Bill could give dogs trained to fight a reprieve

Tallahassee -- State Rep. Luis Garcia wants to give dogs trained to fight a shot at redemption.

The Miami Beach Democrat is one of a handful of lawmakers trying to change the state’s definition of “dangerous dogs” to make it easier for people to adopt canines that have been involved in dog fighting.

As the law reads now, any dog that has been used or trained for dog fighting is considered a dangerous one. If found or surrendered to animal control authorities, those dogs are often put down or sent to private dog shelters.

Garcia’s measure, House Bill 4075, would allow animal shelters to decide on a case-by-case basis if dogs bred to attack — often pit bulls — or those used as bait to train fighters — think poodles — could be rehabilitated and, eventually, adopted.

“If a dog proves to be trainable, it would be put up for adoption and it would save his life,” said Garcia, who called himself an animal lover.

The proposal doesn’t refer to any dog breed by name. The move stems from the case of Michael Vick, the star football quarterback who served nearly two years in prison after pleading guilty to federal dog-fighting charges.

Of the 51 Vick pit bulls seized at the Bad Newz Kennels in Virginia, only one had to be put down for being too violent. The rest were sent to dog shelters, and in some cases rehabilitated enough be taken in by families.

Miami-Dade County bans pit bulls and related breeds, though they are allowed as service animals for people with disabilities. The state has since prohibited rules outlawing specific breeds.

In Florida, a dog can considered dangerous for several reasons, including if it attacks a human being or more than once injures or kills a domestic animal outside of its owner’s property. Florida is one of 13 states that classify dogs as dangerous if they have past involvement in dog fighting.

Owners of dangerous dogs may have to pay an annual fee to register them and are required to follow other rules, like muzzle and restrain their pets outdoors.

But when dangerous dogs arrive at animal shelters — as is the case when authorities bust dog-fighting rings — the animals are sometimes euthanized, said Garcia, himself an owner of two shelter dogs, Amy, a yellow lab, and Ari, a retriever mix. Shelters fear being held liable for putting a potentially dangerous dog up for adoption, he added.

At a hearing in the House community and military affairs subcommittee Tuesday, Garcia said his bill would make adoptive owners liable for any possible problems with a dog formerly involved in fighting.

Sean Gallagher, an investigations supervisor at Miami-Dade Animal Services, said in his 16 years on the job, the department has not come across a dog-fighting ring where it has confiscated any dogs — not because the rings don’t exist, he added, but because they operate furtively and are difficult to bust. (Much more vulnerable, he said, are cock-fighting operations.)

Gallagher took issue with the suggestion that the county shelter would be more likely to put down a dangerous dog. And he said the proposed legislation, which he has not reviewed, could raise questions of fairness.

“My question would be, if a dog has been used and trained for dog fighting…then how come my German shepherd that attacked a Pekingese and killed it doesn’t have the same chance of getting rehabilitated?” he said.

Garcia’s bill, backed by the Florida Animal Control Association, cleared the committee unanimously. Its companion, Senate Bill 722, also passed a committee earlier this session without opposition.

Patricia Mazzei can be reached at pmazzei@miamiherald.com.

Deregulation bill would cost Fla. $6M loss, 100 jobs

TALLAHASSEE -- As lawmakers seek to close a budget gap and eliminate “job-killing regulations,” a vast deregulation bill would free auto repair shops from providing customers with written estimates that break down the cost of parts and labor.

It would halt inspections of business that sell ice, and stop state reports on how charities use their contributions.

Twenty different businesses are targeted in the bill, including movers, interior designers, talent agents and sports agents that recruit and represent student athletes.

And how much money would the state save with these changes?

None.

In fact, if the House bill became law, it would cost the state more than $6 million in lost revenue and result in more than 100 layoffs, most of them in a call center in the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services that fields consumer complaints.

That doesn’t sit well with Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam.

“We think it’s important that there remain a consumer hot line,” Putnam said. “That 1-800-HELP-FLA is sort of a universal hot line. People report wildfires to that. People report being ripped off to that. People report problems at the gas pumps with that. So it’s an important function that goes away.”

The House staff analysis, though, says the bill “has a positive fiscal impact on the private sector.”

“This is the direct result of removing requirements for various professionals and businesses to pay various fees and to submit applications and disclosures,” reads the analysis.

Nearly all of the businesses slated for deregulation pay fees of less than $300 a year.

But Rep. Dana Young, R-Tampa, who voted in favor of the bill when it came before the Business and Consumer Affairs subcommittee, said that’s money that perhaps the state shouldn’t have been collecting in the first place.

“We want to turn this over to the private sector,” Young said.

Businesses that continue to serve consumers well will thrive, she said. Others won’t.

As for written estimates from auto repair shops, she said: “People can ask for those.”

Nearly half of the businesses affected by the legislation are regulated by the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

“We’re continuing to work with members of the Legislature to deregulate those things which are appropriate to deregulate and in the other areas maintaining a level of consumer protection that the people have come to expect and deserve,” Putnam said.

He expressed particular concern about the deregulation of telemarketers, saying that most of the department’s complaints come from consumers reporting violations of the “do-not-call” list.

Putnam also said he worries about deregulation of charities.

“We’re seeing a lot of pseudo charities out there, particularly ones raising money in the name of veterans and not really giving the money back to the veterans,” he said.

And Putnam said the auto repair shops should continue to be monitored, though not necessarily by his department. “Someone ought to be keeping an eye on that just to make sure the people aren’t victimized,” he said.

Putnam said he shares the Legislature’s passion for deregulation. “But we want to be smart about it,” he said.

