Client News
Forbes: Beware of a Forestry Standard Monopoly
By Donald Rieck and Wayne Winegarden, PhD Before any policy is changed, the potential economic consequences that they can cause should be considered. The Community Reinvestment Act and other affordable housing regulations, for instance, were supposed to increase loan availability to under-served communities. Unintentionally, these regulations played an important role in creating the housing boom […]
Tallahassee Democrat: Herbert Whitehouse: Government needs clear objective with pensions
In the last couple of years, the LeRoy Collins Institute has been making an important point about Florida’s local government pension plans. The point was about funding ratios — the percentage of a plan’s liabilities (obligations to pay pensions) that are covered by assets (set aside in a trust) to pay those benefits. Knowing the […]
Tampa Tribune: Letter of the Day: Investing in Students and the Economy
By Rebecca Waggett, PhD As a faculty member at the University of Tampa, I have dedicated my life to advancing scientific knowledge for myself and my students. Having held the roles of both student and instructor, I have seen firsthand the difficulties presented to today’s educators in teaching science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) subjects […]
Florida Trend: Partnership Friction: Private and community colleges offer four-year degrees
In 2001, St. Petersburg Junior College, as the public community college in Pinellas County was then known, won permission to move beyond its traditional two-year degree offerings and confer four-year degrees. Allowing community colleges to confer four-year degrees would open access to such degrees to more Floridians — especially working adults — and meet employer […]
News Herald: Citizens Seeks Fiscally Sound Solutions
By THOMAS C. FEENEY III Some welcome winds of change are finally blowing into the state-run Citizens Property Insurance Corp. Fed by artificially low, actuarially unsound rates, Citizens has grown into Florida’s largest property insurer and put the 77 percent of non-Citizens homeowners, plus all businesses, charities, religious institutions, local governments and school boards at […]
Tallahassee Democrat: Brewster Bevis: Tobacco tax is one more damper on the recovery
Increasing taxes at a time when Florida’s businesses and consumers are already strained is not a sound policy decision. President Obama has released his Fiscal Year 2014 budget, and he plans to raise the tax on cigarettes from $1.01 to $1.95 per pack. Additionally, Congress has introduced legislation to increase the federal excise tax rate […]
Sun Sentinel: Julio Fuentes: Don’t increase the tobacco tax
Florida’s business community is facing a potential financial burden due to tax proposals being considered on Capitol Hill. President Obama and some members of Congress are working to fund broad, new government programs at the expense of Florida businesses. One proposal includes a 94 cents-per-pack increase in the federal excise tax on cigarettes, which would […]
Sunshine State News: Most Lawmakers Score High in AIF Report Card
Just a week after the Florida Chamber of Commerce published its annual legislative report card, another of the state’s major business advocacy organizations has published its own study grading lawmakers’ business-friendliness, and most have come out scoring well. “On the whole, the news is very good. I think the Legislature has responded well to five […]