- [Announcer] This is a production of WEDU PBS, Tampa, St. Petersburg, Sarasota.

- [Reporter] Coming up next, the governor signs the budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1st.

He vetoes a billion dollars in projects.

Who were the winners and losers?

The St. Pete City Council takes its first vote on the Rays baseball stadium.

A Hillsborough County Commissioner surprises many by resigning from office and a federal judge strikes down Tallahassee's regulations on gender care, all coming up right now on "Florida This Week."

(upbeat music) - Welcome back.

Joining us on the panel this week, Alex Sink is the former Florida CFO, a former candidate for governor, and a Democrat.

Deborah Tamargo is the past president of the Florida Federation of Republican Women.

Bob Buckhorn is the former mayor of Tampa and executive vice president at Schumaker Advisors, and a Democrat.

And Travis Horn is the president and CEO of Bullhorn Communications, and a Republican.

So nice to have all of you here.

Great to see you.

- Thank you.

- Well governor DeSantis signed a new state budget into law this week.

It totals nearly $117 billion in spending and amounts to about the same as last year.

Among the items in the budget, $1.25 billion to increase starting teacher pay to roughly $48,000 a year.

A billion dollars for Everglades restoration.

370 million to speed up the construction of road projects around the state.

A 3% pay raise for state workers, reduction in tolls for commuters on the state's toll roads, and $116 million for an emergency management warehouse in Auburndale along Interstate four.

It's a lucrative no bid project that will go to an out-of-state company that has given heavily to Republican politicians in Florida.

Here's what the governor had to say about the budget.

- We are providing historic support for education, historic support for conservation and environment, and protecting natural resources, historic support for transportation and infrastructure, and major tax relief.

- The governor did veto almost a billion dollars worth of projects, passed by the legislature, which drew criticism from Democrats.

Party chair, Nikki Freed said, "The budget does not come close to meeting the needs of Floridians."

She said in a statement, "This year's veto list includes millions of dollars in canceled stormwater projects, school safety improvements, and local infrastructure fixes, things that actually improve our day-to-day lives."

The teacher's union was also not happy.

There is 200 million in the new budget for salary increases for teachers, but the head of the Florida Teachers Union says, "This, $200 million equates to a salary increase in every classroom teacher's paycheck of about $125 a month, and nowhere near the $15,000 annual increase needed to match the national average for teacher salaries.

The only thing the budget guarantees is that Florida's teachers will remain near the bottom in average pay."

So Alex, is the governor putting money where the state needs it the most?

- Yes and no.

I think that one of the winners is the environment for sure.

The fact that $300 million plus has finally been set aside, as the voters intended, for our environmental purposes and preservation is really something that's very positive.

However, what are the big issues in the minds of Floridians, Rob?

Property insurance, didn't see anything in your list about helping give relief to Floridians on high property insurance rates.

We have the highest car insurance rates in the country.

Oh my gosh, I just got my bill for six months for my car insurance.

Utility rates are increasing, and this week, we're looking at flooding.

That's the big story of the week is the flooding.

And we can't even talk about the impacts of sea level rise or climate change, and we're drowning.

- Deborah, what'd you think of the governor's budget?

- Well, I like so many aspects of the governor's budget, literacy, safety, school safety.

There was actually funding for insurance, the reduction homeowners insurance, and also to mitigate the issue with condominiums not having the reserves.

So there was money there.

I always like when you set aside money to pay down your debt because interest on debt, it doesn't do any good.

That is money that you can put into the needs.

I think so many of the city of Tampa was very happy.

University of South Florida was happy.

The sheriff's was very happy.

I look at the budget as a Christmas list that lobbyists, the cities, counties, they go in for 50 things, hoping they'll get five.

And it's just like your child.

They're going to give you 25 things, and then Christmas morning, man, they open it, and they couldn't be happier.

That's where we are, we can't fund everything, but the priorities were funded.

- Well, there were some things in there.

The governor cut more than 200 million in water treatment projects.

He cut 26 million in arts projects, and he cut millions to fight the opioid crisis around the state.

That's where some of the critics came in and said, "Well, this is not helpful."

