Budget Clock Is Ticking - "Although the House and Senate approved separate $52-billion spending plans Friday, they remain at odds over numerous other issues. Those include the $45-million Byrd wants for an Alzheimer's center at the University of South Florida, the $120-million Bush wants for his school reward program and the fate of a sales tax holiday. The House budget includes all those items; the Senate budget includes none of them.
What the conference committees can't resolve by Tuesday afternoon will be referred to the budget chiefs of both chambers, Sen. Ken Pruitt, R-Port St. Lucie, and Rep. Bruce Kyle, R-Fort Myers. What they can't agree on will be handled by King and Byrd.
Troxler On Vouchers - "The Legislature, in its zeal to pump public money into private schools as fast as possible, has not required the most basic accountability. There are no rules in place, and no enforcement, concerning the law's vague requirement for audits. Now lawmakers are talking about doubling the program to $100-million a year. Even some - not all - of the scholarship groups are begging for tougher rules, so the program will not be discredited. What would the Republican response be if Democrats were handing out $100-million with no controls whatsoever? This is a young, willy-nilly, Wild West world." See "Vouchers' virtues don't preclude need for accountability".
Why Have Public Meetings At All? "It took Florida lawmakers just four days last week to agree on several issues they couldn't resolve through a 60-day regular session, but you wouldn't know it from attending public meetings. Legislative leaders relied on what open-government advocates called shameful secret deals made in private to hammer out compromises on a list of the most-pressing issues for the state during the ongoing special session." See "Secrecy still rules proceedings at Capitol".
Graham - "Sen. Bob Graham suffered a political setback last week when he found himself in the unlikely position of having to defend his commitment to restoring the Everglades. But after the furor died down, a potentially more troubling question remained for his presidential campaign: Is Graham politically adept enough to make the transition from Senate insider to presidential candidate, especially given that Democratic primary voters tend to be left of the political center?" See "Bob Graham faces next challenge".
No Fault - "Lawmakers who were close to scrapping Florida's 32-year-old no-fault auto insurance law have agreed to give the concept another four years to work. But if the state can't get a handle on rampant insurance fraud, especially in South Florida, no-fault auto insurance could be junked in 2007. To keep that from happening, lawmakers have settled on compromise legislation that gives investigators more power to attack fake claims, which drive up auto-insurance costs for honest consumers." See "Four more years for no-fault insurance". 6:46 AM
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