April 4, 2008
Volume 3, Issue 4
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Contacts
ABC of Florida is a partnership of the five (5) Florida chapters of Associated Builders and Contractors, representing the interests of nearly 2,500 commercial, industrial and institutional merit contractors, suppliers and industry professionals. All primary and secondary contacts for active ABC members in Florida receive this Legislative Update. If you prefer not to receive this update, please mail Rick Watson at rick@rwatsonandassociates.com
ABC of Florida
Lobbying Team
Rick Watson
Post Office 10038
Tallahassee, Florida 32301
Phone: 850.222.0000
Cell: 850.591.4770
Fax: 850.222.9059
E-mail: rick@rwatsonandassociates.com
Peter M. Dyga
Suite 200, 3730 Coconut Creek Parkway
Coconut Creek, Florida 33066
Phone: 954.984.0075
Cell: 954.520.3764
Fax: 954.984.4905
E-mail: pdyga@abceastflorida.com
Carol Bowen
Director of Government Affairs
Florida East Coast Chapter
cbowen@abceastflorida.com
Richard Gentry
Gentry & Associates
rgentry@comcast.net
Leonard Schulte
Foley & Lardner, LLP
lschulte@foley.com
Jessica White
Communications/Media Relations Assistant
jwhite@abcnorthflorida.com
Chapters
Central Florida (including Orlando, Kissimmee & Daytona Beach)
Mark P. Wylie
mwylie@abccentralflorida.org
President & CEO
Suite 200, 651 Danville Drive
Orlando, Florida 32825-6391
Phone: 407.628.2070
Fax: 407.629.0144
www.abccentralflorida.com
Florida East Coast (coastal counties from Brevard to Key West including Miami, Ft. Lauderdale and West Palm Beach)
Dan Shaw
dshaw@abceastflorida.com
President & CEO
Suite 200, 3730 Coconut Creek Parkway
Coconut Creek, Florida 33066
Phone: 954.984.0075
Fax: 954.984.4905
www.abceastflorida.com
Florida First Coast (including Jacksonville & St. Augustine)
Dan Haskell
dhaskell@abcfirstcoast.com
President & CEO
Suite 120, 6900 Southpoint Drive, North
Jacksonville, Florida 32216
Phone: 904.731.1506
Fax: 904.731.1507
www.abcjax.com
Florida Gulf Coast (coastal counties from Ft. Myers to Tampa + Gainesville)
Steve Cona
stevecona@abcflgulf.org
President & CEO
2008 North Himes Avenue
Tampa, FL 33607
Phone: 813.879.8064
Fax: 813.876.1970
www.abcflgulf.org
North Florida (including Tallahassee & Pensacola)
Martha Pelham
mpelham@abcnorthflorida.org
President & CEO
Suite B-1, 1535 Killearn Center Boulevard
Tallahassee, Florida 32309
Phone: 850.385.0060
Fax: 850.386.8322
www.abcnorthflorida.com
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Florida Regular Legislative Session...Day 32...28 days to go We've passed the halfway mark of the Session. ABC's Legislative Conference and the Legislature's budget discussions dominated the week. We'll see a flurry of committee meetings in the next three weeks. Updates appear in red. Background information appears in black.
 ABC members attending the Legislative Conference pose for a picture in the House Chamber.
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ABC hosted the largest LegCon ever with some members posing for a photograph in the House Chambers above. Other members had scheduled appointments. Tuesday, April 1st started with a buffet lunch in the Main Dining Room of the Governor's Club. Presentations by legislators on key issues included Senator Charlie Dean (R-Citrus County) on immigration, Representative Greg Evers (R-Santa Rosa County) on the state-wide crane safety bill; and Representative Weatherford (R-Pasco County) on the competitive bidding bill. Cabinet officers Commissioner Charlie Bronson (Agriculture), Attorney General Bill McCollum and Chief Financial Officer, Alex Sink all briefed ABC.
Later in the day ABC members flooded the Capitol in hardhats and were ushered into the chambers of the House of Representatives for a visit with Speaker of the House, Marco Rubio (R-Miami). Kara Marente, the new vice-president of the Miami-Dade Office of ABC East Coast Chapter, introduced the Speaker. The ABC group then proceeded to the Florida Senate Chambers and were addressed by President Ken Pruitt (R-Indian River County).
Legislative visits started Tuesday and continued on Wednesday. For a needed break Tuesday night, Past Chairman of the Board of ABC of Florida, Gary Stout and his wife Joan, hosted a steak dinner at their beautiful home in North Tallahassee. Doing the honors on the grill were ABC members, Camp Bulloch, Bryan Stout and Mike Plaster.
At breakfast on Wednesday, the Board meeting was conducted quickly and the group returned to The Capitol for more visits with legislators and a visit with Governor Crist on key ABC issues.
Thank you to all the members who help make ABC "Days on the Hill" the industries largest grassroots lobbying effort. Your efforts helped move the ABC legislative agenda along. Read below a snapshot of the issues this week. |
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ACTION ITEM:
You will receive VoterVOICE Alerts on immigration and crane safety over the course of the next few work days.
Please respond when you receive them.
The only bill that the Legislature has to pass each year is the Appropriations bill. The House will pass its Appropriations bill of $65 billion dollars next week. This is almost a seven (7) billion dollar decrease from last year. The Senate bill is slightly higher than the House bill. The difference will be resolved in Conference Committee. The cuts to education and health care are receiving a lot of press.