Rep. Esteban Bovo, a Republican from Hialeah, sponsored the bill, but he resigned last week to run for the Miami-Dade County Commission.

N.C. Republican lawmakers move to shrink state's environmental agency

RALEIGH — There is a move in the Republican-controlled legislature to downsize and make more business-friendly the state's leading environmental agency, a move that has set off alarms among environmentalists.

A measure moving through the Senate would strip the state Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) of several of its functions. And Senate budget writers are considering further downsizing measures.

Lawmakers have also begun holding hearings across the state to review the state's rules and regulations, with environmental regulations a particular area of interest.

"I'd like to see DENR downsized," said Sen. Don East, a Republican from Pilot Mountain and co-chairman of the budget committee that controls DENR's purse strings. "I'd like to see them be a kinder, gentler agency. I'd like to see DENR be a help, not a hindrance to business and industry."

The Republican push is likely to win some backing in the business community, but it has caused concern among environmentalists and their allies.

"What I perceive is a generalized attack on all parts of DENR," said Joe Hackney of Chapel Hill, the House Democratic leader, who has longtime ties to the environmental movement. "There are some people who want to dismantle it and reduce it to little or nothing. There are others who want to neuter its regulatory side, which the public will not like. The public places a high value on clean water and clean air."

Environmental regulation has long been a target of conservatives, particularly in Washington, where Republicans often portray the Environmental Protection Agency as overreaching.

In North Carolina, many federal environmental regulations - as well as the state regulations - are managed by DENR.

The debate comes at a time when the state faces a $2.4 billion budget shortfall for the fiscal year beginning July 1, and lawmakers want to reorganize state government as a way to save money. Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue announced her own reorganization plan in December, and she is expected to put elements of that plan into place shortly.

To read the complete article, visit www.newsobserver.com.

Abortion bills pile up in Florida

TALLAHASSEE -- Between a conservative Legislature and a more conservative governor, there’s a concentrated effort this year to tighten Florida’s abortion laws.

From reviving a measure to require a woman to receive an ultrasound before undergoing an abortion to a blanket ban that would pose a legal challenge to Roe v. Wade, at least 18 bills are filed.

“It’s an unprecedented year,” said Stephanie Kunkel, executive director of the Florida Alliance of Planned Parenthood Affiliates.

The number puts Florida among the top five states in the country for abortion bills, Kunkel said. West Virginia is first with more than 30.

“There are some that are just chipping away at a woman’s right to choose and there are some that are wholesale assaults,” said Danielle Prendergast, director of public policy for the American Civil Liberties Union, which opposes the bills. “Given the makeup and the tone of this Legislature, I think more will pass than may have passed in previous sessions.”

The push contrasts heavily to last year when the ultrasound bill came under intense, emotional debate and was ultimately vetoed by then-Gov. Charlie Crist, who said, “Personal views should not result in laws that unwisely expand the role of government and coerce people to obtain medical tests or procedures that are not medically necessary.”

The most significant proposal is a bill from Rep. Charles Van Zant, R-Palatka, that would challenge the U.S. Supreme Court decision that guaranteed a woman’s right to choose. But without a companion in the Senate, it isn’t likely to progress.

Other bills, however, are moving quickly, and three made it through committee Tuesday, including the measure that requires a woman to get an ultrasound before undergoing an abortion and be asked if she wants to review the results.

“This is about the right of a woman considering the termination of a pregnancy to possess all of the relevant information made available to her so she can make a fully informed decision,” the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Elizabeth Porter, R-Lake City, told members of the House Health and Human Services Quality Subcommittee. “Knowledge is never a bad thing.”

Opponents say the measure interferes with the doctor-patient relationship and forces doctors to perform a procedure that may not be medically necessary.

Rep. Scott Randolph, D-Orlando, called out Republican members for voting earlier in the day to prohibit laws requiring individuals to have health insurance because it intrudes on the doctor-patient relationship and then supporting the ultrasound bill.

“Is this legislation not practicing an ideology of convenience or are we just being hypocritical?” he asked.

The bill passed along party lines.

The Health and Human Services Committee passed a bill sponsored by Rep. Rachel Burgin, R-Riverview, that would limit third-trimester abortions, require doctors performing abortions to receive ethics training and mandate that abortion clinics be owned by physicians.

And the Senate banking and insurance committee passed a bill that would prohibit private insurers from covering abortions if the policy is paid for using any public money.

“This bill does not prohibit women from making the choice to terminate a pregnancy,” said Sen. Stephen Wise, the Jacksonville Republican who sponsored the legislation. “This bill says that the taxpayers will not pay for an abortion.”

Gov. Rick Scott orders random drug tests for state workers

TALLAHASSEE -- — On the same day a bill was filed to make good on Gov. Rick Scott’s pledge to require people receiving welfare to pass drug tests, he signed an executive order that would make state workers take them, too.

Sen. Paula Dockery, R-Lakeland, offered legislation on Scott’s behalf in the Criminal Justice Committee Tuesday to require that all cash-assistance welfare recipients over the age of 18 pay for and receive a drug test. One official estimated that this would affect about 58,000 people.

The governor’s executive order requires all prospective hires under his direction to take a drug test and orders that all current employees be subject to random drug screenings, affecting potentially 100,000 people. If tests cost the state $35 each, it could add up to $3.5 million.

The ACLU says the random testing proposal was ruled unconstitutional in a 2004 ACLU case against the state Department of Juvenile Justice.

