FEDC Legislative Report: Committee Week of Jan. 7-11

 

January 7-11:  First Week of Interim Committees for 2008

The Florida Legislature filled the halls of the Capitol during the week of January 7-11 to conduct the first week of interim committee meetings for 2008. Due to the number of Special Sessions hosted during 2007, the various legislative committees had packed agendas in an effort to make up for lost time.

Along with presentations given and bills passing there were multiple discussions regarding Florida’s budget outlook for the upcoming year. The bad situation is getting worse as tax collection revenues continue to come in lower than anticipated, creating serious concern among our lawmakers. Among other information, Governor Charlie Crist this week released news impacting Florida’s economy, along with a legislative blueprint for 2008-2009.

Listed below we have provided a legislative overview of the week in Tallahassee.

Presentations:

 

Senate Commerce Committee

On Tuesday, January 8th the Senate Commerce Committee met and heard presentations focusing on the economic development initiatives of various organizations. Below, please find a brief summary and the attached presentations where applicable:

Chris Hart, IV, President of Workforce Florida Inc. (“WFI”) gave a presentation on the organization’s guiding principles, examples of its success, and its areas of focus. Updates that included statistics on Quick Response Training and Incumbent Worker Training programs were provided in a presentation entitled “Training Florida’s Talent.”

A portion of Mr. Hart’s program, entitled “Employ Florida’s Banner Centers,” highlighted the locations of these Centers and listing their respective partners. He concluded by providing the Committee with an “On the Horizon” outlook for Florida’s critical economic sectors: aerospace, energy and water resources. To view a copy of this presentation, please click here.

A presentation from John Adams, President of Enterprise Florida, Inc. (“EFI”), detailed EFI’s methods for keeping the Florida Legislature informed.  Mr. Adams gave timelines for the Florida Opportunity Fund and the Commercialization Institute, as well as an overview of the Capitol Formation Act, sponsored by Senator Jeremy Ring (D-Margate) and Representative Michael Grant (R-Port Charlotte). To see a copy of this presentation please click here.

Dell Brille, Ph.D, the Director of the Florida Office of Tourism, Trade and Economic Development also made a brief presentation to the committee. He indicated there would be news from the Governor’s office revealed this week regarding economic development in Florida.  The Governor’s news is covered later in this report.

Committee Members had multiple questions for each of these presenters. Senators expressed interest in what these organizations are doing to help already-established Florida businesses grow and expand, as opposed to simply focusing on attracting new businesses to establish themselves or relocate to Florida. There also were questions regarding how these organizations are working with educational entities on workforce initiatives. Inquiries were made regarding the Board structureses and the selection processes for both EFI and WFI.

Senate Finance & Tax Committee

On Thursday, January 10th, the Senate Finance & Tax Committee held a Workshop on the Florida’s existing sales tax exemptions currently in statute. The purpose of the Workshop was to present an overview and hold an open discussion on what exemptions are viable to target for sunset.  Committee Chairman Mike Haridopolis (R-Melbourne) intends to identify sales tax exemptions that have outlived their usefulness, but does not intend to create a new revenue stream from the exemptions the Committee determines are no longer useful.

Instead, he plans on looking at ways to potentially create new exemptions and increase existing ones that could be beneficial.  We will continue to monitor this issue throughout the session in an effort to protect any of the exemptions that are beneficial for economic development.

 

House Tourism & Trade

On Thursday, January 10th the House Tourism andTrade Committee received presentations from the following individuals:

VISIT Florida’s President and Chief Executive Officer Bud Nocera, along with Cliff Nilson, General Counsel and Vice President of Government Relations, gave an overview of Tourism issues from VISIT Florida’s perspective. Their presentation received a warm reception from the Committee members. (A copy of this presentation will available on January 15 upon request).

John Adams, President of Enterprise Florida, Inc. and Manny Mencia, Enterprise Florida Senior Vice President for International Trade and Business Development, gave an overview of trade issues. They stressed that the recent trade mission with the Governor to South America was the largest trade mission ever taken. EFI’s presentation also received a positive response from the Committee members. To view this presentation please click here.

 

Economic Development-Related Bills:

HB 147 – Relating to expedited permitting process for economic development projects, sponsored by Representative Robert Schenck (R-Spring Hill) passed out of the House Committee on Environmental Protection with a vote of 4 yays and 2 nays. The Department of Environmental Protection (“DEP”) testified that it does have some concerns with the bill’s language in its current form.  The DEP’s particular concern was the time frame in which–if the DEP has not acted on a permit–it will become automatically approved. The DEP indicated that it would continue to work with the bill sponsor as the it moves through the legislative process. To view a copy of this bill please click here.

 

Budget:

House Speaker Marco Rubio (R-Miami) announced that the House will hold an additional week of Council meetings from February 11 – 15 to address the current budget shortfalls. He will be allocating a full day for each council to meet in an attempt to have initial agency budget reductions ready for the house to consider during the first week of Regular Session. To read speaker Rubio’s memo please click here.

On January 8, 2008, the Florida House of Representatives House Policy and Budget Council met to begin planning the State budget for Fiscal Year 2008-2009.  Chairman Ray Sansom (R-Destin) summarized budget information presented to the Council in a Memorandum to all House Members stating that they will need to reduce the General Revenue base budget by approximately $2 billion for FY 2008-2009.  Reasons given for the continued deterioration of the budget were “a continued and longer than expected slow down in the housing market, rising unemployment, high energy prices, turmoil in the credit market and the increasing probability there will be a national recession.”

To view Chairman Sansom’s memo please click here.

 

Economic Development News from the Governor’s Office

On Tuesday, the Governor issued a press release entitled “Governor Crist Welcomes Biotech Institute to Port St. Lucie – Oregon’s Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute to expand to Florida biotech hub.” To view this press release please click here.

On Wednesday at a luncheon hosted at the Governor’s Mansion, Governor Crist unveiled his plan to build Florida’s Innovation Economy.  At this point in time there is no funding attached to any of the initiatives included with this plan. The Governor is expected to roll out his budget recommendations during the week of February 4th. To read this press release please click here