Florida Government – Current Top Issues
To begin with, it should be noted, that the government of Florida is operated and established according to the Constitution of Florida, which is the main law document of the state. According to the Constitution the government is composed of three branches. First of all it is the executive branch consisting of the ruling Governor of Florida and the other appointed and elected constitutional officers. Second is the legislative branch, or the Florida Legislature. It consists of the House and Senate, as well as some other functions such as state auditors or the utility-regulating Public Service Commission. Third branch of the government of Florida is the judicial branch. It consists of the Supreme Court of Florida and other lower courts.
It should be highlighted, that the major issues of Florida state government issues lie in the legislative sphere, and are seriously discussed in the society. With a slowly recovering economy producing more revenue appears a serious question of passing a new state budget. It faces plenty of complicated challenges, which are ranging from increasing pressure to expand and fund Medicaid, the state-federal health care program for the disabled and the poor, to an ongoing debate over education standards, school grades and the whole testing process. According to the research, despite the anticipated increase in Florida state revenue, lawmakers and the governor ask state agencies to outline a potential five percent cut in their spending that will be used in evaluating the next budget. It can be named as one of the most actual budget issue in Florida.
Second serious issue follows from the first and implies the tax sphere. Lawmakers are likely to back tax cuts, but ...
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...ajority of the people in Florida and should be fully analyzed before making permanent changes that embrace the people of the State, after all, Rome wasn’t built in one day, but it nearly burn down in one.
Works Cited
Constitution of the State of Florida. Retrieved February 06, 2014 from http://www.leg.state.fl.us/Statutes/index.cfm?Mode=Constitution&Submenu=3&Tab=statutes#A06
Governor Rick Scott Fiscal Year 2014-2015 Policy and Budget Recommendations. Retrieved February 06, 2014 from http://www.flitsyourmoney.com/content/current/reports/Budget-Presentation-FY-15.pdf
Medicaid Recoveries. Retrieved February 01, 2014 from http://www.flsenate.gov/Committees/BillSummaries/2013/html/389
The Florida Senate 2013 Summary of Legislation Passed. Retrieved February 01, 2014 from http://www.flsenate.gov/PublishedContent/Session/2013/BillSummary/CombinedPDF/CF.pdf
"Welfare." Points Of View Charts & Graphs: Government Funding (2010): 1. Points of View Reference Center. Web. 5 Jan. 2014.
Governor Jeb Bush's One Florida Initiative has come into action and there have been many opposing opinions towards this plan since The Board of Regents approved it. Some might say the plan has split Florida in two. Many Florida citizens who support One Florida argue towards opposing positions to give the plan a chance. These supporters believe this state needs a change because of the numerous problems within our school system. Opposing sides argue that they might consider part of, which is the plan that grants schools money towards scholarships and mentoring but their position is that affirmative action is not a problem. Supporter of One Florida Initiative believe that the plan could not have come about any later than it did because we needed some action done fast. While opposers believe that this plan was voted on too fast and the governor didn't give citizens enough information or time to do anything about it.
The three different branches of government in Texas are the following: The executive branch, which is directed by the governor, executes the laws, the judicial branch, which is run through the supreme court and state courts, interpret the laws, and the legislative branch, which is bicameral, includes the 150 members of the house of representatives and the 31 members of the state senate that make the laws.
Nothing is better than Miami during the summer. As I walked down Lincoln Road in the middle of summer 2013 on a sunny yet breezy afternoon, I realized that this was the epitome of what it’s like to live in Miami. As the sun shun down on the palm trees illuminating their lively green color, I noticed a young couple having a discussion. “Yo creo que Miami es una de las ciudades mas bonitas” said the young woman. “Tienes razon” replied the man to the woman. Hearing their conversation surely enlightened me. In that precise moment I realized that I lived in one of the most diverse cities in the world. Miami is full of different cultures. People from all over the
The state government of Florida is made up of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches. The executive branch is headed by the governor and also includes other officials like the lieutenant governor, attorney general, etc. The legislative branch is bicameral with a house and senate similar to that of the United States legislative branch. The judicial branch mainly consists of the state supreme court and lower appeals courts in the state. Local governments exist within the state government and there are two types, general purpose and special purpose.
The coastline of the Florida state has reduced in size from its original because of the increasing sea levels. Basically Florida has been divided in to Sixty Seven counties. Alabama and Georgia shares borders with this state on the west and north respectively. The northern part of Florida comprises of hills and the southern parts are warmer and flatter.
