Florida News Straight From the Source
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Today, Governor Rick Scott announced the reappointment of two to the South Florida Regional Planning Council.
Sandra Walters, of Sugarloaf Key, is the president and CEO of SWC, Inc . She is reappointed for a term beginning February 1, 2018, and ending October 1, 2018.
Patricia Asseff, of Hollywood, is the owner of Asseff Realty, LLC. She is reappointed for a term beginning February 1, 2018, and ending October 1, 2019.
These appointments are subject to Senate confirmation.
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Today, Governor Rick Scott announced the reappointment of Thomas Bean and the appointment of Jose Luis Rodriguez to the Children’s Services Council of Palm Beach County.
Bean, 40, of Palm Beach Gardens, is the director of public and community engagement at Florida Power and Light. He received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Florida and his master’s degree from Trinity International University. Bean is reappointed for a term beginning February 1, 2018 and ending November 3, 2021.
Rodriguez, 43, of Greenacres, is the chief human resources officer for the City of West Palm Beach. He received his bachelor’s degree from George Washington University and his juris doctorate from Nova Southeastern University. Rodriguez succeeds Gregory Langowski and is appointed for a term beginning February 1, 2018 and ending November 3, 2020.
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Today, Governor Rick Scott announced three appointments and five reappointments to multiple state colleges.
Northwest Florida State College District Board of Trustees
Craig Barker, 49, of Destin, is an independent business consultant. He received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Florida and his master’s degree from the University of West Florida. Barker is reappointed for a term beginning February 1, 2018 and ending May 31, 2021.
The appointment is subject to confirmation by the Florida Senate.
State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota District Board of Trustees
Bob Wyatt, 57, of Osprey, is the president of Investor Protector, Inc. He received his bachelor’s degree from Southern Methodist University. Wyatt is reappointed for a term beginning February 1, 2018 and ending May 31, 2021.
Ed Bailey, 42, of Palmetto, is the finance manager of Sarasota Ford. He is also a realtor with Leslie Wells Realty. Bailey is reappointed for a term beginning February 1, 2018 and ending May 31, 2021.
The appointments are subject to confirmation by the Florida Senate.
Florida Gateway College District Board of Trustees
David Crawford, 57, of Macclenny, is the director of auxiliary services and former principal for the Baker County Public School District. He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of North Florida. Crawford is appointed to fill a vacant seat for a term beginning February 1, 2018 and ending May 31, 2021.
The appointment is subject to confirmation by the Florida Senate.
Indian River State College District Board of Trustees
Tony George, 55, of Stuart, is a partner at Fox Wackeen Law Firm. He received his bachelor’s and juris doctorate degrees from the University of Florida. George is reappointed for a term beginning February 1, 2018 and ending May 31, 2019.
The appointment is subject to confirmation by the Florida Senate.
St. Johns River State College District Board of Trustees
Brian Keith, 61, of Palatka, is the owner and facility manager of Newcastle Shipyards, LLC. Keith received his bachelor’s degree from Vincennes University. He is reappointed for a term beginning February 1, 2018 and ending May 31, 2021.
The appointment is subject to confirmation by the Florida Senate.
Pasco-Hernando State College District Board of Trustees
Ray Gadd Jr., 60, of Land ‘o’ Lakes, is the deputy superintendent of Pasco County Schools. He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of South Florida. Gadd succeeds Ed Blommel, and is appointed for a term beginning February 1, 2018 and ending May 31, 2019.
David Garcia, 67, of Spring Hill, is the lead pastor at Grace World Outreach Church. He received his bachelor’s degree from the International Seminary, his master’s in Theology, and his Doctor of Ministry in theology from Life Christian University. Garcia succeeds Morris Porton and is appointed for a term beginning February 1, 2018 and ending May 31, 2019.
The appointments are subject to confirmation by the Florida Senate.
