House Speaker says no to Gov’s request for millions of dollars.
The governor is asking state lawmakers to come up with 85 million dollars for Enterprise Florida. He wants to lure more companies to the Sunshine State. House Speaker Richard Corcoran (R-Land O’ Lakes) says that’s not going to happen because Enterprise Florida has been wasting tax dollars.
Enterprise, Florida
“Enterprise Florida, Inc. (EFI) is a public-private partnership between Florida’s business and government leaders and is the principal economic development organization for Florida. EFI’s mission is to expand and diversify the state’s economy through job creation. In pursuit of its mission, EFI works closely with a statewide network of economic development partners and is funded both by the State of Florida and by private-sector businesses.”
Visit Florida
Corcoran claims the same things are happening at Visit Florida, the tourism marketing agency. He says it’s like turning on the kitchen light at 3am and watching the cockroaches run.
Notably missing from the budget was any money to build a reservoir to help curb Lake Okeechobee discharges. This is a key part of State Senate President Joe Negron’s plan. However, Senator Negron said he wasn’t worried. He said that the burden of proof was on him to convince the Governor and the legislature of the need for the reservoir. While the budget didn’t include anything to buy land, it did have money set aside to finish existing projects, and address septic tanks leaking into the St Lucie River.
