Tallahassee Democrat opinion: Too bad lawmakers don’t have to pay for bad bills
The next time Florida legislators want to pander to some popular special interest, maybe they should save a lot of time and money and just send $1 million or so to some liberal organization they don’t like.
Don’t get me wrong. Democrats and Republicans alike are pretty good at jumping on a politically safe idea and squeezing it for all the publicity it’s worth. Republicans just happen to be in total control for the last 20 years, and their fiscal conservatism does not extend to attorney fees and court costs.
It’s reasonable to suspect the Democrats would pander just as badly, if they had the votes to get a bill out of committee.
The latest example of a bad bet, paid off by Florida’s taxpayers, was reported in a News Service of Florida story this week that said we will shell out some $1.1 million to lawyers for the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence for expenses it incurred in setting the state straight in the “Docs and Glocks” dispute.
Normally, the Legislature wouldn’t give the Brady bunch the time of day, but $1.1 million is the price tag calculated in the state’s failing defense of an ill-advised law forbidding doctors to ask their patients if they have guns in their homes.
Tampa Bay Times: District to Hillsborough teachers: Suggested pay raises would break the bank
Paying Hillsborough County public school teachers what they want this year could put the school district more than $100 million in the red, officials said Wednesday.
That amount includes a deficit of more than $50 million caused by lower state funding levels and rising costs. The teacher raises and associated expenses would add another roughly $65 million.
“Obviously, that’s a lot of money,” the district’s employee relations manager, Mark West, told union leaders at a negotiating session.
Stephanie Baxter-Jenkins, the union’s executive director, questioned some of the calculations and warned that morale will suffer if the school year starts on Aug. 10 with pay issues unresolved. “This will be the third year in a row we just are leaving teachers in limbo as far as their finances,” she said.
Nevertheless, West said the district needs more information about its financial picture and student enrollment before it moves ahead with anything that means spending more money.
Florida in focus: Florida Gov. wants another raise for state law-enforcement
Florida Gov. Rick Scott wants the state’s highway patrol troopers, wildlife officers and law-enforcement agents to get another pay raise.
Scott will announce the proposal Wednesday during a visit to a Florida Highway Patrol station in Jacksonville.
This year legislators agreed to give the state’s nearly 4,000 sworn-law enforcement officers a 5 percent raise. Scott wants to set aside an additional $30 million in 2018.
In a statement, the governor said the money could be used to recruit and retain officers. But Scott said each agency would come up with a plan to parcel out the raises.
from Watchdog.org
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