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Lawmakers left the Capitol, with a bare bones budget, an insurance plan for the uninsured and very little pork to take home in an election year. Lawmakers declared the 2008 session over shortly after 6 o’clock. As Whitney Ray tells us lawmakers rushed against the clock to take up some of the year’s most important issues.

It ended with the traditional handkerchief drop. After the hankies landed the Senate President and the House Speaker embraced. Speaker Marco Rubio said this session was his most challenging.

“Although we made some difficult decisions and I know it was less than idea, the budget of the state of Florida was balanced and it was balanced with out raising taxes,” said Rubio.

Governor Charlie Crist got his health care plan passed.

“What it’s going to do is provide an opportunity for those 3.8 million who have not had insurance before,” Crist said.

The last day of session saw a slew of bills rushed through the system. Lawmakers had one more issue to take up before the hankies dropped. And one mother waited anxiously for their decision. Lori Staples made weekly trips to the Capitol to fight for her daughter Caitlyn, who suffers from Autism. The House took up the autism bill, supported by the Governor, last.

“All you could do was pray and hope for the best, and we did get the best out of it, and it’s a new beginning for a lot of families out there,” Staples said.

While the Governor’s autism and health insurance passed, his gas tax holiday ran out of fuel when lawmakers decided they couldn’t spare the money needed to build roads. Most lawmakers agree the biggest issue they tackled was the budget. Lawmakers made ends by dipping into reserves.

Lawmakers said no to a deal to purchase more than 60 miles of railroad through central Florida. Lawmakers were considering purchasing the track from the CSX Company and using it for a commuter rail. The bill died today. Governor Charlie Crist said he hopes lawmakers will reconsider the plan next year.

“I hope it doesn’t go away. I think a commuter rail is important. If we can get folks off the road and help clear the arteries of our interstates and road ways in Florida, I think it’s important to continue to have diversity in our transportation options,” said Crist.

The deal would have cost about 6-hundred million dollars.

Lawmakers passed relief for parents with kids suffering from autism. A bill aimed at offering insurance coverage for autistic kids looked dead in the minutes leading up to the end of the legislative session. The bill passed the Senate, but it looked like the House wasn’t going to take up the issue. In dramatic fashion Speaker of the House Marco Rubio took up the bill just moments before the 2008 legislative session ended. Governor Charlie Crist supported the bill and thanked everyone who helped the bill get through the process, including a famous Miami Quarterback.

“There work was tremendous. I want to thank Dan Marino for his help too. So many people, so many Floridians, came to Florida’s aid at a difficult time and I’m enormously grateful to them all,” said Crist.

One Hang up in the House centered on singling out autism. Rubio asked lawmakers to look at expanding coverage to children with other disabilities in the future.

Florida lawmakers have passed a budget and are in their final minutes of this years 60 days session. As Mike Vasilinda tells us,

Old folks at home will remain the state song, minus offensive lyrics. Offensive truck accessories will remain legal. Condo owners will have more rights. 911 dispatchers will be better trained. A wrongfully convicted man will get paid’

State employees will get nothing in this budget.

With one exception: state troopers get a 5 percent raise.

“It’s a retention issue that really affects South Florida,” State trooper Bill Smith said.

Schools will see140 dollars less for each student. But an 8 year effort to protect kids from bullies is finally successful. After a lot of talk, more property tax relief will be non existent, but people will have an easier time challenging assessments. Some businesses will also benefit.

“It would be taxed at what it’s actually being used for, rather than what it could be used for. Its highest and best use,” Rep. Dan Gelber said.

The session is also notable for what it dit not do. Corporate tax loopholes will not be closed and cigarettes will not be taxed at a higher rate, both of which could have offset huge cuts in services.

“We don’t want to raise taxes, you know,” Rep. Ray Sansom said. “I think we did everything that the people of Florida expected us to do.”

The lawmaking process was often frenzied, with three bills passing the Senate in just five minutes. And like most years, the most controversial items were left for last.

It will soon be tougher for approved travelers to go to Cuba. Visits are allowed for family visits and for journalists. But new legislation will require travel agencies that arrange such trips to post large bonds and to make frequent reports to Homeland security. Sponsor David Rivera of Miami says the legislation is really about terrorism.