Against the backdrop of budget cuts, remaining bills will work their way through the process. |
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If you want an update on any other bills you may hear or read about, do not hesitate to contact us. The contact information for Peter Dyga and Rick Watson appears in this Update. "+" indicates "support" and "-" indicates "oppose." "M/NP" means "no position at this time" Updates appear in red. Background information appears in black.
(-) IMMIGRATION: At least 13 bills have been filed dealing with immigration in one way or another. The large number of bills shows the high level of frustration with the failure of the federal government to address immigration. The three bills (HB 73, HB 159 and SB 388) of particular interest to ABC mandate participation in the E-Verify Program operated by the Department of Homeland Security. Under these bills, as currently drafted, a contractor could not work on a state or local government project without participating in the program which is intended to verify the immigration status of employees. A workshop will be held in the House State Administration Committee on Tuesday from 4-6PM. No votes will be taken and the meeting has not been noticed, yet. We anticipate that all the immigration bills will be on the agenda and the proponents and opponents will have an opportunity to be heard. The purpose of the workshop will be to determine if any of the measures can move forward. No activity on the bills in the Senate.
(+) TOWER CRANE REGULATION: Miami/Dade County adopted a crane ordinance which ABC opposes. ABC's supports, HB 609 and SB 1316 which were filed at ABC's request. The bills provide for the pre-emption of regulation by the state and a mechanism for the certification of crane operators and cranes by established national safety protocols. The House bill passed its second committee of reference and has remaining committee before going to the floor for a vote. ABC and its allies are doing everything possible to get the bill on the agenda in the Senate. Miami/Dade senators are resisting putting the senate bill on the agenda. Miami/Dade wants its local ordinance exempted from the statewide certification.
(+) APPRENTICESHIP FUNDING: ABC has the largest construction apprenticeship programs in Florida. As expected, projected funding for Apprenticeship has been decreased. ABC supports the house position since it has lower cuts. About a third of the apprenticeship programs are in community colleges and about 2/3rd of the programs are in K-12.
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House Offer
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% Reduction
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Senate Offer
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% Reduction
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2007-08 Amount
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Public Schools - K/12
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$392,275,158
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6%
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$370,797,992
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11%
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$417,769,849
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(Line Item 120)
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Community Colleges
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$974,090,176
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5.2%
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953,630,027
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7.3%
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$1,027,826,531
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(Line item 124)
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Rick Watson has been asked to interview the applicants for the Director of Apprenticeship in the Department of Education on Friday, April 11th on behalf of ABC. The Director's position is an important one in Apprenticeship.
(-) LOCAL DISCIPLINE OF STATE CERTIFIED CONTRACTORS: Sen. Aronberg and Rep. Chestnut have refiled their 2007 bills for 2008 (SB 1466, HB 407). These would do away with the "preemption" of the discpline of state certified contractors, who currently are subject to civil fines and license revocation/suspension by the CILB but under the proposed bills would now be subject to fines and penalties by any of Florida's 67 Counties and approximately 440 local government entities. Thanks to ABC's "key contacts" program, Rex Kirby of Suffolk Construction contacted Sen. Aronberg who agreed to "temporarily postpone" the bill in committee and has indicated he does not intend to move forward with passage. No action on these bills this week.
(+) ECONOMIC STIMULUS PACKAGE: ABC and other business groups are supporting an economic stimulus package for school, road and affordable housing construction. While no bills have been filed at this time, both House and Senate appropriations committees and Governor Crist have been very receptive. This issue will be resolved in Conference Committee. Final figures have not been determined in either the House of Senate at this time.
(+) INCREASED PENALTIES FOR THEFTS FROM JOB SITES: ABC with other business groups have formed a coalition to pass legislation (HB 105 and CS/SB 556 & SB 748) to help law enforcement find these thieves and makes it harder for them to unload their stolen goods. The House bill has passed all its committees of reference and is ready to go to the House floor for a vote. The Senate bill is scheduled for hearing in its last committee on April 8th.
(+) RESTRICTIONS ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT FROM PERFORMING CONSTRUCTION WITH ITS OWN EMPLOYEES: HB 683 & SB 2148 amend Florida Statutes 255.2 to correct abuses by local government in allowing its employees to perform construction services in-house. The house bill passed its first committee in the house last week and will be heard in its second committee next week. The senate bill was scheduled for hearing on April 3rd, but was not reached on the agenda. It is expected to be heard next week. Local government, as expected, is opposing the bill.
(M/NP) CONSTRUCTION LICENSING CHANGES: HB 1005 & SB 2194 will make changes in the initial application for licensure financial requirements. The bills as currently drafted will be amended. ABC is working with other construction associations to simplify the process for qualifying a company and changing qualifiers. No action on these bills this week. These bills appear to be dead for the Session.
(+) DMS Maintenance Contracts: HB 7035 & Senate Shell Bill. These bills authorize DMS to select and contract with specified construction management entities to assist in management of construction projects and provides that DMS's authority includes the right to enter into certain continuing contracts. The Senate shell bill is expected to be released next week.
(-) Arbitration: SB 2076, HB 1219. . These bills create special rules for consumer arbitration yet have made consumer type changes to ALL arbitration under the Florida Arbitration Code. No reason exists to emasculate arbitration in Florida with these changes. ABC is actively opposed the bill. The house bill has not been heard and is not expected to be heard. The senate bill passed its second committee and appears to be moving. The bill is still opposed by ABC and the business community. |
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Governor Charlie Crist speaks to ABC members in his press office.
Speaker Marco Rubio addresses ABC members in the House chamber.
Senate President Ken Pruitt speaks to ABC members in the Senate chamber.
To view more pictures from the event, you can go to http://www.abcflevents.myphotoalbum.com/.
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