Jeb Bush dubs himself Veto Corleone as he hacks away at Florida's budget

[seafan]

Gov. Bush Uses Veto, Marks End Of No-Fault Auto Insurance

The Governor has vetoed a bill extending the life of the state's no-fault auto insurance beyond a 2007 deadline because it lacks sufficient protections against fraud.

Under the bill passed by lawmakers earlier this year, Florida's no-fault system would have continued at least until the first of 2009.

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That's exactly what insurance companies had been pushing for. They argued that the system is so rife with fraud it should be abolished.

The bill included some anti-fraud provisions but doesn't go far enough for insurance companies such as limits on legal and medical fees.

Ticket Scalping To Become Legal In Florida

Florida had a 60-year-old law on the books that prohibited people from selling tickets for more than one dollar above the face value.

Under the new measure, however, that law will be eliminated. In its place will be an open market system.

Ticket owners and Internet brokers will be able to sell tickets at whatever price the buyer agrees to pay. In other words, the sky’s the limit.

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Not surprisingly, the bill was pushed by Ticketmaster, StubHub and eBay, which will all benefit economically, as Florida joins 32 other states that have no scalping laws.

Governor Bush Vetos Millions In (sic) Spending Plan

But some of the vetoes were of a larger, more program-oriented nature, such as his rejection of nearly $100 million in Medicaid money for nursing homes.

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(Bill Phelan, director of the Florida Health Care Association, which represents about 500 nursing homes) said that Bush's veto was "cutting our lifeblood," and said that the veto would "threaten the financial stability of all nursing homes."

Phelan said that nursing homes would likely be forced to limit how many Medicaid patients they take in, "which will profoundly affect access to nursing home care by middle class families everywhere in the state."

Bush veto hits Volusia County plan for FSU med-school branch

DAYTONA BEACH -- A planned Volusia County branch of the Florida State University College of Medicine lost $2.1 million in state funding Thursday when Gov. Jeb Bush vetoed dozens of local projects from the state's $73.9 billion budget.

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Other Volusia projects that got the ax Thursday include $2.35 million for water and sewer projects in Daytona Beach. Bethune-Cookman College lost two funding requests, $800,000 for the nursing school and another $100,000 for the Mary McLeod Bethune Performing Arts Center. A $200,000 grant for Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University's engineering/physics department was cut, as was an $80,000 grant for the Children's Advocacy Center of Volusia and Flagler counties.

Bush vetoes a record $448M : Biggest losers: Miami's Jackson Memorial Hospital and nursing homes

Gov. Jeb Bush, who has compared cutting the state budget to a mafia-style hit, went out with a vengeance Thursday when he signed his last state spending plan as governor and vetoed an unprecedented $448.7 million of it.
The big losers in the $71 billion budget: Miami's Jackson Memorial Hospital, which saw $20 million cut; and nursing homes, which had sought nearly $90 million to continue helping Medicaid's poor elderly.

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Bush's previous veto record was $350 million, set in 2004. Shortly after taking office in 1999, Bush got lawmakers' attention when he began ''whacking'' away at the budget, dubbing himself ''Veto Corleone,'' a pun on the main character of The Godfather.

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In addition to Medicaid, Bush said, the state needs to tuck money away to help pay for Florida's class-size reduction law, which he has campaigned to water down since voters approved it in 2002.

One Republican who broke with Bush was Sen. Alex Villalobos, a Miami Republican. After Villalobos blocked the governor's plans last year, Bush vetoed a spinal cord research project at the University of Miami backed by Villalobos. Villalobos said it was ''inexplicable'' because Bush initially had supported the measure as well.
This year, the spinal cord project made it, but new money Villalobos backed for Jackson Memorial Hospital lost out. Bush cut a $20 million line-item, which the hospital says it needs to help take care of the indigent. Jackson is the largest provider of charity care in Florida and is one of the largest in the nation.

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''I know that you're searching: Where's the Villalobos projects? This is not about politics,'' Bush said, chiding reporters before he was asked about it. ''This isn't about retribution at all. This is not my money. If it was my money, then it would be appropriate for retribution, perhaps.'' Bush, however, admitted he rewarded some supporters in the budget, and that his vetoes could have been higher still.

No, Jeb. You are ALL about retribution.

[Greeby]

1. You'd think a member of the BFEE

Would be sharp enough to avoid Godfather references :eyes:

[Sadie5]

2. Those in Florida will

be very happy to get Jeb out of there along with Harris.

[seafan]

3. Yes, Demo5, we are counting the days until we can end this abuse.

To get a Democratic governor back into the Governor's mansion can't be anything other than good for this state and her people.