“The state of Florida cannot force people to surrender their constitutional rights in order to work for the state. Absent any evidence of illegal drug use, or assigned a safety-sensitive job, people have a right to be left alone,” said Howard Simon, executive director of the ACLU of Florida. Simon said the ACLU would represent any state employee who would like to challenge the policy.

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Tea party president? Rand Paul plays coy

WASHINGTON -- Newly elected Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky is coy when asked about his 2012 presidential ambitions.

"The only decision I've made is I won't run against my dad," Paul told the Post and Courier newspaper Monday during a visit to Charleston, S.C. His father, Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, has run twice for president - in 1988 as the nominee of the Libertarian Party and in 2008 in a bid for the Republican nomination.

Rand Paul visited South Carolina and has plans to hit several other key presidential primary states while promoting his new book, "The Tea Party Goes to Washington," which was co-written by Jack Hunter, a Charleston-area radio host and columnist.

Paul's presidential flirtation also came up during an interview last month with ABC News.

"Come back and ask me in a few months," he told ABC.

Paul's office declined to comment further Tuesday beyond referring back to the comments the senator made during his recent South Carolina trip.

During his Senate campaign, Paul said he's interested in elevating the tea party's message of fiscal conservatism and helping shape the debate on federal spending and debt reduction.

Last week, he released a federal debt reduction plan that calls for $4 trillion in cuts, which he said would generate a $19 billion surplus in fiscal 2016. Paul's plan calls for eliminating the departments of Commerce, Education, Housing and Urban Development and Energy, repealing the health care law, removing other smaller agencies and trimming the budgets of several other agencies.

So far, former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty is the only Republican to take the formal step of creating a presidential exploratory committee. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney are almost certain to run.

Tea party favorites Sarah Palin, the former Alaska governor and 2008 vice presidential nominee, and Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann are also mentioned as possible Republican presidential contenders, as are Ron Paul, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and John Huntsman, a former Utah governor and soon-to-be departing U.S. ambassador to China.

Rand Paul, who has served just three months of his six-year term, "wouldn't be in the top tier" were he to run, said Larry Sabato, the director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia.

"Part of it may be that he looks and sees so far no pure tea party candidate is running," Sabato said. "Is there room for someone like Rand Paul? Sure. This is a free for all, and I'll be surprised if we don't have some surprise candidates. Having said that, you don't win a presidential election on the fly. You need to have raised money and spend time in South Carolina, New Hampshire and Iowa."

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Texas' voter ID bill stalled by Democrats

AUSTIN — Republican supporters of a high-priority voter identification bill sought to regroup from an embarrassing setback Monday after Democrats forced the measure from the House floor on a point of order.

The bill, which seems assured of eventual passage in the Republican-dominated Legislature, will likely return to the House by midweek after supporters patch up technical mistakes in committee. But the maneuver nevertheless gave Democrats a symbolic victory as they seek to stall the measure.

The bill, sponsored by Rep. Patricia Harless, R-Spring, would require people to show a photo ID to vote. A slightly less stringent version of the bill has passed in the Senate.

Gov. Rick Perry has designated voter ID as one of several emergency measures that he wants to fast-track through the 140-day legislative session, which is at the halfway mark. Republicans say their constituents are demanding the bill to ensure election integrity, but Democrats contend that it would disenfranchise poor and minority voters.

After a review, the House parliamentarian accepted the point of order by Rep. Armando Martinez, D-Weslaco, who cited an obscure discrepancy between the language in the bill and an accompanying analysis of the legislation. One of the documents said voters would be given six business days to verify provisional ballots while the other called for six calendar days.

To read the complete article, visit www.star-telegram.com.

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Few signs of progress in solving Calif. budget

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Gov. Jerry Brown and Democratic legislative leaders began a new week of budget negotiations Monday with optimism, even as they admitted little progress on how to address the remainder of California's $26.6 billion shortfall.

Brown, a Democrat, has missed his self-imposed deadline to put a special election on tax extensions before voters, and lawmakers say it's increasingly unlikely that any such measure could be placed on the ballot June 7, when several municipalities hold local elections.

But Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg said this is the week to get bipartisan support to call a vote.

"Time is of the essence. ... We're talking days, not weeks," Steinberg, a Sacramento Democrat, said after meeting with Brown and Assembly Speaker John Perez, D-Los Angeles. "There's going to be an all-hands effort to try to pull together an agreement and to try to get the minimum number of Republican votes - or more than the minimum number - to give the people a choice."

The governor spoke to a gathering of labor officials Monday night and said he wanted to be on a conciliatory path with GOP members. But he criticized Republican lawmakers as being obstructionists. Members have also opposed his plan to eliminate the state's redevelopment agencies, a plan the governor argues would put more money toward education and public safety.

"Well if you're not going to vote to extend taxes, you're not going to vote to cut, you're not going to vote to do anything to redevelopment - so what the hell are you going to do," Brown said. "By the way, if you're not going to do anything, why do you take a paycheck?"

Earlier in the day he took to YouTube, asking Californians to let lawmakers know they want a chance to vote.

"I don't see this as a Republican or a Democratic issue," Brown said in his three-minute video. "This is a matter of all of us thinking as Californians first and acting in solidarity to grapple with problems that have been avoided too long."

The Legislature began chipping away at the deficit last week, primarily by cutting health care services for seniors and the poor. But the most contentious parts of Brown's budget proposal remain unresolved, including his desire to eliminate local redevelopment agencies and his call for a special election.

Brown wants voters to decide whether to extend temporary increases in the personal income, sales and vehicle taxes enacted two years ago. If voters approve, those taxes would bring in an estimated $9.2 billion a year for five more years. That is on top of $12.5 billion in spending cuts.

