Bunkley: Gambling expansion failure highlights session

TALLAHASSEE (FBW)—With narrow defeats for pro-life and evolution academic freedom legislation during the 60-day Florida legislative session, Florida Baptist Convention legislative consultant Bill Bunkley highlighted the positive by pointing to the failure of gambling expansion bills as a “huge win for families.”

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Having adjourned May 2 after a difficult session requiring major cuts in the annual budget, the House, led by Speaker Marco Rubio (R-West Miami), resisted gambling expansion which proved to be the “line of defense” against a “host of Senate proposals to significantly expand gambling once again,” Bunkley noted.

Bunkley reflected on the recently concluded legislative session in comments to Florida Baptist Witness.

Bunkley noted his gambling predictions proved true in one respect — the House would be the only hope of stopping the measures, but incorrect in another respect — the budget crisis “perfect storm” in which legislators would succumb to gambling for new revenue to underwrite the budget “never materialized.”

“With a 4 billion reduction in the Florida budget since last year, and projected earnings of one billion from the Senate’s expanded gambling package to offset those losses, I was certain we were going to take some further hits. But the House stood firm and said, ‘No,’” Bunkley said.

“Our hard work to keep Speaker Rubio’s commitment before the House leadership and press paid off,” he added.

Rubio first made his renewed commitment to oppose further gambling expansion last July in response to a Florida Baptist Witness editorial criticizing him, Senate President Ken Pruitt (R-Port St. Lucie) and Gov. Charlie Crist for their respective roles in allowing four gambling bills to become law last year.

In a July 26 op-ed in the Witness, Rubio wrote, “I will be more steadfast and diligent in my final term as Speaker to oppose gambling legislation. But Floridians who oppose gambling must also send a message that there is an electoral price to be paid for supporting gambling.”

Bunkley expressed great disappointment, however, in the failure to pass legislation requiring women seeking an abortion to have an ultrasound during the first trimester (see story on this page) and failure of the chambers to find an agreement on evolution academic freedom legislation.

The House and Senate passed significantly different bills attempting to address evolution in response to new statewide science standards adopted by the Florida Board of Education in February asserting that evolution is the “the fundamental concept underlying all biology ... supported by multiple forms of scientific evidence.”

The new science standards go in effect this fall and will remain in place for ten years replacing current standards that did not mention evolution, earning scorn from science education experts.

The House approved its bill April 28 by a vote of 71-43 requiring teachers to engage in a “scientific critical analysis” when teaching evolution. The 13-word bill, HB 1483, sponsored by Rep. Alan Hays (R-Umatilla), would have amended a current statute listing “approved methods of instruction” for public school teachers by adding, “A thorough presentation and scientific critical analysis of the scientific theory of evolution.”

The House action substituted its language for the Senate measure, SB 2692, the “Evolution Academic Freedom Act,” sponsored by Sen. Ronda Storms (R-Brandon). Approved by the Senate April 23 by a vote of 21-17, the bill provided an express statutory right protection for teachers to present scientific information that is relevant to the full range of views on biological and chemical evolution.

Storms is a member of First Baptist Church in Brandon while Hays is a member of First Baptist Church in Umatilla.

On May 1, the Senate sent the House version back to that chamber, refusing to agree to its language. The House failed to respond and legislation died when the legislative session ended the next day.

Bunkley told the Witness, “In the end, it became evident to me that the House leadership team never really bought into the Senate’s” bill, which was the same language as the original House version.

“I believe to let the bill die with the Senate’s language on the final day was the wrong decision. It would have been a significant first step in dealing with this issue. We could have come back next year with further adjustments incorporating the House’s well thought-out approach,” he said.

That makes two years in a row in which Storms “shepherded” difficult pro-family legislation “through her moderate Senate chamber only to see her efforts dashed in the House,” Bunkley noted.

“It is not easy to get these initiatives through the process. And make no mistake; she has taken some hurtful, serious hits from the media and columnists for her leadership on this one. I hope she doesn’t get discouraged,” he said.

Kim Kendall, the stay-at-home mom and former air traffic controller who led the opposition to the new science standards since last October, was disappointed by the outcome. Kendall is a member of First Baptist Church in Jacksonville.

Expressing appreciation to Hays for his “hard work” on the bill, Kendall said, “The one thing that disappoints me greatly is the opportunity for something to get on the books this year in time for the new standards. My only wish would be that Speaker Marco Rubio had put the Senate wording up for a vote last week or this week. That was our last hurdle, and then it would have been sitting on the governor’s desk right now.”

In other matters of interest to Florida Baptists:

• Funding for pregnancy care centers: The House won in its insistence that $2 million for pregnancy care centers be retained in the budget in spite of the Senate’s desire to cut the funding to balance the budget. Bunkley told the Witness this was an “important victory” for pro-life groups.

• Specialty license plates: Legislation permitting car owners to select “In God We Trust” specialty license plates and to choose “In God We Trust” in place of “Sunshine State” or the car owner’s county name on regular tags were passed and await the governor’s signature. Meanwhile, an “I Believe” specialty license plate featuring a stained glass window and cross failed.

• Arborist licensing: A bill requiring state licensing for persons desiring to be known as licensed arborists was successfully amended to respond to concerns from Florida Baptist Convention and other disaster relief organizations, but the legislation failed.

• State song: Legislation to change the official state song, “Suwanee River” (“Old Folks Home”), regarded by many African Americans as racially insensitive, to “Florida” (“Where the Sawgrass Meets the Sky”), which won a statewide contest to replace “Suwanee River,” was rejected. In its place a compromise measure retaining “Suwanee River” with updated lyrics and “Florida” as a new “state anthem” was approved and sent to the governor. (For more about the controversy about the state song, see March 15, 2007, Witness editorial, “Florida needs to sing a new song.”)

• Prison chaplains cut: Bunkley expressed concern about the reduction from 115 to 36 of state prison chaplains cut from the budget, and expressed hope that the Division of Corrections may be able to restore some of the funding.