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Legislation creating more financial oversight in the state’s 19 billion dollar Medicaid program passed a House committee today.

The plan would require most Medicaid patients to enroll in a Health Management Organization. The HMOs would be responsible for making sure 80 percent of all Medicaid dollars were spent on medicine and services. Representative Dean Cannon says the plan would be ushered in slowly.

“There’s always nervousness with any kind of change. What we tried to do is create a really transformational policy that eliminates the special interest advantages of one party over another and create a level playing field for competition between the different regions,” said Cannon.

Under the plan there would be six regions regulated by the Agency for Health Care Administration. The Senate passed similar legislation earlier this year, implementing the changes in five counties. The House version affects 24 counties, spreading to all 67 over the next few years.

Students are tossing a football in class and tasting exotic fruit in the cafeteria at Bay Point Middle School in St. Petersburg this year.

And thousands of schools across the country are running similar programs. The schools are part of a pilot program called “Fuel up to play 60” which is sponsored by the NFL and Florida’s Dairy Farmers. The program encourages students to eat healthy foods so they have the energy to play for 60 minutes or more each day. Rashean Mathis, a cornerback for the Jacksonville Jaguars, knows that active play can help kids lead a healthy lifestyle.

“You need to go out and you need to be active, and it helps. I loved coming home before the streetlights came on so tired that all I could do was eat and go to sleep. It was a great feeling that you were able to go out and play with your friends. I think that’s a lost art,” said Marthis.

One third of children in America are overweight or obese. The fuel up to play 60 program has already reached more than a million students in schools across the country.

For more than 9 hours last night and into the wee hours of this morning, the Florida House debated the most controversial bill of the year. Senate Bill six ends tenure for teachers and creates a system of merit pay. As Mike Vasilinda tells us, more than half of the house spoke before a closer than expected vote.

Julio Robaina was one of just a few Republicans who ended up speaking out against one of the top priorities of party leadership. He chided other GOP members for not voting their conscience.

“You know what, I didn’t come here to be threatened, or to be told what to do,” Robaina said.
“I didn’t even come up here to make friends.”

Amendments were voted down. Elaine Schwartz worried about the 900 million that will come out of school budgets for test development and merit pay.

“Where’s that money going to come from? Guess where… a rise in property taxes,” Rep. Elaine Schwartz (D-Miami) said.

Others said teachers shouldn’t be judged on a kid’s performance because those teachers have no control over the child’s home life.

“It is difficult to learn when you’re hungry,” Rep. Geraldine Thompson (D-Orlando) said.

But the 67th speaker of the night didn’t buy that argument.

“I fundamentally disagree with that,” Rep. Will Weatherford (R-Wesley Chapel) said.  “Nothing could be further from the truth. Every child, every student can learn.”

By 2:26 a.m., the vote was much closer than most expected.

The bill was sent to the governor, where its future is uncertain, despite what legislative leaders say they were led to believe.

“I believe that this legislation, the governor should want to sign,” House Speaker Larry Cretul said. “I take him at his word that he will.”

The campaign for both sides will now shift to the governor’s office.

The bill landed on the governor’s desk this morning.  He has seven days to sign, veto or do nothing and let the legislation become law without any action.

The most controversial bill in this legislative session is on Governor Charlie Crist’s desk and thousands of cries for a veto are pouring in from across the state. The bill eliminates tenure for teachers and bases their pay raises on student test scores. As Whitney Ray tells us, phone lines in the governor’s office are jammed with teachers trying to convince Crist to veto the bill.

It was too little too late for teachers desperately trying to change votes in the House. A nine hour session ending at 2:35 in the morning sent Senate Bill Six to the Governor’s desk. Setting up a final battle scenario playing out over the next seven days.

State Senator Dave Aronberg tweeted just seconds after the House voted. He put the governor’s phone number on the internet and asking people to voice their opposition.

“The legislature is top down. They do what the leadership tells them to do. This thing was going to roll to the governor’s mansion, the governor though says he the people’s governor and that’s why these calls and emails can work,” said Aronberg.

Friday Morning Special Education Teacher Margaret Wood picked up the phone.

Her calls to the governor’s office went straight to a voicemail box already filled to capacity. Her attempts to tell the governor that if he signs the legislation she’ll end her 33 year career were unsuccessful.

“The bill says that if you have bachelors, masters, or a PHD, it’s all the same. We’re in education, how can education not matter? I just find it insulting. I will retire,” said Wood.

The Florida Education Association says their members will be pushing for a veto the whole way.

“We hope that he listens to the people of Florida as they call in and tell him what they think of this bad legislation,” said Pudlow.

Crist says he wants to do what’s right for the Children of Florida without consideration of his political future but teachers are voters and his signature on the bill will cost him at the ballot box.

