With only two full weeks remaining in Session, it's easy to see that "crunch time" has arrived. The House and Senate began conferencing on the budget this week (which will keep us all in Tallahassee over the weekend) with the goal of reconciling some fairly large differences between the two budgets. I serve as a conferee on the Schools and Learning Budget and am working hard to continue the funding for the development of the USF-Lakeland Campus, the Florida Southern College nursing program, as well as many other priorities important to our community. As always, it is an honor to serve you in this process and I look forward to being home soon! Below are a few of this weeks' highlights.

HOUSE AND SENATE PROPOSE PROPERTY TAX RELIEF:

After enthusiastic debate this week, I am proud to say that the House of Representatives passed the largest tax cut package in Florida's history. The Senate also proposed a property tax plan this week and a conference will begin next week. As this is likely the most important legislation we will pass all year, I wanted to devote a few lines below to explain the House proposal:

A Cut: Requires all local governments except schools to set property tax rates to where they would have been if tax revenues had grown only in proportion to community growth and inflation since FY 2003-04. Also, the Legislature must exempt hospital districts, fiscally constrained counties and cities therein, independent special districts, and children’s services councils from the required rate roll back by general law. Revenues used for hospital and children’s services programs by counties that provide those services from their general fund are exempt from the cap.

A Cap: Limits future local government revenues to the rolled-back-rate (which allows revenue growth in proportion to community growth) plus changes in the Consumer Price Index.

A Swap: Establishes a formula that provides local control and flexibility to further reduce property taxes on homestead properties:

- Automatic: Abolishes the required local effort (RLE) school board tax on all homestead properties and replaces it with a one cent sales tax. The RLE tax comprises about of 25% of property taxes statewide.

- Optional: By local county referendum, voters may choose to further reduce homestead property taxes by replacing the discretionary millage for school boards with a ½ cent sales tax. The referendum must be held by 2010.

- Optional: By local county referendum, voters may adopt an additional reduction of homestead property taxes by replacing all remaining property tax levies (i.e., county/city, special districts, MSTUs, etc.) with a 1 cent sales tax. The referendum must be held by 2010.

If both referendums pass, all homestead properties in the jurisdiction will be exempt from ad valorem taxes. The new total sales tax will be 2.5%. County governments will distribute sales tax funds within their county based on the existing sales tax distribution model.

Creates a tangible personal property exemption of $25,000 for businesses. This would create $180 million in savings to Florida businesses at current tax rates.

Creates more options for renters’ tax relief by granting the legislature broader authority to create statutory programs that target rental properties.

ENERGY/WATER CONSERVATION BILL CONSIDERED ON FLOOR

House Bill 271 which I have sponsored to encourage local and state government's water and energy conservation through performance contracting was heard on the House Floor this week and is expected to pass on third reading Monday. This is shaping up to be my first bill successfully passed through the process and it looks to be on a similar track in the Senate. This good bill expands an already existing energy efficiency program to include water and wastewater. The existing Guaranteed Energy performance Savings Contracting Act has been extremely successful in improving the efficiency of state, local and other governmental buildings. Rather than taxpayer dollars, retrofit and other conservation and efficiency measures are financed by a private sector contractor who performs the work, assumes all of the risk and who is compensated with a maximum twenty year payout only when actual efficiency savings result from the project.

UNIVERSITY NAMING BILL ADVANCES

Senator Paula Dockery and I are sponsoring House Bill 621 and Senate Bill 1160, which authorize the naming of university buildings and state facilities . SB1160 passed the Senate unanimously on Thursday. The legislation provides for the naming of buildings and facilities at UF, UCF, and USF, as well as the Dept. of Education building in Jacksonville, the Florida State Hospital in Chattahoochee, and the Fla Center for Nursing. Current law requires Legislative approval before naming a state building or other facility for a living person. This bill was originally filed to name the following buildings at the University of Florida:

- Mark Bostick Golf Course
- Katie Seashole Pressly Softball Stadium
- Bispham Turfgrass Support Building - IFAS
- L. Gale Lemerand Football Support Facility
- The bill will now be sent to the House for a vote

Again, it is an honor to serve in this process and I thank you for allowing me the opportunity.I look forward to seeing you when I return home in May.