From the desk of Valorie Boyd, ACE of Florida, Inc. Executive Director

Session Began Yesterday – March 4, 2008

The 2008 Legislative Session began yesterday and before the session even officially started on Tuesday, the House and Senate committees had approved a second round of cuts to the education budget by $358 million on Monday. These cuts to the budget before session even began are a peak into the future for what may be the worst budget crisis for Florida in many years. Senator Stephen Wise, Education Pre-K-12 Appropriations Chairman was quoted saying, “We haven’t cut the bone at all. Now it’s going to get tough. It is dismal at best.”

In an article from the Herald Tribune stated that Florida now ranks 38th in per-student spending and Education Week magazine gave Florida an “F” for spending on education and that was before the current budget crisis.

For the entire state budget the cuts will amount to about $540 million this year. Legislators are expected to vote on the current budget cuts next week. This is very unusual, for most years the budget is the very last thing that is passed by the legislature before adjourning in May.

The stagnant economy, housing slump and tax cuts are to blame for declining tax revenues. Next week the state will release the economic revenue forecast for 2008- 2009 and the prediction is grim. This will force legislators to make bigger cuts for next year’s budget (as much as $2 billion.)

ACE Legislative Updates
Legislative Updates will be emailed to ACE Members on a weekly basis during the Session. ACE Legislative Alerts will be emailed as needed or as new information arises during session.

NEW THIS SESSION – FOR ACE MEMBERS ONLY
Want to contact your Florida legislator or your US Senator or US Congressman/woman? For ACE members it is now an easy process. You will receive an email soon, that has the contact information for all of the Florida legislators and US Congress, including telephone numbers, addresses, fax numbers, and email addresses. This information will be sent to ACE members only. If you would like to receive this legislative contact information, be sure that your ACE membership is current or if you are not an ACE member, join now.

BILLS TO WATCH

SB 624 Relating to Human Smuggling
HB 571 Relating to Illegal Aliens
HB 59 Relating to Tuition Waivers (Related Bills: 347, SB 162, SB 620)
HB 67 Relating to General Florida Retirement System
HB 73 Relating to Illegal Immigration
HB 215 Relating to Interpreters for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (Related Bill: SB 236)
HB 331 Relating to Education – Redesignates “technical centers” as “technical colleges” (Related Bill: SB 284)
HB 415 Relating to Cosmetology
HB 499 Relating to Public School Student Discipline
HB 583 Relating to Lake County Magnet High School Pilot Project
SB 110 Relating to Disability History and Awareness Weeks (Related Bills: HB0091; SB 0514
SB 132 Relating to Commissioner of Education/Elected Cabinet Member
SB 136 Relating to Child Care Personnel Training/Domestic Violence
SB 194 Relating to Students Withdrawing from School
SB 240 Relating to Workforce Education Grant Program
SB 252 Relating to Compulsory School Attendance/Age Requirement
SB 286 Relating to General Educators teaching English/In-service Requirements
SB 428 Relating to Regional Workforce Board/Onestop Operator
SB 436 Relating to High School Graduation/Diploma Requirements/Voting
SB 562 Relating to Educational Facilities/Building Standards – Green Building Initiative
SB 566 Relating to Automated External Defibrillators/Public Schools
SB 710 Relating to Credit Cards/Marketing to Students/Post-secondary
SB 772 Relating to Florida Retirement System/Regular Class Benefits
SB 938 Relating to Workforce Development
SB 940 Relating to the Agency for Workforce Development
SB 941 Relating to the Workforce Development

–– Valorie Boyd, Executive Director ACE of Florida, Inc.

To find out about a filed bill, go to the Florida On-Line Sunshine website at: www.leg.state.fl.us. From this site you can go to both the Senate website and the House of Representatives website.

Finding a Bill on the Senate site from On-Line Sunshine:
• Click on Senate
• Click on Publications
• Click on Bills
• On the right hand side –Jump to: click on the bill number range
• Or if you know the bill number – Enter Bill # in the box
• When the Bill page pops up you can click on Bill Summary for an explanation of the bill.

Finding a Bill on the House site from On-Line Sunshine:
• Across the top of the home page, click on Bills
• Be sure the Chamber the bill is filed in (either House or Senate) is selected
• Session (should select Regular Session 2008)
• Bill # (If you know it) or you can select View Bill Range (numbers)

If you know that a particular bill is a Senate Bill (it will have SB in front of the bill number) you could go directly to the Florida Senate website at: www.flsenate.gov. If the bill you are interested in is a House Bill (it will have HB in front of the bill number), the website for the House of Representatives is: www.myfloridahouse.gov.