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Florida’s prison population is growing at a time when the Pew Center says 27 other states are seeing a reduction in inmates… As Whitney Ray tells us, the increase comes as state lawmakers are facing a three billion dollar budget challenge.

101-thousand people are locked up in Florida state prisons. The number is growing, but state cash to feed, clothe, and house the inmates isn’t. Governor Charlie Crist isn’t worried.

“If the inmate population does increase we will find a place to lock them up,” said Crist.

The Governor’s budget proposal holds criminal justice spending harmless. The Senate cuts 250 million and privatizes nearly 2-thousand correctional officers overseeing inmates on work release. The Florida PBA says the move will cost taxpayers more in the long run.

“It’s been a fiasco where ever it’s been tried in the state, a lot of those people ended up in prison,” said David Murrell, the Executive Director of the PBA.

Spending cuts aren’t the only options state lawmakers have to balance the correction’s budget. Florida TaxWatch says the state could save an estimated 450 million dollars over the next couple of years by beefing up drug prevention programs, stop locking up petty drug offenders, and reduce sentences for juvenile offenders still in jail as adults.

“We need to look at ways, without negatively impacting public safety, to look at ways that are cheaper and also have a better track record in terms of rehabilitation,” said Kurt Wenner with Florida TaxWatch.

But dozens of lawmakers running for higher office will likely vote down any changes that could make them look soft on criminals.

More than a half dozen lawmakers are targeting state employees for cuts and lower benefits as they search for ways to fill a three billion-dollar gap in funding. But as Mike Vasilinda tells us, their union says the plans will hurt, not help the state.

One plan would cut state salaries. Another would make every employee pay part of their health care, and / or a percentage of their retirement. Retirees might have to pay market price for insurance.

Police and fire benefits could be cut by a third. State employees could also have to wait longer to retire.

AFSCME union members walked the Capitol looking for sympathetic ears. Their message, a promise is a promise.

“If I work 25 years for an employer, I would expect him to belly up to the bar, if he said he would at the beginning,” state employee Keith Dibell said.

While looking for sympathy, they got little.

What the union says is that cutting salaries or making state employees pay for part of their benefits will hurt the economy. There will be fewer pizzas purchased and maybe books won?t be bought.?

Union President Jeannette Wynn says with a dozen or more bills looking to reduce pay and benefits, State employees feel like they are under attack.

“Now that they are looking at gutting the benefits, taking away jobs security, why is there a need to work for the state of Florida?” Wynn said.

Rep. Tom Grady’s bill would completely revamp how retirement is figured…all to the benefit of the state. He says if state employees can do better in the private sector, have at it.

“Go for it! Get a job in the private sector. I believe in markets and you’re worth what you’re worth,” Grady said.

Lawmakers are already backing off some of the more drastic changes, but hundreds of thousands of public servants will be on pins and needles till lawmakers go home.

There are 150-thousand state workers in Florida costing taxpayers more than seven billion dollars in salaries and benefits

Attorney General McCollum has reached a six point five million dollar settlement with drug supplier Dey over allegations of drug price manipulation.  About half of the money will go into the state treasury, while another million will go into a whistleblower fund and a pharmacist who blew the whistle on the company will take a share. McCollum says he has been recovering more with fewer people

“Since the 2007-2008 fiscal year, we have now returned, from Medicaid fraud division efforts like this, over 29 million dollars to the general revenue fund of the state of Florida, to the taxpayers,” McCollum said.

McCollum says the state could be collecting even more if he had more staff. One estimate is that the state is losing over three billion dollars in Medicaid fraud each year.

Michael Martin was injured in a 2006 explosion while working for a local government in Daytona Beach. The incident, which killed two, has sparked cries from a union and a state employees union who say governments should be required to meet the same worker safety conditions as private businesses.

“If the proper workplace safety measures would have been in place, that accident could have been avoided,” Martin said. “Because there were no workplace safety measures there, the accident occurred. Without workplace safety measures, other accidents can happen and will happen if nothing is done about it.?

