March 4 - March 20
A favorite children’s show on PBS employed the “letter of the day” to teach children the basics of the alphabet. Florida’s legislators have strung together a series of letters to come up with a “word of the Session”: B-U-D-G-E-T. Thinking back to last session, we have to say its déjà vu.
Senate President Jeff Atwater presaged it in his opening day remarks, “If it doesn’t house, teach, feed, protect, heal or create a job for a Floridian, then this is the time to end it.”
Children’s Campaign, Inc. encourages a larger view: reframing spending patterns as investment opportunities and balancing them with necessary revenue. This approach would deliver Florida from its economic doldrums while accomplishing what Senate President Atwater envisions: housing, teaching, protecting, healing, and hiring. These views and more were discussed in a televised town hall meeting produced in cooperation with WJCT Television in Jacksonville.
Revenue enhancement options continue to face an uphill climb, with more stick in the Senate than in the House, but even that chamber may be inching closer to understanding the grim realities that few alternatives exist.
The measures being considered, however, are viewed by legislative leadership as stop-gap attempts to match inflows and outflows and not the overall reform required. Florida has depended in an increasingly disastrous way on population growth and the real estate industry to meet its needs for cash. Other streams of general revenue beyond the sales tax have been artificially constricted with the bad outcomes many of us predicted when voicing our opposition at the time.
There doesn’t appear to be much of an appetite to revisit those decisions and make amends. To do so would require a level of citizen outcry that at this point has not materialized. Still, an increasing number of legislators are searching for ways to develop a package capable of being sold back home. Ironically, the pitch has to be made to the same constituents that have been conditioned by years of political rhetoric railing against all forms of taxes and fees, even though Florida is already a low tax, low fee state.
Revenue measures proposed include closing the loophole on internet sales tax, an increase in the cigarette tax, and a one-cent increase to the sales tax earmarked for education.
BEYOND THE BUDGET, SUBSTANCE HARD TO MOVE
Advocates are grousing about the lack of movement of substantive bills that would cost the state little but would have a large beneficial impact on the lives of Florida’s more than 4-million children (not to mention, positive economic returns in the long run). In some cases, progressive bills have picked up unwanted passengers, with the potential of turning proponents into opponents.
One such instance is the Department of Juvenile Justice proposed House bill related to the Blueprint Commission Report (HB 1211). On Thursday, in the Public Safety and Domestic Security Policy Committee, the bill was amended to change the party responsible for having final authority in determining post-adjudicatory placement of a child in Florida’s juvenile justice system. This provision also appears in HB 173, known as the Detention Bill, which the Children’s Campaign opposes. HB 173 unanimously passed the House Criminal and Civil Justice Appropriations Committee and is on its way to the Full Appropriations Council on General Government & Health Care. In the Senate the companion bill, SB 654, has been not been scheduled to date. Advocates should be on guard for alternative pathways.
Support for pre-k degreed teachers continues to build. Five new cities have signed onto the resolution, raising the total to nearly 60, and Children’s Campaign executive director Linda Alexionok and lobbyist Patricia Greene received an enthusiastic response from a meeting of the entire House Minority Party. The presentation covered the estimated investment and return for providing degreed teachers in pre-k classrooms, the researched results delivered by degreed teachers, and additional benefits.
Bills having major benefits that are struggling to move forward include SB 918 and HB 1329 which would clarify the application for Kidcare and remove restrictions on participation, and SB 126 and HB 1439 which would grant foster youth access to their records.
Children’s Campaign Arranges Special Workshop on Justice for Girls
Girls issues received a major boost with a special workshop organized jointly by the Children’s Campaign and the NCCD Center for Girls and Young Women. The two-hour workshop was conducted by the Public Safety & Domestic Security Policy Committee chaired by Rep. J.C. Planas (R-Miami) as requested by Rep. Audrey Gibson (D- Jacksonville).
Dr. Lawanda Ravoira moderated and reviewed both the findings and recommendations of the girl’s blueprint for action. Speakers included; William Scheu, Justice for Girls Duval Leadership Council – affiliated with Children’s Campaign, Inc., Joan Van Vleck, immediate past president of the Jacksonville Women’s Giving Alliance, Honorable Nancy Daniels representing the Florida Public Defenders Office, Dot Inman-Johnson, Children’s Campaign board member, Dr. Shairi Turner, Medical Director of the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice, Cathy Craig-Myers, executive director of the Florida Juvenile Justice Association, and Mary Marx, interim CEO of PACE Center for Girls. Poignant testimony was offered by three girls served in Florida's juvenile justice system.
It was very impressive that many citizen leaders from across north Florida appeared in support, signaling the growth in the justice for girls initiative.
Lt. Governor Waters Down Letter
According to an article in the St. Petersburg Times, a letter from the Children’s Cabinet that was supposed to go to Governor Crist and legislators detailing the decline in the health and welfare of the state’s children and warning against more budget cuts was watered down by chair of the cabinet, Lt. Governor Jeff Kottkamp.
This is the second time in recent weeks where the advocate members of the Children’s Cabinet have expressed disappointment in the leadership of Florida’s executive branch.
The original of the letter stated, "We firmly realize that the choices before our state are tough. We know just as firmly that our failure to protect our children is the failure to protect the future of our beloved state."
Child advocates in the coming weeks will be needed more than ever to fight to move children’s issues while also working on the budget. Special attention is needed to ensure that stimulus dollars are used in the manner intended by the federal government, thereby protecting children’s programs and services directly and indirectly as the state moves to balance its budget.
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Bill Tracking
click on the link below to see bill sponsors, summaries, and latest activity
Promise 1 (child health, including; maternal health, KidCare, mental health, etc.)
Promise 2 (child protection, including; foster care, adoption, independent living, etc.)
Promise 3 (early learning and care, including; pre-k, child care, etc.)
Promise 4 (after school, including before and after school programs, summer school, etc.)
Promise 5 (juvenile justice, including juvenile justice reform, girls issues, minority overrepresentation, etc.)