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Simply disgusting.
http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2011/...ut-government/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Scott
http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2011/...ut-government/
TALLAHASSEE — Cutting the size of Florida's government was one of former Gov. Jeb Bush's goals. It's been attempted by other governors across the country, too, although not often successfully.
But with Florida's economy in the doldrums, a budget shortfall of at least $3.6 billion and a desire to cut taxes, new Gov. Rick Scott and a conservative Republican Legislature see a chance to eliminate or curtail programs they see as unneeded or wasteful.
The legislative session set to start March 8 could be one of the most explosive in years, with thousands of state jobs on the line along with cuts to key government services. Rank-and-file state employees, who haven't seen a pay raise in five years, will lose ground again with changes in their pension and health benefits.
Scott and legislators are taking dead aim at education, social services and even law enforcement, with police agencies concerned that they'll have to release some inmates to save housing and feeding costs.
"I'm focused on building private sector jobs," said Scott, who promised during his campaign that he'd create 700,000 new jobs in Florida over the next seven years. "That's going to be the key."
During his inaugural speech after being re-elected in 2002, Bush said he'd like to empty the buildings surrounding the Capitol that housed thousands of state employees. And now Scott comes to town — the third straight Republican governor — with a similar philosophy to Bush that the private sector fuels America's economy.
"Government has to get back to its core functions, but only its core functions," an unapologetic Scott said. And he's borrowing from some of the strategies he used in building HCA/Columbia, the company he founded, into one of the largest hospital chains in the world. "All of the citizens in our state have had to tighten their belts."
Scott was elected in part on a campaign message of "Let's Get to Work," and his first mission is to do something about Florida's bleak unemployment situation where one of every eight workers are jobless. He has proposed cutting the current budget from $70.4 billion to $65.9 billion for the next fiscal year, which starts July 1.
"They've got a real challenge ahead," said noted University of Florida professor and author David Denslow. He recalled a similar challenge faced by former Gov. Reubin Askew nearly four decades ago when the role of government had a smaller affect the overall economy.
In his Feb. 7 budget message, Scott outlined major cuts in services to balance the budget. Privatization and consolidation are being closely examined as means of meeting that requirement and at the same time putting the brakes on government growth.
Scott proposed cutting pension benefits for state workers, teachers and some local government employees and requiring them contribute 5 percent of their salaries to their retirement plan. He wants to cut education spending by $3.3 billion or $700 per student and save $1 billion by reducing Medicaid reimbursements to hospitals and nursing homes, but not to doctors.
He has proposed cutting the state's work force by 8,645 positions, or nearly 7 percent. About 2,000 of those positions already are vacant.
"The question is how do you meet the important needs of the state?" asks Doug Martin, legislative director for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), a union that represents 57,000 Florida government employees.
"You're talking about road maintenance, child protection, juvenile justice, prisons, veterans homes," Martin said. "Florida will still have 100,000 prisoners. Florida will still have juvenile gang problems. It will still have children in need of protection."
Scott believes he can cut taxes by about $2 billion and still balance the budget.
But it's the Legislature that will make the final decisions on state spending, albeit Scott holds the veto pen.
House Speaker Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park, and Senate President Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, are already skeptical about some of the governor's proposals, particularly the size of Scott's proposed tax cut. They worry whether the state could maintain essential services if those proposals go through.
"If there's a way that they can be reduced and still meet the critical needs then I'm open to it, but I think it's going to be a big challenge," Cannon said. "I haven't seen a way yet that I'm persuaded it's doable."
Cannon, however, agrees that this is a good time to take a hard look and governmental operations. He created a Select Committee on Government Reorganization to focus on the core mission of government and eliminate costly, extraneous tasks. Cannon said he wants recommendations from the panel that could lead to "true reform."
Scott offered few specifics on how he intends to cut corporate income and school property taxes while closing the budget gap. He did, though, say the state needs to do a better job of buying goods and services.
"Our existing budget is bloated," he said. "We're not cautious enough about how we spend money."
Consolidation is another Scott strategy for cutting government waste.
He wants many common state agency activities ranging from property management to mail distribution to be consolidated under the Department of Management Services. He'd also like to put the Department of Community Affairs under the Department of Environmental Protection.
The Department of Business and Professional Regulation will pick up some licensing and regulation responsibilities previously assigned to the Department of Health while the Department of Revenue takes over some of DBPR's alcohol and beverage tax collections.
Rep. Ron Saunders of Key West, the House Democratic leader and a former budget chairman, supports a thorough review of state spending, but said most of the rules and regulations now in place were put there by Republicans in the past 15 years.
"If it's broken, Republicans broke it," said Saunders, adding that Scott could have some trouble eliminating programs favored by some GOP lawmakers.
"We're going to see how we do it without creating too much harm," Saunders said.
But with Florida's economy in the doldrums, a budget shortfall of at least $3.6 billion and a desire to cut taxes, new Gov. Rick Scott and a conservative Republican Legislature see a chance to eliminate or curtail programs they see as unneeded or wasteful.
