Florida lawmakers return today for oil session

Florida lawmakers return to the Capitol today for a rare summertime special session that may produce little more than partisan rancor and finger-pointing.

Gov. Charlie Crist, who two summers ago was advocating that Gulf of Mexico waters should be open for additional oil drilling as close as 3 miles from Florida's shores, now wants legislators to back a constitutional ban of offshore oil drilling.

Citing the oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, Crist used his power as governor to call the special session, which legally must run four days.

But while Crist has changed his position on oil drilling -- as have the majority of Florida voters, a recent polls show -- it appears unlikely that the Legislature will support the governor. There is even speculation that the Legislature could "gavel and go" -- essentially do nothing, which would be the ultimate political snub to Crist.

"I think the writing is on the wall in regards to the amendment," said Rep. Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton and a top Republican in the House. "There doesn't seem to be a big appetite in the House to take up and pass a constitutional amendment."

Rep. Keith Fitzgerald, D-Sarasota and a House sponsor of the drilling ban, said that Republicans are badly misjudging the public if they do little and quickly go home without at least taking a vote on the amendment. One poll unveiled by environmental groups on Monday said that 71 percent of voters want a chance to vote on the issue this November.

"If they deny the vote from ever being heard, I think there will be some angry people out there," Fitzgerald said. "People want a chance to vote on a constitutional amendment. It's not a gimmick or abstract down here. They feel like it would be a very good signal to send that we're not going to be an oil state."

In addition, U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida said Monday that getting the oil drilling ban on the state ballot this November will help in his efforts in Congress to keep drilling out of waters just beyond the 10-mile state waters boundary.

In recent days, there have been rumblings that, as a compromise, legislators could consider a constitutional amendment that would ban offshore drilling for the next five years. The Senate is far more likely to bring the amendment to a vote than is the House.

"You have to check with the big oil companies to figure out what the House will do," said Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, who is one of Crist's few Republican supporters in the Legislature.

Sen. Mike Bennett, R-Bradenton, understands the House opposition to the ban, but he cautioned his colleagues from acting too quickly.

"I just hope they don't walk in and adjourn," Bennett said. "They should at least debate it and send it to some committees. They could talk about the long-term effect. If they do it and then they kill it, at least they didn't come up here and waste everyone's time and go home."

The special session is just another in a series of showdowns between Crist and the Legislature since Crist bolted from the Republican Party to run as an independent for U.S. Senate. Crist vetoed bills -- and items in the state budget -- that enraged GOP leaders who insisted that some of his vetoes were even illegal.

Crist has also used his legal office to battle the Legislature in court over controversial redistricting constitutional amendments that are backed by a citizens group but opposed by his former Republicans.

Some lawmakers -- including Bennett -- want the Legislature to tackle other issues while they are gathered in Tallahassee. Bennett filed his own constitutional amendment that, if approved by voters, would allow the Legislature to hand out property tax breaks to property owners who install renewable energy devices, including utility panels.

Senate Majority Leader Al Lawson, D-Tallahassee, wants the Legislature to suspend saltwater fishing license fees and allow fishermen to use larger nets currently not allowed under the state's net ban. Some lawmakers also want the Legislature to take up an immigration measure similar to one passed earlier this year in Arizona.

But it takes a two-thirds vote in both chambers to take any items not included in Crist's original "call" for the special session. Galvano said it was unlikely that the House would agree to take anything else up, including a resolution by Rep. Sandy Adams, R-Oviedo, to "censure" Crist for calling the special session in the first place.

"I don't see us taking up and passing over things," Galvano said.

Some legislators -- and other elected officials such as Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink -- say that legislators should use the session to provide help to those businesses in the Panhandle that have been hurt by the oil spill. But last week, both Senate President Jeff Atwater, R-North Palm Beach, and House Speaker Larry Cretul, R-Ocala, agreed to hold another special session in late August or early September to cover those issues.

House Republicans, however, could spend some time at the start of the session today criticizing Crist.

"There area a lot of people who are annoyed with the governor and his actions of late, and not just because he's calling an opportunistic special session," said Rep. Carlos Lopez-Cantera, R-Miami.

(Published by The Herald Tribune – July 20, 2010)