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© St. Petersburg Times, published January 29, 2003
TALLAHASSEE -- Florida lawmakers had four years to prepare for Tuesday's meeting of the new, smaller state Cabinet.
They apparently forgot the Cabinet really is smaller.
At least five issues on Tuesday's agenda could not be resolved because they require five votes, and the Cabinet only has three members. At meetings of the governor and Cabinet, the governor provides the fourth vote.
Florida voters in 1998 approved a constitutional amendment that reduced the Cabinet six to three members.
Dan Clark traveled more than 400 miles to warn Gov. Jeb Bush and the Cabinet about the environmental dangers of dredging near the Broward County reefs where he dives.
He got a sympathetic ear but was told he would have to wait for the Legislature to pass a law to allow the Cabinet to vote on the matter.
"It's worth waiting for," Clark said.
The Legislature waited until last year to pass laws to reorganize the Cabinet as voters demanded. But lawmakers forgot to repeal a law that requires five votes at meetings of the governor and Cabinet to approve the sale or lease of state land.
The Cabinet now has just three members: Agriculture Commissioner Charles Bronson, Attorney General Charlie Crist and Chief Financial Officer Tom Gallagher.
The Legislature convenes March 4 for a 60-day session, and Cabinet members hope lawmakers will quickly fix the problem.
"It was not done in the most efficient way; there's just no way to be polite about it," Bush said of the Legislature's Cabinet reorganization.