Pat Rooney for Florida House of Representatives

HT Politics: State hotline to improve government efficiency proves inefficient

peter — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 12:48:13 +0000

The result has been anything but efficient for a program set up to reduce government inefficiency.

“It is actually creating more inefficiencies because people don’t know who should be responding, how they should be responding,” said Rep. Patrick Rooney Jr., R-West Palm Beach. “You have various departments taking people off other tasks to work on this.”

Graduation rates tops 80%

peter — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 03:12:43 +0000

The state’s graduation rate rose more than a percentage point to 80.1 percent, the highest it has ever been, the state Department of Education reported Monday. The rate is nearly 10 percentage points higher than in 2006. The state made even larger gains among African Americans and Hispanics during that five year period. African-American high school graduation haas gone up 11.5 percent since 2006 and the Hispanic graduation rateis 13 percentage points higher during the time frame. The rate for Hispanic students is now 77.3 percent, up 2 percentage points from last year. The graduation rate for African-Americans is 68.4 percent, same as last year.

LG Carroll’s South Africa trip a success

peter — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 03:13:10 +0000

A weeklong trade mission led by Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll to South Africa in November led to expected sales of nearly $40 million, according to Florida trade officials who said progress was made concerning shipping and transportation. “While our meetings with maritime, aerospace, airline, and space industry companies were focused on more immediate sales, the meetings with South African national and provincial government officials will lead to long-term partnerships and collaboration that will help expand Florida’s economy,” Carroll said in a statement Friday. Enterprise Florida international trade leader Manny Mencia, said several Florida businesses strengthened ties with South African partners, sowing the seeds for future trade. “Florida’s long-term strategy in Africa relies on building relationships and strategic partnerships and trying to expand Florida’s the trade infrastructure. Port-to-port relations and airline flights were some of the objectives that Lt. Governor Carroll and her team promoted,” Mencia said.

Gov. Scott looks at special districts

peter — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 03:14:46 +0000

After taking aim at water-management districts and hospital districts, Gov. Rick Scott could be ready to tackle other types of taxing districts across the state. Jerry McDaniel, Scott’s budget director, told a Senate committee Thursday that the governor is working on an executive order to start examining the myriad types of local districts. “If it’s anything like what we found with water-management districts, certain practices should stop and we just need to understand it better,” McDaniel said. It was not clear what the executive order will entail, but it could be issued next month. Scott earlier this year issued an executive order that created the Florida Commission on Review of Taxpayer Funded Hospital Districts. That panel has met for months and is expected to issue recommendations by Jan. 1 about issues such as the funding of hospital districts.

Gov. Scott: Restore some Florida Forever budget money

peter — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 03:16:19 +0000

While less than what many environmentalists would like to see, Gov. Rick Scott is proposing to restore some spending for environmental land buying next year. The governor proposed to put $15 million into the Florida Forever program, money that is currently surplus trust fund cash. “Audubon is encouraged to see Gov. Scott make a commitment to Florida Forever and Everglades restoration in his 2012-2013 budget recommendation,” said the environmental group’s Julie Wraithmell in a statement. “As the Florida legislative session unfolds early next year, it is our hope that House and Senate leadership will use these amounts as a starting point that leads to increased funding for these critical programs.” The proposal also would put $40 million into Everglades restoration. That, said Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Herschel T. Vinyard, “will allow Florida to keep the momentum going in the state-federal partnership to restore one of Florida’s most valuable natural treasures.” This year, the state put $30 million into the Everglades cleanup project. The Everglades Foundation called the increase “significant, and noted that the $30 million was only spent after lawmakers upped dramatically Scott’s recommendation last year for $17 million. “The fact that Gov. Scott is willing to more than double his previous request for Everglades funding demonstrates his understanding that protecting the Everglades and our water supply is a necessary ingredient to growing our state’s economy,” said Kirk Fordham, CEO of the Everglades Foundation. Vinyard also praised Scott for requesting that lawmakers spend more than $240 million for water cleanup projects. The governor is proposing to shrink DEP, though, with a cut of more than 80 vacant positions, reducing its budget by about $100 million.