Vice President Joe Biden visits Tallahassee to talk jobs
Feb 6, 2012
The following article was published in the Miami Herald on February 6, 2012:
Biden visits Tallahassee to talk jobs
By Toluse Olorunnipa
Here’s what we’re watching on Monday edition’s of the 2012 Legislature:
• Vice President Joe Biden will visit Florida State University to talk about college affordability at 11 a.m.
• A controversial charter school bill comes before the Senate Education Committee at 3 p.m. If the bill passes, school districts would have to share their construction and maintenance dollars with charter schools, which currently don’t have the power to levy property taxes for capital projects. School districts and the teachers’ unions are
fighting the proposal.
• A bill offering a major restructuring of the Department of Health gets its first hearing in the House’s Subcommittee on Health & Human Services Quality at 2:15 p.m. The bill reduces the number of divisions within the agency, and moves the Nursing Student Loan Forgiveness Program to the Department of Education.
• The Senate Committee on Community Affairs will vote on SB 770, which would prohibit local governments from levying taxes on local businesses.
• That same committee will also consider a bill to offer a $25,000 exemption to the state’s tangible personal property tax.
Three Issues You Missed over the Weekend
• The “Resort Destination” bill, which would’ve allowed three major companies to build casinos in South Florida, died in the House Business and Community Affairs Committee on Friday when bill sponsor Rep. Erik Fresen, R-Miami, decided to postpone it indefinitely.
• The Florida House voted along party lines for three redistricting maps on Friday. Republicans celebrated the passage, while Democrats decried the map as politically-motivated.
• In a narrow vote on Friday, Florida’s House passed a bill that would allow so-called “surplus lines” carriers to take over policies from Citizens Property Insurance, if they meet certain criteria.