Political Actions

Ask almost any legislator what the biggest business issue is in the 2010 session and they’ll tell you it’s the state budget. Ask about the biggest overall issue they face, and the answer doesn’t change: the budget.

“Everything depends on the budget,” says state Rep. Tom Grady, R-Naples.
With a shortfall of at least $2.5 billion already predicted, lawmakers will be scrapping for every dime and examining how every dollar is spent. Creating new programs that cost money is unlikely. At the same time, lawmakers say, it encourages them to seek ways to help business owners survive and expand; help that can come as much from what they don’t pass as what they do.

“The budget dictates our economic policies,” says Sen. Mike Bennett, R-Bradenton. “It limits our ability to spend and it increases the pressure to raise taxes,” something he and other lawmakers oppose.

Given those spending constraints, “it’s a time for us to look at ways to lower the costs of doing business and find more ways to bring businesses to Florida” says state Rep. Gary Aubuchon, R-Cape Coral, whose luxury homebuilding business has felt the effects of the economic slowdown.

With the 60-day session starting March 2, some of the 3,000 to 4,000 bills filed most years were already in the hopper in November. The majority, including most Southwest Florida members’ bills, pour in after the holidays and right up to session’s start. But lawmakers already have a good idea of what issues will be on the table and which ones they’ll personally pursue.

Key business issues legislators expect in the spring include property insurance, high-speed and commuter rail, which saw action during the December special session, and workers’ compensation legislation. Also in the mix—although legislators differ on how high-profile it will be—is tort reform that could make it harder to file lawsuits against businesses.

Property insurance is certain to be a hot topic. Legislators did some work on the subject last year, and residents who depend on the state’s Citizens Property Insurance for high-risk properties will see a 5 percent rate increase effective Jan. 1. But many lawmakers want that increase to be higher. They believe rates are still too low, putting the state at risk of a shortfall if a major storm hits.

“Citizens’ rates are inadequate,” says Bennett. “It can’t cover the losses in case of a major storm.” In addition, other companies can’t compete with Citizens because its rates are artificially low, he says. They leave, or refuse to enter, the Florida market. “So we’re losing competition, and consumers are losing their choices” of insurance companies, he says. “I’ll be going after that hard.”

Grady also lists that as one of his goals in the House. “We need to open up the market and increase the number of insurance companies doing business in Florida,” he says. “Florida needs to get out of the insurance business” with the state-backed Citizens.

Grady and Aubuchon stress the need to stop some proposals that could negatively affect businesses. “Any time there’s a mandatory benefit, any time there’s a mandatory insurance policy, any time there’s a proposal that makes it harder to terminate a bad employee—and we see all those things proposed—that makes it more expensive to hire people and it creates uncertainty,” Grady says. “We need to make things easier for business, not harder.”

“Predictability” is especially important, Aubuchon says. “Predictability is critical for business. We have a good tax structure; we have good workforce availability. What we need to do from the regulatory side is help ensure that the cost of doing business here is predictable, and at the low end of the spectrum.”

One way to do that is through tort reform, he says, helping ensure that business owners can concentrate on job creation and increased productivity, not defending against outrageous lawsuits. Last year lawmakers OK’d some caps on attorney fees in workers’ comp lawsuits. “As a result, rates went down 6 percent,” Aubuchon says. “It may not sound like much, but in this economy, every little bit helps.”

Exactly which areas of business-related tort reform may be in line for changes in the coming session is hard to predict. Aubuchon says he and others like to keep those cards close to the vest because coming out too early prolongs the fight against such changes.

In fact, Sen. Dave Aronberg, D-Greenacres, questions whether serious tort reform will happen this session. Taking up such controversial matters in an election year is always iffy, he says, especially when so many other matters demand more immediate action.

Among them are the proposed high-speed and commuter rail projects for Florida. Aubuchon leads the House on those matters and he’s a strong proponent, citing the thousands of jobs such projects promise and the increased development that could occur along those transportation pathways. “It’s a huge economic driver,” he says.

One Southwest Florida legislator who’s well-positioned to handle business matters is Sen. Garrett Richter, R-Naples, who chairs the Senate’s Banking and Insurance committee. Richter, himself a banker, says his top priority for business is to get a Constitutional amendment on the ballot that gives voters a say in “preserving the right to a secret ballot,” a hot-button labor issue last year. Unions want to be able to organize on the basis of employee signatures or public votes, and oppose the secret ballot.

The amendment, which Richter and others promote as more business-friendly, protects the right to unionization by a secret ballot vote. Many employees who sign up for a union are intimidated by union bosses into supporting the idea, Richter says. A secret ballot would allow them to oppose a union without fear of retribution. He cites examples where 70 percent of employees backed the union when asked for public support, but the number dropped to 30 percent when they could register their opinions privately. “This is all about the unions’ and union bosses’ power,” says Richter. “We need to preserve the secret ballot.”

He also promises vigilance over efforts he expects from trial attorneys to increase their awards on workers’ compensation lawsuits.

Amendment 4 on the ballot for Florida’s Constitution worries lawmakers, although there’s debate about what they can do if it passes. That proposal requires changes in local land-use plans to be approved via voter referendum, something opponents say is unworkable. “It’ll stop all growth, and growth is an economic driver for Florida,” Richter says of the amendment, also known as “Hometown Democracy.”

Bennett describes it “as the most dangerous Constitutional amendment I’ve ever seen.” Given that 60 percent approval is required for passage and the fact that many environmental and pro-planning groups are against it, he thinks passage could be difficult. Although he declined to give details, he says he and others are working on ways to make it less onerous should it pass in November.

Regardless of what other issues might break through during session or what differences they may have on other matters, other legislators agree with Richter on one thing: “Our agenda should give very high priority to anything that helps rebuild our economy, create new jobs and put people back to work.”