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United States District Court Judge Mark E. Walker ruled Florida’s voting rights restoration scheme violates the First Amendment rights of free association and free expression, and the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution. The decision, issued today, affirmed that the First Amendment protects the right to vote – “the beating heart of our democratic government” – and concluded that the process by which Florida officials grant or deny former felons’ restoration of voting rights applications is unconstitutionally arbitrary. Judge Walker ordered further briefing from the parties on the appropriate remedy. Florida’s former felons still cannot register or vote.
“The question is whether the Clemency Board’s limitless power over Plaintiffs’ vote-restoration violates their First Amendment rights to free association and free expression. It does. This should not be a close question,” Judge Walker stated in the decision.
The lawsuit was filed in March 2017 by the national voting rights organization, Fair Elections Legal Network, and the law firm, Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC, on behalf of a proposed class of almost 1.5 million former felons who have completed their full sentences.
Citing a long line of Supreme Court cases striking down laws which give officials unrestricted power to control First Amendment rights, the Court concluded that the absence of any constraints on the Executive Clemency Board’s power to restore or deny voting rights “risks—if not covertly authorizes the practice of—arbitrary and discriminatory vote-restoration.”
“Today a federal court said what so many Floridians have known for so long—that the state’s arbitrary restoration process, which forces former felons to beg for their right to vote, violates the oldest and most basic principles of our democracy,” said Jon Sherman, Senior Counsel at Fair Elections Legal Network. “While the Court has yet to order a remedy in this case, it has held in no uncertain terms that a state cannot subject U.S. citizens’ voting rights to the limitless power of government officials.”
The Court’s order also stated that, “In Florida, elected, partisan officials have extraordinary authority to grant or withhold the right to vote from hundreds of thousands of people without any constraints, guidelines, or standards. The question now is whether such a system passes constitutional muster. It does not.”
“We are very happy with the Court’s ruling as it provides our country’s most basic rights to be restored to those who have served their time. No longer can politicians arbitrarily deny fundamental rights to citizens of the State of Florida,” said Theodore Leopold, partner with Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll.
The decision concluded, “If any one of these citizens wishes to earn back their fundamental right to vote, they must plod through a gauntlet of constitutionally infirm hurdles. No more.”
Florida is one of four states that denies the right to vote to all former felons until they petition for rights restoration, and this process is the target of the lawsuit. About 1.5 million Floridians are currently disenfranchised even after completing their sentences, including men and women of all different political parties, races, ethnicities, ages, from cities and rural areas, as well as veterans, small business owners and others. Over 10,000 former felons are waiting for a hearing on their restoration applications.
The lawsuit cited the lack of any rules governing the Executive Clemency Board’s decisions to grant or deny applications and contended that the arbitrary rights restoration process violates the U.S. Constitution and hinders former felons from truly reentering society.
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Today, Governor Rick Scott joined members of the Clewiston and Belle Glade communities to highlight his proposed $50 million investment to expedite repairs for the federally operated Herbert Hoover Dike at Lake Okeechobee. This funding is part of the Governor’s historic $1.7 billion recommended investment for Florida’s environment and will build on the $50 million in this year’s state budget to kick-start critical repairs to the Herbert Hoover Dike. Governor Scott is the first governor in Florida history to invest state money into this critical federal project. In October, the Governor secured the commitment of White House Director of the Office of Management and Budget Mick Mulvaney to accelerate the completion of repairs to Florida’s Herbert Hoover Dike. See more HERE.
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Disability Rights Florida, Florida’s Protection and Advocacy organization for individuals with disabilities, is announcing a settlement agreement signed with the Florida Department of Corrections (FDC) which will have widespread impact on the care and treatment for persons with severe and persistent psychiatric disabilities incarcerated throughout Florida’s prisons. The suit was brought with the assistance of attorneys from Florida Legal Services and the Holland & Knight law firm. The complaint, filed alongside the settlement agreement, alleged that the FDC deliberately and consistently denied mental health care to individuals with mental illness confined in inpatient mental health care units. Disability Rights Florida alleged that lack of care contributed to several deaths, including suicides, due to the failure to provide appropriate mental health care and adequate supervision. Disability Rights Florida further alleged that persons with mental illness were denied access to programs, services, and activities due to segregation and isolation.
