Handshake seals deal on state budget cuts

House and Senate leaders agree on the final details of more than $1-billion in cuts and say this plan will stick.

By ALISA ULFERTS
© St. Petersburg Times,
published December 3, 2001

TALLAHASSEE -- Florida House and Senate leaders shook hands Sunday over final details to cut more than $1-billion from public safety, social services and education in the state budget.

It was the Legislature's second attempt to make up the state's budget shortfall, and both leaders said this time the plan would stick.

"You have a deal," Senate President John McKay said as he reached for House Speaker Tom Feeney's hand.

The handshake followed a weekend of back and forth over a half dozen sticking points. Negotiators left the last two issues -- exactly how to cut public school education and the distribution of certain mental health dollars -- to McKay and Feeney, who settled them Sunday afternoon.

"Let's hope we're not back here doing this again," Feeney said.

Gov. Jeb Bush called lawmakers into their first special session in October to fix the $48-billion budget. But that session crashed after Feeney and McKay failed to agree on a controversial tax cut. Bush took a beating on editorial pages for failing to lead lawmakers to an agreement, and he took a more active role in leading lawmakers during this second special session.

Feeney praised Bush for his role, and in a statement Bush praised the Legislature for working "responsibly to meet the priority needs of our state."

Lawmakers are expected to vote on the final cuts Thursday.

Not everyone was pleased with the outcome. House Democratic Leader Lois Frankel called the deal "a bad agreement for Florida's future" that will hurt the state's children and elderly. She said she will still try to get Republicans to agree to raise fees or close tax loopholes instead of cutting services so deeply, but said she lacks the votes to do that without their support.

Democrats wanted to take money from the state's rainy day fund to soften the cuts in areas like education and health care, but Republicans refused to go along.

The GOP said that fund was for a temporary crisis like a hurricane, not for an economic downturn like the one that has worsened since the Sept. 11 attacks and forced the state to cut the budget in the face of a $1.3-billion shortfall.

Gone is $147-million set aside for health care and social services for the poor and disabled, although lawmakers stalled some of those cuts until July 1. School districts must scrape by with a 2.5 percent cut in their funding from the state, which has sparked talks of possible layoffs or unpaid furloughs.

The Department of Juvenile Justice lost 171 probation officer positions. Lawmakers cut some education and drug treatment programs for prisoners. A pet program of chief House budget negotiator Rep. Carlos Lacasa, citrus canker compensation, survived but took a $10-million hit.

Lawmakers also cut funding for the Office of Solicitor General, although they will keep the jobs on paper and look for other funding. Current Solicitor General Tom Warner is running for attorney general and one of his opponents, state Sen. Locke Burt, sits on the Senate committee that originally approved the cut. Burt, R-Ormond Beach, said he had no role in that decision.

And Lacasa, R-Miami, said there was no plot behind the fact that the items negotiators grappled with over the weekend were especially important to legislative leaders. Lacasa has pushed hard for the state's citrus canker compensation program while McKay has worked to improve mental health services. And Feeney supported giving school districts the flexibility to replace their lost state dollars with the building fund.

"It may look on the surface like a poker game between the two leaders, but these are very important issues," Lacasa said.

In the end, Feeney agreed to cushion the school cuts by infusing lottery trust fund dollars instead of letting districts use brick-and-mortar money. McKay agreed to use some money intended to close a mental hospital for outpatients in other parts of the state.

Education Secretary Jim Horne said the compromise was a good one for education.

School districts across the state said they could absorb cuts of about 2.5 percent, he said.

Those districts are "not happy, but okay."

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