Florida legislators kick off assembly
Florida legislators kick off assembly
TALLAHASSEE, NOVEMBER 19 - Florida legislators officially christened the start of the 84th assembly of the Florida Legislature Tuesday.
Sen. Jeff Atwater of North Palm Beach got the was sworn in as Senate president. He represents
most of coastal Broward and Palm Beach counties. Speaker of the House is Rep. Ray Sansom of Destin. In the House, 35 new representatives were sworn in -- 21 Republicans and 14 Democrats. Seven newcomers joined the Senate -- five Republicans and two Democrats.
Both chambers remain firmly under Republican control -- with a 76-44 majority in the House and 26-14 Senate majority.
Rep. Franklin Sands, of Weston, became the House Democratic leader, a position that entails heading the opposition to Republican policies and budget cuts.
Atwater announced his first act as president will be to appoint a select bipartisan committee of senators to help find solutions for the state's economic and financial problems.
"Floridians are hurting," Atwater said. "They have seen secure jobs disappear, and the stock market collapse has hit the most vulnerable the hardest. ... This is a crisis and we will treat it as such."
Atwater said he expects the panel to consult business, academic and economic experts and make its first recommendations before the Legislature convenes in March for its 2009 regular session.
Democrats, including state Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink, have raised the call for a special session to deal with the financial crisis. But Republican leaders and Governor Charlie Crist say they want to see the details of the new revenue estimate, which will be released Friday.
Crist and the Legislative Budget Commission already have tapped $672 million from the budget's reserve fund -- half the total -- to offset some of the deficit, last estimated at about $1.3 billion.
Atwater declined to make a commitment but said he thought a special session before lawmakers convene in their regular 60-day session in March is likely to make budget cuts or take other action to wipe out the deficit.