“I think most Floridians will recognize that travel to a terrorist country represents a unique risk to the safety and security of our citizenry and that’s why you’ve got to have public oversight and government regulation of those who are engaging in business with these terrorist governments,” Riviera said.

Lobbyists for the travel agencies say the legislation is likely to drive some companies out of business.

Florida will spend 30 million dollars more next year on sending kids to private schools. The state doesn’t actually spend the money, but it allows corporations to make donations to private foundations that provide scholarships to private schools. State Senator Frederica Wilson of Miami told her colleagues that increase was the beginning of the end for public schools.

“School by school. County by county. This entire state will be void of public schools with this corporate tax incentive that we’re selling to parents,” Wilson said.

Sponsors of the legislation say the corporate scholarships actually save the state money since each child gets just 3950 dollars….which is just over half the cost of an average school student.

Parents will soon be able to have their autistic children’s therapy covered by their insurance policy. The state legislature is mandating that insurance companies provide up to t$36 thousand dollars of therapy for a child each year, with maximum payments of two hundred thousand dollars. Victoria Zepp is the mother of an autistic son and says early therapy can make all the difference in the world.

“With autism, autism is one of the very few disabilities where if you catch these children within a certain window, like three to four to five, you can actually reverse many of the causes of Autism that cause these children not to be able to be mainstream, that they’re not able to be melded into society,” Zepp said. “But by hitting them at a very early age with advanced therapy, with advanced behavioral therapy, you’re able to make such difference in the lives of these children, their families, their communities.”

An estimated one in every 150 children is autistic

The price you pay for toll roads, boat registration, and higher education will go up. Lawmakers who swore not to raise general taxes didn’t, but as Whitney Ray told us they raised fees.

It will soon cost a few more coins to use some of Florida’s toll roads. Lawmakers burdened with the task of slicing more than 3 billion dollars from the state budget passed dozens of fees to help make up the shortfall.

“You have a direct relationship between what you’re funding and the fees that go to that, sometimes it’s the most direct and accountable way of doing that,” said Kurt Wenner of Florida Tax Watch.

Boat registrations will increase…up to 70 dollars for the biggest boats. So will the price of most court filings. Lawmakers say they had to raise court fees to save the state’s justice system from drastic cuts

“We’re trying to find a balance, and I think a lot of us are a lot more comfortable with user fees than we would be with the idea of having higher taxes,” said Senator Mike Haridopolos.

Students will have to help shoulder the burden, tuition is one of the fees being raised. Lawmakers hope a tuition hike will help the State University system, which already plans to take on fewer students than a year ago. Governor Charlie Crist says he’s ready to be held accountable, when registering his boat.

“Well that means I’ll have to pay more. I use it, so I should,” said Crist.

While the tide may be low when it comes to the budget, lawmakers hope fees will bring the flood needed to keep some programs afloat. Some of the fees come with a mandated increase at the rate of inflation after five years.

Despite a budget that proposes record cuts in school funding and laying off probation officers, the Governor continues to push his plan for a gas tax holiday. Crist wants to eliminate 10 cents of the state’s gas tax for two weeks in July. Crist says the people need a break.

“The people in our state deserve to have a break. We’re going to keep trying for them and fighting for them, and we never give up around here. The people of Florida deserve our best effort and we’re going to finish strong,” Crist said.

The gas tax was cut by eight cents for three weeks in 2004. On average families saved about two bucks a tank. The state lost 60 million dollars.

The Governor says a bill meant to make Florida the nation’s environmental leader will be signed into law, but we’ll have to wait. Governor Charlie Crist told reporters he’s excited the legislature passed a bill to lower greenhouse gasses and mandate that new government buildings be energy efficient. Crist says while he can’t wait to sign the bill into law, he will wait.

“I’m really enthusiastic about the clean energy bill passing yesterday. It’s very exciting. They made it clear that Florida will be at the forefront of making a difference in climate change… I hope to be able to sign it at the climate change summit that we’ll have in June down in Miami. I’m very, very proud of the House and Senate in these difficult times they continue to move Florida forward and keep Florida green and make it even better,” Crist said.

Governor Crist announced earlier this week that Florida will host an international climate change summit on June 25th and 26th.

