The Daytona Beach News-Journal
Editor’s note: This editorial has been clarified to reflect support for criminal justice reform.
More than ever, Floridians are interested in thoughtful solutions to real problems. And so far, Gov. Ron DeSantis has kept the ideological rhetoric to a minimum, focusing instead on this state’s needs, including education, water supply, financial discipline and the threats of sea level rise. He has plans, and he’s pushing to see them put into action.
Even those who don’t agree with all of DeSantis’ proposals have to admire that clear focus. Given that a majority of the Florida Legislature is aligned politically with the new governor, state leaders have a real opportunity. If they forgo the grandstanding (such as one lawmaker’s ridiculous suggestion to shut down the University of Central Florida), history could record the legislative session that starts Tuesday as one of the best in recent memory.
Of course, lawmakers will have their own priorities. Here’s our take on the biggest challenges facing Florida, and how to meet them.
- Water.
It’s one small word that covers so much. Florida faces fights on multiple fronts: The toxic algae blooms that befoul waterways and slaughter marine life. The increasingly shrill distress calls from freshwater springs, signaling trouble in the vast underground aquifers that provide Florida’s drinking-water supply. The threat to Florida’s coastal cities from rising sea levels.
Fortunately, the first two problems share remedies. Lawmakers should invest as much as they can in efforts to identify and remove failing septic tanks to reduce the waste that seeps into the ground. They should identify the best ways to divert fertilizer and other pollutants that find their way into lakes, rivers and groundwater. They should use Florida Forever land-preservation dollars (which DeSantis recommends spending at the levels originally approved by voters) to protect vital recharge areas and wetlands, and provide additional buffers for sensitive waterways such as the Indian River Lagoon, protecting manatees, dolphins, sports fish and other species that rely on the estuary to survive.
Sea-level rise will require a different set of tools, one state leaders are only starting to assemble. The first step is to acknowledge the real threat it presents, and formulate a plan of action. But only the most ignorant and obstinate can ignore the reality already lapping at the state’s coastline and producing standing water in areas that never flooded before.
DeSantis has claimed water as his No. 1 priority. He’s right. There’s no more time to waste.
- Education.
If leaders want to see Florida’s economy grow, they must keep pushing to improve the state’s education system, producing the variety and quantity of skilled workers that industry needs to succeed — and providing a pathway to better lives for the vast class of Floridians eking out an existence in an endless grind of low-paid, low-skill work.
This state has built a world-class higher education system, pairing increasingly elite universities with the solid foundation of a community-focused network of state colleges. The best plan there is to leave things alone.
But if the public school system doesn’t get the support it needs, those high-caliber universities and colleges won’t do much good for Florida’s own students.
DeSantis has proposed an increase in per-pupil funding, and that’s good — given that last year’s increase was almost totally consumed by school safety concerns. That was a shameful tradeoff, and one that should be righted this year. He also came out against shifting the cost to local taxpayer, a dodge lawmakers have used in the past to take credit for more education funding while shifting the backlash to local school boards. Florida’s constitution demands high-quality public schools in every community, and that should be lawmakers’ priority as well.
The discussion should not be derailed by side skirmishes. DeSantis wants the state to abandon the set of standards known as Common Core — but he hasn’t offered a good alternative, or a way to minimize the disruption that an abrupt switch in guidelines would bring. Micro-managing curriculum won’t help students succeed. The state should also proceed cautiously with efforts to expand subsidies for private education through tax credits. The jury is still out over how successful those programs have been, and how to hold private entities accountable for tax dollars — and students’ futures.
Finally, lawmakers should focus on common-sense measures for school security, including “hardening” school campuses to restrict access, and stay away from outlandish ideas like arming teachers.
- Affordable housing.
The stakes here are higher than ever. Home prices are rising fast, and a problem that once created barriers mostly for low-paid workers in service industries is now threatening the ability of solidly middle-class workers such as teachers and police officers to find decent accommodations they can afford. An estimated 40 percent of Volusia County’s workforce now earns less than the income needed to cover life’s necessities, and numbers are similar statewide. Yet Florida’s stock of affordable housing has actually dwindled, down an estimated 60,000 units from 1993 levels.
Fortunately, lawmakers have a ready source of funding. The Sadowski Affordable Housing Trust Fund was set up to provide assistance for first time homebuyers, and encourage the construction of affordable housing through tax credits and other incentives. The trust fund, which takes in a share of real-estate taxes, could produce more than $300 million this year toward those goals.
If lawmakers can keep their hands off it. For the past several years, the Legislature has systematically raided Sadowski funds, diverting them to other priorities. In his budget recommendations, DeSantis kept almost all that money in the trust fund. This year, lawmakers should follow suit.
- Criminal justice reform
There are two reasons for lawmakers to roll back some of the state’s punitive, rigid sentencing laws. First, it’s the right thing to do. The Legislature went much too far in the late 1990s and early 2000s, setting harsh minimum-mandatory sentences, cutting early-release programs and enacting other policies that caused the state’s prison population to swell to 96,000 inmates and a $2.4 billion budget. The system is under so much pressure that cracks are starting to appear. Correctional facilities can’t hire officers fast enough, and costs for health care are soaring. Many of the state’s business interests are solidly behind reform.
Lawmakers should also know, by now, that those get-tough policies don’t pay off. Texas led the way toward justice reform more than a decade ago, and many other states have followed suit — with no measurable detriment to public safety.
The first step is to roll back some of the minimum sentencing requirements that keep thousands of non-violent offenders in prison. Many of the cutoff lines between misdemeanors (usually handled through probation and county jails) and felonies haven’t been adjusted in decades. Florida should also ease off the arbitrary mandate that all inmates serve 85 percent of their sentences before being eligible for early release. And the state should restore the ruinous cuts in transition services that help inmates avoid re-offending.
Justice reform could free up tens of millions this year — and a great deal more in coming years. And it’s the right thing to do.
- Local respect.
The Legislature has a long, but not proud, history of throwing down mandates that intrude into the affairs of counties and municipalities. But even against that backdrop, this year’s proposed meddling is outrageously over the top.
Among the legislation filed so far, there are some routine (though still unwarranted) incursions, such as a bill that would dictate when impact fees can be collected.
The biggest threat, however, comes from three proposals that all deserve to die. One would allow any state lawmaker to initiate an investigation of any official action taken by “a county or municipality which impacts commerce and which the member or members allege violates state law or the state Constitution.” That’s a wide-open door for political shenanigans.
Another would force votes on discretionary surtaxes — such as the half-cent Volusia County governments are proposing for infrastructure — to be put on a general-election ballot, stripping governments of critical flexibility. It would also require a two-thirds margin for victory, giving a minority of local voters control over questions of community-wide importance.
But the biggest threat may be a sprawling, distressingly vague bill that would erode local control, shifting power away from a community’s chosen leaders and into the hands of special interests. It would wipe out all local ordinances affecting “businesses, occupations and professions” and set high barriers to local control in the future.
The response to all to of these is the same: Lawmakers should stay in their lane, and worry about state business. County and city officials can handle theirs.
Article last accessed on March 6, 2019 here. A print-ready version is available here.