Wow! Florida is such an interesting and fun state. Florida has so many fun and cool facts. In the essay there will be facts about the weather and climate in florida. There will be things you could find there. Things to see there. And last there will just be some fun facts.
Reported in 1995, public education expenditures per student are higher in the nation's smallest districts whereas students receive an average fully adjusted expenditure of $4,862 versus $4,216 in the largest district’s 10,000 students and above. (Johnson 4 ) Since 1995, enrollments in the urban public school system have doubled up to 62 percent in the 2010-2011 school year. Still, they received less money. Local governments rely on property taxes as a source of revenue to pay for schools. Yet people in the urban areas pay the higher tax than suburban and wealthy communities, states on the other hand, relies on The Average Daily Attendance (ADA), which calculates state aid to school districts, tends to discriminate against urban school districts with high absentee rates automatically, and excludes 15 percent of its student aid.
When states try to find ways to restrain from non-essential areas, unfunded federal mandates are at the top of the list. These mandates often force state and local governments to spend much more than necessary on everything from medical care to welfare to road building. A complex web of federal programs bind together the tree treasuries of the local, state, and federal government. As much as 25 percent of state budgets now comes from the federal government, and up to 60 percent of some state budgets is spent on joint federal-state programs.
In “Serving in Florida” by Barbara Ehrenreich, the author discusses the living condition in a lower class society. Ehrenreich described her experiences as a waiter and housekeepers. Throughout the article she vividly expressed her thought and her situation by using tone, voice, word choice and imagery to show the struggles that she went through while trying to live on minimum wage.
Population is the major concern for Florida for many reasons. Increased population means more children, which calls for more schools. Leon Bouvier says from the "population of two point one million students in 1990 will increase to three point five million by the year 2020, and will expect fifty thousand new kids a year for the rest of the decade." To keep up with this growth two thousand eight hundred teachers will need to bee hired each year, and a new school will have to be built every week. Population growth will also include the elderly, as well as middle age people. This means the government will have to hire over twenty thousand new physicians, and over one hundred thousand new nurses. By the end of this decade fifty more hospitals will have to be built to keep up with growth.
Overpopulation is also a large issue in Florida. The open space is vanishing. The highways are clogged with polluting traffic jams, and every day, 860 acres of its forests and farmland are lost to development. In the early 1940s, the Florida population was a mere two million. By 1990, the state’s population had reached just under 13 million. By 2000, the state was home to about 16 million permanent residents, a 23 percent increase in ten years. According to the Census Bureau, Florida adds about 750 people every day of the year. On top of that, since 1990, not a single county in Florida has had a large decrease in population. If this current population trend stays, then in 2030, Flori...
Archaeological research indicates that Florida had been inhabited for thousands of years before any European settlements. Of the many indigenous peoples, the largest known were the Ais, the Apalachee, the Calusa, the Timucua and the Tocobago tribes. Juan Ponce de León, a Spanish conquistador, named Florida in honor of his discovery of the land on April 2, 1513, during Pascua Florida, a Spanish term for the Easter season (Juan Ponce de León may not have been the first European to reach Florida; according to one report, at least one indigenous tribesman who he encountered in Florida in 1513 spoke Spanish.[6]). From that date forward, the land became known as "La Florida" , although from 1630 until the 19th century Tegesta (after the Tequesta tribe) was the name of choice for the Florida peninsula following publication of a map by the Dutch cartographer Hessel Gerritsz in Joannes de Laet's History of the New World.[7]
Lee, R.D., Johnson, R.W., & Joyce, P.G. (2008). Public budgeting systems (8th ed.). Massachusetts: Jones and Bartlett
All throughout the United States for the past several years, states are “hurting because of falling state revenues,” (Emeagwali), and schools are trying to cope with tremendous budget cuts that are resulting in less funds provided for educational services. These cuts are putting pressure on everyone invested in the education system, including students, teachers and any other administration within them (qtd. in Johnson 2), and the reduced budget is not solely affecting any particular level of schooling either. All levels of education, ranging from primary learning to advanced, have been affected (Emeagwali). Additionally, it is not just one or two states having to adjust their budgets; by 2002, “at least 40 states [had] been forced to consider budget cuts,” and these cuts have taken their toll on the amount of funding designated towards educational opportunities (Feldman). As pressures hit hard on state governments, a rise in educational budget cuts has resulted in deleterious effects on the level of education provided to students. As a result, researchers and infuriated teachers and parents have begun supporting education as it is ignored by government administration.