State Rep. Hazelle Rogers: Why I oppose the new state budget.

February 15, 2012 | South Florida Sun-Sentinel

State Rep. Hazelle Rogers, D-Lauderdale Lakes, gave a terse explantion of her recent ‘NO’ vote on the state’s new budget.

“This budget does not provide an increase in construction funding for public schools,” Rep. Rogers said. “Instead, it approves an 8-percent increase in tuition rates. It sends $2.5 million to fund a virtual campus pilot program.

“This budget also sweeps a Transportation trust fund by $120 million which will negatively impact the five-year transportation programs across the state with a potential loss of over 4,000 jobs,” she continued. “It also drains the housing trust fund by $91 million. This concerns me because wages have stayed flat over the last decade while housing cost has increased by 51 percent. There is an affordable housing crisis in Broward County. These funds housing assistance funds could assist in remedying this situation.”

The Broward County Democrat didn’t stop there.

“The proposed budget also reduces nursing home provider rates and provides no new funding for minority health care initiatives,” she added. “It also creates unfunded programs for local government. Finally, this budget does not consider collecting taxes on Internet sales that could be used in restoring the estimated 5,400 Certified Nursing Assistance jobs reduced within the 2011-12 budget.”