First, the bad news.
Another year, another legislative session, another balanced, Potemkin budget. With urgently-needed, revenue-raising reform still politically off the table, the bar for legislative accomplishment necessarily remains irresponsibly low. Florida’s fiscal future remains fragile – and unaddressed.
Now, the good news. There’s still the prospect of some easy money – and the possibility that common sense could yet prevail on something of life-saving importance. Perhaps this term-limited, experience-light avatar of underachievement can get this much right:
- Easy money in hard times should be a no-brainer, even among the cerebrally challenged. That means the legislature finally signing off on Gov. Charlie Crist’s $433-million Seminole tribe gambling compact. And putting some gambling parameters in place would be a bonus.
It also means, without apology to Congressman Kendrick Meek, doing the right
thing on Florida’s impractical, feel-good, class-size law. If the governor can ever
locate that bully pulpit – and make common cause with key legislative leaders – a
re-configured, more flexible, class-size formula could actually result, one that
could easily pass muster with voters and save Florida upwards of $3 billion next
year.
- And let’s hope that 2010 is not another do-nothing year on the ever-alarming issue of ever-increasing numbers of motorists who text while driving. According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, distractions caused by mobile devices are major factors in 6,000 highway deaths a year nationwide. Such preventable fatalities are now regular media staples.
Numerous studies have shown device-distracted drivers comparable to those
impaired by alcohol. Or worse. Arguably, most legally drunk drivers are at least
looking at the road. That’s why 19 states and the District of Columbia have
already banned texting while driving.
Surely something meaningful in Florida can result from the dozen bills already
Proposed regarding cell phone use and texting at the wheel. Surely.