Dollars And Cents In State Business

Miami FL

05 May, 2021

12:40 PM

Description

A Miami Times Staff Report May 4, 2021 Florida lawmakers passed a $101.5 billion state budget Friday and ended a 60-day legislative session that gave Gov. Ron DeSantis many of his top priorities. As the pandemic severely damaged the economy last year, lawmakers feared they could face a multibillion-dollar budget shortfall. But in the end, they passed a record budget, boosted by billions of dollars in federal stimulus money and rebounding state tax revenues. Along with providing $1,000 bonuses for police officers, firefighters and first responders, examples of budget spending include a $50 million increase to raise teacher salaries; about $96 million to provide home and community-based services to more people with developmental and intellectual disabilities; and $100 million to clean up an old phosphate plant in Manatee County that's recently drawn concerns about a potential environmental catastrophe. The budget also includes money for such issues as Everglades restoration, addressing effects of sea-level rise and raising the minimum wage of state workers to $13 an hour. After years of legal wrangling and failed attempts to seal a deal, DeSantis and the Seminole Tribe of Florida nailed down a gambling agreement during session to bring sports betting to the state and rake at least $2.5 billion into state coffers within five years. But the complicated 30-year pact faces significant hurdles before Florida residents and visitors could legally whip out their phones and place bets on their favorite sports teams. State lawmakers would have to sign off on the agreement, which is known as a "compact." The U.S. Department of the Interior also has to authorize the deal. The federal agency has 45 days to authorize a tribal compact once it has been ratified. If the Department of the Interior doesn't act within that period of time, the compact automatically goes into effect. Florida's compact wouldn't be ratified until the Legislature signs off on the deal. Experts are divided about whether the Florida Constitution requires statewide voter approval to legalize sports betting. Floridians in 2018 approved a constitutional amendment, known as Amendment 3, requiring statewide voter authorization of expansions of gambling. Under the agreement, sports betting would be "geo-fenced" within the state's borders. The tribe would be required to contract with three parimutuel operators within three months of sports betting operations going live or it would face financial penalties. The parimutuels wouldn't be limited to offering sports wagering at their brick-and-mortar facilities, but would be allowed to issue what are known as "skins," or apps, to market sports betting operated on Seminole properties. Florida lawmakers are set to address the compact and associated gambling bills when they come back to the Capitol for a special session in less than two weeks on May 17. The Miami Times is the largest Black-owned newspaper in the south serving Miami's Black community since 1923. The award-winning weekly is frequently recognized as the best Black newspaper in the country by the National Newspaper Publishers Association.