By James Call
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wfsu/local-wfsu-897428.mp3
Tallahassee, FL – House and Senate Conference Committee meetings continue amidst floor sessions and other meetings. James Call reports lawmakers are following a schedule that has them finishing negotiations next Tuesday and voting on a state budget the following Friday.
How Florida spends her money is the event of the year for the chattering class, which includes lobbyists. They attend committee meetings, lounge in Capitol hallways, ride the elevators and talk. They trade information and sometimes tell jokes. To some Floridians, though, the state budget decisions made during the coming days have real life consequences.
"It is our paycheck, it is the food for our family, it's the car payment, it's the house payment."
Jeffery Davis lives in Jackson County and came to the Capitol to protest plans to sweep money collected for road building into the general revenue. Davis builds roads for a living. He works for Anderson Columbia.
"We would like to see the money continue to stay where it is. If this budget gets taken away, then the salary at our job gets dropped and henceforth, in the near future, that may mean layoffs simple and plain."
House and Senate leaders are negotiating a state budget for a calendar year beginning July first. The Senate crafted a $69-billion spending plan, the House a $67-billion one. A lot of people have a lot at stake when lawmakers decide what to leave in and what to take out of a spending plan. Yet even veteran lawmakers say it is pretty nearly impossible to figure out what is going on until it has happened. Tuesday morning, Senator Paula Dockery wanted to know why she was voting on an education bill in an energy committee.
"You notice you don't really get a very good answer. The answer is it was the first committee of reference, but this is the Policy Steering Committee for Energy, Environment and Land Use, and we have an education bill; so just very interesting."
Before that committee met, Senator Victor Crist was offering advice to sheriff's deputies on how to be more effective at lobbying when budget decisions are being made in a session's final days.
"To be up here in the process, to be a part of it means you have a voice at the table and an ability to influence."
If these were the 1970's and Crist was a folk singer, he could have started singing "Please Come to Tallahassee in the Spring." When the deputies sought advice, Crist took off on a populist riff and didn't stop until he had invited almost the entire state to camp out at the state Capitol for the next two weeks.
Crist told them, "When we see and we hear from real people that have to deal with real everyday crisis, it's far more influencing and more believable."
Advocates for schools, social services and the courts say there's a real chance of real crises being created by the budget plans before the Legislature. It may look like the House and Senate are $2-billion apart, but it is more complicated. The Senate crafted its plan by including $880-million dollars in Medicaid money Congress is expected to send later this year; the House by transferring hundreds of millions of dollars from roads to general revenue. The two differed on how much money to keep in savings. At this point in the process, the budget is a moving target because different pieces are still fluid. But many expect hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people to be negatively affected by the spending decisions.
Senator Dennis Jones said, "Alls I can say is if we were able to have gotten the FMAT money in a timely manner, that extra $880-million right now would certainly help us ease the pain."
On the Capitol grounds, the words pain and budget are appearing in the same sentences a lot these days. The schedule laid out calls for lawmakers to finish budget work sometime next Tuesday. If they hit that date, then a budget bill will be placed on members' desks Wednesday morning. This allows for a 72-hour cooling off period before a vote and lawmakers to meet the April 30 deadline for the spring session.