On Tap in the Capitol - Wednesday, March 17, 2010

TOP OF THE MORNING TO YOU

In addition to St. Patrick’s Day, it’s Broward Days at the Capitol.

CHANGES TO DMS IN SENATE GOV OVERSIGHT: The Department of Management Services and its 1,100 employees will be on the chopping block today in the Senate Governmental Oversight and Accountability Committee. The panel will likely vote on Sen. Jeremy Ring's legislation (SB 1238) that would break up DMS and scatter its duties between the governor's office and at least four other state agencies. Senate Democratic Leader Al Lawson of Tallahassee, who represents a large chunk of state workers, is trying to keep the embattled agency together in the face of rising opposition from Senate budget chairman J.D. Alexander and others. (8 a.m., 110 Senate Office Building, The Capitol.)

PSC REORGANIZATION BEFORE HOUSE ENERGY AND UTILITIES: The House Energy and Utilities Committee is expected to take up a bill to reorganize the Public Service Commission. The bill (PCB EUP 10-04) removes many of the current functions of the PSC staff, such as providing commissioners with options for their decisions, placing them instead in a new legislative Office of Regulatory Staff the measure would create. Employees of the panel would assume a prosecutorial role against utility proposals before a more judicial PSC. The committee also may take up PCB EUP 10-03 creating the Property Assessed Renewable Energy Bonds. PACE is a financing option for consumers to invest in renewable energy projects for their homes or businesses. (Wednesday, 2:15 p.m., 17 House Office Building, The Capitol.)

PROPERTY INSURANCE RATE INCREASES: The House Insurance Committee is expected to take up HB 447. The measure would restrict the ability of the Office of Insurance Regulation to oversee proposed rate hikes. The agency would retain oversight to ensure that companies doing business in the state can pay claims. A similar bill that would have only applied to certain large companies passed the Legislature last year but was vetoed by Gov. Charlie Crist. The version under consideration now would apply to all property insurers. (2:15 p.m., 212 Knott Building, The Capitol.)

ALSO IN THE LEGISLATURE

SENATE EDUCATION PRE-K-12: Bills dealing with suicide prevention (SB 434), district school board policies (SB 206) and the role of fine arts courts in school performance grades (SB 820) are before the Senate Education Pre-K through 12 Committee this morning. (8 a.m., 301 Senate Office Building, The Capitol.)

SPACE AND TAXES: Several bills dealing with space infrastructure, sales taxes and port infrastructure are on a long agenda before the House Economic Development Committee. (8:15 a.m., 12 House Office Building, The Capitol.)

DISCOURAGING BUSINESS WITH IRAN: The Senate Military Affairs Committee takes up a measure (SB 2520) by Sen. Ted Deutch, D-Boca Raton, that bars the state from entering into or renewing any contract or purchasing agreement with any company that does business in Iran. Among the other bills before the committee is a measure (SB 2016) that establishes a National Guard-based program for high school dropouts. (8:30 a.m., 37 Senate Office Building, The Capitol.)

GREEN LIGHT ON RED LIGHT: The House Government Affairs Committee takes up HB 1235, which sets ups statewide standards for red light cameras used to nab speeding motorists, and sets out where the fines would go - which is mostly to trauma centers and other health care needs and local governments. The committee also has several proposed committee bills. (9 a.m., 306 House Office Building, The Capitol.).

CRIST TOUTS PORTS LEGISLATION: Gov. Charlie Crist will join Sen.Jeremy Ring and Rep. Lake Ray to promote legislation they say will increase trade opportunities for Florida ports. (10 a.m., Governor’s Large Conference Room, The Capitol.)

SENATE REAPPORTIONMENT: Proposed amendments to the constitution to change the way legislative and congressional boundaries are drawn continue to be the main topic of discussion for the Senate Reapportionment Committee. (10:15 a.m., 110 Senate Office Building, The Capitol.)

