During budget negotiations Sunday night, GOP leadership tried to unsuccessfully sneak prison privatization into the state’s budget, The Palm Beach Post reports.
Dozens of current and former corrections workers from all over the state showed up at a state Senate rules committee meeting yesterday to voice their opposition to two bills that would allow the state to privatize prisons. Despite the emotional testimony warning of the calamitous effects of prison privatization, the bill eventually moved forward to its final committee stop.
In a state Senate rules committee hearing today, groups showed up to voice their opposition to two bills that would make it easier for the state to privatize prisons — and other government agency functions.
Circuit Judge Jackie Fulford ruled today that the process by which the Florida Legislature pushed through a plan to privatize prisons in 18 counties was unconstitutional, writing that the Department of Corrections “proceeded without statutory authority and contrary to statutory authority” by implementing the plan.
Last month, the Florida Police Benevolent Association, a union that represents prison guards and other corrections officers, filed a lawsuit calling for a judge to strike down budget language that would privatize prisons in 18 South Florida counties. Check out the union’s complaint, after the jump.
The Florida Education Association filed a lawsuit this morning challenging mandatory contributions to state employee pensions, in what is likely “the first of several” legal challenges the union will bring against laws passed this year.
On the day Rick Scott became Florida’s chief executive, the Independent’s Travis Pillow laid out what to expect from the Sunshine State’s new governor.
In its recommendations for saving money on the state’s prison system, Gov.-elect Rick Scott’s transition team seizes on a national trend taking hold among conservatives: maintaining their image as being “tough on crime,” while also getting tough on prison spending.
When Gov.-elect Rick Scott said during his run for governor that he would save $1 billion in prison spending, everyone seemed to believe that he wanted to save that much every year. His transition team has recently set the record straight, saying it expects to achieve $1 billion in savings over seven years. So why didn’t the Scott team push back against attacks on its proposal?
Gov.-elect Rick Scott has continued to draw scrutiny for his supposed goal of shaving $1 billion a year from the state’s annual prison budget. The numbers just don’t seem to add up. How could the incoming governor possibly find that much waste in an overall budget of $2.4 billion — “a whopping 42 percent reduction” — without wreaking havoc on the state’s criminal justice system?
According to Brian Burgess, the communications director for Scott’s transition team, those reports are based on “fantastic claims.”
rss