The Ford Update
My office staff and I welcome your contact regarding any issue that is important to you. As always, I consider it a pleasure to serve you, and the people of our district.
I also encourage you to visit “Online Sunshine,” the official website of your Florida Legislature. At http://www.leg.state.fl.us/ you’ll find links to both the Senate and the House websites. The site also provides links to Florida Statutes and other governmental information and entities. There is also a link to kid’s pages that are designed to educate young ones about how our state government works.
Weekly Wrap-up for January 30, 2009
Balanced Budget and Stimulus Package
Florida lawmakers recently concluded what will hopefully be the first and last special session of 2009 passing an agreement to fill the 2.4 billon dollar hole in the current year budget. State Senate and House leaders agreed to $1.2 billion in spending cuts, as well as spending $400 million from the budget stabilization fund, $700 million from the Lawton Chiles Endowment Fund, $190 million from the housing trust fund, and more than $300 million from various other trust funds to fill the gap. The Legislature also set aside approximately $300 million to fill future shortfalls between now and the end of the fiscal year.
Lawmakers paired an economic stimulus package with the challenging cuts to the State Budget. The plan put forth by Governor Crist makes an initial $10 million investment from the state, which will be used for a pilot program to provide loans to small businesses with 10 to 50 employees.
Special Session was hard, but the worst is yet to come. Lawmakers will face at a least a $4 billion deficit, and maybe as much $6 billion deficit, in the 2009-10 budget. The good news is that Florida's gross domestic product is $800 billion. The bad news is that another $4 to $6 billion in budget cuts, after the $10 billion in cuts and sweeps already incurred, will make the cost cutting done last week look like a walk in the park.
New Ethanol Plant
Florida's first commercial ethanol plant is coming. Lykes Bros., a Tampa based company and Verenium, of Massachusetts, will build a commercial ethanol plant capable of producing $36
million gallons of cellulosic ethanol per year. The facility will be functional by 2011 and is estimated to create 140 full time jobs.
The plant will be built in Highlands County and will receive a $7 million grant as part of Florida's "Farm to Fuel" initiative.
This announcement is good news for Florida. The fact that gas prices have dropped in the short term doesn't lessen the need to pursue a sustainable future in the long term through alternative and renewable energy solutions like ethanol.
Excerpts included from “The Lemieux Report”,
Issue 43, Jan. 19, 2009
FORD SPONSORED LEGISLATION 2009 SESSION
In the next few Ford Updates, I will be highlighting the legislation I have sponsored during the upcoming legislative session. Each Representative can sponsor 6 bills during a legislative session
HB 103– Voyeurism
HB 141– Annuity Contracts for Senior Consumers
HB 187– Motor Vehicle Registration Fees
Prepaid Services for Children with Development Disabilities
Credit Counseling Organizations
Homestead Property Assessment
HB 103– Voyeurism: Prohibits secretly viewing, for specified purposes, either under, over or through clothing being worn by another person without that person's knowledge or consent to view body of, or undergarments worn by, that person.
This bill stems from a case locally in which a man was caught looking up a women’s skirt in a store, but because of the vagueness of the statute was not able to be convicted. The states attorney’s office has asked us to file this bill to fix the statute.
HB 141- Annuity Contracts for Senior Consumers: Specifies annuity contract protection criteria for senior consumers.
The “Florida Senior Annuity Bill of Rights” guarantees certain protections will be incorporated into any annuity contract purchased by an individual who, at the time of purchase, is a senior consumer. Each contract must contain the following provisions:
The maximum surrender charge period shall be 9 years from the date of each purchase payment.
The maximum annual surrender charge percentage shall be 9% of the purchase payments.
After the first contract year senior consumers shall be allowed free annual withdrawals in each contract year of up to 10% of the purchase payments for annuity contracts with a surrender charge period of 7 years or longer unless a greater percentage amount is specified in the annuity contract.
Suggestions and Public Appearances
I and my staff use the newsletter as a cost-effective tool to keep you in touch with what is happening in your State and in your Florida Legislature. We welcome all suggestions and comments. Do not hesitate to contact my District Office to let us know of issues you are concerned about and would like us to address in this newsletter.
As my schedule allows, I am happy to speak at local community events or groups about issues of interest. My Legislative Assistant, Ray Walker, or my Administrative Assistant, Mary Katherine Peebles, will be happy to work with you in making such arrangements.
Utilizing email as a newsletter distribution tool is a fiscally-responsible means to distribute information to my constituency about what is going on in their Florida Legislature.
Please feel free to e-mail The Ford Update to your friends and relatives. Alternatively, please let others know they can be added to my email list by going to www.gulf1.com/ford.
As always, please feel free to contact me or my staff with any of your needs or concerns. My district office is open Monday - Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The address is:
1804 West Garden St.
Pensacola, FL 32502
(850) 595-5550
Emailing me will allow for the most prompt reply to your issue. Please feel free to email me at: clay.ford@myfloridahouse.gov
To view my Committee assignments, please visit www.myfloridahouse.gov. Click on the Representatives tab for an alphabetical listings of all Representatives. This website provides a multitude of other legislative information including Committee Schedules, Legislative Bill Search Engines, a Kid's page, End-of-Session Reports, etc.
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