“This settlement agreement represents significant changes to the way that inmates with serious mental illness receive care and treatment while serving sentences in Florida’s prisons” said Maryellen McDonald, Executive Director of Disability Rights Florida. “With the dramatic rise of individuals with serious mental illness entering our criminal justice system, it is no surprise that our state prisons have sadly become the last stop for those most at risk of severe psychiatric crisis. We are very pleased that Secretary Jones and the Office of General Counsel chose to resolve this matter through mediation and negotiation rather than protracted litigation.”
The settlement agreement was the result of a multiyear investigation by Disability Rights Florida into the care and treatment of inmates with mental illness in the Florida prison system. The results of that investigation, combined with the efforts of a multidisciplinary team of experts, led to a year-long set of mediation sessions between the parties. The settlement agreement was collaboratively crafted with the assistance of Judge Harvey Schlesinger, a federal court judge in the Middle District of Florida.
The agreement includes provision for monitoring by the Correctional Medical Authority that will span over two years. During that time, FDC has agreed to make widespread changes in its psychiatric treatment system by providing individually-tailored, results-driven treatments with a multidisciplinary treatment team focus. Many of Disability Rights Florida’s complaints concerned the isolation of inmates with mental illness, and FDC will enact policies that increase the amount of time inmates spend outside their cells in therapeutic activities along with purposeful encouragement for these patients to leave their cells to engage in treatment services. Finally, perhaps most important, FDC has agreed to provide extensive training to its medical providers and security staff working with this population of inmates due to their specialized set of needs in the institutional setting.
The attorneys who participated on the case were Peter Sleasman, Kristen Lentz, and David Boyer from Disability Rights Florida; Christopher Jones and Andrea Costello from Florida Legal Services; and Buddy Schulz, Laura Renstrom, Sheila Shen, and Mindy Higby from Holland & Knight. The case is Disability Rights Florida v. Jones, 3:18-cv-179-J-25JRK in the Middle District of Florida. For more information or copies of the Settlement Agreement, please contact Peter Sleasman at Disability Rights Florida, [email protected] or 850.488.9071.
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On Sunday, February 25, one of the world’s most recognized contemporary solo pianists — and former Stetson student — George Winston will perform a benefit concert in support of Stetson University’s School of Music Scholarship Fund. Winston won the Distinguished Alumni Award in 1997 and was awarded a Doctor of Arts and Letters Honorary Degree in 2004. This exceptional event will be held at 7:30 p.m. at Lee Chapel in Elizabeth Hall, 421 N. Woodland Blvd., DeLand, FL 32723. General admission tickets are $40 per person. A limited number of tickets are available for VIP seating and a post-concert reception with George Winston. Both can be purchased at www.stetson.edu/music-tickets.
“George Winston’s career has spanned more than 40 years, he has sold more than 15 million albums and his music is known around the world,” said Thomas Masse, D.M.A., dean of the Stetson University School of Music. “We are delighted that our community can experience his music in the intimate setting of historic Lee Chapel and deeply grateful that he will perform this benefit concert to enable Stetson to continue to provide scholarships to future musicians.”
The Stetson University School of Music awards talent scholarships to qualified music and non-music majors every year through a competitive talent scholarship program. Upon completion of an audition students are placed into consideration for the scholarship.
Attendees of the concert are also asked to join in support of the Neighborhood Center of West Volusia by bringing a donation of canned food to the concert. Collection baskets will be located at the entrance.
George Winston grew up mainly in Montana, and also spent his later formative years in Mississippi and Florida. During this time, his favorite music was instrumental rock and instrumental R&B, including Floyd Cramer, the Ventures, Booker T & The MG’s, Jimmy Smith, and many more. Inspired by R&B, jazz, Blues and rock (especially the Doors), George began playing organ in 1967.
