Recent editorials from Florida newspapers:
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Dec. 18
The Palm Beach Post on the 2020 census:
One and a half billion dollars is an awful lot of money to lose.
That’s been the astounding loss to Palm Beach County over the past decade because so many people living here went uncounted in the last U.S. census.
Some 94,000 people - 7.2% of the county’s actual population - failed to make it onto census-takers’ rolls in 2010, according to no less an authority than the U.S. Census Bureau itself.
The omissions included immigrants, here legally and not, whose struggles with English or aversion to authorities might have kept them away. And there were others who were hard to reach or hesitant to respond: transients, elderly folks, renters, snowbirds, college students living on campuses.
Bottom line: Palm Beach County had the 16th-worst undercount of any county in the nation. Over the course of the 2010s, that failure has meant that $1.5 billion in federal money which should have come here - money that belongs to us - went to other parts of the nation instead.
Sadly, we had company; Florida as a whole had the third-worst census participation of all the states in 2010. Our state lost out on about $20 billion in federal funding because the census omitted an estimated 1.4 million residents - about 7.5% of the actual population.
And yet, just as sad, the state of Florida is mounting no official effort to ensure residents’ participation in the 2020 census. Florida is among 24 states that have nothing on U.S. Census-related efforts and one of only five states that have failed to form a committee to raise awareness about the count, according to a recent report by the New York Times.
What’s more, efforts to establish statewide Census committees have thus far died in the Republican-controlled Florida Legislature, with no public input from the governor.
Meanwhile, California, for example, has allocated $187 million, the equivalent of about $4 per person. Leaders there realize that California’s political clout and rightful share of more than $675 billion in federal funds, grants and support to states, counties and communities ride on a solid count.
That’s money we should have had for among other vital needs, infrastructure, Medicaid, school lunches, child care, Head Start to help poor children get ready for elementary school, Pell Grants to help students afford college and agricultural loans.
These are federal dollars we gave up because residents were undercounted. Federal dollars make up one-third of Florida’s total governmental revenue.
The undercount likely even have siphoned the state’s political strength, since membership in the U.S. House of Representatives is apportioned by the census count, in which the Census Bureau, in accord with the U.S. Constitution, attempts to count the nation’s entire population as it stands on a single day - every 10 years.
The next day is coming up fast: April 1, 2020.
And this time, in the state’s absence, a group of philanthropies is banding together to make sure that the count in Florida is as full and as accurate as possible.
Why? Because when federal money for social services goes away, that doesn’t mean that problems like hunger, illness and mental distress disappear. It means that help, if it comes, must come from someplace else. In many cases, private charities must strain to carry the load.
Organizations like the Community Foundation for Palm Beach and Martin Counties have figured out that, rather than spending the next 10 years coping in an underfunded environment for social services, it’s better to make sure every resident is counted in the census so that the state, and counties and municipalities get all the federal money due them.
“We realized that this would be the greatest social return on investment we could ever get,” January Romero Reissman, the Community Foundation’s vice president for community impact, told The Palm Beach Post Editorial Board.
The seven philanthropies that have banded together under the name Florida Counts Census 2020 aim to raise $2 million to secure a complete count in this state. Their plan is to leverage the trusted connections they have in underserved communities - neighborhood pastors, Head Start teachers, after-school program leaders - to encourage people to drop their apprehensions and take part in the census.
Their efforts are laudable. But these community groups shouldn’t have to shoulder all of this responsibility. Ideally, they would supplement our state government’s efforts to make sure that all Florida residents participate in the census.
It’s still not too late for DeSantis stop foot-dragging and form a statewide committee to raise awareness about the count. We strongly encourage him to do so as soon as possible.
Florida is one of the fastest-growing states in the union. If we continue to fall short in the census count, while at the same time adding new residents, the federal funding gap will just get larger.
“The frightening thing,” says Reissman, “is there’s no re-do. When the census is done, it’s done. Then it’s for 10 years.”
Online: https://www.palmbeachpost.com/
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Dec. 17
The Naples Daily News on using the affordable-housing trust fund for its intended use:
In 1992, the Florida Legislature, recognizing the need for dedicated funding to support the creation of affordable housing, increased the documentary stamp tax on real estate transactions and decreed that money should go into a trust fund for that purpose.
Ah, those were the days.
Since then, it has been common practice for the Legislature to hijack some of the money from the trust fund for general government use.
It’s not the only instance of the Legislature “sweeping” money from a state trust fund for purposes other than the one the trust fund is dedicated to, but under current conditions, it’s the most egregious.
Rapid growth and a market demand for high-end homes leaves those on the lower end of the economic scale - and even those in the middle - struggling to find places to live that they can afford.
According to the Sadowski Coalition, a collection of more than 30 groups involved in housing and real estate committed to seeing the trust fund used properly, more than 900,000 low-income Floridians pay more than 50% of their income for housing. Ideally, the figure would be about 30% of income.