PUBLIC ADJUSTERS: The Senate Banking and Insurance Committee has a long list of bills on its agenda with one of the most watched likely to be SB 2264, which seeks to rein in public adjusters a bit. The insurance industry says it is paying out large claims that should have been closed long ago because they’re being re-opened by public adjusters. The measure, by Sen. Mike Bennett, R-Bradenton, prohibits certain solicitations and revises the prohibited charges list for public adjusters. The committee also has a couple of consumer credit protection bills. (1 p.m., 412 Knott Building, The Capitol.)

SENATE COMMERCE: Peddling at camp meetings, unscrupulous locksmiths, the state’s Qualified Tax Incentive Program, and the program under which Florida sets aside money for communities to keep or attract baseball spring training franchises are all subjects of legislation before the Senate Commerce Committee today. (1 p.m., 401 Senate Office Building, The Capitol.)

MORE FLIGHTS FOR TALLAHASSEE?: A bill that would provide for a refund of the aviation fuel tax collected on certain purchases only at the Tallahassee airport as a means to get more airlines to fly to the capital is on the agenda today in Senate Transportation. The bill (SB 1500) joins several others before the panel. (1 p.m., 37 Senate Office Building.)

DMS SUNSET REVIEW BEFORE HOUSE COMMITTEE: Normally, sunset reviews of agencies are pretty dry stuff, and might not even be included here – typically the Legislature simply moves along sunset reviews, rarely suggesting that anything actually sunset. But this year the Department of Management Services has been under heavy scrutiny at the Legislature, with a Senate committee proposing a re-org. The House discussion of DMS sunset in the House Governmental Accountability Act Council may be more substantive than usual. The panel also has the Department of State sunset bill and there’s no indications of any controversy there. (1:30 p.m., 116 Knott Building, The Capitol.)

ROAMING GNOMES AND THE PRICELINE NEGOTIATOR: Online travel Web site companies like Travelocity and Priceliine weren’t contemplated when hotel tax laws were written, and there’s a discrepancy sometimes between the tax charged and what some say may be owed, due to negotiated prices for online-purchased rooms. That issue is the subject of HB 335 in the House Finance and Tax Council today. (2 p.m., 404 House Office Building, The Capitol.)

SENATE COMMUNITY AFFAIRS HAS LONG AGENDA: There are 20 bills on the Senate Community Affairs agenda today, including several tax measures, a bill (SB 150) dealing with criminal history checks for sports coaches, and a measure (SB 742) boosting training requirements for 911 operators. (3:15 p.m., 412 Knott Building, The Capitol.)

BESTIALITY: If you’re eating breakfast, stop a second. The bestiality bill is back. A measure outlawing it (SB 104) is the top item in the Senate Agriculture Committee today. (3:15 p.m., 37 Senate Office Building, The Capitol.)

WATER QUALITY AND RECYLCING: The Senate Environmental Preservation Committee holds a workshop on proposed water restoration legislation and takes up a long-awaited recycling bill (SB 570) setting out goals for reuse of recyclables. (3:30 p.m., 401 Senate Office Building, The Capitol.)

ALSO

UNIVERSITY BOARD OF GOVERNORS: The Florida Board of Governors holds its regular meeting in Tallahassee Wednesday while lawmakers hold meetings to hammer out the university system's budget. A spokesman for the board said a good part of the meeting is focused on the legislative session and how things might play out for the state university system. Additionally, the board is hearing from the student health insurance task force, which has debated mandating health insurance for all Florida public university students. (8:30 a.m., Auditorium, Room 208, Turnbull Conference Center, Florida State University, Tallahassee.)

PSC MULLS 2008 FPL OUTAGE COSTS: The Public Service Commission today holds a hearing to address how much Florida Power & Light must repay customers for a Feb. 26, 2008 outage. FPL and others will be able to present testimony and exhibits. The PSC has already agreed that FPL should refund replacement power costs, but hasn’t set out how much or how it should be done. The outage was a result of a fault at an FPL substation in Miami-Dade County that caused three of FPL’s fossil-fueled generating units and its Turkey Point Nuclear Units 3 and 4 to trip offline. As a result, FPL had to use less efficient units and buy power, which drove up its costs. (9:30 a.m., Betty Easley Conference Center Room 148, 4075 Esplanade Way, Tallahassee.)

This information originally published on March 17, 2010.

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