In 1971 he switched to the acoustic piano after hearing recordings from the 1920s and the 1930s by the legendary stride pianists Thomas “Fats” Waller and the late Teddy Wilson. In addition to working on stride piano, he also at this time came up with his own style of melodic instrumental music on solo piano, called folk piano.
George is presently concentrating mainly on live performances, and most of the time he is touring playing solo piano concerts (the Summer Show or the Winter Show), solo guitar concerts, solo harmonica concerts, and solo piano dances (with R&B and slow dance songs). For more information visit GeorgeWinston.com.
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Enterprise Florida’s (EFI) staff-led trade mission to the Dubai Airshow last year produced more than $17 million in export commitments for the seven small and mid-sized companies in attendance. The show, held November 12-16 in Dubai, is the leading aerospace event in the Middle East.
“Florida’s strong foundation of aviation and aerospace companies continues to make the state a world leader,” said Manny Mencia, EFI’s VP for International Trade. “The state is home to nearly 2,200 companies in this sector; most are small and medium-sized businesses. Trade shows like the Dubai event allow those companies to exhibit their products and services to a global audience and, ultimately, grow through export sales.”
Florida has long been the world’s premier gateway to space; a hub for flight training; the global leader in maintenance, repair and overhaul; and home to leading manufacturers of all types of aircraft and aircraft components. The state has a robust supply chain and talent pool benefiting industry leaders like Boeing, Embraer, Harris Corporation, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, SpaceX, United Launch Alliance and many more that have major operations here.
Seven aerospace and aviation companies exhibited their products and services at EFI’s Florida Pavilion including:
Phil Cox, sales director for Loos & Co., Inc. said, “This was the first time Loos & Co could exhibit in Dubai. We are a relatively small company and, without the trade grant, we would not have been able to exhibit. Thanks to our excellent location provided by Enterprise Florida, we were able to contact new customers and new markets previously unavailable to us. We have several promising new prospects who are very interested in distributing our products in the Middle East.”
“Participating in events such as the Dubai Airshow gives us an opportunity to meet with both current customers as well as potential new customers in a controlled business environment,” said Dennis Zalupski, CEO of Associated Aircraft Manufacturing & Sales, Inc. in Ft. Lauderdale. “Rather than having to travel to each and every country, this gives us a cost-effective way to meet with a large number of potential clients in a short period of time. If it weren’t for Enterprise Florida and the support we get from them, I doubt we could afford to participate in most of the big aviation shows.”
EFI maintains an extensive schedule of overseas trade missions and exhibitions worldwide. In fiscal year 2016-17, more than 500 small and mid-sized Florida businesses reported $738 million in total export sales following international events.
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Enterprise Florida, Inc. (EFI) is a partnership between Florida’s businesses and government leaders and is the principal economic development organization for Florida. EFI facilitates job growth through recruitment and retention, international trade and exporting, promotion of sporting events, and capital funding programs to assist small and minority businesses. EFI launched “Florida – The Future is Here” to promote the state as the nation’s premier business destination.
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The LeRoy Collins Institute (LCI) today released a new report in its Tough Choices series, Benchmarking Debt Obligations in Florida Cities and Counties, which evaluates the long-term debt obligations of all 67 Florida counties and the largest 162 municipalities. The benchmark data provided in the report can help residents and government officials identify how their city or county’s debt compared to that of other local Florida governments.
The report measures debt obligations based on debt-per-capita and debt ratios while also monitoring changes in debt over time to best understand trends. It uses annual financial statements to measure the dollar value of total liabilities for both governmental and business-type activities, including: municipal bonds, bank loans and retirement benefits.
The good news is that most of Florida’s cities and counties have relatively stable debt levels and appear to be structurally solvent. However, the study also shows significant variation in debt levels among Florida cities and counties—a variation that has grown over the past five years.
