Welcome to

Two new electronic voting machines, both with paper print outs, were on display at the state capitol today. The machines have yet to be certified, but even if they are, they are likely only going to be used for early voting in large counties and for the disabled. Florida’s new Secretary of State, Kurt Browning, says he is committed to making sure lawmakers approve 32 million dollars to replace electronic machines with optical scan machines in 15 counties. Browning also says if not for the debacle in Sarasota’s congressional race where 18 thousand votes were unaccounted for, the conversation would be different.

“They’re defining events… and yes, it was almost the catalyst that just pushed us further down that continuum that said ‘you know what? We need to give serious thought to this.’ I think if Sarasota County had not happened, I’m not certain that we’d be sitting here today with the legislature saying we need to change voting systems throughout Florida in those 15 counties.” says the Secretary of State.

While Browning was a big supporter of electronic machines while he was the Pasco County Supervisor of Elections, he says public perception makes them obsolete, even if… as he believes… they work fine.

Florida democrats are pushing a new constitutional amendment that would
Say every child in Florida is entitled to heath care. In a bi-partisan move today, both Republicans and Democrats said the state needs to do more to reform the Kid Care program to make sure kids who need care are getting it. Mom Tammy Thompson told lawmakers her child has been denied help over bureaucratic snafus.

“It seems like when you send your application in, you wonder is anybody really looking at it? You have everything written on your form and then you start getting all these other letters in the mail and you’re like… well, did they not read my application? The process does need to be a lot smoother. I think people need to start reading the applications more carefully.”

State lawmakers like Loranne Ausley of tallahassee also say the state needs to do more to use federal money that is available to pay for thousands of eligible children.

“There is 140 million dollars that could have gone to cover children in the state of Florida that has gone to other states. We have 500,000 children in the state of Florida who are eligible for one of these programs and they’re not being reached. We have 140 million dollars that has gone back and we have 400 million dollars available now to cover these children.” says Ausley.

Because of the federal match, Florida pays just 21 cents of every KidCare dollar… but in the past, it has chosen not to match all of the federal funds available.

Single Family existing home sales in Florida dropped 28 percent in the fourth quarter of 2006 compared to the same period a year earlier. Sales were absolutely horrible in the Lakeland Winer Haven area, down a whopping 56 percent. Next worst was Tampa, where sales were off 40%. Orlando, Naples, Ft. Walton, and Daytona all posted worse sales declines than the average. Surprisingly, Miami sales only fell one percent.

Statewide, the average sales price dropped by one percent, from $245,600 to $242,100. Ocala, Orlando, and Tampa St. Pete all saw a slight up tick in the price of a home.

The fruits of last month’s special Legislative session on insurance will soon be showing up in some mailboxes across the state. Customers of Citizens Insurance who have renewed their policies in January will be getting checks back. Others won’t see an increase. As Mike Vasilinda reports, the question of who gets what is ringing phones off the hook in Tallahassee.

Hear it here: Citizen Refunds

About ten thousand times a week. The phone rings at the Department of Financial Services. Call volume is up by almost 20 percent since January’s legislative session. Many of the callers want to know when they will see a refund as a result of changes in the law.

Tim Mosley says most callers have been decent. “What’s the mood of those people?”

“Well, the temperament is real good.”

Thousands of Citizens customers who have already renewed their policies will see checks this week or next. Citizens’ spokesman Rocky Scott says more will go out in mid March. “Well, a high risk account should be about a 20% cut. In the personal lines account, and that’s home insurance to you and me… everyone who doesn’t live along the coast… probably about 12%.”

If you haven’t already paid your Citizens renewable, there will be nothing in the mailbox for you right now. But when that notice does come, it won’t be any higher than it was last year.

Governor Charlie Crist says he is happy the checks are in the mail…and says “But what I’m more concerned about in the long term is the opportunity to lower rates across the board.”

In addition to the latest round of refund, policyholders are also dodging what would have been another 55 percent rate hike in April.

The battle over insurance is apparently just beginning. The Florida Insurance Council has filed a legal challenge to an emergency rule adopted by the cabinet that prevents private companies from canceling policies before the new insurance reform law takes effect.

A new poll tonight says most Floridians agree with the governor’s call to double the homestead tax exemption, but they don’t think people should get a break on their taxes just because they have lived in Florida longer. Unlike the insurance crisis, as Mike Vasilinda reports, there will be no easy or quick fix from lawmakers.

Hear it here: Tax Relief

Property taxes keep the schools running… and police and firemen on the street. A plan to double the homestead exemption is favored by eight out of ten people. But Orlando would lose at least 5 million. Other big cities even more. The plan has all of the cities and counties worried, says John Wayne Smith of the Florida League of Cities
“We’re recognizing the property tax issue is broken in this state and needs to be fixed. We’re concerned, though, that some of the proposals might the ability of local governments to continue to do their job.”

