House and Senate leaders wrangle

Senate President John McKay accuses House Speaker Tom Feeney of passing an unbalanced budget in the special session.

By LUCY MORGAN

© St. Petersburg Times,
published October 27, 2001

TALLAHASSEE -- On the surface they are civil, almost cordial. Behind closed doors the gloves are off.

Senate President John McKay says he's considering a lawsuit against House Speaker Tom Feeney for passing what McKay considers an unbalanced budget Thursday evening.

The bad feelings stem from the House's decision to give its initial approval to $800-million in cuts Thursday evening. The measure had been approved by the Senate earlier in the day, but McKay was expecting House leaders to negotiate -- not simply accept the Senate package.

The sticking point is a planned cut in the intangibles tax on stocks and bonds. The Senate wants to eliminate the intangibles tax cut. The House wants to keep the tax cut in place.

The House will meet again next week, possibly to give its final approval to the budget cuts. Feeney said the House will pass the Senate budget bill, which "is sort of like an orphan nobody over there no one wants to claim."

McKay is threatening to halt passage of any more bills. If McKay really means it, the House is likely to vote on the budget and go home Tuesday, ending a special two-week budget cutting session called by Gov. Jeb Bush in the wake of a serious economic crisis.

On Friday, after House and Senate leaders finished trading jabs, the governor called on the two legislative leaders to "pause and reflect why we are in public service and consider what needs to be done."

Everyone took the weekend off. Legislators had little choice. Most of them were kicked out of their hotel rooms by football fans holding tickets to Saturday's game between Florida State University and the University of Maryland.

Bush said he thinks the impasse will be worked out and legislators will ultimately agree to delay the intangibles tax cut.

Unless the House agrees to forgo the tax cut, the $130-million it would take away from the budget will have to come out of reserves, which are already getting dangerously low.

The governor has asked legislators for $1.3-billion in budget cuts. The Senate bill only cuts about $800-million, a situation that could see lawmakers return to Tallahassee for additional special sessions if more cuts are necessary.

The refusal of the House to take up the intangibles tax bill approved by the Senate leaves McKay in the awkward position of having the House pass the Senate version of the budget without changing a word or number -- an action that has not occurred in modern times, if ever.

"There has been an appropriations process that has worked for many years," McKay said Friday as he headed toward the airport for the trip home to Bradenton for the weekend. "In order to govern effectively, we expect the House to follow the rules."

For as long as anyone can remember the House and Senate have each passed their own version of the state's annual budget, appointed conference committees and haggled over the appropriations or cuts until they could agree on a single budget.

Late Thursday Feeney halted debate on the House budget and suddenly took up the Senate version of the budget, which had been approved by the Senate at 2:20 p.m.

The Senate was caught off guard.

"We thought it was a ruse," Senate Majority Leader Jim King said Friday. "We never thought they were serious."

Feeney has accused McKay and the Senate of being inflexible because they have been insisting that the tax cut passed earlier this year should be rescinded at a time when legislators are having to cut education, health and human services and other vital programs.

King said Friday that it is really Feeney who is being inflexible because he has refused to consider eliminating the tax cut or delaying it.

"Everybody has to have a piece of winning," King explained. "I think we can do it if Feeney and McKay can accept a delay."

Meanwhile the lawyers for the House, Senate and governor are spending the weekend trying to figure out if the Senate budget can be accepted without the accompanying tax bill. They are also trying to determine when a final vote can be legally taken.

The state Constitution requires a 72-hour waiting period before final passage of a budget bill. The House thinks that period began at 5:10 p.m. Thursday when it passed the Senate bill.

That would allow the House to take a final vote when it reconvenes Tuesday.

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