- Yeah, Rob, I think there are some good points in this budget and some things that he did well and that I would support.

I think paying down debt is an important component of that, but I do think if we're gonna be a world class economy, we need to start investing in some of the things for the future, things that don't necessarily pay off right now, but down the road, and will reap dividends, whether it's education, whether it's infrastructure, whether it's stormwater, the nitty gritty nuts and bolts kinds of things that government needs to do and do well, I think were misplaced in this particular budget.

I think cities, in the case of Tampa, there were a couple things that we did well, and I know Travis may wanna talk about some of the public safety things in Ybor City that the governor supported.

But in good times like this when there are surpluses, now is when you want to invest in the future and do the things that aren't sexy, but that make a difference in the lives of Floridians.

- Travis, this was a good year for many states, about 33 states had surpluses in their budget, Florida being one of them.

The governor did set aside more money in the rainy day fund.

What did you think of the budget?

- He did, and he also addressed though, here in Tampa, of course, he made his budget announcement here, just a couple days ago.

He addressed Nikki's concerns about the stormwater.

He said we have funds, we have grants that are available to address some of these stormwater needs.

And of course, they're very important, like you said, education infrastructure.

I mean, the priorities are pretty well laid out.

And I felt great about the budget.

- Alex, there is money devoted to new teachers, raising their salaries, and there is money devoted to existing teachers to raise their salaries.

The teacher's union, though, says it's not enough because we're still gonna be one of the last in the nation when it comes to average teacher salaries in the state of Florida.

- Well, I think that's an excellent point.

Right now we're, I believe, 49th in teacher funding, of all the states, believe it or not, and this is gonna move us up maybe a couple of notches, but as we know, we're gonna have an important ballot issue here in Hillsborough County to support teachers' salaries to bring our Hillsborough County teachers' salaries up to at least being equal to Manatee or Sarasota or Pinellas County this fall.

So it'll be interesting to see how the voters decide to support that issue.

- And there's actually two issues on the ballot, the renewal of the CIT tax in Hillsborough County and this improvement in education.

- And they're two different things, and that could be a whole program.

I hope you'll do it in the future when we get closer to voting time.

- Okay.

Well, on Thursday, the St. Petersburg City Council voted for the first time on parts of the plan to build the new Rays baseball stadium and redevelop the surrounding gas plant area.

Five city council members voted in favor, three opposed.

In addition to the three city council members, a number of community members spoke against the project.

- This is our money, this is public wealth, and we're giving it to a private corporation.

- This feels like a train coming out of the station and I think all of us don't know how to stop it.

- We are making decisions based on drafts and not final documents.

- We're setting these public hearing dates and we could get there and the documents still aren't ready.

- Supporters say it's a deal that will benefit both the Rays and the city of St. Petersburg.

- The Rays are gonna be a great partner going forward.

- It's not perfect.

Continue to perfect it, work with it, but let's get this done.

- We're excited about what the opportunities are.

- A final series of votes is scheduled July 11th, but that could be delayed.

Bob, you've been in position, (laughs) you've dealt with the Rays too.

What do you think of the deal, the way you understand it in St. Pete?

- You know, Rob, I spent three years dealing with the Rays.

I liked them all individually as persons.

They were tough to deal with 'cause I could never get a commitment out of them.

Obviously the situation in St. Pete is entirely different and they have done all the things that they refuse to do here in Tampa in terms of bringing in a world class developer and developing the properties around it to help pay for it.

This is a complicated deal.

This is a very, very expensive deal.

I'm not sure, at the end of the day, that the taxpayers aren't gonna bear a significant burden over that 30 year life of this deal.

I don't see a lot of revenues being returned back to the city the way this particular deal is structured.

I think the redevelopment of that site and the 80 acres is the envy of every mayor in the country, in terms of the potential there.

I think done correctly, it could be a game changer, to use an overused word, for St. Petersburg, but I think the inability to capture any of that revenue and return some of it to the taxpayers is problematic in this deal.

And I think only time will tell.

I think it will pass.

I think it's a five to three vote right now.

I don't see anything changing there.

So I think we're gonna see that come out of the ground by '28.

