Senate Minority Office — Press Release

Senate Democratic Leader Nan Rich To Senate Republican Leadership: “What Are You So Afraid Of?”

Tallahassee — Faced with multi-billion dollar deficits over the past few years, Senate Democrats have repeatedly offered Florida’s Republican leadership realistic alternatives to the brutal budget cuts they’ve chosen to implement.

 This year is no different. But despite promises made in the last legislative session by the Senate Appropriations Chair to hear legislation closing one of the most glaring tax loopholes, and assurances once again this session that all options were “on the table,” Senate Bill 1590 sponsored by Senate Democratic Leader Nan Rich (D-Weston) continues to languish in committee limbo.

 “This bill does not raise a single penny in new tax,” said Senator Rich. “It puts Florida-only businesses back on a fair playing field with big multi-state corporations, it delivers half a billion dollars every year to re-energize our economy, our education, and our health care programs. And it strips bare any excuse that 27 state prisons need to be handed off to the private sector as the only way to generate savings. What are they so afraid of?”

 This week on the Senate Democratic Update, we take a look at the lopsided tax burden small companies bear, the findings of a key committee under the Republican-controlled Senate, and the consequences thousands of Florida families will face if the prison privatization scheme goes through. Watch the latest episode here: http://youtu.be/j8WM8OBWSAM

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