Charlie Crist, who’s pushing the doubling of the exemption, has said it will be up to local governments to tighten their belts. Pollster Peter Brown of Quinnipiac University found most people believe that state government that is the most wasteful in Florida.
“Although they, you know, a lot of them think local government also doesn’t manage money well,” says Brown.

State Senator Steve Geller says the state has only itself to blame for the brewing revolt.
“We in Tallahassee cut taxes by mandating that local school boards increase theirs.”
Unlike insurance, which took just ten days, property tax reform is likely to consume all 60 days of the legislative session… and perhaps even more.

Voters also believe that businesses should pay higher taxes than homeowners… setting up an uncomfortable battle that lawmakers must referee. Voters will have to approve any change lawmakers come up with. That could happen in a special election as early as this summer, or it may have to wait for the November 2008 ballot.

After three days on the ground in Central Florida, Governor Charlie Crist is back in the state Capitol tonight, but his mind is still on the tornados that claimed 20 lives. As Mike Vasilinda reports, the governor plans to be back in the area later this week.

tornado-update.mp3

The governor arrived back in Tallahassee at mid afternoon Sunday and went straight to the emergency operations center where he was briefed on the latest news. The first thing he heard from emergency manager Craig Fugate was that the wind from the three tornados that touched down far exceeded current building codes. “And these would be tornadoes that have wind speeds greater than a category five hurricane.”“So 165?” asked Crist.

The next stop was the fishbowl at the EOC itself, where as several hundred people have been working around the clock since Friday. Crist made a point to personally thank as many as possible. Fugate introduced the Governor to the people leading the recovery.
“She’s gonna lead our recovery efforts. She’s getting all our teams together. She’s gonna match up to our federal partners down there.”

“Great.”

“And then Marsha’s gonna go down and she’s gonna move down there for the next couple months, whatever it takes to do this.”

Acknowledging many are tired, the governor implored them not to slack off. “This is not about getting some piece of paper across your desk in a timely fashion. This is about getting aid and support to somebody down there who is counting on us.” Crist told the crowd.

Afterwards he told reporters he had never seen such damage and such cooperation. “With the FEMA Director coming down and approving, Rick, you know, the federal funding through the president yesterday within record time… uh, the local officials… they’re the real heroes.”

The governor cancelled a trip to the Superbowl and will instead watch at least part of the game with firefighters in Tallahassee. Governor Crist says he plans to return to the scene of the disaster on Tuesday to assess the state’s response and recovery efforts.

A ring-necked duck nicknamed Perky is garnering international fame after surviving at least three brushes with death. Perky was shot, left for dead in a refrigerator, then, As Mike Vasilinda reports, stopped breathing while a vet repaired her broken wing.

Hear it here: Duck of the Dead

Watch the story: www.wfla.com

Perky spends most of her time huddled in the corner of her cage on a heating pad. She was shot by a hunter January 15 and spent the next two days his refrigerator until his wife discovered that Perky was still alive. Noni Beck has been caring for the duck ever since.

“She would normally be outside now, so that… the cold doesn’t really surprise me that she made it through. You know? I guess there’s enough oxygen in the refrigerator to keep the ducking going, so…” says Beck.

The duck’s story has traveled around our daffy world. T-shirts went on sale with the cash going to wildlife rehab. Then it appeared Perky was no longer such a lucky duck.It was while Perky was being operated on over the weekend to have her broken wing fixed that she stopped breathing… temporarily.

“She looked dead…” says Doctor David Hale who performed the operation. But then, he says “Probably 30 seconds later, you know, up comes the head and her little wings start to move and lucky the duck does what lucky the duck does so well.”

So there she sits: safe and sound, recovering from a broken wing. The prognosis is good in every way, Beck says “It’s just a very quiet little bird, with just a strong will to live.” But it is highly unlikely Perky will ever return to the wild.

Just two days after passing a massive insurance package in hopes of saving you money, state policy makers are turning to the problem of skyrocketing property taxes.

Hear it here: Property Tax Reform

Hundreds paid their way to the Capitol last week to protest high insurance rates…but they also had plenty to say about their property tax bills as well. One of them was Jesus Ceballos. “Insurance premiums and taxes… they’re causing housing prices to come down” he says.

The top leadership at the House is calling for a special election this summer to change the homestead exemption and give homeowners more savings. Speaker Marco Rubio says “People need the relief right now as badly as they needed property insurance relief, they need property tax relief.”

In the last five years, property local governments have collected 83 percent more while the population has only increased 12 percent. One plan will tell local governments that just because property tax values are up, you still can’t spend all the money.

Two committees met to talk about solutions, the Senate has a place on its website to submit comments on property taxes, and it has scheduled 8 public hearings in the next month. Senator Mike Haridopolos will chair the hearings and says “One thing we have found in our studies which is very clear… we do not have a revenue problem. We have a spending problem.”

