Legislature Takes A Turn To The Right – And For The Worse
During election years, it’s not unusual for the level of partisanship to ratchet up somewhat – even in the Florida Senate, which is traditionally the more moderate and collegial chamber in our state legislature. But this year’s legislative session had a bumper crop of hard-right proposals taking over the agenda – and unfortunately, it’s likely a sign of things to come as more conservative leadership is poised to take over.
Senate Bill 6
The first hint we had about the legislature’s right turn was a so-called “education reform” bill, which would have based at least 50 percent of a teacher’s performance evaluation – which would determine teacher pay – on students’ scores on a single standardized test. This policy fails to recognize that many variables beyond a teacher’s control can affect a student’s academic performance, including a child’s natural ability, parental involvement (or the lack thereof), poverty and a host of other factors.
In addition, it would have offered no rewards whatsoever to teachers who worked to improve their skills through advanced degrees or National Board Certification. This bill was a wholesale attack on teachers, and not real reform that would have helped improve our public schools. Luckily, parents, teachers, students and community and business leaders saw how bad this proposal really was, and a groundswell of opposition to the bill prompted Governor Crist to veto it.
Reproductive Rights
Three days before the end of session, two controversial amendments were placed onto an otherwise non-controversial health care bill. The first requires every woman seeking to have an abortion to have an ultrasound and view the images, unless they decline to do so in writing – and even those who decline to look at the images would still have to listen to a description of them. The second amendment bars companies that receive tax credits from providing employee health plans that cover abortion, even if they don’t use federal or state subsidies to purchase their plans. This amendment goes far beyond the Hyde Amendment or the federal health care reform bill by prohibiting abortion from being covered in private health insurance plans.
More than 5,400 people have already contacted Governor Crist to express their opposition to this bill, and I encourage you to do the same. Call or e-mail Governor Crist, and urge him to veto the bill – his e-mail address is
Charlie.Crist@myflorida.com, and his phone number is (850) 488-4441.
Redistricting
As you may know, the state legislature is required by the state and federal constitutions to re-draw Congressional and legislative districts every ten years after new Census data is released. Typically, the party in control of the legislature gerrymanders district lines to increase their numbers in the legislature. The result is that while 42% of Florida voters are Democrats and 36% are Republicans, about two-thirds of Florida’s legislators are Republicans.
Two constitutional amendments have been put on the ballot by citizen initiative has been put on the ballot that would make it more difficult for legislators to gerrymander districts in favor of incumbents or political parties. But instead of allowing a fair up-or-down vote on the November ballot, legislative leaders are putting their own proposal on the ballot in order to confuse voters, and keep the politics as usual in redistricting.
Religious Freedom
Two proposals aimed at eroding the separation of church and state also died. One would have asked voters to amend the state constitution to remove the ban on the use of taxpayer money for religious organizations. The other arose from the case of a north Florida public high school, in which faculty and staff admitted they had violated the First Amendment by proselytizing and leading prayers at the school. The bill would have attempted to nullify a federal court order, and allow public school teachers and staff to lead students in prayer.
While most of the extremist proposals brought forth this session didn’t actually pass the legislature, it is still troubling that they’d even be brought up in a state as evenly divided along party lines as Florida. Please be assured that I will continue to advocate for the more progressive views held by the majority of people in my district. And as always, I welcome your comments and questions on any issue related to Florida government. Please feel free to contact my office at (954) 747-7933 or by e-mail at
rich.nan.web@flsenate.gov.
