If you go
Want to participate in an Awake the State event? Two rallies are scheduled in Southwest Florida this week, according to the Awake the State website:
■ An Awake the State rally is scheduled from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday at Cape Coral City Hall, 1015 Cultural Park Blvd.
■ An Awake the State event is scheduled from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday in downtown Naples. The group is expected to meet at Naples City Hall, Eighth Street South, at 4 p.m. to begin a march along Fifth Avenue South until 5 p.m. A rally is scheduled at 5 p.m. at Cambier Park.
Documents
TALLAHASSEE — With more than two dozen “Awake the State” rallies slated across the state on Tuesday – the first day of the 2011 legislative session – Florida Senate President Mike Haridopolos said simply “Welcome to America.”
“We’ll see how it goes,” Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, said during a pre-session press conference Monday. “It’s not going to affect our business. I don’t think we’ll have any quorum issues here in the Florida Senate.
“People are going to show up for their job.”
The rallies are scheduled statewide, including at Cambier Park in Naples and at Cape Coral City Hall, to protest proposed budget cuts that could affect public employee pensions, pay and job security.
However, Ron Meyer, an attorney representing the Florida Education Association teachers union, said a massive march on the Capitol, similar to the protests that erupted last month in Madison, Wis., is unlikely in Florida. The reason, Meyer said, has to do with strict Florida laws that prohibit strikes by public employees.
Any public employee caught breaking the law could be fined, and could put their job and pension at risk, Meyer said.
“I don’t think it’s going to mute the voices of our public school teachers,” Meyer said. “It’s going to determine how and when we hear their voices.”
By the state Constitution, Florida is a “right-to-work state,” meaning workers cannot be compelled to join a union against their wishes.
If there is an impasse in the collective bargaining process, rather than go to binding arbitration, Florida law gives the employer the right to “take such action as it deems to be in the public interest.”
Florida law also prohibits strikes by public employees. Those employees who do choose to protest changes to their pensions and cuts to the state budget will have to do so on weekends, after work, or on approved vacation time, Meyer said.
“It’s got our employees, our teachers angry, but you can’t expect to see them sitting here and occupying the state Capitol as we’ve seen in Wisconsin and other states,” Meyer said. “Teachers are mad. Don’t make any mistake about that. But they are professionals.”
Republican lawmakers have introduced bills that would end union-dues deductions, forbid the use of dues for political activity, and make it easier for public employees to decertify unions.
Meyer said those proposals are driven by a national agenda that doesn’t necessarily apply to Florida, and called the lawmakers’ motives “ill-intentioned.” He said the state’s current financial difficulties aren’t due to collective bargaining, and said Florida hasn’t had a history of work stoppages or labor disputes.
While addressing Department of Transportation employees Monday afternoon, Gov. Rick Scott said the state has to treat taxpayers and government workers fairly.
“I know that in state government there’s not been a lot of raises, and I know that’s been a problem for some people,” Scott said. “The flip side of that is, there are 1.1 million Floridians that not only don’t have a raise, they don’t have a job.”
When asked about the protests planned for Tuesday, Scott said he thinks they are great.
“I think one thing great about our country is the fact that everybody has the right to speak,” Scott said. “So I think it’s good that people show up and say what they care about.”
■SPECIAL SECTION: For a blog, photos and stories about the 2011 Legislative Session >
2011 ELECTED LEADERS & LEGISLATIVE DELEGATION
Home: Naples
Party: Republican
Scott, a multimillionaire former hospital executive, came out of nowhere to win election as Florida's 45th governor in November. He ran as a political outsider, and has no prior experience in electoral politics. Scott has promised to run the state more like a business, phase out the state's corporate tax, cut the state workforce, and create 700,000 new jobs over seven years.
Home: Fleming Island, Fla.
Party: Republican
An immigrant from Trinidad, veteran of the U.S. Navy, and businesswoman, Carroll became the first black woman elected to the Florida Legislature during a special election in 2003. She served three terms in the state House of Representatives before Gov. Rick Scott chose her as his running mate in September.
