4
Early Session for Weary Lawmakers
By R. Bruce Kershner
NUCA of Florida Director of Government Affairs
The end of this session was certainly not as dysfunctional as last year’s when the House went home three days early and without a budget. However, the final day of session this year was not without its last minute drama. After approving a record $82.3 billion budget, one vote shy of being unanimous, there were still a few issues that needed sorting out. A couple of bills were still bouncing back and forth between the chambers, most notably, the Transportation Bill and nurse prescribing. Though leaders later denied there was any hostage taking of the Tax-Cut Package and Legacy Florida, these bills were the last to be approved only after the House agreed to the Down syndrome legislation which was a priority of Senate President Andy Gardiner. It was then time for the traditional hankie drop signaling the end of the 2016 Legislative Session, and both chambers adjourned sine die at 6:45 p.m.
The final week of session crawled along as the House did not come in until noon on some days and went home after spending only a few hours doing the people’s business. There were farewell speeches from the thirty plus House members who will not be retuning due to term limits. The House mercifully limited those remarks to ten minutes something most wished the Senate would have done. Instead, we were treated to videos set to music and praise heaped upon praise by their fellow Senators. Over the final two weeks of session, this amounted to roughly 21 hours of self-praise and the stroking of egos.
Those in the Capitol who thought the 2016 Legislative Session would end well before the six o-clock news were quickly reminded of baseball legend Yogi Berra and one of his memorable quotes,
“It isn’t over until it’s over.