Gov. Rick Scott and Cabinet members approved on Tuesday new steps to review the work of agencies they jointly oversee, while also agreeing to extend the time for the Office of Insurance Regulation, the Office of Financial Regulation and the Department of Revenue to respond and offer input into proposed agency performance measures.
“They ought to have input in the scorecard that they’re being judged by,” said Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, who along with Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater and Attorney General Pam Bondi make up the Cabinet. The extra time to respond gives the agencies until May or June before their leaders will stand before Scott and the Cabinet, rather than an April 14 Cabinet meeting as had recently been proposed.
The new guidelines require Cabinet-level agencies to annually outline goals and showcase their value to taxpayers.
Asked if he’d like to see a faster process, Scott instead praised Tuesday’s lengthy Cabinet discussion. He said, after the meeting, “I think we had a good conversation about a process.”
The same day, the governor and Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera met with about 20 members of the Legislature’s black caucus. The agenda had three items: Medicaid expansion, targeted economic development for minority areas with high jobless rates, and greater diversity in hiring executive staff and making judicial nominating selections. Scott offered no movement on the issues.
Instead, he gave his campaign mantra about his efforts to increase jobs and cut taxes.
He didn’t directly address the question of Medicaid expansion, but pointed instead to the possibility that the federal government will slash more than $1 billion from the Low Income Pool program, which helps hospitals that care for large numbers of low-income and uninsured Floridians. He urged caucus members to lobby the feds to keep the money flowing.
Asked to target local economies — such as the Belle Glade area, where the jobless rate is 41 percent — for economic development, Scott said every area of the state should come up with its own strategy. “If no company wants to come there, there’s not going to be any jobs,” he said.
As to diversity in his hiring and appointments, Scott said, “I believe I’ve tried to find the most qualified people.”
After the meeting, Sen. Dwight Bullard, D-Miami, said, “We see issues of morality constantly being ignored, and frankly, we’re tired of it.”
-source: The News Service of Florida