Charlie Crist campaigned on doubling the 25 thousand dollar homestead exemption. He also wants to let homeowners to take it with them when they move. Today he told reporters “I heard, you know, all last year that people feel trapped in their homes. They don’t feel like they have the freedom to move.”

Crist says local governments will have to spend less and do it more wisely. Before there can be a special election this summer, 3/4ths of the legislature will have to agree.

The schedule of public meetings is:

Thursday, January 25, 2007
6:00 p.m.—9:00 p.m.
Panama City
Gulf Coast Community College
Language Arts Lecture Hall

Thursday, February 8, 2007
6:00 p.m.—9:00 p.m.
Jacksonville
Florida Community College

Monday, February 12, 2007
9:00 a.m.—12:00 noon
West Palm Beach
Palm Beach Community College
Dunkin Theatre: Lake Worth Campus

and

6:00 p.m.—9:00 p.m.
Ft. Lauderdale
Broward Community College

Tuesday, February 13, 2007
6:00 p.m.—9:00 p.m.
Miami Dade
Miami Dade Community College
Chapman Center

Thursday, February 15, 2007
6:00 p.m.—9:00 p.m.
Tampa
Hillsborough Community College

Friday, February 16, 2007
6:00 p.m.—9:00 p.m.
Ft. Myers
Florida Gulf Coast University

Thursday, February 22, 2007
6:00 p.m.—9:00 p.m.
Orlando
Valencia Community College

Florida lawmakers have ended their special session on insurance and the governor says their work will result in lower rates for you.  As Mike Vasilinda tells us there is agreement more will need to be done.

House members streamed from the chamber after their 116-2 vote for the insurance package. A few minutes later, the Senate voted unanimously and the traditional hankie drop ended the session.

Legislative leaders praised each other and the bi-partisanship. Senate President Ken Pruitt says they understand what voters want “Because on November 7th, we got it. We fully understand what the people said and you’re gonna see a bipartisan spirit.” said Pruitt.

The legislation is supposed to cut the premium on wind insurance by 25 percent. Other savings are more elusive. The governor praised the work “We are gonna lower rates in a meaningful way and it’s going to actually happen. This is a great beginning.”

Crist agreed more work needs to be done and says he will offer a package for the spring legislative session. But for now, he wants to savor the moment.“And I, uh, could not be more proud of the members of the house and senate and the people of Florida first. And because of them, this moved. It is only because of them that this happened.”

After the session ended, Charlie Crist said that he would sign the bill… unless he found a surprise. Savings should show up in a rate reduction or even a check in your mailbox sometime after three months or so.

Consumers will soon have more options to choose coverages to save money, companies will be forced to offer discounts for hurricane proofing your house, with the legislative action near complete, it is now Governor Charlie Crist’s turn to decide if lawmakers have done enough.

Hear it here: Sealing the Deal

With a handshake, the legislative deal was sealed. The insurance legislation requires insurance companies to offer more choices like higher deductibles or eliminating content coverage. Policy holders will also be able to spread the pain by paying quarterly or semi-annually.

Companies that write auto policies here… but offer both home and auto in other states… will have to do the same in Florida.

The biggest saving will come from the state doubling the amount of risk it is taking in underwriting insurance. Some have called it unsound, but chief Senate negotiator Bill Posey says it will produce results. “If there’s a big one, people are gonna have to pay for it. But we won’t presumably pay for it five times while we’re waiting for it to happen.”
Says Posey.

Action was delayed over an hour by last minute problems with the deal.
For the first time, the state will set standards for hardening your home against hurricanes and then force insurers to give you credit for the work you’ve done.

Overall savings are expected to vary from 15 to 30 percent depending on where you live and what coverages you choose. Senate President Ken Pruitt says the changes will make a difference. “We’ve stabilized the patient. And we now have a patient that is not bleeding anymore and from now on out the healing process begins.”

It will likely take policy holders six weeks to learn what their savings will be. While Charlie Crist is generally upbeat about the results of the special session, the governor did not get the ban on policy cancellations that he wanted or a ban on new Florida-only insurance subsidiaries.

As lawmakers in Tallahassee work to come up with a compromise bill to lower insurance premiums, one thing seems certain… the state is getting a lot deeper into the insurance business. Lawmakers have agreed to expand the state-run Citizens Insurance Company. It would no longer be limited to hurricane coverage and could sell more profitable types of insurance. Lawmakers have also agreed to use state dollars to provide re-insurance for private firm. Critics say this plan puts the state at financial risk. But Senate Insurance Committee chairman Bill Posey says they can’t afford not to act.

