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Caruso recalls 2021 legislative session: Bills, budget – and weekly COVID tests

By: Dale King

Florida’s 2021 session of the state legislature is now in the history books. 

But state Rep. Michael “Mike” Caruso, the Republican who represents Boca Raton, Delray Beach and parts of Boynton Beach and Singer Island, said the term stands out as “a session like nothing else.”

For one thing, he recently told members of the Greater Boca Raton Chamber of Commerce during a “virtual” address, lawmakers took office with the specter of a major budget deficit hanging over their heads.

“Initially, we heard the budget would have a $5 billion shortfall,” he said. “Then, in December, it was reported to be a $2 billion deficit, then, a billion dollars by January.” But when the final totals arrived, Florida tallied a budget surplus thanks to an infusion of federal COVID relief dollars.

“The final state budget of $101 billion was up 10%,” he told the Chamber’s Government Affairs committee via computer connection. “We applied $6 billion of federal money to the operating budget and put $3 billion into reserves. We now have $6 billion in reserves. I hope we don’t ever have to touch it.”

Re-elected in November 2020 to a second term as state rep from District 89, Caruso and his wife, Tracy, have seven children and three grandchildren. She took her first foray into politics herself last year, challenging Delray Beach Mayor Shelly Petrolia, who won re-election in a close race.

The coronavirus pandemic caused some of the most unusual things in the state capital. “The Statehouse was closed. We didn’t see your faces in Tallahassee on what is usually Palm Beach County Day.”

And every week, legislators had to be tested for COVID.

Caruso summed up the session as “bold. We took bold action. We ruffled a lot of feathers.”

Of particular note to the state and nation was Florida’s own HR-1, devised by Gov. Ron DeSantis as “an anti-riot bill. We won’t put up with people coming to town looting and burning. I was happy to get behind that.”

“It doesn’t halt peaceful protesting,” he said. “In fact, it encourages peaceful protests.”

Of the $3 billion allocated to the environment, $150 million goes to beach renourishment, a task needed by all cities with a shoreline, particularly Singer Island, he said. “The money will work its way through the whole district.”

Funding for education is up 4%, he said, with $22 billion earmarked for elementary grades and $8.7 billion to higher grades. That raises the amount Florida spends per student to $9,346. 

The biggest financial outlay in the budget is for Medicaid, he said, which will cost $33 billion.

He also touched on spending within the 89th District, which includes $25 million to rebuild the A.D. Henderson School at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton. Another $4 million is heading for Jewish day schools in the county.

The Wayne Barton Study Center in the Pearl City section of Boca Raton is scheduled to receive about $300,000 for its programs. “The kids come in to play sports. Then, the teachers come in to get homework done and help the kids study for exams the next day. Students are also fed and receive food to take home to their siblings.”

“It’s just amazing,” Caruso commented.

Other budget allotments to the South County area include:

This year, Caruso said, the state will provide three sales tax-free holiday weekends – one for hurricane preparation, one for back-to-school purchases and another – new this year – to encourage residents to get out of their house and go to movies, entertainment, ballgames “and take advantage of other activities” that they were prevented from doing during the COVID pandemic.

To level the sales tax playing field, the legislature adopted a law that online businesses that sell more than $100,000 worth of goods per year must pay sales tax to the state. The new levy, he said, should bring in about $1.3 billion.

A new Senate bill that should take effect this year will offer immunity to institutions that could be targeted with lawsuits stemming from coronavirus. “This applies to universities, hospitals and other businesses that are vulnerable. While this doesn’t provide 100% immunity, it will stop frivolous litigation from people simply saying, ‘I went to a university and that’s where I caught COVID.”

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