The 2011 Legislature

Tallahassee 2011 was a one-sided battle between powerful corporate interests and public interest groups like FCAN, FPIRG, environmentalists, women, labor, and more. None of us could match the campaign money and the army of lobbyists representing big agriculture, theme parks, insurance companies, utilities, and all the rest. 

Represented by the Chamber of Commerce, Associated Industries, and various trade groups, the corporados swarmed and took what they believe is rightfully theirs :  tax breaks, growth management laws, voting rights, state worker pensions, school money, abortion rights, and more.

The only real drama came when corporations fought corporations, or corporations fought Republican ideology. For instance, the Tea Parties insisted on immigration laws, including use of the Federal E-Verify system. This caused agriculture, in particular, but many other businesses as well, to dread doing without the big profits they make from cheap immigrant labor.

So Sen. JD Alexander, the snarky owner of Alico farms, and a wealthy descendant of Ben Hill Griffin, made a show of caring about his workers, and stopped the bill. If he really cared about his workers he would be fighting for the DREAM act so they could become citizens.

Insurance

The insurance companies, savoring the opportunities of a veto proof Republican majority in the House and the Senate, went after everything that they could think of.  FCAN and others bravely fought back, but I cannot tell you that we could match their lobbyists or pubic relations firms. However, we did exploit their one weakness:  Legislators were afraid to raise rates during a difficult economy.

That proved to be the proper lever, and bills to raise Citizens’ rates by 50%, eliminate sinkhole coverage, and cut mitigation discounts fell by the wayside. It was easier for legislators to risk the 1% chance of a huge storm than to face voters with insurance bills and corporate profit reports in hand.

Voting Rights

Fear did not stop the Legislature from curtailing early voting and voter registration. I’m sure they feel such technical changes are lost on most Floridians and many will never know they’ve been disenfranchised until it’s too late. We’re going to take them on though, with big voter registration drives and GOTV plans. FCAN and its allies have always relished the opportunity to hold legislators accountable at the ballot box. We will not be stopped.

While it seems that our battle against the powers that run Florida is unlikely, and we are not winning at the moment, things do change. Ideas can carry the day. People can understand what is being done in their name and take action. We will stretch our resources as far as needed. We believe that we must fight for our values, no matter the odds, regardless of the strength of our opponents. To do otherwise would be to abandon our democracy and give up control to corporations, who are not people.

If you want to help, find the donate button and pitch in whatever you can. We’ll put it to work.

Trial lawyers are consumer’s friends

In today’s Buzz, Mark Caputo writes, “Trial lawyers get a whacking in Florida Legislature.” FCAN works with the trial lawyers in the Florida Justice Association, because they are on our side against insurance companies and on other issues. The FJA holds a seat on FCAN’s Board of Directors.

According to Caputo, the current issues are giving “sovereign immunity” to doctors at state universities who work at public hospitals, like Tampa General, regulation of expert witnesses, and auto crash worthiness. Why do these issues matter to consumers?

If your doctor at Tampa General or Jackson Memorial is negligent and hurts you, now you can’t sue. You can try to ask the Legislature to pass a bill to give you some money, but good luck. Why should these docs be able to hurt consumers and walk away?

Then, who pays for your health care if you’re injured?  Often these lawsuits are for people who are left paralyzed or need some kind of treatment for life. Without a settlement to pay medical bills, they are going to rely on the taxpayers, instead of the person that did the damage. How is that fair? Do you have to let the same doctor at the same public hospital work on you again?

The expert witness legislation in H 479 will make it harder for you to get an expert to testify. Your witness may have to be certified by the Department of Health and could be harassed with complaints and subject to disciplinary action.  That’s not because there’s a problem, but to intimidate witnesses.

The auto crashworthiness legislation reduces the liability of auto manufacturers for building unsafe cars.  Currently, you separately sue the driver and the car manufacturer for their wrongdoing, if any. Now, they must be combined, so each will only be held partly responsible.

The big picture is that consumers need trial lawyers when we fight big corporations. Corporations have all the advantages, especially teams of highly paid lawyers who specialize in defeating consumers.  When you have to take them on, you are at a disadvantage. Because your lawyer can take your case contingent on receiving part of the settlement, you have a way to get to court.  Court cases can be very expensive, so the trial lawyer could invest hundreds of thousands of dollars in your case, and may get nothing back at all.  Juries today are notoriously stingy and suspicious.

Then there’s politics. Republicans are attacking lawyers because they often support Democrats and groups like FCAN. Lawyers and unions are two of the biggest supporters of Democrats, so if Republicans take them down, they take their opponent’s resources, a huge advantage.

However, the lawyers are a clever and resourceful opponent. I have seen insurance companies try to take them on in Tallahassee year after year and end up scratching their heads, wondering where all their money went.

So, trial lawyers:  keep fighting for us, and keep fighting!