“When you have people in the hotel business that have six, eight, 900 percent increase in their rates… and have to double their room rates to pay their insurance… and people can not afford to pay double the room rate. So that people don’t fly down here. They don’t rent our cars and pay our taxes. They don’t buy our gas and pay our taxes. They don’t eat in our restaurants. They don’t shop in our stores and shop in our malls. You see a big negative impact coming to this state.”

Negotiators from the house and senate hope to have a final compromise on Sunday that can be approved by the legislature on Monday.

Item by item, State lawmakers were working out differences today in the giant insurance reform package being debated. As Mike Vasilinda reports, some differences have been worked out, others remain, yet a general air of optimism is once again in the air.

Hear it here: Session Update

Lawmakers showed up for work in short sleeve shirts and jeans. Point by point, they were coming to agreement on items like homeowners being able to buy less insurance if they don’t have a mortgage or don’t want to cover their furnishings.

After the first morning conference broke up, Curtis Richardson had a good feeling.
“I do believe we’ll make the six o’clock pm on Sunday deadline that we’ve been given.”

Broward Senator Steve Geller worked all day on a compromise to reduce windstorm costs. “Policyholders of company A would receive a rate reduction of 36.8%,”
Says Geller.

Starting at 11:30, Lawmakers spent almost an hour waiting for documents to print, but plenty of one on one negotiating took place. The meeting finally got stated at one forty, when chief house negotiator ray Sansom made a big offer. “The first bullet point is require Citizens to develop a comprehensive business plan for writing multi-peril policies.” Sansom told his Senate counterpart.

For the House to agree to let citizens sell other lines is a big deal. It’s a big portion of the Governor’s plan, and pleased Charlie Crist. “I’m very encouraged by that because if Citizens has the opportunity to compete, they can offer lower rates for our people and that’s very, very important.” Crist told us.

The work will continue into the evening. There is hope a deal can be brokered before Sunday, but staffers have ordered breakfast and lunch… just in case

If the negotiators can seal a deal tomorrow, it will be presented to the legislature on Monday… the final day of the special session.
______________________________________________________________

State Lawmakers are closer to a deal to lower your insurance rates than ever before. Both Chambers in Tallahassee are now sitting down to negotiate their differences and as Mike Vasilinda reports, Legislative leaders and the governor remain optimistic their will be success.
Hear it here: hard-work-of-negotiating-begins.mp3

For the third day in a row, angry homeowners like Bob Buckley from Brevard County  swarmed the capitol, pushing for lower insurance rates.  “The deal… the cards are on the table now for us for the governor and up here to change something. And I got the fire in the belly,” says Buckely.

Early in the day, the Senate took all of bills passed by the House, added their ideas, and sent them back, and asked for a conference committee. They got it. Negotiations began in early afternoon and are expected to last into the weekend.

Meanwhile, the governor was keeping the pressure on… noting that insurance has been dominating his thoughts. “I think I woke up at 2:30am today. The good news is I got back to sleep, so we’ll continue to work.”

One of the reasons that lawmakers have gotten so far in just three days is because there’s been absolutely no partisan bickering.

But nothing is a done deal yet.  Danger still lurks in the air as Insurance Lobbyists try to derail some of the changes being sought. And for lawmakers who might get cold feet, the governor had this warning.

“I just want to encourage them to keep working and don’t let up because people back home… when they go home… are gonna’ tell them what they think. And they won’t forget what they did here. They will remember what happened here this week… for a long time.”

A final vote on a compromise is scheduled for Monday. All lawmakers have to do between now and then is agree.

Florida lawmakers are into day two of their special session trying to find ways to lower your home insurance bill. The House and Senate passed different bills this afternoon, but as Mike Vasilinda reports…under either version of the reform, the state will be assuming more risk when storms come.

Here it Here: state-ready-to-assume-risk.mp3
For the second day in a row, angry insurance customers… this time from South Florida… flooded the Capitol. The governor says their presence is keeping the pressure on.

Slowly and methodically… The House and Senate began passing different versions of insurance reform. The biggest argument will be over how much risk the state should bear. The Senate plan, sponsored by Steve Geller, would have the state pay for losses over 25 Billion.

“I’m willing to take the risk of 100 – 1 storm and that we get no federal aid if I get an immediate one third reduction.” says Geller.

Charlie Crist has been in the halls negotiating. While not specific, he is not troubled by the state or its citizens taking on more risk. “They’re on the hook now… and we need to get them off the hook. They are suffering extraordinary rate increases.”

Charlie Crist continues to say he’ll accept nothing short of significant rate relief… and he now appears to be defining that as at least 25%. And the governor made it clear that legislative failure is not an option. “I wouldn’t want to be going back home if I were them.” says Crist.

Negotiations on specifics… such as whether companies that sell auto must sell property coverage… will start in earnest Thursday, when another batch of concerned homeowners will be descending on the capitol Thursday morning. This time, the buses will be coming from Brevard County.