Legislative Successes And Failures - June 2012

The recent 2012 session of the Florida Legislature debated and passed a number of important bills which will affect our daily lives come July 1st when they become effective. Others were passed but vetoed by Governor Scott and will have to be reconsidered in next year’s session.

Several proposed laws did not make it through the legislative process including a few I felt would have been beneficial including regulating or banning storefront entertainment devices which look and act like slot machines and award prizes. And a proposed law requiring sales tax on internet purchases which would have helped tens of thousands of small businesses in Florida better compete with out of state online retailers who do not collect sales taxes needed to fund our state and local governments.

Most of the media attention went to the required redistricting bill which realigns many of the state and federal voting districts for the next 10 years. As could be expected, that process became a partisan circus with the Democrats and their lobbying friends challenging the Republican proposed districts and with the Florida Supreme Court eventually requiring that a few be redesigned which was subsequently done.

While I supported the overall legislative efforts of my Republican friends in Tallahassee and of Republican Governor Scott including their passage of a budget which does not raise taxes, eliminates excess state jobs, and increases funding to local school districts, I believe that several of their “successes” are big failures in my conservative mind.

Of the hundreds of bills passed and signed into law, I believe the one that could have the biggest negative impact on most of my fellow citizens in Cooper City, Davie, Southwest Ranches, and Weston will be House Bill 1013 regarding Residential Construction Warranties. This new law eliminates developer implied warranty liability in planned communities for common area construction defects in streets, drainage systems, community pools, recreation centers, and other common area elements. From July 1st forward, homeowners in a developed community will only be able to hold developers and builders liable for defects in their own homes. If the streets or drainage or recreation areas in their developments fail prematurely, their Homeowners Association will have to special assess or borrow money to make such repairs.

As a strong believer in the concept of accountability, I cannot believe that our Legislature and Governor have stuck potentially millions of dollars of possible common area repair costs on the wallets of homebuyers rather than holding builders accountable. Thankfully my HOA completed its negotiations with its developer last year and will not have to consider a special assessment to make several common area repairs as many other HOAs will now have to do. Including those currently in litigation with their developers.

Another signed bill which does not pass the accountability test in my opinion is SB 1986 dealing with millage rates for Water Management Districts. Instead of continuing to let the individual districts set their own rates based on the needs and wants of their local communities, the politicians in Tallahassee will now be able to set the maximum rates and the Executive Office of the Governor will now have to approve all budget amendments above a certain amount.

Then there was the Governor’s veto of HB7129 which would have allowed State Universities to set their tuition rates based on demand. While vetoing possible tuition increases looks good on paper, it does not allow the universities to be responsible for their own economic futures. Personally I think tuition is overly expensive for the return most students get but the Governor should not have gotten in the way of the marketplace.

And perhaps the worst bill passed by the Legislature and signed into law by the Governor is SB98 which allows local School Boards to allow student-led prayers in public schools. To me this bill was a payoff to the social conservative wing of the Republican Party for their grass roots efforts. I strongly believe a moment of silence in which all students can pray to themselves is a much better solution given the growing variety of nationalities and religions of our public school student population.

It is these types of bills that I believe turn off independent voters and make it harder for Republican candidates to win in tough election districts. But such is how politics is played today. In analyzing the results of the 2012 Legislative session, one thing is clear. It is that lobbyists and campaign donations still have an impact on the success or failure of important legislation. Politicians love contentious legislation which results in donations from both sides of that issue!