The Endless Summer
By R. Bruce Kershner
NUCA of Florida
Director of Government Affairs
Florida legislators are growing weary of Tallahassee these days. In less than two months, lawmakers will find their way back to the Capitol to start interim committee meetings leading up to the opening of the 2016 Legislative Session which convenes on January 12. Those meetings will start on September 16. Many legislators are beginning to wonder about the part time job they campaigned for after completing a twenty-day special session to wrap up work left unfinished in April. The 2015 regular 60-day Session came to an abrupt end in April with the Legislature failing to pass its only required piece of legislation – a budget. On June 1, the House and Senate convened in a Special Legislative Session to complete work on the budget as well as addressing the use of federal Medicaid funds to offer private health insurance to uninsured Floridians and the funding of the Low-Income Pool (LIP) to reimburse hospitals for indigent care. They wrapped up that Special Session on June 19, 2015.
A Florida Supreme Court ruling has lawmakers back in Tallahassee in August for a twelve day Special Session to redraw Congressional lines. That Special Session started on August 10, 2015. Yet another Special Session was called for by the Senate President and Speaker of the House this week to redraw the state’s Senate districts. The -