Part of the series, Assault on Florida.
It’s only been in session for three weeks, but Florida’s Republican Legislature is in full swing and our new governor is feeling his beans. Here’s a roundup of state politics from this week:
- Gov. Rick Scott signed his first bill into law, eliminating tenure for new teachers and tying teacher contracts and pay to student performance.
- In related news, the Senate’s education budget cuts about $1 billion from classrooms, dropping the average funding level of $6,811 per pupil to about $6,388. Also, teachers, would have to start contributing about 3 percent of their wages to their retirements, which will amount to about $678.6 million less in state spending on public pension benefits for teachers.
- In related news, Gov. Scott urged lawmakers to promote charter schools, and they responded with a bill that would require school districts to enter into a contract with charters approved by community colleges or universities.
- In related news, Education Commissioner Eric Smith suddenly announced his resignation on Monday, citing the fact that Scott had not met with him since Scott’s inauguration.
- The Fla. Legislature overrode former Gov. Charlie Crist’s veto and enacted a law that allows legislative leaders to raise unlimited special-interest money and funnel it to the campaigns of their hand-picked candidates.
- Thursday, the state House is considering a bill that would prohibit state agencies, as well as county, municipal or other local governmental entities from deducting union dues from the paychecks of teachers, police officers and other public employees. The bill also states that unions will have to get a written authorization from members to use dues toward political activities.
- A massive bill deregulating everything from auto repair shops to hair braiders was been scaled back in response to complaints from consumer advocates from covering nearly 30 professions to 20, though it still deregulates auto mechanics and moving companies.
- A House bill has been filed to repeal another section of SB 550, the water-quality bill that required septic tanks statewide to be inspected every five years and banned the spreading of septic tank waste on land.
- The Legislature also is considering a measure that would allow private companies to place advertisements on vehicle license plates.
- A rewrite of the state’s $22 billion Medicaid program cleared the House budget committee Thursday after Republicans tucked in a provision making it tougher for patients to sue doctors and limiting medical malpractice cases to a $300,000 award.
As I’ve always said, imagine the damage these bozos could do if they were in session more than 60 days …
Connect:
Ah, yes, new licenses to steal given out this week by the state of Florida.
Deregulating moving companies. Brilliant. I’ve had some personal dealings with moving company thieves, but one case from my early days practicing law takes the cake. A client once came to me when he was being sued by a major national moving company, that had picked up his belongings in New York for delivery in Long Beach, CA. The were never paid, so they were suing him for their moving charges. Why was this outrageous? THEY NEVER, EVER delivered his property. Ever. He never saw a single piece of his property again, but they had the audacity to sue him for moving expenses. Just the industry that needs deregulation.
But the modern day unregulated industry of thieves is the Charter School business. Back up the truckloads of taxpayer money, and you’ll see embezzlement, diversion of funds, phony test scores, and whatever else thy can come up with. You name it, and they do it. See several documented cases here: http://thehounddawg.blogspot.com/2011/02/charter-school-owners-and-operators-lie.html
Steal from the poor and give to the rich, with state approval.
This does not even mention the fact that Scott is up to his old games, stealing from the retirees and the poor with his new health clinics (which he has now put in his wife’s name)
he has given himself a new license to steal (and he will)
js, I know what you’re saying but I, for one, am on Rick Scott overload. Which I think he intends – if he can keep our heads spinning, he wins. But I applaud Buck for at least starting the task of explaining to non-Floridians how bad it is. I hope to add to the record soon.