The legislative session set to start March 8 could be one of the most explosive in years, with thousands of state jobs on the line along with cuts to key government services. Rank-and-file state employees, who haven't seen a pay raise in five years, will lose ground again with changes in their pension and health benefits.
Scott and legislators are taking dead aim at education, social services and even law enforcement, with police agencies concerned that they'll have to release some inmates to save housing and feeding costs.
"I'm focused on building private sector jobs," said Scott, who promised during his campaign that he'd create 700,000 new jobs in Florida over the next seven years. "That's going to be the key."
During his inaugural speech after being re-elected in 2002, Bush said he'd like to empty the buildings surrounding the Capitol that housed thousands of state employees. And now Scott comes to town — the third straight Republican governor — with a similar philosophy to Bush that the private sector fuels America's economy.
"Government has to get back to its core functions, but only its core functions," an unapologetic Scott said. And he's borrowing from some of the strategies he used in building HCA/Columbia, the company he founded, into one of the largest hospital chains in the world. "All of the citizens in our state have had to tighten their belts."
Scott was elected in part on a campaign message of "Let's Get to Work," and his first mission is to do something about Florida's bleak unemployment situation where one of every eight workers are jobless. He has proposed cutting the current budget from $70.4 billion to $65.9 billion for the next fiscal year, which starts July 1.
"They've got a real challenge ahead," said noted University of Florida professor and author David Denslow. He recalled a similar challenge faced by former Gov. Reubin Askew nearly four decades ago when the role of government had a smaller affect the overall economy.
In his Feb. 7 budget message, Scott outlined major cuts in services to balance the budget. Privatization and consolidation are being closely examined as means of meeting that requirement and at the same time putting the brakes on government growth.
Scott proposed cutting pension benefits for state workers, teachers and some local government employees and requiring them contribute 5 percent of their salaries to their retirement plan. He wants to cut education spending by $3.3 billion or $700 per student and save $1 billion by reducing Medicaid reimbursements to hospitals and nursing homes, but not to doctors.
He has proposed cutting the state's work force by 8,645 positions, or nearly 7 percent. About 2,000 of those positions already are vacant.
"The question is how do you meet the important needs of the state?" asks Doug Martin, legislative director for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), a union that represents 57,000 Florida government employees.
"You're talking about road maintenance, child protection, juvenile justice, prisons, veterans homes," Martin said. "Florida will still have 100,000 prisoners. Florida will still have juvenile gang problems. It will still have children in need of protection."
Scott believes he can cut taxes by about $2 billion and still balance the budget.
But it's the Legislature that will make the final decisions on state spending, albeit Scott holds the veto pen.
House Speaker Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park, and Senate President Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, are already skeptical about some of the governor's proposals, particularly the size of Scott's proposed tax cut. They worry whether the state could maintain essential services if those proposals go through.
"If there's a way that they can be reduced and still meet the critical needs then I'm open to it, but I think it's going to be a big challenge," Cannon said. "I haven't seen a way yet that I'm persuaded it's doable."
Cannon, however, agrees that this is a good time to take a hard look and governmental operations. He created a Select Committee on Government Reorganization to focus on the core mission of government and eliminate costly, extraneous tasks. Cannon said he wants recommendations from the panel that could lead to "true reform."
Scott offered few specifics on how he intends to cut corporate income and school property taxes while closing the budget gap. He did, though, say the state needs to do a better job of buying goods and services.
"Our existing budget is bloated," he said. "We're not cautious enough about how we spend money."
Consolidation is another Scott strategy for cutting government waste.
He wants many common state agency activities ranging from property management to mail distribution to be consolidated under the Department of Management Services. He'd also like to put the Department of Community Affairs under the Department of Environmental Protection.
The Department of Business and Professional Regulation will pick up some licensing and regulation responsibilities previously assigned to the Department of Health while the Department of Revenue takes over some of DBPR's alcohol and beverage tax collections.
Rep. Ron Saunders of Key West, the House Democratic leader and a former budget chairman, supports a thorough review of state spending, but said most of the rules and regulations now in place were put there by Republicans in the past 15 years.
"If it's broken, Republicans broke it," said Saunders, adding that Scott could have some trouble eliminating programs favored by some GOP lawmakers.
"We're going to see how we do it without creating too much harm," Saunders said.
Scott served in the U.S. Navy and then went into business. He earned a business degree and law degree and joined a Dallas firm where he became partner. In 1987 he helped found the Columbia Hospital Corporation with two business partners; this merged with Hospital Corporation of America in 1989 to form Columbia/HCA and eventually became the largest private for-profit health care company in the U.S. He was forced to resign as Chief Executive of Columbia/HCA in 1997 amid a scandal over the company's business and Medicare billing practices; the company ultimately admitted to fourteen felonies and agreed to pay the federal government over $600 million.[3][4][5][6][7] Scott later became a venture capitalist, and entered into politics in 2010, when he announced his intention to run for Governor of Florida. Having defeated Bill McCollum in the Republican primary election, Scott defeated Democrat Alex Sink in a close race in the 2010 Florida gubernatorial election.[8]
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