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The question over who to count in the US census is getting political. Former House Speaker Marco Rubio says illegal immigrants should not be included in Florida’s official population count. Rubio’s US Senate rival Governor Charlie Crist says everyone should be counted.

“Florida deserves to have her fair share and I think making sure we count every single Floridian is vitally important. That’s why I went to the school yesterday in North Miami. It’s important to our state. It’s important to our people and the notion that you wouldn’t want to accept funding to make a political statement is absurd,” said Crist.

States with the highest populations receive the most federal funding. Legal status of the people counted doesn’t deter federal dollars from flowing in.

Car booster seats may become mandatory for kids as old as seven years old under legislation being filed in Tallahassee. Right now the cut off age is three. Kids older than three still have to be strapped in, but Senator Thad Altman who is sponsoring the legislation to mandate booster seats says the belt can cause problems.

“If they are four or five years old they are required to wear an adult seatbelt, that adult seatbelt wraps around their neck. If you are driving 45, 55, 65 and you get in an accident, that child’s clothesline, severe neck injuries, severe abdominal injuries,” said Altman.

Florida is one of only three states without a booster seat law for kids ages 4 to 7. If the legislation passes drivers who don’t have their kids buckled in properly could be forced to pay a 60 dollar fine.

State lawmakers are asking voters to rethink their 2002 decision to implement strict class size requirements on schools. Right now schools are meeting the requirements based on the average size of their classes. But in August each class will have to meet the requirements individually. As Whitney Ray tells us, school administrators say they don’t have the money.

As the deadline to meet class size requirements approaches, lawmakers are looking for an out.

“If we don’t act now to right size the class size amendment massive rezoning, forced bussing, on going chaos and unnecessary expense will play out in schools across Florida,” said State Senator Don Gaetz.

Most schools meet the current conditions, which are based on averages. The deadline for classes to meet the requirements individually begins in the fall. Principal Rocky Hanna is afraid his school will be penalized because it lacks the money to meet the mission.

“I brought my piggy bank just in case; I’m going to start saving money for the fines,” said Hanna.

Teachers unions are against halting the last phase of class size.

“It’s always been about how we allocate money for education. I think the voters say they want more, but I the legislature is saying we’ll do it in this way but we won’t do it in this way,” said FEA Spokesman Mark Pudlow.

The legislation to stop the stricter requirements leaves the final decision to voters. But voters won’t have a say-so until November, after the last phase of the class size restrictions have already taken place. Which could leave cash strapped schools facing penalties that could hurt their budgets, unless lawmakers pump more money into education.

Since 2002, the state has spent 16 billion dollars shrinking class sizes. Lawmakers say implementing the final phase would cost the state another two billion.

Thousands of Floridians who purchased solar panels with the promise of a state rebate may be out of luck. The program is out of money and as Mike Vasilinda tells us, a recommendation from the Governor will only cover about one of three who have already applied.

It was a gray day in North Florida, but these solar panels were still producing electricity. Bob Lauther installed this 150 thousand dollar system in late June. Now he is one of thousands of Floridians waiting for a promised rebate.

“It would come out to just at a hundred thousand in rebates,” Lauther said.

Reporter: So that makes it a good deal?

“A good deal,” he said.

Reporter: without a rebate?

“Without a rebate, that makes it a marginal return on an investment,” Lauther said.

The rebate program started in 2005. It has always had more applicants than money.  This year, Charlie Crist is recommending the funding be doubled.

But even at ten million, only one in three who have already applied are likely to see a rebate. Right now, there’s enough money in the bank to get a check to everyone who applied before June 10th. That will leave any on the hook.

Almost 7,000 people are waiting for rebates. And they are coming in at a rate of a million dollars a month.

Al Simpler says the delay is costing jobs.

“We’re actually losing about 30 percent of our jobs, our job force of solar here in the state of Florida, because of loss of rebate money and the disincentive it has created in uncertainty,” Al Simpler with Simpler Solar Systems said.

Even if state lawmakers doubled the program to ten million, they will still be breaking a promise to thousands of others.

State lawmakers must act before July if they are to keep the program alive. Several ideas are in the hopper to fund the rebates, but none are a done deal.

Governor Charlie Crist wants to increase state spending while lawmakers are looking for ways to reduce government. Crist’s plan holds state workers harmless, increases school spending and pumps millions into environmental projects. As Whitney Ray tells us, lawmakers call Crist’s plan “ambitious.”

After four straight years of declining revenues, Governor Charlie Crist is calling for an increase in state spending.

“We have got to move forward on education, that we have a recommitment to our environment and I think those two things are important to Florida’s economy,” said Crist.

Crist’s budget increases education funding by half a billion dollars, pumps 100 million into the environment and offers tax breaks to businesses. Florida TaxWatch calls the proposal optimistic.

“It doesn’t really get into cutting government and getting into what normal Floridians are doing, tightening their belt, finding ways to do more with less, focusing on core services and eliminating operational expenditures,” said Rob Weissert a spokesman with Florida TaxWatch.

Crist’s spending plan relies heavily on money from increased gambling, raids on trust funds and an uptick in revenue collections.

Over the past five months the state has collected more money than predicted, that trend is expected to continue.

Money from fee increases could also pump millions into the state’s checking account, but state lawmakers aren’t sure the boost will be enough.

“It’s ambitious. It’s our job to look at his categorization of the various priorities of spending and then craft a budget in cooperation with the senate,” said State Representative Dean Cannon.

If revenues don’t increase as much as the governor predicts, and a gaming compact isn’t reached, lawmakers will have to make tough decisions that could include spending cuts and possible layoffs.

One of Crist’s ideas receiving applause from Republican legislative leaders is reworking the class size amendment. State lawmakers are scheduled to unveil a plan tomorrow that would base class size on school populations instead of individual classes.