Governor Jeb Bush held a press conference at 3:00 p.m.
on Thursday, October 25, 2001 announcing an expansion of the call for
the special session. The governor must call a special session of the
legislature. The call must include a stated reason or reasons for
bringing the legislature back into session. Originally, the call for the
special session dealt specifically with addressing the $1.4 billion
shortfall in the 2001-02 fiscal year. The governor broadened the call to
include:
Consideration of the intangibles tax. The
exemptions were raised on the intangibles tax during the 2001
regular session. This was the third consecutive year that the
legislature and governor had in some way either outright cut the tax
or raised exemptions to reduce liability for Florida’s taxpayers.
The governor suggested that he would be open to deferring
implementation of the latest intangibles tax reduction. He said he
would oppose any effort to repeal the 2001 reduction in intangibles
tax liability.
"Conforming issues" were included. This
is a technical term dealing with budget language that must be
adjusted in order to accommodate the budget cuts.
Shifting monies in the budget from recurring to
non-recurring accounts. This will give the legislators rewriting the
budget the maximum flexibility needed to craft a balanced budget.
Economic development package. The governor was
referring to his proposed package as well as any other legislative
products that may complement his recommendations. The governor was
careful to state that he would be on-guard against any legislative
products that were simply labeled "economic stimulus"
while having actually very little to do with genuine economic
development issues.
Today is the fourth day of the scheduled 10-day
special session.
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