Week 4 State Legislature Report

29 MAR 13

The Legislature only met for two days this week in a shortened Easter/Passover holiday schedule.  It is the final week for most subcommittees to hear bills (excluding budget subcommittees), so those bills waiting to be heard at that level are likely dead for this year.

The excitement over the NCAA tournament was clearly evident this week in the Capitol.  Our regional legislative members took several opportunities during committee hearings to highlight FGCU with comments on our NCAA tournament run, quality academic successes and regional economic benefits.   We received well wishes from many legislative members around the state. 

The House and Senate have released their first budgets. More details are to follow.

Wednesday March 27, 2013

House Education Appropriations Subcommittee released the preliminary proposed budget recommendation which largely mirrors the Senate proposal. It restores the $300M “borrowed” from SUS reserves last year, provides $65M for performance funding, reduces the senate proposed $15M for FSU pre-eminence to $12.5M, but funds UF the full $15M+$15M for its online arm.

Senate Education Appropriations Subcommittee presented its final budget recommendation as adjusted by input from members. There was no debate or vote. The Senate Appropriations Committee will use this recommendation to build its final budget.

House K-12 Education Subcommittee heard HB 1097 (Steube) relating to permitting K-12 principals to designate someone on staff to carry a concealed weapon on campus in the absence of school resource officers.  Most elementary schools in the state do not have school resource officers, due to lack of funding, but many have former combat or law enforcement veterans on staff that possess the appropriate training to act in case of emergency. Several technical amendments passed. Despite the opposition of the School Board Association, School Superintendents, and others, and impassioned debate, the bill passed.

House Gov Ops Subcommittee heard HB 359 (Pigman) relating to establishing a public meeting exemption for university DSO’s discussing confidential topics already exempt from public record.  One technical amendment was approved, and the bill passed. It has one more stop. The Senate companion (SB 126- Montford) has three more committee stops.

House Rulemaking, Oversight and Repeal Subcommittee heard HB 23 (Rodrigues) pertaining to the public’s right to speak at public meetings and passed it without debate. It has one more stop. The Senate companion (SB 50- Negron) passed the full Senate unanimously 3/19, and awaits House action.

House Education Committee heard HB 7057, the comprehensive higher education bill relating to pre-eminence, performance standards, BOG oversight enforcement authority, adult and career education,  and the online arm of UF. A series of amendments passed without discussion or debate, and the bill passed unanimously.  This was its last stop before the full House. The Senate has several comparison bills which are also progressing through the system and may be consolidated at some point.  

Thursday March 28

Senate Appropriations Committee heard the CAPE Act (Career and Professional Education) SB 1076- Legg in its final stop before the floor.. The bill passed after considerable debate and amendments.

SB 1720- Galvano the comprehensive education bill dealing with pre-eminence, performance standards, BOG oversight enforcement authority, adult and career education and the online arm of UF was amended by a Committee substitute and further amendments, bringing the language in line with its companion HB 7057. This bill is now ready for the floor.

House Judiciary Committee heard HB 757- Hood relating to mandatory reports of child abuse, which correct a redundancy in the law passed last year requiring law enforcement to report abuse to HHS who then reported back to law enforcement. The bill passed unanimously without discussion or debate and is ready for the floor. The Senate companion SB 1162- Bradley has two more stops.

House Select Committee on Patient Protection and Affordable Care submitted new language important to all state employers. In part, it creates a heath care insurance classification for all OPS employees, effective 1/1/2014, who have previously been excluded from the state group health insurance program.  OPS employees working more than 30 hours per week must be offered a minimal insurance benefit under the federal law to avoid financial penalties upwards of $320M per year. The bill, however, includes all OPS state employees and authorizes the program to contract for this new benefit effective 2014. It sets employee premiums at $96 (individual) and $136.74 (family) and estimates actual policy cost at $413.69 (individual) and $1009.70 (family). The Self Insurance Estimating Conference has not yet reviewed this proposal to determine the actual cost to the state to be included in the General Appropriations Act.  Members questioned the wisdom of creating a new insurance plan rather than just rolling OPS employees into the existing health insurance benefit plan; providing a benefit greater than the federal law requires or private insurers can afford; and the higher subsidy for family coverage to OPS in contrast to regular state employees. The bill passed with a single no vote. The Senate does not have similar language submitted as yet.   

House Appropriations Committee

Presented a proposed committee bill APC 13-04 dealing with PECO and CITF:

This bill makes various changes related to the manner and requirements of state universities regarding fixed capital outlay. The bill eliminates the requirement that universities enter into campus development agreements with local government host communities. The campus master plan would be required to identify the level of service standard established by the local government and the entity that would provide the service to the campus.

The bill increases the cap for university capital improvement fees from a maximum of 10% of tuition to 20% of tuition and tuition differential; and it increases the cap on the incremental increase per year from $2 to $3 per credit hour.

The bill makes the following changes to Section 1010.62, F.S., relating to revenue bonds and debt:

• Specifically allows public private partnership agreements as a type of university debt.
• Expands the sources of revenues that can be used to secure debt to include technology fees and sales and services of education departments.
• It amends the calculation of the technology fee to include tuition differential.
• Increases the amount of athletic fees that may be used to pay and secure revenue bonds.
• Eliminates the “functional relationship test” to allow auxiliary enterprises revenues (i.e. housing and parking) and revenues from royalties and licensing to be used to secure debt for academic, education and research facilities that are part of a multi-use project.
• Allows academic or educational facilities that are part of a multi-purpose capital outlay project to be bonded without legislative approval of the specific project. The bill increases from $1 million to $2 million the maximum amount universities may spend for building replacement or renovation projects.

Various stakeholders, including the Cities and Counties which stand to lose concurrency fees, expressed concerns over the proposal, while representatives of the Universities, building trades and BOG were there to support the measure. Two members spoke in opposition to the bill, as an unfunded mandate to local governments. Rep. Hudson spoke strongly in support of the measure, citing the obvious, extensive, and ongoing economic impact to the area resulting from FGCU. Chairman McKeel mentioned in his closing comments that his budget would contain “significant support” for PECO and CITF projects to bridge the gap until this bill is fully functional. The bill passed and will be assigned a new number next week.

The Committee also heard a presentation from staff on the current situation and need for a unified IT structure for the state. A proposed committee bill will be published next week dealing with these issues.   

 Friday, March 29

House and Senate Appropriations Committees released their complete budget proposals. PCB 7040 is the Senate General Appropriations Act (GAA) and PCB 7042 the implementing bill. On the House side APC 5 is their GAA and APC 6 their implementing bill. These bills can be amended next Wednesday when the Committees meet, and that work product will be amended again when offered to the full chamber April 10^th. Differences between the spending bills passed in each Chamber will be worked out in conference committees before final passage of a budget for the coming year.

Complete text of bills can be viewed online at www.flsenate.gov  or www.myfloridahouse.gov