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| State to continue operating prisons |
| By sun-sentinel.com - Kathleen Haughney |
| Published: 02/15/2012 |
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TALLAHASSEE — — After three hours of often-emotional debate Tuesday, the Florida Senate slapped down a controversial plan to put a private company in charge of 14,500 prisoners in South Florida, killing a proposal that potentially meant millions of dollars for the Boca Raton-based Geo Group. The plan, a top priority of Senate President Mike Haridopolos and Senate budget chief J.D. Alexander, would have privatized 28 prisons and work camps in South Florida. But though it had the clout of the legislative leaders behind it, it divided the Senate and a final vote was delayed for more than a week while both sides wrangled votes. The proposal split the Senate, which voted 19-21 on the measure, SB 2038. The votes were in flux right up to the end. What had been a 20-20 split shifted when Sen. Gary Siplin, D-Orlando, who had sided with the Republican leadership on earlier votes, ultimately voted "no." The opponents were an odd coalition of all 12 of the chamber's Democrats and nine Republicans, some of whom are typically backers of Haridopolos. But many disliked the concept of privatization, and some simply opposed a plan that would lay off nearly 4,000 correctional workers with no guarantee that a private company would rehire them. "These are real people who work hard every day in a thankless, dangerous job who work to provide for their families," said Senate Democratic Leader Nan Rich, D-Weston. The issue was controversial from the start, pitting well-funded private prison companies like Geo and Corrections Corporation of America against a coalition of unions, civil-liberties groups and the NAACP. Last spring, the Legislature approved a budget that included a plan to offer a $1.4 billion contract to a private company to run facilities in an 18-county South Florida region. But the Police Benevolent Association — which at the time represented the correctional workers who would be affected — sued the Legislature, arguing that the state constitution required that it be passed in a stand-alone bill. A Leon County circuit judge agreed. The decision set off a new round of lobbying on the issue. Alexander, R-Lake Wales; Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island; and Rules Chairman John Thrasher, R-St. Augustine, promoted privatization as a major cost-saver for the state. The bill mandated first-year savings of $16.5 million, or 7 percent, less than what the state is paying to run the facilities this year. Alexander argued that those savings could be put into other budget areas like education or health care, at a time when the state faces a $1.2 billion revenue shortfall. Sen. Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, who will succeed Haridopolos as president, took up the budget argument just prior to the vote. ""I'm agnostic about public or private management," Gaetz said. "At a time when we are stacking pennies to take care of the critical needs of Florida, is there not some way we can find to do our jobs better?" But whether the state could really achieve those savings was constantly disputed. Sens. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey; Jack Latvala, R-Clearwater; and Paula Dockery, R-Lakeland, lobbied colleagues for weeks, arguing that the state would have to pay out more than $16.5 million in benefits to the correctional employees who would be laid Two weeks ago, Haridopolos stripped Fasano of a budget committee chairmanship because of his opposition to the bill. Read More. |
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