Condo associations statewide will now face tougher regulations. With the stroke of a pen Governor Charlie Crist signed a bill into law mandating more transparency in the business transactions of condo boards. There’s been increasing frustration among unit owners over unexplained fee hikes and embezzlement scams. Governor Charlie Crist, who rents a condo in St. Petersburg, says this law is about accountability.

“People who live in communities where they’re multifamily, that are frustrated with some of the rules and regulations or sometimes a very challenging rule, what they’ve done is given power back to the people,” Crist said.

Under the new law condo owners will be able to request official documents from their association’s board of directors.

State lawmakers are debating and on the verge of passing the first budget in more than 30 years that shifts the majority of school funding from the state to local property taxes. Schools are likely to face layoffs, and as Mike Vasilinda tells us the state’s already poor ranking is likely to slip.

Gone in the budget: 140 dollars for every student in the state. A billion dollars. Also cut, money for school buses at a time when the cost of diesel fuel is increasing.

It is the first budget in recent memory to cut school funding from the previous year.

“We’re one of the wealthiest states in the nation, we shouldn’t be number 49 when it comes to funding public education,” Rep. Martin Kiar said. “If we pass this budget, we’ll be number 50.”

There is another historic shift in the budget.

For the first time in more than 3 decades, local school boards will provide more funding for schools than the state

It may violate the constitution.

“The constitution of the state of Florida, says it is the paramount duty of the state to fund public schools in the state,” Wayne Blanton with the Fl. School Boards Association. “Yes, I think it violates the constitution.”

Teachers call the cuts irresponsible.

“The politicians here are more interested being able to say they didn’t raise taxes than closing schools,” Andy Ford with the Florida Education Association.

We asked Charlie Crist about the funding shift to local governments. He says it is all the peoples money.

“The right way to go about funding education is through the people of Florida,” Crist said.

The dire funding is almost certain to produce lay offs. The question is whether the job losses will come from the classroom.

A final vote on the budget is expected tomorrow.

State employees are getting a cold shoulder from state lawmakers for the second year in a row. No one but state troopers are going to see a pay increase. The goose egg on their pay increase comes a year after there was just a thousand dollar bonus in the budget. It is causing some lawmakers, including Lorrane Ausley of Tallahassee to cast a no vote.

“The people who carry out those priorities are state employees and we cannot continue to disrespect them by not paying them,” Ausley said. “There is no corporation or business in the state or in this country that asks the people who carry out its mission to do so without respect and without pay. That is what we are doing with this budget.

Layoffs are likely in some departments. Those who stay have been encouraged to apply for promotions in lieu of a raise.

Legislation sent to the governor at 11:25 Wednesday night will set up a system for 911 operators to be better trained. The certification is voluntary because of a budget crunch, but could become mandatory in future years. The bill is a reaction to the violent death of North Port mother Denise Amber Lee. She was kidnaped and seen pounding on the window of her killers car by a motorist who called 911. The call was ignored. Representative Carl Domino says he hopes the new legislation will protect others in the future.

“You never know a specific example. But certainly the confidence in the dispatchers isn’t helped by what happened to Amber Lee,” Rep. Carl Domino said. “With this kind of training, hopefully it wouldn’t have happened and hopefully the professional recognition. These are jobs that are heavily pressure oriented. There’s a lot of stress in them. To the extent people have trained and to the extent that people have done things over and over, they perform better, the stress level goes down. So this should go a long way to preventing the reoccurrence of that situation.”

The legislation has been named for the slain woman and is a testament to her husband and family which pursued the bill relentlessly.

It will soon be easier to donate your organs and tissue after you are gone. Legislation on its way to the governor will let you sign up to be an organ donor over the internet instead of at the Drivers License office. The idea was inspired by Gainesville State Senator Steve Oelrich, who lost his son 13 years ago.

“I lost my 18-year-old son in Gainesville and it was a very dark time in my life,” Olerich said. “The silver lining of that was that he got to be an organ and tissue donor and at this point 102 people have received something from my son, Nick. So this really had both a personal and a regional impact, but the thing about it is that it’s going to have a statewide impact. We probably have about four times as many donors as we had at this time last year.”

The legislation also puts the database in the hands of transplant professionals instead of bureaucrats and the hope is that it will speed up the delivery or organs to those in need.