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One of the victors of the 2011 legislative session is the nonpartisan research group Florida TaxWatch.

Every year TaxWatch submits more than a hundred cost saving tips to the state legislature. This session lawmakers adopted more than a dozen of the group’s policy and budget ideas for a savings of more than a billion dollars. Vice President of Research Rob Weissert says the TaxWatch cost saving ideas help government run more efficiently.

“There are ways in our procurement system, in our prison system that we’re looking to modernize. We are looking to public, private partnerships to focus more on results to achieve cost savings by better outcomes, not by just slashing budgets,” said Weissert.

Some of the proposals backed by TaxWatch this session include pension reform, Medicaid reform, privatizing state prisons, increasing the use of drug courts, and more civil penalties for juvenile offenders instead of criminal charges.