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Setting A Single Standard
Basically, that's what happens in building trades. As many as 150 local governments in Florida issue construction industry licenses, using standards that can vary wildly.
The results can be frustrating for consumers, and for a lot of construction leaders who want to improve their industry's image. Many contractors are calling for a switch to exclusive statewide licensing. This year they'll try to do away with local licensing of core trades like roofing and plumbing. They're touting recent recommendations of a legislative task force.
Proponents of state licensing face a tough fight. The problem isn't so much local governments' desire for home rule, observers say, it's the money they make from licensing. Unless state officials can find a way to replace those revenues, local governments probably will defeat reforms, at least for this year. "I really sense that it's more a dollars-and-cents issue (for local governments) than a political one," says Wellington Meffert, a lobbyist for the Florida Home Builders Association. Insiders say final action on licensing might have to wait until 1998, when the Legislature is expected to take up recommendations from a second task force created by Gov. Chiles. It's examining the whole gamut of construction issues, including Florida's hodgepodge of local building codes.
BEACH RENOURISHMENT
Shifting Sands
For decades, Floridians have busily built groins, reefs, jetties, breakwaters, seawalls, shipping channels, deepwater harbors and spoil islands up and down the coastline. While those structures usually have served their purposes, they've had the unintended effect of destroying many beaches.
The problem is that artificial coastal structures tend to block the natural flow of sand that replenishes beaches. As a result, Florida now faces critical erosion of roughly one-third of its 787 miles of beaches. Another third also is eroding, although less rapidly. In the future, "you're going to see more and more miles getting critical," warns Kirby B. Green III, deputy secretary of the state Department of Environmental Protection.
Serious erosion problems on Dade and Broward beaches this winter led to a splash of bad publicity near the height of the booking season. State officials offered promises to tackle the problem, primarily through more beach renourishment, a euphemism for the hugely expensive process of pumping sand onto beaches.
But it won't be so easy to solve the problem. For one thing, some scientists now question the value of renourishment. The reason: Experience now shows that beaches that need renourishment usually need it over and over.
And in these times of tight government budgets, that fact isn't entirely lost on some federal budget-writers. Last year, the Clinton administration considered getting the federal government out of the costly beach renourishment business, until U.S. Sen. Connie Mack and Rep. Clay Shaw helped pass legislation that prevented the feds from backing out. Still, it's likely that the federal share of beach renourishment funds - typically 50% to 60% of a project's total cost - will begin dropping, observers say.
Even Florida's Legislature over the last decade has funded only about one-third of the $35 million it needed to spend yearly to keep the state's beaches intact. Then last year, the state let it be known that it would decrease the share of project costs that it would cover. Typically, the state had been paying 75% of the non-federal share, or about 30% to 37.5% of the total, while the affected local government picked up the rest of the tab - say, 10% to 12.5%.
As of last year, the state is requiring local governments to pay an equal share of the non-federal cost. That's allowing the state to fund a larger number of projects, but beach advocates are understandably nervous. "It's becoming more and more of a problem not knowing which share is going to be there," says Debbie Flack, executive director of the Florida Shore and Beach Preservation Association, a group composed of coastal cities and counties.
To make matters worse, beaches must compete directly against schools and other core government services for the unrestricted state funds known as general revenue. Association members are hoping they finally will win approval this year for a separate dedicated funding source of their own, perhaps a cruise ship ticket surcharge being proposed by Rep. Dennis Jones, R-Seminole.
To justify their goal, beach advocates point to studies showing that the economic return on beaches far outweighs the cost of renourishing them.
Still, some state legislators - particularly from inland districts - worry about the long-term costs of investing public money in shifting sand. "If we're just going to dredge and pump forever, we're not going to get anywhere," frets Sen. Rick Dantzler, D-Winter Haven.
LEGISLATURE
This Session's Business Issues
Now that Republicans have taken over the state House as well as the Senate, the doors of both chambers are open for big changes in some of the state's most basic policies. Top business issues expected to surface in this year's session include:
Taxes. As Florida Trend reported in January ["The Power Goes To The Losers"], the GOP takeover has renewed calls for repeal or modification of a number of taxes, especially the tax on intangible property like stocks and accounts receivable [see Florida Economy, page 109]. The state "use" tax on businesses - for example, taxing the food a restaurant uses in a "kids-eat-free" promotion - also is under scrutiny. In addition, unemployment insurance taxes probably are due for a cut, thanks to the sustained economic recovery. Legislators also are considering ways to make it easier to challenge local property tax valuations.
Telecommunications. In another tax-related issue, there's talk of simplifying the dizzying array of state and local taxes and fees on telecommunications, a move that could make the state more competitive and possibly even raise some taxes, despite the GOP leadership's support for holding the line on new levies.
Tort Reform. One big potential issue is the liability that business owners are subjected to for random violent crimes committed on their premises. Another focus is the law that allows lawyers suing nursing homes to collect unusually large fees on top of damage awards. Still, the GOP leadership likely will be mindful of going too far and alienating the state's second-biggest group of political donors.
Transportation. A futuristic high-speed rail line to connect south Florida, Orlando and Tampa Bay [FT, March 1996] comes up for a key funding decision, although there's talk of postponing it a year. Transportation planners say it's the way to go. But legislators are wringing their hands over the high sticker price. Transportation advocates also want to find ways to boost needed spending for highways, either through tax increases or changes in federal funding formulas that currently don't favor Florida.
Tourism and Hospitality. An effort to develop focused promotion of so-called "ecotourism" is expected. In addition, there's continued pressure to improve the state's restaurant inspections after highly publicized outbreaks of food-borne disease led to a critical U.S. Food & Drug Administration report. The latest call for change comes from the Legislature's auditing arm, which suggests that the state begin red-flagging repeat offenders. Restaurants with good records could get a break in the number of times they're inspected each year.
Environmental Regulation. This could finally be the year for environmental self-audits, a concept that allows business property owners to hire professionals to audit their pollution problems without having to worry that government officials will then grab the audit and use it against them. In addition, legislators are looking at ways to make it easier to buy and sell polluted commercial property, known as "brownfields."
Healthcare. Legislators must figure out how to implement last year's federal Kassebaum-Kennedy healthcare bill, which makes employee healthcare portable.
