would restrict future increases in all city and county revenues -- including property taxes, impact fees and other levies.

The package calls for a special election in November to double the state's $25,000 homestead exemption. Each city and county then would have to get voter approval in a follow-up election. To avoid removing many homes completely from the tax rolls in poor and rural communities, the second exemption could apply after homeowners paid taxes on at least $25,000 of assessed value.

Save Our Homes portability?
Also on the ballot would be a measure allowing primary homeowners to carry with them when they move the savings they have accumulated under Florida's Save Our Homes tax cap.

Finally, first-time home buyers would gain an immediate 25 percent reduction on the taxable value of the house, under Crist's plan.

Senate Republicans said they were encouraged by the governor's proposal, particularly because it does not include the sales-tax hike that they adamantly oppose.

"The biggest thing here is no tax increase," said Senate Finance and Tax Chairman Mike Haridopolos, R-Melbourne. "I think the governor has weighed in because he, like we, [was] uncomfortable with the sales-tax increase."

The tax debate is now mostly a drama featuring Rubio, R-West Miami, and House Republicans against everyone else. But few predict that Rubio's surrender is imminent.

"I think the worst is yet to come," Sen. Jim King, R-Jacksonville, said. "There will be some gnashing of teeth before this gets done."

Rubio's chief property-tax negotiator, Republican Rep. Dean Cannon of Winter Park, said the House remains committed to the deep level of tax cuts it has already outlined -- which are more than the governor has proposed and also rely on the sales-tax hike.

'Drop like a rock'

"We've defined 'drop like a rock' our way," Cannon said, quoting Crist's well-used catchphrase. "We'd hope he would want to cut the people's taxes as much as we want to cut the people's taxes."

Crist's plan follows a week of increasingly harsh criticism of the House plan from senators in both political parties, which continued Wednesday when Senate President Ken Pruitt, R-Port St. Lucie, called it "a proven fact that the higher sales tax, the more regressive it is."

Still, Rubio and the House have shown no signs of budging off an approach they insist would both save money and restore fairness to the property-tax system, where many longtime homeowners pay far less in taxes than recent buyers because of the Save Our Homes tax cap.

The standoff extended into a third day of negotiations, which the House and Senate spent wrestling into the night over how far to force local governments to rollback their property-tax collections.

House-Senate talks break off

Talks abruptly ended about 8:30 p.m., with both sides accusing the other of doing little to resolve differences. Senators appeared ready to walk out when the meeting was gaveled to a close.
In Orlando, at the town-hall meeting at Valencia Community College's east campus, Crist heard from about 90 frustrated property owners demanding tax relief.

Residents, many of them rental-property owners, complained that soaring assessments had raised taxes so high they could barely afford to maintain their properties or turn even a small profit. They and others largely blamed local elected officials for failing to roll back tax rates as property values rose.

If the Legislature and Crist want to ensure tax relief, they said, they would have to find a way to curb spending at the local level.

"We are in trouble," Orlando resident Elese Sanford said. "We have to have help." But, she said, "I beg you" not to pass tax reform without caps on local government. "They could do a lot of cutting."

When another resident pointed out that local officials contend they would have to cut essential services such as fire and police protection, Crist jumped in.

"That's pathetic," he said. "Nobody believes that. Nobody's that stupid."

And if local governments make that argument, Crist said, then "shame on them."

Jim Stratton of the Sentinel staff, who reported from Orlando, contributed to this report. Jason Garcia can be reached at jrgarcia@orlandosentinel.com. John Kennedy can be reached at jkennedy@orlandosentinel.com. Both also can be reached at 850-222-5564.