Deep Something

Every politician knows that promising a giant tax cut is an easy way to win an applause line. Florida Amendment 3 dangles that exact bait, promising homeowners an expanded homestead exemption and tighter assessment caps. It sounds like an effortless win until you calculate what actually pays for the fire rescue station down the street.

State analysts project this measure will strip over $8 billion from local budgets across Florida in a single year. That is not trimming bureaucratic fat; it is a fiscal sledgehammer aimed directly at 911 dispatchers, sheriff’s deputies, paramedics, and neighborhood road repairs. When both the Florida Sheriffs Association and statewide firefighter unions sound the alarm, voters need to look past the political marketing.

Because essential emergency services cannot simply be shut down, local communities will be forced to raise utility fees and regressive sales taxes to survive. That leaves working families, retirees on fixed incomes, and renters footing the bill for a tax break they will never see. Read the full analysis on why defunding your local first responders is too high a price to pay for a campaign slogan.

Florida homeowners have heard “insurance reform” so often that the phrase almost deserves its own ZIP code. But behind that label were years of very real changes to what happens when an insurance company denies or underpays a claim and a homeowner has to fight back.

Josie Tomkow voted yes, again and again, as Florida changed the rules around lawsuits, attorney fees, assignment-of-benefits claims, and insurer liability. Those laws may sound technical, but their effect can be painfully simple: even when policyholders have a valid dispute, taking an insurer to court can now carry more financial risk.

Then there is the campaign money. Tomkow’s contribution records show recurring support from insurers, insurance-industry organizations, civil-justice reform groups, and people tied directly to Florida’s insurance-policy world, including former Insurance Commissioner David Altmaier. This cycle alone, at least $2,500 has come from three interests closely connected to this issue.

No, campaign contributions do not come with thank-you notes for specific votes. But voters are entitled to look at the money, look at the voting record, and decide for themselves whether the two tell a story worth following.

Florida’s new Education Commissioner has said the state does not need to run schools at all. That raises a question that goes well beyond vouchers: what happens when “school choice” starts replacing the idea of public education itself?

Florida’s Constitution requires a system of free public schools. Yet an $8,000 voucher does not guarantee admission, does not guarantee a free education, and means something very different to a family that can add another $30,000 than it does to one that cannot. That is why the slogan “fund the student” leaves out so much.

At our Voices of Justice: Speak Up for Students program earlier this year, USF education policy professor Dr. Bill Black asked a simple question: “What is public in public education?” With Florida moving further toward publicly funded private education, that question deserves a much closer look.