“LCI is pleased to release our eighth report providing information for Florida residents and government officials on local governmental finances and obligations,” said Dr. Carol Weissert, Florida State University (FSU) political science professor and LCI director. “A healthy balance of debt measure is key and will avoid the risk of having levels of debt too low, which could indicate a failure on the part of the government to provide necessary services within a community or too high which could raise issues of fiscal accountability.
This report finds:
Generally, government debt financing promotes intergenerational equity, meaning taxpayers’ funds are returned to them in the form of services organized and provided by the government. Debt becomes a significant issue when it outweighs the ability of communities to cover their obligations.
“The best way to ensure that debt levels are not rising unnecessarily is by being aware of how much spending is taking place each year and where that money is going,” said Lester Abberger, chair of the LCI board. “We hope this report helps Floridians educate themselves on the debt obligations of their local city and county, and that citizens will continue to prudently monitor local government spending.”
Dr. David Matkin, associate professor at the Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy at the University at Albany—SUNY—and research fellow for LCI, wrote the report, assisted by University at Albany students Alex Pollinger and Emily Hetzel.
For more than 20 years, LCI has studied and promoted creative solutions to key private and public issues. Beginning in 2005, the Institute published several reports in a series called, Tough Choices: Shaping Florida’s Future. These publications provided an in-depth analysis of Florida tax and spending policy.
To access a complete version of Benchmarking Debt Obligations in Florida Cities and Counties, please click here. Data for individual cities and counties may be found here.
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As the Florida Legislature considers creating two disaster preparedness sales tax holidays, the Florida Association for Insurance Reform (FAIR) and industry leaders are urging that home hardening materials be added as part of the eligible items to be exempted.
“Home hardening is an essential part of stepping up preparation and being able to weather storms to reduce property damage and loss of life,” said Jay Neal, President and CEO of FAIR. “Providing a good and reasonable financial incentive for Floridians to take action steps to harden their homes could reduce our state’s losses in the next storm – and everyone would benefit from reduced insurance costs.”
The legislation – PCS/CS/SB 620 – provides for two 7-day sales tax holidays on a host of items related to disaster readiness, from batteries to generators. But the bill does not currently extend to items like impact-resistant windows/doors and hurricane straps, which could make Florida homes significantly better able to withstand a serious storm. FAIR research shows that for every $1 of investment in mitigation, Florida saves $4 or more in costs post-hurricane.
PGT Innovations President and CEO Jeff Jackson said a sales tax holiday for home hardening materials would also be a boon to Florida’s economy. PGT Innovations, a publicly traded company and Sarasota County’s largest private employer, is the nation’s leading manufacturer and supplier of high-quality impact-resistant windows and doors.
“People put off major purchases that could make their homes so much safer,” Jackson said. “A sales tax holiday could be just the thing to positively prompt Floridians to make smart investments in hardening their homes, instead of putting it off and crossing their fingers.”
Jackson praised the bill sponsor, Sen. Kathleen Passidomo, and co-sponsors, Sen. Greg Steube and Sen. Dana Young, for their leadership in sponsoring the hurricane preparedness sales tax holiday and said that extending it to home hardening materials would significantly enhance its positive impact for all Floridians.
Jackson said a flurry of new construction-related activity related to home hardening could put Floridians to work while making the state more disaster-resistant. “This idea could trigger a round of economic activity that benefits the state, Florida homeowners, and the economy,” said Jackson.
Companies like PGT Innovations – which houses PGT Windows & Doors, CGI Windows & Doors, and WinDoor – have pioneered innovations that make construction materials such as windows and doors much better able to withstand hurricane-force storms, which experts say are occurring more frequently. But many older homes – even homes built as recently as 5-10 years ago – don’t often already reflect the latest technology.
FAIR, which advocates for all Florida consumers to have affordable, quality property insurance coverage, fully supports the tax holiday for home hardening materials. Neal said Florida has positioned itself as a national leader in strengthening and holding the line on a unified statewide standard building code. Offering a sales tax holiday to promote home hardening would further establish Florida as a leader, making the state the most disaster-ready and best able to withstand a storm despite its natural geographic vulnerabilities.
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