While no Republicans support the plan, five GOP senators have engaged in discussions with Brown and Democrats. Several met with Steinberg on Monday. They want pension reform, a state spending cap and regulatory changes, primarily to environmental rules they say stymie economic development.

Former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger last year won concessions on public employee pensions through the Legislature and collective bargaining, and Brown has succeeded in getting rollbacks in contract agreements his administration recently struck with several state unions.

Nevertheless, the Republican senators are pressing for more changes, such as converting to a hybrid retirement plan that blends the current defined benefits with 401(k)-style savings account.

One of the five GOP senators, Sen. Sam Blakeslee of San Luis Obispo, said Brown has so far rejected their ideas. He suggested the governor has not been willing to challenge his own party to accept changes that are unpalatable to unions, which are major donors to Democratic candidates and causes.

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Keeping up with the GOP governors

WASHINGTON -- It may be a bigger threat to President Barack Obama than Romney, Palin or Gingrich — a crew by the name of Christie, Scott and Walker that is slashing budgets, undercutting the new health care law and picking fights with unions.

Call 2011 the year of the Republican governor.

Newly elected officials such as New Jersey’s Chris Christie, Florida’s Rick Scott and Wisconsin’s Scott Walker are exerting power in dramatic ways and jumping over each other for a share of the national spotlight.

“Keeping up with the Christies,” chided the New York Times editorial page when Scott rejected $2.4 billion in federal funding for high-speed rail.

With more Republican legislatures behind them than any time since 1952, the governors are successfully pushing a conservative, anti-Obama agenda just as the president prepares for his re-election campaign.

“They are more important than Congress right now,” said U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C. “The more they push back, the better chance we have at cutting back the role of the federal government.”

Republicans now control 29 governor’s mansions, a gain of seven since 2009, and have taken a majority of the swing voter states from Democrats, including Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, Iowa and New Mexico.

The challenge for Obama runs to Florida, too, where Alex Sink barely lost the race for governor, the best hope for Democrats in a long time. Now, Scott has a megaphone that he uses nearly daily to oppose Obama’s policies.

The governors say the November midterm elections, where voters sided overwhelmingly with Republicans, were a mandate to tackle spending and improve the business climate in their states through less regulation and taxes.

When one steps out, it encourages the others. Together they are supplanting Congress and the crop of Republican presidential hopefuls as the primary check on the White House.

“They are doing what they were elected to do — tackle tough problems by taking bold action to place their states on a path for a stronger future,” said former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.

FOCUS ON TRIO

Driving the debate and news attention are Christie, 48; Scott, 58; Walker, 43; and John Kasich, 58, of Ohio.

Facing deep deficits, the governors have produced austere budgets that in some cases are even too severe for their Republican legislatures. But they have pleased conservative activists. Scott went as far as to use a tea party rally to roll out his budget plan, which included $1.7 billion in tax cuts and slashing spending by $4.6 billion.

In Florida, Ohio and Wisconsin, governors have rejected federal money for high-speed rail, a top priority of Obama, dismissing the jobs that would be created as short-term and fretting over billions in unforeseen maintenance costs.

Most Republican governors have joined in lawsuits challenging the new health care law and some have resisted implementing the changes, contending they are unconstitutional. Now they want to force changes to Medicaid, asking the White House and leaders in Congress to make it easier to remove people from the program due to budget constraints.

“We shouldn’t have to come up here and kowtow and kiss the ring,” Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour told a House committee last week.

They also are trying to overhaul the pension system for state workers and eliminate tenure for school teachers.

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Ray Sansom case shocker: Ex-college president flips on him, developer

TALLAHASSEE -- The criminal case against former House Speaker Ray Sansom took a dramatic turn Friday as a co-defendant turned state’s evidence and acknowledged that $6 million Sansom put in the state budget was to benefit a developer.

Bob Richburg, former president of the Panhandle college that got the money in 2007, portrayed the idea as one hatched by Sansom and Jay Odom, a friend and political contributor who wanted to use the building for his private jet business.

Asked if he knew at the time whether the building — ostensibly an emergency response and training center — was being placed at Destin Airport so Odom would benefit, Richburg flatly replied: “Yes.”

The surprise turn of events dealt Sansom and Odom a significant setback as their trial is set to begin March 21. All three men had been charged with grand theft.

Now Richburg, 65, could take the witness stand against his associates.

“There’s been quite a change in the landscape for us,” Odom attorney Jimmy Judkins said during Friday’s hearing.

Richburg, who was fired from Northwest Florida State College for his role in the scandal, also acknowledged keeping Odom’s interest in the building from his board of trustees and not being truthful when a reporter asked him about the deal.

“And why was that?” a state investigator asked in an interview made public Friday.

“Because there would have been further uproar over it,” Richburg replied.

Leon County State Attorney Willie Meggs expects to drop the charges against Richburg. But Richburg would have to perform 250 hours of community service and give $103,333 to Northwest Florida State College, a third of the $310,000 the college had to reimburse to the state. (That’s how much of the $6 million was spent on planning before the project was canceled amid the controversy.)

Richburg would preserve his state retirement benefits, however, a significant sum after decades in higher education. “He was used,” Meggs said Friday of Richburg. “He didn’t personally gain anything out of it.”

In another development Friday, the state made public an interview with a Fort Walton Beach insurance agent who said he gave Sansom a $7,000-a-month job in 2009 at the request of Odom.

Initially the agent, Gary Paulzak, portrayed it as goodwill toward Sansom, whose life had been “ruined in every way” by the criminal case against him. But later in an interview, Paulzak acknowledged that he owed Odom money.