But I think when history looks at this, I think they will say they should have struck a harder deal with the Rays on this one.

- And Travis, there is a lot of opposition in St. Pete, what's your take?

- Well, as former chairman of the Chamber of Ybor, I was on the Rays 100 when Bob was dealing with a lot of this and a little bit of exasperation, just like Groundhog Day, you know.

But I'm kind of glad that it's kind of pointed over to Pinellas County because given the economic environment right now with massive inflation, taxpayers are not gonna be in a real good mood, and I'm sure if someone were to hypothetically be back in the mayor's office, (laughs) they would be glad that they wouldn't have to deal with this sort of thing 'cause it's gonna be a tough one for them.

I would expect a lot of people there to not be happy in St. Pete, Pinellas County.

- Alex, some of the opponents say it's a taxpayer subsidy to wealthy team owners.

The benefits of the project will not be spread citywide.

There's no guarantee that all the affordable housing promise will be built.

City is selling the land too cheaply, some say.

They say the deal is being rushed through.

Supporters say, "Look, you're not gonna get another team if this team loses."

- Right.

(laughs) - And you've got a quality company that's co-sponsoring the deal, the Heinz Corporation.

- I think it's all about accountability.

It's the former CFO of the state.

I was always looking at these contracts and these deals and it's what is the deal, but then in the future, who's gonna hold the players accountable to achieve the amount of affordable housing they're promising and the other development aspects of it.

I think it's an exciting project for downtown St. Pete.

It is going to be transformative.

We need to keep the Rays.

Let's talk about the impact that the Rays have on the whole region.

It would be horrible for us to lose the Rays as their commitments to the community, the two principles that we hear from Matt Silverman and Brian Auld, they moved here in their late twenties.

They've raised their family here.

They live in this community.

They're invested in the community.

It's not like we're dealing with people from other places who are just trying to suck money out of our community.

So I think it's very, very exciting.

And to put on top of that, Mayor Welch, an African American mayor who grew up in that district, is going to hold them accountable to achieve the vision for what his community was promised before.

- And Deborah, we hear from the opponents who say the city should be a tougher negotiator, they should get more out of this deal than they're getting right now.

- Absolutely.

And I look at everything through my background, business, marketing, social sciences, mediation, and I think it's a bad deal.

You can do better in mediation.

I think they did not follow the demographics, the market.

When you don't follow the market, you can have a great corner, great location, but if the demographics aren't there, Pinellas is not an area that supports sports.

They support more of the arts and performing, and other things, certainly water sports, education.

And so I thought Tampa was a better placement because the demographics, the market, the opportunity was there.

So I think it's a bad deal for Pinellas, and when 30,000 people attend the congressional baseball game, but you can't get 15,000 in St. Petersburg- - We all thought Tampa better.

(laughs) - Bob, what do you think of that?

I mean would Tampa, in the end, have been a better place?

- Tampa would've been a better place, and I think the numbers prove Tampa was a better place, more centrally located, more ideally located in a very walkable, downtown urban environment.

But the reality of this is, with the exception of owners like a Jerry Jones, this is municipal extortion.

It always has been, it always will be.

The demand for these teams is so high that cities will do whatever it takes to keep them or to attract them.

So the deals are never gonna be to the taxpayer's benefit.

But you have to look at the long term positive impact of having a team on your region.

I think Alex is exactly right.

We don't wanna lose the raise.

We wanna support the raise.

We would've liked to have had a deal that would endure some benefits back to the taxpayers, either helping pay down the debt.

There will be some affordable housing involved in this deal.

A lot of it will be offsite, not on that particular location.

So you gotta weigh all of this stuff, and at the end of the day, I'd rather keep them than lose them, and hope and pray that the scale of that development on that 70 acres, over 30 years, will have a net positive impact for the city of Tampa.

But in the short term, the taxpayers are gonna be on the hook for a lot of money.

- Let me ask you all this, is one of the problems with the location of stadium, the fact that we do not have a good transportation system in the Tampa Bay, Sarasota area.

- (laughs) Whatever, there's trans- - Yeah, there's probably- - 20 issues that involve that, Bob.

- Transportation, uh huh.

