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Legislative Affairs : Budget Status Report - Week #9 : |
Budget Status Report - Week #9 |
Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission This was the last week of Session and the Legislature successfully passed the budget. The budget conference completed its work on Sunday, printed the conference reports Monday, and had them available for review on Tuesday. After the requisite 72 hour cooling off period, the budget and all associated bills were passed into law. Vessel Registration The Legislature was very supportive of FWC this Session while dealing with the challenges of a severe financial downturn. Thanks to the remarkable efforts of many (legislators, Commissioners, staff and stakeholders) a vessel registration fee adjustment was passed that allowed us to avoid the loss of 66 law enforcement positions and the marine mammal care funding. Senate Bill 1286 adjusts vessel registration fees by the change in the consumer price index since the last time they were adjusted in 1991. This amounts to a 55% adjustment to the fee, generating $9.8 million in new revenue for FWC. In addition, the bill requires non-motorized boats 16 feet or longer to be registered (in order to help track derelict vessel owners) generating $850,000. These new revenues were used to support a $3.4 million fund shift of 66 law enforcement positions, $1,150,000 to continue the marine mammal care funding, $900,000 for increased law enforcement fuel costs, and $1,550,000 for derelict vessel removal. Not all of the new revenue was budgeted in the first year due to cash flow concerns (a greater part of the revenue is expected to be received later in the fiscal year) and also because there is still some uncertainty about the effect of rising fuel costs on vessel registrations. Pay Issues There were no pay increases provided for any state employees with the exception that the Florida Highway Patrol received a 5% pay increase. When we lobbied the FWC law enforcement pay issue, it was made clear that there would be no pay increases, although we continued to present it as our number one issue in case there was a change. We were extremely disappointed to find that in spite of our continued efforts of three years running, we were passed over again. We remain firmly committed to get this issue funded. It will continue to be our number one effort until we succeed. The Legislature continued all past pay additives, however they did not approve our requests for new additives for prescribed burning, large boat crews and the law enforcement special operations group. Employee health insurance premiums will remain at current levels and universities and community colleges may continue approving free tuition to full-time FTE for up to six credit hours per semester. Reductions As reported earlier in Session, the Legislature passed the “hold-back” reductions during the first week of Session which reduced current year (Fiscal Year 07/08) spending by $2.1 million. The recurring portion affecting Fiscal Year 08/09 is $1.6 million. This is the only budget reduction we received for next year, and there were no positions cut. Requests The Legislature was very generous in funding our requests, particularly those supported by grants and dedicated revenues. As you can see from the attached spreadsheet, we received $7 million in grant-funded requests including laptop computers for our law enforcement officers and 26 time-limited grant-funded biological positions. We received half of our land management request (reduced due to a drop in documentary stamp revenues) and the full lake restoration request. We also received $4 million for wildlife conservation (including the full amount for the Gopher Tortoise management plan), $1.2 million for hunting and fishing (including the commercial license system re-write, youth hunting, and artificial reef construction), $14.5 million for land acquisition and $8.2 million for boating. All of these came from grants or dedicated revenue sources. There was no recurring General Revenue (GR) approved (law enforcement pay issue) and none of our maintenance issues were funded (such as repairs, lease costs & vehicle replacement). Also, the wildlife assistance issue was not funded. Generally, the Legislature was conservative with non-dedicated trust fund requests to assure there was sufficient trust fund cash for the various fund shifts. The Legislature did include two non-recurring GR issues to the budget, $1 million for the Vandenburg artificial reef and $500,000 to continue development of our marine hatcheries. Fund Shifts Fund shifts change the revenue source supporting activities and are often used to take GR from an agency without having to cut an activity. In addition to the $3.4 million fund shift to save 66 officer positions, the following were also done:
Transfers and Fund Sweeps There were no reductions in our regular transfers from the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and there were no cash sweeps from our trust funds. Other Fiscal Bills: SB 1294 - Invasive Plant Management Transfer Originally proposed in HB 5079, the budget conference used SB 1294 to transfer all responsibilities of the Bureau of Invasive Plant Management from DEP to FWC. The official transfer of the existing bureau, including 29 positions and the $44 million budget, was inadvertently left out of this bill and later amended on to HB 7059. The Bureau of Invasive Plant Management is responsible for directing the control, eradication and regulation of noxious aquatic weeds and invasive exotic plants on public lands and waters. Staff feels this is a good fit with activities currently conducted within our Division of Habitat and Species Conservation and welcomes the addition of this bureau to our conservation mission. SB 1286 – FWC Sunset Review Bill In addition to substantive sunset review provisions, this bill adjusted vessel registration fees (as noted above), and includes provisions to automatically adjust vessel registration fees and recreational license and permit fees every five years beginning in 2013. The fees will be adjusted by the percentage change in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) since the last fee adjustment, unless otherwise provided by law. This means the default is the CPI, however, other legislation could be passed to do something different if needed. What's Next The budget and its associated bills will be delivered to the Governor for consideration and upon receipt, the Governor has 15 days to execute his line item veto authority on the budget and approve or veto any associated bills. Reference The final budget conference report on House Bill 5001 is available online at: FWC issues start with line item 1946 and run through line 2058A. The following chart is our side-by-side comparison showing the line up of our agency request, the Governor’s recommendations and the final budget as passed by the Legislature (the conference report).
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