Businesses also support the change, saying they are at a competitive disadvantage when governments don’t have to follow the same employee safety standards.

Every time that there is a worker injured on a job site, it costs taxpayers monies in premiums for insurance,” Kenya Cory with Associated Industries of Florida said. “It is also a competitive disadvantage for us at times too, because we’re paying higher levels of money to make sure that our workers are safe, and the state and the local governments are not.?

Lawmakers are not likely to enact standards that cost local governments money in a tight budget year.

The Corporate Tax school vouchers program is getting a small boost from state lawmakers.  The Senate Finance and Tax Committee voted four to one  today to raise the value of school vouchers for low income students a 140 bucks to just over 4-thousand dollars.  They?re expected to go up even more in the years to come.   The plan is being opposed by Teachers Unions and the Florida PTA because they say it takes money from the classroom.

“We have fewer dollars in the general revenue fund,” FL PTA President Latah Krishmaiyer said. “We are not collecting enough taxes. So that does have an effect. Because these are the same taxes that they are letting go before it reaches the general revenue fund. So on that basis, it is a diversion of public dollars to private schools.?

Supporters of the tax credits argue the plan actually saves school districts money because they get to keep some of the state allotment above the cost of the private school voucher.

Attorney General Bill McCollum is asking four state agencies to come up with how much a national health plan will cost taxpayers. He says the information is necessary for a lawsuit he plans to file if the plan becomes law. McCollum says the provisions of the bill violate the US Constitution.

“As far as I’m concerned, there is no good in this bill,” McCollum said. “I can’t conceive of any good in this bill and I don?t think any of these agencies can. The state of Florida is going to be harmed, you’re going to increase the number of Medicaid recipients on the roll, in the state. And as a result of that we’re going to have to pay a lot more money out. Fiscally, it will be a big loss to the state.?

McCollum is also trying to enlist other Attorneys General to join the suit.

College tuition will go up next year, but the Bright Futures Scholarship program will probably not cover the increase. As Whitney Ray tells us, lawmakers are considering drastic changes to Bright Futures in an effort to increase overall funding for colleges.

Future Bright Futures students may have to graduate sooner, pay more out of pocket and get fewer credit hours covered by the popular scholarship program. Tuesday State Senators voted for drastic changes to Bright Futures.

The Senate budget reduces the time period a student has to use the scholarship from seven to four years. It would also only allow Bright Futures to be used on required courses.

“We want to stop the abuses where students are using it for a longer period of time, we want to shorten that for only amount of courses they need,” said Constantine.

FSU Senior Evan Powell says the changes would hurt students like him. Evan is a double major and studies abroad.

“So I back basically had to do five years,” said Evan.

The Senate plan would also raise the qualification standards, and keep people who lose their scholarship from reapplying. State Senator Dan Gelber says now is not the time to close the book on students.

“One thing you do not do in a recession is deny higher education opportunities to young people, especially young people who are trying to really just get into the workforce or get a better job,” said Gelber.

The changes to Bright Futures would take place over the next eight years. Once in place they are expected to save the state 150 million dollars a year. The changes still have to be agreed on by the entire Senate; then the House and the Governor have to sign off on the deal.

Tanks, Humvees, and missile launchers crowed the state capitol today. The machines were there to celebrate the state’s National Guard. Florida has 12-thousand National Guardsmen and women. The soldiers have recently been called to duty in Iraq, Afghanistan, and in clean up efforts after major storms here in Florida. Private Richard Gross, who is scheduled to go Afghanistan in a few months, says

“We feel great appreciation from the people. We’re getting the word out. Letting people know what we are doing,” said Gross.

Defense related spending accounts for 55 billion dollars a year in Florida, which is about seven and a half percent of the state’s domestic output.

Floridians with developmental disabilities are looking for mercy from the budget ax.

