I just did one of my favorite interviews for the entire year. I spent more than 20 minutes talking to longtime Tallahassee lobbyist Ron Book, who provides a valuable scorecard on the annual Florida legislative session in Tallahassee.
“Miami-Dade County had a great year in Tallahassee. Nothing bad happened, and lots of good things happened,” he told me.
Here are some of the highlights:
– K-12 public schools got a 3.5% increase in funding – almost $570 million.
– Jackson Memorial Hospital was spared a $143 million cut in Medicaid funding.
– Lawmakers found $530 million in relief for taxpayers, $400 million of which came from reduced vehicle registration fees. Various sales tax holidays also contributed to the reduction.
– The use of medical marijuana was expanded in certain cases.
Of course, Ron Book is also a founding member of Lauren’s Kids, Inc., created to help children who have become victims and survivors of sexual assault. So we also talked about legislation related to child welfare and child sexual abuse:
– Lawmakers passed sweeping reforms in this area. The first four bills the legislature took up on opening day were sexual assault bills. Among those that passed, one terminates the parental rights of convicted sexual predators and another requires that the words “Sexual Predator” be noted on the driver’s license of anyone convicted.
– The child welfare package increased the number of state investigators by over 400 and changed the emphasis on preserving the family unit to acting in the child’s best interest.
On a local level, Book said David Beckham’s proposed soccer stadium may not belong on the waterfront, but there are certainly plenty of other good options in the county.
“If we didn’t build a baseball stadium downtown in one of those parks, I’m not sure that we should be building a soccer stadium on the water, either. That said, I think sports franchises and sports franchise facilities, and cultural arts and cultural arts facilities, and the like are all extremely valuable, important community assets. And I think we get a tremendous return on investment,” he said.
We talked about a lot more, including transportation issues and the concept of “regionalism,” so make sure to download the show and listen.
Click here to download the full interview with Ron Book.