“I wasn’t forthright,” he told prosecutors, who had asked him earlier about the debt. He said he assumed that by hiring Sansom, the debt would be “lessened.”

Sansom tried to get an insurance license but was denied because he was under indictment. Still, Paulzak continued to pay him.

The scandal broke in late 2008 when Sansom, R-Destin, took a six-figure job at the college on the same day he was sworn in as speaker of the Florida House. He said he saw no conflict of interest.

The Times/Herald then reported a series of stories showing how Sansom used his powerful position as House budget chief to funnel tens of millions to the school, including $6 million for the airport building in 2007.

He and Richburg insisted it was for an emergency operations and training center and that there would be no private use. But records and other evidence pointed to Odom’s plan to use part of the building to store aircraft for his private jet business, which he built next door at Destin Airport.

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Senator demands answers in child deaths

TALLAHASSEE -- Sen. Ronda Storms told Gov. Rick Scott’s social services secretary Wednesday to “dispense with the niceties” and demanded he provide some answers to the recent troubling child abuse deaths that have exposed cracks in his agency.

“Welcome to your baptism by fire,’’ said Storms, the chairwoman of the Children, Families and Elder Affairs Committee as David Wilkins stood before her committee for the first time. “You’ve had very difficult days and weeks and I respect that.”

Then she barreled ahead, asking him to explain what the state Department of Children and Families is doing to address the “horrible atrocities’’ surrounding the 10-year-old Miami twins tortured by their adoptive parents after being in state protective custody.

Wilkins, 50, a former global managing director for Accenture Health and Public Service, has only been on the job a month. Yet he’s had to confront the tragic death 10-year-old Nubia Barahona, of Miami, and the discovery of two Delray Beach siblings, 10-year-old Jermaine McNeil and 6-year-old Ju’Tyra Allen, whose bodies were found last week stuffed in suitcases and dumped in a canal.

Nubia’s body was found on Valentine’s Day in the flatbed of her adoptive father’s pest-control truck, drenched in toxic chemicals. Her twin, Victor, was found hours earlier in the pickup’s cab, burned by caustic chemicals, convulsing, but still alive. He is recovering at a therapeutic foster home after being released from Jackson Memorial Hospital’s burn unit. The adoptive parents, Jorge and Carmen Barahona face charges of first-degree murder, aggravated child abuse and child neglect. In the case of the Delray Beach siblings, police have a sole suspect in custody, but he has not been charged in connection with the deaths.

Wilkins said he traveled to Miami the day after Nubia Barahona’s body was found and said he encountered “finger pointing of all the different parties.”

“I realized the situation was much more complicated than I understood,” he said. “I believe an overall systematic failure contributed to this process due to outdated business processes, conflicting rules and responsibilities that exist in this agency, institutional lapses in quality, governance and accountability.”

But Storms interrupted Wilkins as he tried to describe the panel of social service experts he appointed to conduct an independent review.

“I appreciate what you’re saying but what I want to know is how will this be different?,’’ said Storms, a Republican from Valrico. “How many more investigations, how many more death reviews will we have?”

Wilkins promised to work “very aggressively” to reform DCF and he called the case “the defining moment of my early tenure.”

He said he wants to restructure the jobs of child protection investigators – the agency’s “first line of defense” – and enhance their tools and technology. He said he has worked side by side with them, but is concerned about their lack of experience. More than 56 percent of DCF investigators have less than two years experience and turnover is high — 64 percent — in three regions of the state/

Wilkins acknowledged DCF’s problems are deep. He said the limited training requirements “are misdirected” because they focus on case management and social work instead of “how to assess a situation.” He offered no immediate remedy to address the current situation.

The review panel’s report on the Barahona case is due out on Monday and Wilkins said he promises to adopt the recommendations.

Storms, however, said the agency failure goes beyond DCF. She blamed the Community Based Care agencies, a local organization contracted to handle the agency’s work.

“I’m tired of just throwing case workers under the bus,’’ Storms said. She said she agreed to give local groups more flexibility, but they “are not doing their job.”

She lambasted the groups for “having some gall” to ask the Legislature for exemptions from liability for negligence and chastised their executives. She then urged Wilkins not to defend them: “You should just duck and stay out of the way.”

Wilkins said he will use his business experience to improve the agency’s hotline and call centers, increase “community engagement” and keep the focus on accountability.

Storms then finished with a commendation and a plea. She thanked Wilkins for leaving a comfortable retirement from the private sector to work for the state.

“Please do not disappoint us,” she said. “Do not shrink away from the job. You have a short window of opportunity for goodwill … take that goodwill and exploit it.”

Mary Ellen Klas can be reached at meklas@MiamiHerald.com

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Republicans try to revive Yucca Mountain as nuclear-waste repository

WASHINGTON -- Yucca Mountain is still breathing.

It's been 24 long years since Congress designated the site in the southern Nevada desert as the best place to store the nation's nuclear waste.

While opponents have gained the upper hand in trying to block the project in recent years - in 2009, Energy Secretary Steven Chu said, "Yucca Mountain as a repository is off the table" - a group of House Republicans is fighting back. They want to revive the site as part of a broader plan that calls for building 200 nuclear-power plants by 2030.

Under that plan, the nation would begin building nuclear plants on an unprecedented scale. Currently, the nation gets 20 percent of its electricity from 104 nuclear reactors.

There's one big problem: There's no place to put the radioactive waste.

The Republican legislation would take care of that. It would require the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to complete its review of the Yucca Mountain site "without political interference."

That would be difficult, with top Democrats trying hard to scrap the project.

