Florida is facing real problems getting their share of the stimulus money and the money that has been allocated for children's health care...SCHIP. They know the problems are coming because they don't have the proper matching dollars. But they refuse to do anything but cut the budget.
Now the shortfall in funding for the Hurricane Catastrophic Fund is added to the mix.
State to get less stimulus than hoped, Crist saysCrist's office earlier this week estimated Florida would get at least $10.4 billion for education, health care, transportation and other state and local government projects and services. That figure probably will be reduced because the $790 billion total in the compromise is less than in measures initially passed by the House or Senate.
"I'm delighted," said Crist, who appeared with President Barack Obama here Tuesday to campaign for the stimulus. "What we were looking at just a few months ago was no stimulus at all."
They have not met requirements in these areas and may not get the money.
Florida officials want to use some of the federal money to help fill holes punched in the state budget by a sagging economy, but legislative leaders say they still expect more spending cuts no matter how many stimulus dollars the state gets.
Details of Wednesday's deal remained unclear Thursday, including whether Florida might lose education stimulus funds under a provision that requires states to spend at least as much of their own money on public schools this year as they did in 2006. State officials hope U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan will be able to waive that requirement on a case-by-case basis.
The legislators won't take responsibility, will continue cutting no matter what, and rely on others like Duncan to cave in to them.
The Republicans control the legislature and the Governor goes along nearly always. They are not going to do anything about fixing the tax structure here, they will do nothing about raising those matching dollars.
As a result, Floridians in every area will suffer for their ideology of cutting taxes and then cutting them again and again.
Federal Child Health Care Plan May Not Help FloridaPresident Barack Obama has signed a plan expanding health care coverage for children, but there’s a question whether the billions of dollars in extra cash for health insurance will help any of Florida’s uninsured kids.
Florida is home to more than 700,000 uninsured children and it’s feared that number will continue to climb this year because of the recession.
The new plan includes an extra $33 billion for children’s insurance but those are matching dollars, which means Florida must put up $1 to get about $2 back.
It’s a good deal, but the state doesn’t have extra money to put up right now. Florida needs about $40 million to receive the maximum payment from Washington.
They have known this problem was coming, and they have done nothing to fix it.
Florida may not get much help from SCHIP unless they find matching dollars.Congress passed a major funding boost for children's health insurance today, and President Barack Obama promptly signed it into law, but it won't help Florida much unless the state finds tens of millions of matching dollars in its depleted coffers.
....""We'll have a problem," said state Sen. Nan Rich, D-Weston, vice chair of an appropriations panel on health care. "Where are we going to get the money? It won't matter that they fixed this if we don't have the money to draw it down from Washington."
It is not just a problem with children's insurance. They have cut so much funding to schools that they may not get matching funds from the education portion of the stimulus package. They have known this, and they do nothing.
Florida may not get desired stimulus funds because they cut funding to schools.Florida leaders counting on more than $3.5 billion from a massive federal stimulus package to shore up the state's education budget learned Thursday there could be a catch. The state may not qualify for the money because the Legislature has cut its schools budget too much.
The U.S. House of Representatives passed an $819 billion economic-recovery plan Wednesday. Under that bill, money in a special "state stabilization fund" would go only to states that could fund schools for the next two years at the levels they had in the 2005-06 school year.
But the state is below that threshold. In fact, school funding coming directly from the state is now lower than it was in the 2004-05 school year. With Florida's budget shortfall for next year ballooning toward $4 billion, it's not clear it could meet that requirement.
But there is another area that will put many people in danger....there is insufficient funding for the Florida Hurricane Catastrophic fund.
Florida's Hurricane Catastrophe Fund is in JeopardyMonths before hurricane season, Florida faces an unprecedented threat to its fragile home insurance market, again risking price spikes and policy shortages.
The threat comes from the state's primary tool to prevent such mishap: the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund.
In an effort to stop rate increases, Gov. Charlie Crist and lawmakers two years ago doubled the size of the fund to sell $29 billion in storm protection to Florida insurers, at prices far below the private market.
Insurers, in turn, were to pass the savings on to homeowners. But since last fall, Cat Fund advisers have warned that Florida cannot borrow enough money to make good on its promise to pay hurricane claims. The shortfall is an estimated $18 billion.
I don't get the feeling that our Florida Republicans are taking their responsibilities seriously enough. I don't hear that much from our state Democrats either.
Charlie Crist really made me angry with his arrogant flippant remarks to State Farm when they threatened to quit writing homeowners' policies here.
Instead of saying he would talk to them, work with them...he said we did not need them. He said it would be better if they left. I am angry with State Farm, but I am also angry with Crist's attitude toward them. As owners of an older home, we may be left high and dry as some companies won't insure older homes. We have been with State Farm for about 40 years.
We deserve better from our insurance and our state.
Our schools and our children in Florida deserve better than the irresponsible attitudes of our legislators.
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