- But that is part of it.

You gotta connect the dots.

- Well, in a surprise move, first term Hillsborough County Commissioner, Republican Michael Owen, resigned from his job on the Commission this week.

Instead, he will run for a seat in the legislature in District 70, which includes Sun City Center and Apollo Beach in Hillsborough County, and parts of Northern Manatee County, including Parish.

That seat is currently held by Mike Beltran, who is stepping down.

Now Owen's Commission seat is open.

He represents District four.

It includes most of Eastern and southern Hillsborough County.

Travis, were you surprised?

- (laughs) Yeah, Mike's a great friend of mine so, yeah, I texted him, wow, you know?

I'm gonna have a little talk with him, when I do see him, but he's proven himself to be a really hardworking, earnest public servant, and I've been impressed by his work ethic.

I mean, I knew him and I knew he'd be a hard worker, but he is really proven to be one of the hardest workers on the county commission.

I think he'll do great in the legislature.

As Alex said, you gotta take those opportunities when they present themselves.

And I think he's always wanted to serve in that legislative capacity and that probably suits his temperament and training, a little bit better maybe than the county commission.

- Alex, when you go to Tallahassee, you get in the house, you're under the control of the house speaker, you don't have much creativity.

As a Hillsborough County Commissioner, you have more power, don't you?

- Well it goes back to what does he want for himself and what he's interested in.

I've heard rumors, you can tell me that he's very ambitious for maybe even higher office.

Maybe he wants to run for a statewide office one day, or some other position like that.

And so to the extent that he can be in the legislature, and get some good committee assignments, and engage himself more statewide, and in more issues that are of statewide impact, then I can see being a state legislator can be a good jumping off point for him to build this statewide presence, as opposed to just staying on the Hillsborough County Commission.

- Deborah, what do you think happens that District four commission seat in Hillsborough County stays Republican, right?

- Definitely, and it will probably, hopefully go to Christine Miller, who has proven herself to be an exceptional CEO, Plant City Chamber of Commerce.

She has an incredible background in public service, but also in business, economics, and enterprise.

She's a phenomenal candidate.

I think it will go to her.

So that's a positive.

I think Mike Beltran, he's known to be the smartest guy in the legislature.

I think he has a great career.

He's in constitutional law, First Amendment, so perhaps a federal judgeship at some point in time.

So I think moving around the chairs was just, this was the opportune time to do it.

And one thing for Mike Owens you can say is he certainly wasn't looking at the salary 'cause he went from 100,000 to 29,000.

So kudos to Mike Owens.

- Well, and the question is, what happens in that commission one race where Christine Miller, the front runner for the Republicans, moved over to another race, and for me, I'm supporting Sean Shaw, running for that commission one seat.

So he's got a lot of work ahead of him, but it's unclear how that race shakes out, that's countywide.

- I gotta ask both of you, both the Democrats on the panel though, with the rise in registration of the Republican Party, we saw the Hillsborough County Commission switch from a Democrat majority to a Republican majority.

What's your take on the next round of elections?

How will that turn out?

- Couple things, I don't think '24 will be '22, in terms of that massive- - Because?

- Because I don't think Ron DeSantis' coattails will be nearly what they were two years ago.

A couple things, we all knew Michael Owen wanted to be in Tallahassee.

I found him to be a good county commissioner.

I mean, he represented a district that was rapidly growing and needed infrastructure badly, and he was willing to invest in it.

I think you're gonna see Christine move down there.

Do not be surprised if the governor doesn't appoint Christine to that vacancy to give her the ability to run as the incumbent.

I do think, for Sean Shaw, this was a blessing that no one anticipated because I think he is probably, right now, although it will be a difficult race, a very formidable Democrat in that seat.

I think the numbers at the county commission won't change that much because East Hillsborough is still fairly conservative, fairly safe Republican seats.

But I think for Sean, this was a very, very good week.

- Okay, well, this week a federal judge struck down a 2023 Florida law that blocked gender affirming care for transgender minors, and which severely restricted such treatment for adults.

He called the statute unconstitutional.

Senior Judge Robert Henckel said the state went too far when it barred transgender minors from being prescribed puberty blockers and hormonal treatments with their parents permission.