In a speech to the Nevada legislature last month, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada boasted that Congress had "killed Yucca Mountain" because of fears that it would hurt the state's tourism industry.

And President Barack Obama, who campaigned against the proposed repository in 2008, included no money for Yucca Mountain in his 2012 budget.

Obama, though, has become a fan of nuclear power, reflecting how much things have changed since the "no-nukes" days of the 1970s. He regards nuclear power as an important part of his push for "clean energy."

And nuclear power is moving up on the agenda on Capitol Hill after the president talked it up in his State of the Union speech. Since then, Republicans have repeatedly cited nuclear power as an issue that could result in their cooperation with the White House.

The president promoted the issue again last month in his 2012 budget, which called for spending another $36 billion on loan guarantees to help build more nuclear plants. The guarantees could save power companies billions in financing costs.

However, the nuclear risk rising from Japan's Friday earthquake is likely to revive anti-nuclear-power sentiments in this country, and could tilt political momentum against the radioactive power source.

Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., said Sunday on CBS' "Face the Nation" that he has been a "big supporter" of nuclear power and that the U.S. has "a good safety record." But he said the events in Japan require the U.S. to take care before proceeding.

"I think it calls on us here in the U.S. naturally not to stop building nuclear power plants but to put the brakes on right now until we understand the ramifications of what's happened in Japan," Lieberman said.

Still, 64 House Republicans have signed on to the bill that would triple the nation's nuclear capacity in 19 years. The legislation also promises to reignite an old battle by calling for energy exploration in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

The issue is of particular importance for a number of states with complexes that built nuclear weapons during World War II and the Cold War and are storing large amounts of radioactive waste, including:

-Washington, home to the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, the nation's largest atomic waste dump.

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Scott skeptical of drug database funds

One of the country’s largest drug manufacturers is offering a $1 million donation to help pay for a prescription database to combat Florida’s illegal trade in painkillers. But with the future of the database now in doubt in Tallahassee, the state is not likely to accept the offer from the maker of OxyContin.

Gov. Rick Scott, who wants to do away with the database altogether, said he’s not interested in the money.

Two years ago, the state Legislature overwhelmingly approved the creation of a statewide prescription drug monitoring program to try to curb an epidemic of drug overdoses and narcotics trafficking spawned by storefront pain clinics, most of them in South Florida. The database would allow physicians and investigators to identify “doctor shopping” patients who go from doctor to doctor to obtain prescriptions for potent painkillers such as oxycodone.

When lawmakers approved the prescription database in 2009, they set aside no state money for it. Instead, state officials established a private foundation to receive donations to cover the costs. Through December, the foundation had collected $500,000 in donations, while also qualifying for another $800,000 in federal grants.

But Scott and others in the state capital now want to kill the database altogether, saying it’s a needless intrusion on patients’ privacy. Scott has already eliminated the office that was raising money for the database.

The threats from Tallahassee prompted Purdue Pharma — the maker of the well-known time-released painkiller containing oxycodone — to offer $1 million to help pay for the database. The money would cover the operating costs of the database for two years.

Alan Must, Purdue Pharma’s vice president for government affairs, said Florida’s database is needed to prevent pill trafficking nationwide. Florida has become the nation’s leader in oxycodone sales, attracting carloads of drug dealers and couriers from Kentucky, Ohio, West Virginia and other states who come south to buy pills.

“We were so disappointed when we heard that it might go away,” Must said. “We want this [database] to happen. It doesn’t do us any good to have that illegal business in Florida.”

Must said Wednesday he had not yet heard a response to the company’s proposal. But Scott told reporters that he didn’t want to rely on a short-term grant for fear that the database would require state funding later.

Thirty-four states now have prescription monitoring databases, and nine other states have approved them. Florida is the largest state without such a database.

But some lawmakers believe Florida doesn’t need one.

Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park, the speaker of the House of Representatives, has backed a bill scrapping the drug database, and instead limiting doctors’ power to dispense pills from their offices or clinics. Two years ago, the lawmakers in Cannon’s chamber approved the database by a vote of 103-10.

Cannon’s proposal faces opposition from the Florida Medical Association, many law enforcement agencies and from Senate President Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, who has vowed to protect the monitoring program.

“People are dying and families are destroyed by this abuse and we must do whatever we can to stop this scourge on our state,” Haridopolos said in a written statement praising Purdue Pharma’s offer.

The database cleared another hurdle on Tuesday, when an administrative judge in Tallahassee dismissed a bid protest over the database contract award that had stalled the project since last year. But Scott gave no indication Wednesday that he would allow the state Department of Health to go forward with the software contract.

OxyContin, one of Purdue Pharma’s signature drugs, is also among the most vulnerable to abuse. Ten years ago, the Florida Attorney General’s Office investigated the company for its aggressive marketing of the painkiller, after a spate overdose deaths involving the drug.

In 2002, the Connecticut-based pharmaceutical company agreed to pay $2 million to the state to settle the case. The money was supposed to pay for the cost of creating a prescription monitoring database. But the Legislature failed to approve the database for four years, and the agreement expired, said Jim Heins, Purdue Pharma’s senior director of public affairs.

Instead, Heins said, the company donated less than $1 million to train Florida law enforcement officers in prescription diversion.

In 2007, a Purdue Pharma subsidiary agreed to pay $600 million in fines after a criminal probe found the company had fraudulently claimed to doctors and patients that OxyContin was less prone to addiction and abuse than other painkillers. Three former company executives also pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of misbranding, or marketing drugs for non-approved uses.

Michael C. Bender of the Herald/Times Tallahassee Bureau contributed to this report.