People from around the state were at the state capitol today to raise awareness of the struggles they face finding jobs and with everyday activities. Jim DeBeaugrine, the Secretary of the Agency for Persons with Disabilities, says the group came to the capitol to remind lawmakers of their struggles.

“It’s just important that we do not slip out of sight and out of mind, that they are seeing these people, we’re putting a human face on this, so it’s more than just numbers on a sheet of paper. That’s the primary benefit of having people come together like this,” said DeBeaugrine.

The Governor’s budget boosts funding for state programs that help the disabled, but there’s no guarantee the legislature’s budget will hold the programs harmless.

Florida homeowners claiming an insurance discount for installing storm proof windows and doors will soon have to jump through more hoops. As Whitney Ray tells us, changes to the discount process are being made to stop people from lying about home improvements to save more money.

Florida homeowners can claim hundreds of dollars in insurance discounts by installing hurricane shutters and other hardware making homes safer.

But some people have been taking advantage of the system, lying or exaggerating about improvements on insurance forms and getting away with it.

“It is a mixture of: the rules were not stringent enough, and there were some people who were knowingly creating fraudulent inspections or weren’t doing an adequate amount of work,” said Bob Lotane with NAIFA.

Citizen’s Property Insurance surveyed 450 homes with questionable discounts and found two out of every three were receiving more savings than they were entitled.

To help cut down on false claims, the state is doubling the size of the discount verification form and requiring pictures of the improvements.

“It’s a form that’s required to be accepted by the insurance companies, so to the extent we could make it help prevent fraud or detect fraud some of the things in it do that,” said Belinda Miller, the Deputy Commissioner of the Office of Insurance Regulation.

But even if homeowners can prove they deserve the discounts, the savings they get may soon be reduced anyway. There’s legislation that would reduce the discounts policyholders get for strengthening their homes.

The discounts are costing insurance companies 100’s of millions of dollars, and industry experts say often times the improvements aren’t saving the companies very much money.

Homeowners who currently receive the discounts won’t have to fill out the new verification form until their old form expires or if they apply for additional discounts or change insurers.

A Florida union group says the state legislature is waging a war on working families.

The AFL-CIO held a news conference today in protest of several bills that would make it easier to fire teachers, limit unions, and reduce the number of government workers is the state retirement program. Mike Williams, president of the union’s Florida chapter, says he’s never seen so much legislation targeting workers.

“It’s a fact that’s out there with working families today, we are in a posture of defense. I have to say it’s so unfortunate. It’s apparent to me that if there was ever an example of class warfare taking place in a legislative body it’s going on in this session,” said Williams.

AFL-CIO isn’t just opposing legislation, the group wants lawmakers to approve bills laying our more stringent safety standards and expanding unemployment benefits.

Lawmakers struggling to balance the state’s budget are threatening to cut funding for a program that feeds families in need. Farm Share is a food distributor that delivered fresh food to 667-thousand families last year. 70 percent of the people fed are disabled or over 65. Farm Share founder Patricia Robbins says the proposed cuts come at a time when the need is skyrocketing.

“Now is not the time to cut services to the poor, especially essential services like food. We can always do without something that is a non necessity but food and housing – we’re going to always need food and housing,” said Robbins.

The legislature originally cut Farm Share’s funding 100 percent. The Senate then allocated them 200-thousand dollars, which is just a third of the charity’s normal state allocation. But there’s still no word on whether the House will approve even that amount of money for the program.

A controversial plan to stop the release of 911 calls is being dropped after a public outcry.  House Speaker Larry Cretul today said he would not push the legislation for a well connected constituent, and as Mike Vasilinda tells us, the decision comes as public records advocates celebrate the state’s tradition of openness.

Mounting pressure from the public and media against a plan to exempt 911 calls from public records has the powerful house speaker backing down.

“Oh, it’s gotten way out of hand,” House Speaker Larry Cretul (R-Ocala) said. “It’s gotten way too noisy. So don’t be surprised if we kind of slow that thing down or even not take it up this year.”