The problem is worse in Southwest Florida, where local governments are scrambling to come up with ways to encourage the development of housing within reach of people making modest to moderate incomes.
This year, for the second year in a row, Gov. Ron DeSantis is imploring legislators not to raid the trust fund to cover gaps in the state budget.
We applaud his effort, confident that the Sadowski Trust Fund, if left intact, could be a valuable tool in meeting this region’s affordable housing needs.
The dedicated taxes will generate an estimated $387 million this year. Of the $325 million generated last year, about $200 million went to affordable housing and $125 million went to other things. Over two decades, about $2.3 billion has been swept from the fund.
Local government housing programs get 70 percent of the unswept trust-fund revenue. Thirty percent goes to the state programs like the State Apartment Incentive Loan program.
The money can be used to leverage private-sector loans and equity and create jobs in the housing sector.
We have no doubt the state Legislature has plenty of things it can spend money on.
But trust funds are created for a reason: A need has been identified and a source of money has been provided. If the Legislature believes that was done in error or that the need no longer exists, it can vote to do away with the trust fund.
As long as the fund exists, it should be used as intended. We find almost amusing one legislator’s explanation that not sweeping the trust fund would be “irresponsible.”
Some of the same politicians who vote to take money from the affordable housing trust fund for general use will probably be among those boasting about reducing taxes next election season.
Last year, DeSantis approved a state budget that included sweeps from the affordable housing trust fund.
We encourage him to make clear he won’t do it again.
The practice of sweeping money supposedly dedicated to one purpose to fund something entirely different must stop.
Online: https://www.naplesnews.com/
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Dec. 15
The Lakeland Ledger on a bill requiring parental consent for a minor’s abortion:
Last week the Florida Senate’s Health Policy Committee advanced by a party-line vote state Sen. Kelli Stargel’s bill requiring parental consent for a minor’s abortion.
The Lakeland Republican proposes that at least one parent or legal guardian certify in writing beforehand that the procedure is in the child’s “best interest.” Exceptions are built in. A minor’s abortion would be allowed if a medical emergency. The measure grants judges automatic authority to overrule parents who object if the girl has been sexually abused. And with conditions, young women wanting abortions can seek a judge’s approval if their parents refuse.
The bill enhances Florida’s existing law that requires girls to simply notify their parents about obtaining an abortion.
We have supported this bill and are encouraged to see it move along. We hope that, after it stalled a bit, this committee vote will give the measure some momentum.
The main objection from critics of the bill is that it could imperil girls with Neanderthalic parents who might kick them into the street, or worse abuse them, upon learning about the pregnancy. But if that is the case, wouldn’t it be happening already? After all, these young women cannot hide these pregnancies forever.
Still, we don’t dismiss such claims lightly, which is why we would encourage lawmakers to include a provision for an analysis, especially in counties with the highest teen-pregnancy rates, to determine if local social services programs are sufficient to offer these young ladies appropriate counseling and support. That could include Polk County. According to the Florida Department of Health, the birth rate for teenaged mothers in Polk is slightly above the state ratio, but well below many other counties.
One other criticism that emerged last week was the assertion by abortion-rights activists that county courts are unprepared to handle an onslaught of questions about such a law. Yet if adopted, the measure would not go into effect for nearly four months. Surely our skilled elected court clerks, the chief judges and the judges over the family law section of each judicial circuit throughout the state will have enough time to hammer out details of judicial review. After all, state law now permits minors to seek a “judicial bypass” for an abortion. Would the process be all that different under Stargel’s bill?
The good news is that this problem may be working itself out on its own.
For one thing, liberal activists point out that most teens already consult their parents before making a decision. Good.
Additionally, state and federal health officials note that for girls 17 and under actual live births and pregnancy rates have plummeted in recent years. Meanwhile, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported not long ago that its survey of teens’ sexual activity revealed that young people were having the least amount of sexual activity in years.
Thus, while we hope for more abstinence, apparently the combination of less interest in sex, for whatever reason, and wider access and usage of contraceptives is reducing pregnancy rates. So, we can surmise that the number of abortions would be down as well. Which means Stargel’s bill, if enacted, would apply to a relatively small number of young women.
That, some might think, makes the case against the bill. But even if the number were zero, and forgetting the divisive argument over pro-choice versus pro-life, this bill should be passed because a larger principle is at stake.
We cannot think of one medical treatment, including things as innocuous as flu shots or even taking an aspirin, that a minor can receive without parental consent. In fact, some call for forced vaccines over parents’ objections as a public health matter,
And yet some people unhappy with Stargel’s bill work to persuade us that members of an emotionally fragile and vulnerable group are capable of handling a traumatic, heavyweight, life-altering procedure like abortion without having a parent agree.
Such thinking defies common sense and our standard health policies, and for that reason alone, the Legislature should ship Stargel’s bill over to the governor for his endorsement.
Online: https://www.theledger.com/
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