He also stopped the state from requiring that transgender adults only receive treatment from a doctor and not from a registered nurse or some other qualified medical practitioner.

And the judge found a ban on online treatment for transgender adults was also unconstitutional.

So, Deborah, the question is, how much government interference should there be in people's medical decisions?

- Well, I think adults, and in this case, with the adults, none.

If you wanna consent to have your body mutilated, do it.

With children, very different.

And the American College of Pediatricians is sounding the alarm.

You may have seen the press conference just this last week because test in Europe, statistical analysis, Europe, England, and so forth, has shown that they are better treated, children are better treated in therapy than they are by attempting to change their sex, which you cannot do, it's intuit.

So these children who are having their bodies mutilated, who are taking drugs, they have to continue for the rest of their lives.

I've heard so many of them testify.

It's heartbreaking to see them testify because their core brain functions are not well developed enough.

And even the Society for Transgender Health, there was a study they did that showed children do not have the capacity to make life-changing decisions.

- So the judge in the case pointed out though, that such surgeries rarely happen in Florida.

I mean, he says this is a pretty rare occurrence.

- Well, rare or not, if you're endangering the life of one child, that's one child too many.

- [Rob] Even with their parents' permission?

- Their parents sometimes go along with these fads because you don't wanna hurt your child's feelings, but you do need to be an adult and recognize they don't have that capacity.

And some of it is cultural, some of it now is faddish and so forth.

Let children be children.

- Alex, just quickly- - It's not for the government to get involved in these personal, medical decisions.

- It is child abuse.

- Hold on just a minute.

- I am sorry, but this is a matter for personal, medical decisions and how many culture war issues has Ron DeSantis presented that end up going to the courts and are declared unconstitutional, like the Don't Say Gay law?

And so we're dealing with Amendment four, the abortion amendment, which is again, is government interference in personal, medical decisions.

And so I am very pleased with the results of the Federal Court.

- Okay, I don't think the governor started this culture war.

I think this transgender activism, I mean, I'm so fatigued over it.

Let's move on to inflation and tax issues.

- All right- - Well I would be great with that, totally.

- Before we go, what other new stories should we be paying attention to?

And Alex let's start with you, your other big story of the week.

- Well, I guess my big story of the week is that Donald Trump, coming off of his conviction, is back on the campaign trail and has been described, his comments, as being bizarre and unhinged, and I'm sick and tired of Donald Trump trying to convince us, as Americans, that our country is going to hell.

And we are in a great economy now, low unemployment, access to prescription drugs is better than ever.

And I'm over it.

We need to call him out for saying we live in a great country.

- All right, Deborah, your other big story.

- Well, I'm truly all about unity, and today it's about unity under our flag, allegiance to our flag, the meaning to our flag.

So I just challenge adults out there today to talk about the courage, the purity, the unity, the freedom, and everything that the flag represents.

- All right, Travis, your other big story.

- I appreciate the unity theme.

I'm gonna go with, (laughs) President Biden will definitely pardon his son.

He will pardon his son, whether he wins or loses in November.

- Okay, we're gonna save this tape and then play it back.

And Bob, your other big story of the week.

- Supreme Court ruling on bump stocks.

Everybody remembers the Las Vegas shooting where the shooter used these bump stocks to turn guns into automatic weapons, full automatic weapons.

And I say this as a gun owner, bad decision.

There is no need for bump stocks, and the availability of bump stocks for civilians to own on ordinary, semi-automatic weapons.

There's no place in it.

- It's so easy to turn a semi-automatic into an automatic- - Into a full automatic weapon.

And that's exactly what the shooter did in Las Vegas and got off thousands of rounds purely based on this one piece of equipment.

- Hey, thank you, what a great panel.

Our guests were, this week, Alex Sink, Travis Horn, Deborah Tamargo and Bob Buckhorn, and if you have comments about this program, please send them to us at ftwwedu.org.

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This show is available at wedu.org or on YouTube.

Our show is now available as a podcast, and from all of us here at WEDU, have a great weekend, happy Juneteenth, and to all the fathers out there, happy Father's Day.

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