The 911 legislation is one of a dozen or more exemptions proposed each and every year. Barbara Peterson of the First Amendment Foundation says keeping records and meetings open is what democracy is all about.

“How are they doing it?  Why they’re doing it,” Peterson said. “How they’re spending our money. Where are they getting the money from?  What purpose are they using our money for?”

But records aren’t always easy to get. A security guard and a clerk at City Hall in Tallahassee tried to stop us from filming on camera, which made the point we came to make.

A year-old study shows that when the public requested records, the clerk on the other end didn’t know what to do about half the time.

In addition to not knowing what is public, many clerks ask too much. Michelle Bono says many governments make sure employees are trained.

“You don’t have to give us your name,” Michelle Bono with the City of Tallahassee said. “Just tell us what you want, give us the reasonable specificity.”

Legislation is pending that would require every elected and appointed officials to be trained in open government and public records law.

Yesterday was the start of Government in the Sunshine week, a celebration of transparency in the governmental process.

The homeless population grew 11 percent last year, but money for emergency shelters could be cut to help fill a three billion dollar budget hole. As Whitney Ray tells us, in all, homeless programs could lose 67 million state and federal dollars.

This homeless shelter was designed to house 140 people. Today more than 240 call The Shelter home.

“It’s overly crowded. There’s no beds,” said a woman we spoke with who has been living at the Shelter for over a year. She didn’t want us to use her name. She says people are trying to get back on their feet, but they can’t find work.

“We don’t have jobs, basically because nobody has jobs. They have been trying to go to the labor pool, but they don’t send anybody out,” she said.

And for the homeless, what little they have could soon be taken away. State Senators are considering cutting two million dollars from the Department of Children and Families Office of Homelessness.

And 65 million federal stimulus dollars have run dry. Health and Human Services lobbyist Karen Woodall says the funding drop could leave thousands in the cold.

“Cutting any money to serve the homeless population is not a good idea… and I think the challenge to the legislature, there are other areas to cut funding,” said Woodall.

Woodall says lawmakers could save 24 million dollars by eliminating subsidies for pro sports teams. Other places to find money include eliminating tax exemptions on bottled water and collecting the internet sales taxes.

A one day count in 2009 found 58-thousand homeless people living in the state. New homeless statics will be out by the end of the month.

Libraries across Florida are bracing for a 100 percent cut in state funding this year. If the decision sticks, libraries in smaller communities could be forced to close. And as Mike Vasilinda tells us, advocates are calling the cuts pound foolish.

We met Rita Johnson on her way into the Library to return some books and check out more. “I love the library” she says, so we asked her “Some would say the internet has replaced the library?” Her response: “No…just like they say the internet is replacing newspapers, no”.

But some libraries could be forced to cut their hours, their services and even their doors if a planned 8 million dollar plus state aid to libraries grant is eliminated.  Sarah Carroll from the Florida Association of Counties says the state could lose even more”. “And because we use that eight point four million dollars to draw down federal funds, for a total of twenty one point two million dollars. So this eight point four has a greater impact”, say Carroll.

On this day, there were a lot reasons to be in the library. “I’m writing a letter to a friend” is what a new arrival in town told us. “Oh, I just needed to print out some papers” said a young woman. Sung Ho was in town for an interview at FSU.  “I’m a tourist and I came here for a university interview, and I wanted to research the film school”, which he was doing online.  “I’m on the internet man, looking for jobs and things” was a response of more than one person.
The most recent statistics, and they are two yerass old, suggest that 85 million people a year visit a library in Florida. If lawmakers continue on the path of no money for libraries, Sarah Carrol says those in rural counties will likely close because “some counties, this is all the funding they actually receive”.

Lawmakers suggested the cuts in the final hours of the session last year, then backed down when a backlash hit. One difference between this year and last which does not bode well for library funding is that the budget is even tighter.