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Tallahassee, FL – Florida has been an attractive tourist destination for more than a century, and now the leadership of state government wants it to become a magnet for new and expanding businesses. Shortly after taking the oath of office Tuesday, Gov. Rick Scott signed an executive order freezing implementation of new rules and regulations. He said he wants to weigh the benefit to consumers against the cost for business before allowing any of them to go into effect. As James Call reports, this is part of Scott's plan to create 700,000 new jobs in seven years.
On his first Friday in office, Gov. Rick Scott held his first news conference as the state's chief executive. It was a chance to recap three days as governor and for Scott to reiterate why he wanted to lead the state of Florida.
"My agenda is going to be jobs," he said. "It's going to be jobs, jobs, jobs, it's going to be to reduce the size of government. It's going to be reducing regulations that kills jobs.
Many Republicans around the state house see Scott more in line with the conservative leadership provided by Jeb Bush than with his predecessor, Charlie Crist. Bush calls Scott an instinctive conservative, and said Scott's promise to create 700,000 jobs can be fulfilled with the right policy direction.
"I think the idea that you are going to create jobs is short for you are going to create a climate where jobs are created. And he can do that," said Bush. "And I'm sure he is committed to do exactly that. And 700,000 jobs in 7 years is not that hard to do."
Scott marked the beginning of his administration by acting on the business community's top priority, a freeze on new rules and regulations. Given the state's unemployment rate of 12 percent, it was, he said, a gesture to show that Florida is open for business. House Democratic Leader Ron Saunders said he's taking a wait-and-see attitude on the governor's new policies.
"On regulations, we have to make sure that he doesn't create any negative impact," Saunders said. "So we'll be taking a look, we haven't seen the details yet. We're opened-minded, but we want to see what happens."
Scott is a businessman; he became a multi-millionaire working in the health care industry and says he understands competition. His plan to enhance Florida's competitiveness in the world's marketplace includes eliminating the corporate tax and cutting property taxes by 19 percent; this at a time when the state faces a $3.5 billion budget shortfall next year. Democratic Rep. Joe Gibbons expressed some skepticism about various proposals floating around the capital.
"And we haven't even talked about the reserves we must have, which is an additional $5 billion," he said. "You know when you put those two things together, you know the numbers have to add up in the end. So we need to be very careful about making cuts when in fact we can't fund what we already have without making drastic cuts to things like education and health care, and those are things that we need as a state in fact if we truly want to recruit businesses and create jobs."
However, the Republican leadership in the Legislature appears to share many of Scott's beliefs about how government policy affects economic development and job creation. House Speaker Dean Cannon challenged representatives to rethink government's role in the economy. He said the question isn't whether government can fix a problem but what can government stop doing to allow greater freedom.
"A terrible temptation when you are part of government is to succumb to the notion that we in Tallahassee can make all things better through government," Cannon said. "It's so easy to see people facing challenges and to think if we just had more government revenue that we can fix that. Or if the government just imposed more regulation these bad things would never happen to good people. My friends, those sentiments may be well intended, but they are dangerous. Government cannot give everything to everybody, and it cannot prevent every calamity."
The prevailing belief among the Republican leaders of state government is what government can do is to levy fewer taxes and regulations on the business community. That prescription, according to former Gov. Jeb Bush and new Gov. Rick Scott, will prepare the soil for businesses and jobs to grow.
"We realize we are competition against 49 other states, and some other countries so, people uh, if it is easy to do business in other places, unfortunately people are going to do that. So we have to make this the most business friendly climate in the country."