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A new sheriff vs. Legislature’s ‘old bulls’

TALLAHASSEE -- Sen. J.D. Alexander’s cell phone buzzed with a six-word text message: “We just killed high-speed rail.”

The terse note from Gov. Rick Scott’s top policy adviser, Mary Anne Carter, understated the explosive decision to stop a politically sensitive $3 billion project dead in its tracks.

And the casual conveyance to the powerful Senate budget chief, accustomed to being deferred to, underscored the challenge that Scott, 58, could face massaging his ambitious agenda through a veto-proof Legislature that naturally bristles at the executive branch.

“Governors have among the biggest egos in the state of Florida. But so do members of the House and Senate,” said former state Sen. Steve Geller, D-Hallandale Beach. “I do foresee some problems here.”

In his first two months in office, Scott has shown two very different sides of himself in his approach to the Legislature.

At times, the Kansas City native exudes Midwestern politeness. He asks lawmakers about their families, insists on pictures during meetings in his office and invites fellow Republicans to private dinners prepared by the Governor’s Mansion chef.

But other times Scott, a former CEO at the nation’s largest hospital chain in the 1990s and a leader in the rebellious tea party movement, moves through the Capitol like a boardroom where his decisions should be rubber-stamped.

Lobbyists complain only a select few can schedule meetings in the governor’s office; Scott’s press office threatens media outlets before unflattering stories are published; and, in the Legislature, Scott temporarily barred his aides from a committee after the chairman peppered them with aggressive questions.

The Legislature has already shown signs of pushing back. Alexander suggested Scott violated the state Constitution with the sale of two state planes and has filed a public records request for documents related to the move. One of Scott’s earliest supporters, Sen. Paula Dockery of Lakeland, authored a letter signed by a veto-proof majority of 26 senators rebuking Scott for his high-speed rail decision.

“We now see what the outsider perspective looks like,” Republican consultant David Johnson of Tallahassee said. “And it’s going to take some getting used to by the old bulls of the Legislature.”

Scott’s first-year agenda can largely be found within his controversial budget proposal, which he unveiled at a tea party rally in Eustis. Sen. Mike Bennett, a Sarasota Republican and supporter of Scott’s, said Scott “sent the wrong message” by unrolling the budget to a select group of Floridians.

Scott, however, has shown little interest in appealing to the 51 percent who voted for the other candidates for governor.

The staggering $4.6 billion spending cut in Scott’s budget was applauded by tea party leaders. But even conservative lawmakers who have made budget cuts a top goal say some of Scott’s spending priorities might not be welcomed.

For example, conservative leaders are unlikely to cut public school spending by 10 percent while paying for tax cuts on corporate income and pollutants. Scott has recommended both.

“I doubt we’re going to have 100 percent agreement, but we’re going to find a lot of common ground,” said Senate President Mike Haridopolos, a Merritt Island Republican and 2012 U.S. Senate candidate. “He’s a very good salesman.”

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Part-time legislating leads to conflicts of interest

TALLAHASSEE — Florida has a part-time citizen Legislature, comprised of people of varied backgrounds from teachers to real estate agents to funeral directors.

“We don’t want full-time legislators, and I’m glad we’re not like Congress,” says House Speaker Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park.

Such professional diversity gives lawmaking a real-world component in Tallahassee but also leads to conflicts of interest for legislators who earn $29,000 a year.

As the reputation goes, the fox is often guarding the henhouse.

Educators routinely vote for and against bills that affect schools. Lawyers vote on bills affecting the legal profession. Medical professionals help write laws affecting doctors, hospitals and clinics. Many legislators work for colleges and universities that depend on state appropriations. And some work for phone and electric utilities regulated by the state.

A statewide grand jury on public corruption in Florida concluded that the conflict of interest law is too weak and should be strengthened to restore faith in government.

“Voting conflicts of interest should be criminally punished,” the grand jury report says. “When a public official has a conflict, he or she should step aside and disclose the conflict. The only benefit the public official should receive is for the public, not for the public official or anyone else.”

In city and county government, officials must abstain from voting on matters that could benefit them personally, but the rules are different in Tallahassee.

Senators and representatives are allowed to vote on matters in which they have a financial stake as long as they disclose it up to 15 days after the vote is cast. And Florida ethics laws say it’s legal for elected officials to vote on matters that affect their own professions.

During the past five years, dozens of legislators have filed voting conflict forms in cases where they had conflicts of interest.

Sen. J.D. Alexander, R-Lake Wales, has extensive agricultural business interests, and sponsored and voted for a 2010 bill that he said could have affected his business, Blue Head Farms. The bill allowed landowners to keep agricultural tax exemptions for longer periods of time.

Rep. Esteban Bovo, R-Hialeah, voted to shield his employer, Miami Children’s Hospital, from budget cuts.

Sen. Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, has a stake in Caregivers Inc., a company that gets Medicaid money that Gaetz voted to appropriate.

Sen. Arthenia Joyner, D-Tampa, works for a law firm that serves as bond counsel to the local expressway authority, and voted on a bill affecting sale of authority bonds.

Sen. Dennis Jones, R-Seminole, a chiropractor, voted to confirm the appointment of his son to the Board of Chiropractic Medicine.

Rep. Michelle Rehwinkel Vasilinda, D-Tallahassee, took the extreme step of resigning from a House budget committee that oversaw the state lottery at a time when her husband, TV executive Mike Vasilinda, had a contract with the lottery.

Legislators who practice law are required to file quarterly forms disclosing clients of the firm represented before state government.