Home: Tampa
Party: Republican
Bondi was a prosecutor in Hillsborough County for 19 years and Fox News legal analyst before she was elected Attorney General in November. She is the lead attorney general in the lawsuit to overturn the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
Home: North Palm Beach
Party: Republican
A former banker, Atwater was elected to the Florida House in 2000, and the Florida Senate in 2002. He served as Senate president from 2008 through 2010, and was elected CFO in November.
Home: Bartow
Party: Republican
Putnam, who comes from a family of cattle ranchers and citrus farmers, was elected to the Florida House in 1996 at age 22. He was elected to Congress five years later. During his tenure in Congress, Putnam served as chairman of the House Republican Policy Committee and as House Republican Conference Chairman. Putnam was elected agriculture commissioner in November.
Home: Winter Park
Party: Republican
An attorney and former University of Florida student body president, Cannon was elected to the Florida House in 2004.
Home: Merritt Island
Party: Republican
A college professor who is still a guest lecturer at the University of Florida, Haridopolos was elected to the Florida House in 2000. He won a special election to the Florida Senate in 2003, and has announced his candidacy for U.S. Senate in 2012. Haridopolos was formally admonished by the Senate Rules Committee in late February for failing to properly disclose his finances.
Home: Key West
Party: Democrat
An attorney and fifth-generation Key Wester, Saunders was first elected to the Florida House in 1986, where he served through 1994. He returned to the House after winning election in 2006, and has headed the Florida House Democratic Caucus since 2009.
Home: Weston
Party: Democrat
A member of the Broward County Women's Hall of Fame, Rich was elected to the Florida House in 2000 and to the Senate in 2004. She was elected minority leader in 2010. Rich has served as the national president of the National Council of Jewish Women, and as a board member of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.
Home: Wellington
Party: Republican
A former Wellington councilwoman and vice mayor, Benaquisto won a special election to the Florida Senate in November representing District 27, which stretches from southern Lee County to Palm Beach County. As a first-term senator, Benaquisto said the Legislature's first priority this session is aligning state spending to "the reality of today's world."
Home: Miami
Party: Democrat
Bullard's sprawling District 39 includes Monroe County, as well as portions of eastern-Collier, Hendry, Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties. Bullard was elected to the Florida Senate in 2002 after previously serving in the Florida House.
Home: Naples
Party: Republican
President and founder of First National Bank of the Gulf Coast, Richter was elected to the Florida Senate in 2008 representing Collier and Lee counties in District 37. Fittingly, he is the chair of the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee. Richter served in the Florida House from 2006 to 2008.
Home: Lehigh Acres
Party: Republican
Caldwell, a real estate appraiser and Florida Gulf Coast University alum, won his first election in November representing most of Lee County in District 73. He ran an unsuccessful campaign for Florida Senate in 2008.
Home: Golden Gate Estates
Party: Republican
Hudson, a Realtor and former Golden Gate fire commissioner, won a special election to the Florida House in 2007 representing District 101, which stretches across Collier and Broward counties. He is the chair of the Health Care Appropriations Subcommittee. Hudson has served on numerous Collier County advisory boards and also been active with the Rotary Club and as a youth umpire.
Home: Miami
Party: Republican
Nuñez was elected in November to represent District 112, which includes portions of eastern-Collier and Miami-Dade counties, and touches a portion of south Broward County. She is vice president of external affairs at Kendall Regional Medical Center and Aventura Medical Center.
Home: Naples
Party: Republican
Passidomo won her first election to the Florida House in 2010 without competition. A 30-year Naples resident, she served as the founding member of the Collier County Juvenile Justice Council and the Collier County Senior Resource Center, was a driving force behind the Collier County Foreclosure Task Force, and has been involved with dozens of other local and state organizations.
Home: Fort Myers
Party: Republican
Williams, an engineer by trade, is the CEO of the Fort Myers-based TKW Consulting Engineers, which she founded in 1989. She was appointed by then-Gov. Jeb Bush to the South Florida Water Management District in 1999, and has served in the Florida House since 2004. She chairs the Agriculture & Natural Resources Appropriations Subcommittee and the Select Committee on Water Policy. In February, Williams announced her candidacy for Florida Senate in 2012.
■ CLICK HERE FOR A Who’s Who of Gov. Rick Scott’s department heads
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