It is Thursday. According to reports, the Senate and House must convene their conference committees by Monday if they hope to finish the legislative session by May 5th. Negotiations between House Leader Richard Corcoran and Senate President Joe Negron fell apart Sunday. Now they are calling one another names. What is at issue?
Reports in the Miami Herald and the Tampa Bay Times see it this way:
- Schools of Hope $200 million
- Water reservoir in South Florida
- Per pupil spending increase
- Referendum on a Homestead exemption increase from $50,000 to $75,000
There are also disagreement over help for fire fighters who contracted cancer, farmworkers, and funding for pet projects back in the districts. Richard Corcoran does not like the Senate plan which he says is ‘liberal’. Joe Negron says that Corcoran is grand standing; he just wants to shore up his own constituents so he can run for governor.
Corcoran is threatening to send a ‘continuation’ budget to the Senate. Basically, he would send last year’s budget even though there would be $3 billion in reserves that could help schools and water preservation. The whole scenario looks like the same stalemate that exists in Washington D.C.
We have to let our representatives know that doing nothing is not acceptable. It is the House that is holding our schools hostage. We can fix our own schools if the House makes it possible. The Senate will make it possible. Support SB 1552. Don’t let the House benefit a handful of children and leave the rest in the lurch.