Reception for Florida Senator Mike Haridopolos

[VILLANUEVA,JOSHUA A]

Here is the semester's first special opprtunity as a Graham affiliate.
It is a private post-presentation student reception and you are
invited. Please see the information below for details on how to sign.
Remember that one of the GOT obligations is to attend one of the
Graham events every month (plus it makes you more knowledgeable and
puts you in contact with important leaders of thought and action!).

All the best,
Josh




Please join us for a small reception on Thursday, February 10th, 2011,
at 7:30pm in the O'Neill Reading Room (Rm. 201), Pugh Hall, for
Senator Mike Haridopolos after his presentation on the upcoming
Florida
legislative session. PLEASE RSVP BY NOON ON WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 9TH,
2011, by emailing bsb...@ufl.edu if you would like to attend the
RECEPTION for the senator.

The senator's presentation, which begins at 6 p.m. in the Pugh Hall
Ocora, is free and open to the public, and will be a wide-ranging
discussion of the many issues facing the Sunshine State in a
legislative
session beginning in March.

Among the most pressing problems: an estimated $3.6 billion budget
shortfall, an unemployment trust fund that’s in the red, and the
highest jobless rate in three decades. While the legislature’s own
economists predict a nearly 7 percent growth in revenues next year
after four straight years of negative growth, the new money isn’t
nearly enough to cover expected increases in Medicaid and other
crucial services like education, health care, public safety and
transportation. Sen. Haridopolos will also respond to citizens'
solutions for the budget deficit submitted through the exercise<http://
bobgrahamcenter.ufl.edu/budgetapp> created by the Graham Center during
the presentation, and the event will include a drawing for a FREE
iPad 3G from among those who participated in the exercise.
Fla. Senate president to offer insider look at new legislative session

To participate in the budget exercise you can go to the web site
listed above.


GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Florida Senate President Mike Haridopolos will
provide a preview of the upcoming 2011 Florida legislative session on
Feb. 10 at the University of Florida’s Bob Graham Center for Public
Service.

Haridopolos, who is also a lecturer at UF, has been dubbed a
“conservative’s conservative” by political pundits. He recently
announced that he likely will seek the Republican nomination to run
against incumbent Democrat Bill Nelson for the U.S. Senate seat in
2012. He will speak in Pugh Hall’s Ocora at 6 p.m. The event is free
and open to the public.

Among the most pressing problems facing the legislators when the
session begins in March are an estimated $3.6-billion budget
shortfall, an unemployment trust fund that’s in the red and the
highest jobless rate in three decades.

While the Legislature’s own economists predict about 7 percent growth
in revenues next year after four straight years of negative growth,
the new money isn’t nearly enough to cover expected increases in
Medicaid and other crucial services such as education, health care,
public safety and transportation, according to a Jan. 14 report from
the Florida Legislative Office of Economic and Demographic Research.

As part of the Haridopolos event, visitors to the Bob Graham Center
website can weigh in on the decisions facing the legislators. With the
new online, interactive budget application, www.bobgrahamcenter.ufl.edu/budgetapp,
users will be challenged to balance the state budget while maintaining
critical services for state residents.

Glenn Robertson, former state budget director under Gov. Bob Martinez
and Gov. Bob Graham, said the center’s budget app provides a unique
opportunity: “The application allows us to talk about what’s really
involved in our state government and what the political decision-
making pressures are … it addresses the balancing act, one where
political rhetoric meets budget reality.”

Those who submit proposed budget cuts using the center’s budget app
will automatically be entered into a random drawing for an iPad® 3G.
The winner will be announced by Haridopolos Thursday night.

In addition to the budget shortfall, other key issues facing the
legislators are:

* Whether to open the state’s coastline to oil and gas exploration
after a two-decade ban. Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, is the chief
proponent of oil drilling in the Senate.
* Modifying class-size rules that cap classes at 18 students for
kindergarten through third grade, 22 in grades four through eight and
25 in high school. The law requires schools to move to actual
classroom counts this fall, a move that worries many Florida school
boards and superintendents.
* Attempting to pass a renewable energy package that could require
utilities to produce 20 percent of their energy through renewable and
clean energy sources by 2020. When Senate leaders refused to take up a
House oil drilling bill last year, House leaders took a pass on the
Senate’s renewable energy policy.
* Creating a state water distribution system that could pipe water
from water-rich regions of North Florida to fast-growing areas farther
south with the establishment of a central regulatory commission that
oversees Florida’s water resources and supply development.

This event will also be streamed live on Feb. 10 and archived from the
Bob Graham Center website www.bobgrahamcenter.ufl.edu.

The Bob Graham Center for Public Service is a community of students,
scholars and politically engaged citizens, devoted to enhanced
citizenship; the training of current and future public and civic
leaders who can identify problems and spearhead change; and the
development of policy on issues of importance to Florida, the United
States and the global community.
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