Before the bill passed last night the governor had already received 87-hundred emails from people opposed to Senate Bill 6 and just eight in favor of the bill. Add today’s action and the calls, emails, and faxes total more than 20-thousand.

Florida loses an estimated one billion dollars each year in uncollected taxes on internet sales. Florida TaxWatch, business groups, social service advocates and lawmakers from both parties want to change Florida’s tax code to give the state a better shot at collecting the lost revenue. Representative Michelle Rehwinkel Vasilinda, a Democrat, and Senator Evelyn Lynn, a Republican, are sponsoring legislation that would the bring Florida’s tax code into compliance with that of more than 20 other states to make it easier for shoppers to know what’s owe.

“We could immediately, if we pass this, this year, we can start collecting next year, when we run out of stimulus money, we could start collecting 40 million dollars a year, that’s absolutely imperative to our state,” said Lynn.

Tax is collected on internet sales by companies with one or more offices located in Florida, but if you buy something from stores like Ebay or Amazon.com you have to download a tax from the Department of Revenue’s website fill it out and send in your tax money.

A deal to allow the Seminole Indian Tribe to keep blackjack and Vegas-style slots at most of its Florida casinos is upsetting owners of other gaming businesses. The parimutuels say the deal gives the tribe an unfair advantage and as Whitney Ray tells us, it could lead to thousands of layoffs.

The Seminole deal to secure 400 million dollars for the depleted state budget and a billion over five years is two steps closer to reality. A House committee passed the gaming deal through Thursday morning, and the Senate gave it tentative approval around noon.

If approved the tribe could keep blackjack at five of its casinos and Vegas-Style slots at all seven.

Dog and horse track owners are afraid the deal will take away from their business. The Associated Industries of Florida is lobbying for a level playing field on behalf of its parimutuel clients.

“This deal that has been cut with the Seminoles is not enough money and it’s not going to give enough games to the parimutuel industry for them to survive,” said AIF President Barney Bishop.

While the parimutuels fight for a piece of the pie religious groups want to see the whole compact defeated. Bill Bunkley with the Florida Baptist Convention says the deal will cost the state more in the long run for social programs and criminal justice.

“For every dollar the state takes in, we understand from credible studies, the state will pay out three dollars in social benefits, that’s why I say it’s a losing bet,” said Bunkley.

But with a 3 billion dollar budget gap, it’s a gamble lawmakers are apparently willing to take it. A final vote on the compact is likely to come early next week.

Senate Bill 6 is slated for final passage late this afternoon, although the debate could go long into the evening.  Legislation to change the teaching profession in ways it has never seen, including tenure and basing pay on student performance, continues to barrel its way through the state legislature.  GOP leaders are refusing suggested changes from Democrats and their own members and As Mike Vasilinda tells us, opponents’ only hope of stopping the bill is a veto from Governor Charlie Crist.

It is a tactic most Capitol observers haven’t seen used often.

Republican leaders used a quorum call on each of thirteen votes on amendments. The idea is to discourage members from leaving the chamber or not voting on an issue.

The bottom-line message…don’t take a walk, don’t vote for any changes. Rep. Julio Robaina is one of the few Republicans who bolted from his party.

“I know that a lot of members were told that their projects or other bills that were important to them were on the line,” Robaina said.

Some votes were delayed while members were rounded up.

Majority Leader Adam Hasner did the rounding up.

“Every vote needs to be counted, every member needs to be on the floor,” Hasner said. “So that their constituents know how they’re voting on the issue.”

But what happens when the bill gets here is still anybody’s guess.

Crist caught lawmakers by surprise when he first raised the possibility of a veto on Wednesday.  Now he says his mind still isn’t made up.

“I just want to weigh it out and continue to listen,” Crist said.

But is a decision he will have to make quickly. He’ll have seven days once the bill lands on his desk.

Republican leadership in the House thought they had an agreement with the governor and are not happy that a veto is a possibility.

Today is Senate President Jeff Atwater’s birthday, but before the legislative leader blows out all 52 candles, retired state workers want to give him their birthday wishes. Today they held a birthday party for Atwater complete with cake outside the Senate Chamber. Atwater didn’t show, but the retirees are getting their message out anyway. They want Atwater to fight cuts to health insurance benefits the House passed last week. Senator Al Lawson is helping them get their message to leadership.

“Health insurance for a family is over a thousand dollars a month. The average pay for state employees who are retires is around 14-thousand dollar a year, so the health insurance subside is just a small portion that we pay, that the state gives to retires to help with retirement who are not on Medicare,” said Lawson.