Sen. Joe Negron, R-Stuart, who works for the Gunster law firm, last month filed a list of 59 clients, including U.S. Sugar Corp.; the GEO Group, a private prison operator; Florida Power & Light; and racetracks, cities, real estate firms and utilities.

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Trump business adviser scopes out Iowa politics

NEW YORK -- A top associate to billionaire real estate developer Donald Trump is heading to Iowa next week to promote a potential presidential bid by Trump, who has said he would campaign in the state if he decides to seek the Republican nomination.

Michael Cohen, a vice president and counsel to the Trump Organization, told The Associated Press that he planned to fly to Des Moines, Iowa, on Monday to meet with top GOP lawmakers, operatives and volunteers. Iowa is to host the first presidential caucus, scheduled for Feb. 6, 2012.

"I'll be gauging the reception I feel he would have when he comes to Iowa," Cohen said.

Trump told reporters in Iowa this week that he would campaign hard in the state if he decides to enter the GOP field.

"I will meet many, many people, maybe all of the people" in Iowa, Trump told The Des Moines Register. "If I decide to run, I will be shaking hands with everybody."

Trump has said he would decide by June whether he'll run.

Cohen is a cofounder of Should Trump Run, a website formed to boost interest and grass-roots support for a Trump candidacy. Cohen and Stewart Rahr, founder of the pharmaceutical giant Kinray, launched the site to prod Trump to get in the race.

"The man has proven experience, he is one of the richest men in the world, he has the most prolific name on the planet, and his negotiation skills are second to none," Cohen said of Trump. "We really believe we need someone to take over our country like a business and restore hope."

Cohen said Trump has no connection to Should Trump Run.

The field of potential Republican challengers to President Barack Obama has only begun to take shape even though the early nominating contests are set to begin in less than a year. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich launched a campaign website this week and signaled he was likely to run, the first major GOP candidate to formally do so.

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Scott’s budget includes big tax cuts, but not for everybody

One of the best ways to show voters the impact of tax cuts is to break them down in a way people can appreciate.

Take Gov. Rick Scott’s budget roll-out the week of Feb. 7, 2011. Scott says his spending plan includes $4.1 billion in tax and fee relief over two years. That sounds good, but it means little to someone unfamiliar with the inner workings of the state budget.

So Scott’s budget team decided to boil that figure down to show the impact on Florida households.

In a graphic showing the proposed tax relief for 2011-2013, Scott’s budget gurus added this simple-to-digest sound bite: "Total Savings Per Household, $540 Over Two Years." The figure got repeated by various media outlets.

So we wondered, is it right?

No doubt about it, Scott’s budget proposal includes a variety of tax and fee reductions.

Taken together, Scott’s says the savings for taxpayers is $4.1 billion over two years. But what’s critical in determining a per-household savings is remembering just who will get the tax breaks. And, who won’t.

Two of the three biggest tax cuts -- the reduction of the corporate income tax and the changes to the unemployment compensation tax -- apply only to corporations. So unless your household is like Rick Scott’s and you own a corporation, you’ll see no direct savings under Scott’s plans. Supporters of the cuts argue that the benefits could trickle down to average Floridians through additional jobs or cheaper prices for goods and services. But there’s no guarantee either will happen.

The cuts to the corporate income tax and the unemployment compensation tax make up $2.1 billion of Scott’s overall $4.1 billion impact.

In comments to the Senate Budget Committee on Feb. 9, 2011, Scott budget chief Jerry McDaniel said Scott’s top tax priority was to remove taxes that he says inhibit job creation. McDaniel said Scott particularly wanted to reduce and eventually eliminate the state’s corporate income tax.

We asked McDaniel after the Feb. 9 meeting if he knew whether the per-household figure accounted for the corporate tax cuts. McDaniel said he did not know and suggested we e-mail the governor’s press office seeking clarification. We did, but did not hear back.

So we did the math ourselves.

According to the U.S. Census, Florida had 6,337,929 households in 2000 (the last year that precise data is available). However, the state’s Demographic Estimating Conference meets annually to project the number of Florida households, among other things. At their most recent meeting on Oct. 25, 2010, the group estimated that as of Jan. 1, 2011, Florida would have roughly 7.5 million households. The group’s estimates are based on the active number of residential electric customers and residential building permits.

Using the most recent household estimate, it’s easy to see the error in Scott’s tax cut math.

Not counting the cuts to the corporate income tax and the unemployment compensation tax, the average household would see in the neighborhood of $267 in tax savings over two years, not $540. ($2 billion / 7.5 million = $267 per household). That’s an annual savings of around $134, or less than half of what Scott suggested.

The $540-per-household figure Scott used to sell his budget plan is intended to appeal to voters who would relish a hefty tax cut, even over two years. But he failed to factor in that more than half of those tax cuts would apply only to employers, not regular Floridians. In calculating the savings, it appears clear that Scott and his office simply divided the entire tax cut as projected by Scott -- $4.1 billion -- by the entire number of Florida households -- 7.5 million -- to reach their average savings of $540. That’s easy math. But it’s deceptive.

We rate this claim Barely True.

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Ind. treasurer to take on Sen. Lugar for GOP nod

INDIANAPOLIS -- Indiana's tea party-backed state treasurer says he will challenge six-term U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar in next year's Republican Party primary.

Richard Mourdock said at a news conference Tuesday that he appreciates Lugar's decades of service to the state but feels Lugar has lost touch with the needs of Indiana's Republican Party base.

Lugar is among a handful of Republican senators who have drawn the ire of the tea party movement for siding with President Barack Obama and the Democrats on certain issues.

Lugar says he has been preparing for such a challenge since last summer.

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