The House budget cuts the subsidy by about 150 dollars a month. The cut is expected to save between 40 and 200 million dollars annually, but recent developments with the Seminole Gaming compact could pump enough money into the state coffers to help lawmakers to restore the subsidies in their final budget proposal.

Distaste is growing for the most controversial bill being debated this legislative session in Tallahassee. Some Republican lawmakers are now beginning to turn their backs on Senate Bill six, which challenges teacher tenure and restricts union participation. As Whitney Ray tells us, fueling the revolt is a measure in the legislation forcing schools to spend 900 million dollars on new tests.

Halfway through a campaign of protests, letters and committee stops, teachers are beginning to influence the process.

“We are reaching out our hands, but they have to meet us halfway,” said Amanda Babcock, a 5th grade teacher.

Hundreds of thousands of letters asking lawmakers to nix Senate Bill Six are flooding offices. Democratic opposition has been strong from the get-go now some Republicans are bucking leadership and joining their ranks.

“I think leadership is the ones who are catching heat now, because they realize that some of us are compassionate Republicans and they do what’s right,” said Representative Julio Robaina.

The legislation eliminates tenure, bases pay on test scores, and bans new teachers from collective bargaining. It also forces schools to spend five percent of their budgets on developing new tests.

“Senate bill six does not give us any additional dollars. It’s a 900 million dollar mandate on schools statewide,” said Wayne Blanton, The President of the Florida School Boards Association.

The spending mandate would kick in 2011. Then in 2014, the five percent would be used to pay teachers based on their students’ test scores.

Governor Charlie Crist has received five thousand emails, and two-thousand phone calls from people opposing the legislation.

“As a former commissioner of education I like the part of trying to have merit pay, I just hope we do it in the right way,” said Crist.

It’s unlikely enough House members will vote against the bill to defeat the measure… but if enough voters tell Crist a yes on six is a no on his US Senate campaign, a veto could be in the works.

After three years of trying and two failed compacts, the state of Florida and the Seminole Tribe have a 5-year billion-dollar deal on casino gambling. As Mike Vasilinda tells us, the Tribe will get banked card games such as blackjack in five locations for 5 years, while the state considers other options.

In a complex deal, the Seminole Tribe gets to keep slot machines at all 7 reservations for the next twenty years. Nat sot.. But it only gets to deal blackjack at 5 locations for the next five years. The deal caps decades of negotiations and three years of serious talks that produced two failed compacts. Tribal Chairman Billy Cypress found humor in the end product.

“I see why Obama had a tough time passing his health bill; it’s similar to that for me,” Cypress said.

Florida gets to keep the 400 million-plus it has already put in the bank and then it will get a billion more over the next 5 years.

“It is my hope that these much needed funds will find their way to the classrooms,” Governor Charlie Crist said.

The compact also sets the stage for Florida to consider authorizing high-stakes casinos over the next five years.

“I think it’s a good deal for Florida, for 2010,” Sen. Dennis Jones said. “We’ll ride it out five years and see where it goes. Certainly we’ve been at an impasse for 20 years.”

“The tribal council is set to approve the deal on Wednesday morning; the Senate on Thursday. So this deal could be done by early next week.

The deal splits dog and horse tracks. South Florida facilities with slots, like it. But everyone else says it will hurt business.

“Without a product, an additional product, for our customers, it’s going to be hard to stay in business,” Richard Winning, with Derby Lane Dog Track, said.

Traditional parimutuels do get 300 yet-to-be-determined bingo-style machines, but nothing like the full slots they have wanted.

The deal helps lawmakers avoid some painful cuts in the state budget and brings the house and senate spending plans closer to resolution.

There is a war at the state capitol over the future of teacher tenure, merit pay and who controls local school budgets. As Mike Vasilinda tells us, the fight pits two of the state’s most powerful interests against each other with two different visions of education.

Florida Teachers hit the airwaves first.

Then the Chamber of Commerce fired back.

“Unfortunately, the union message, across the state, needed to be countered,” Mark Wilson, President of the Florida Chamber of Commerce said.

Teachers flocked to the Capitol Monday, angry a bill that they believe would end their tenure and tie their pay to student performance.

“It’s atrocious,” Carol Cleveland, a Columbia County teacher, said. “It’s taking away all the rights from teachers.”

Then waited more than an hour for a committee room to open.

Amanda Babcock came from St. Lucie County.

“They need to ask us what we need, ask our input and let us help and work together,”  Babcock, a 5th grade teacher, said.

This is the first time that anyone in 30 years can remember the legislature scheduling an 8-hour hearing.

The legislation also has the state school boards up in arms because it requires them to set aside five percent of their local budgets for merit pay.

“Some districts would have to move money, that they’re ordinarily using for other things, utilities, transportation, teacher salaries,” Wayne Blanton, with the Florida School Boards Association, said. “It’s all got to go to this one program.”

The sponsor says his bill is misunderstood.

“It does not eliminate tenure for current teachers. It does not eliminate collective bargaining,” Rep. John Legg (R-Port Richey) said.

Many of the changes don’t take place until 2014. Plenty of time, say sponsors, to fix any problems.

There are also two dueling websites telling stories as different as night and day.  The teachers’ story is on Facebook and at www.makeourschoolsapriority.org and the chamber’s side of the story is at www.classroomflorida.com.

A program providing prenatal care and education to expectant mothers is being cut completely in the House budget. Florida Healthy Start was founded in 1992. Since its inception, the state’s infant mortality rate has steadily dropped. As Whitney Ray tells us, the program saves the state money by preventing costly premature births and helping families stay together after the loss of a child.

Tad David lost his daughter almost eight years ago.

“She was born Sept 23rd, 2002. She wasn’t due until Jan. 16th, of 2003,” said Tad.

Soon after the tragedy, Tad found Healthy Start, a program assisting families with all aspects of childcare. Healthy Start counselors helped his family cope with the loss.

“A grief like that can tear a family apart,” said Tad.

Florida Healthy Start was founded in 1992. The state’s 32 coalitions provide prenatal counseling, education and basic supplies like vitamins and diapers to parents of all ages and incomes.

“Last year the program was able to service nearly 200-thousand mothers and babies statewide, and all with just four million state dollars. But now their funding is on the chopping block. The Florida House is nixing the program from its version of the budget. Representative David Murzin says it’s all part of the process.

“I don’t think anybody here believes that the end will be no funding for the program, but we do have to make tough choices,” said Murzin.

Christine Drepps is filing through a grab bag of brochures and supplies that will be given to a soon to be mother. She says the state will pay now for healthy births or it will pay later for sick babies.

“The cost of not having a healthy baby is astronomical. A stay in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit can be anywhere from 50-thousand to a million dollars,” said Drepps.

That’s a cost taxpayers have to pick up, if the mother doesn’t have insurance.

Florida TaxWatch, a government oversight group, claims a major storm could bankrupt the state. TaxWatch released a report today laying out the financial risk Citizens Property Insurance and the catastrophe fund face. State owned Citizens insures a million high risk properties most public insurers won’t touch. Representative Bill Proctor is concerned that efforts to keep insurance rates low has left the state facing a crisis it can’t afford

“Our present policy, as far as I can understand it, seems to focus entirely on cost – low cost insurance. Low cost insurance may be the most expensive type a person can buy, particularly if that claim cannot be paid. Based on the statistics and evidence we looked at last summer it’s reasonably clear that Florida could have claims it could not pay,” said Proctor.

Citizens was supposed to be a last resort for homeowners. Florida Tax Watch wants to see Citizens return to that again by raising rates, shedding existing policies, and refusing to write new policies.

Governor Charlie Crist is asking the feds to investigate former state GOP Chairman Jim Greer. Crist sent a letter to US Attorney Thomas Kirwin today calling for an investigation into Greer’s financial dealings with the party. FDLE is already investigating Greer for funneling party contributions to a consulting company he owned. Greer resigned earlier this year after news that as many as 60 Republican lawmakers had party issued credit cards and some were making personal charges. Greer was hand picked by Crist to take over the RPOF in 2007.

College tuition in Florida will likely go up 15 percent next year, and the Bright Futures scholarship program might not pick up the difference. The Senate approved changes to Bright Futures this week to save money and as Whitney Ray tells us, students are not happy.

Abby Fishburn wouldn’t be at Florida State University if it wasn’t for her Bright Futures Scholarship.

“It’s why I stayed in Florida to go to school,” said Abby.

But now lawmakers want to renege on the promise of a full free ride, voting for a tuition increase that won’t be covered by Bright Futures. The change could leave Abby looking money to cover a 15 percent tuition hike.

“I probably will have to loans then because I’m paying for school myself. So that will make a big difference,” said Abby.

It’s the same story for Carrington Gadson.

“It’s my means of income. It pays for my classes. My parents help out,” said Carrington.

Not covering the tuition increase isn’t the only blow to the Bright Futures program.

The Senate plan also reduces the number of years a student has to use the scholarship, raises the standards to qualify, and only allows Bright Futures to be used for required courses.

State Senator Evelyn Lynn is pushing the changes. She says the scholarship program has gotten too big.

“If we don’t’ make these changes to save money then we won’t have bright futures at all,” said Lynn.

Reducing Bright Futures reach is expected to save the state 150 million dollars; money the Senate wants to use to boost higher education spending.