FORT WALTON BEACH — Even politicians are getting upset about Washington’s inability to prevent $85 billion in spending cuts.
With sequestration taking effect March 1, state Rep. Matt Gaetz voiced his frustration to the Fort Walton Beach Rotary Club earlier this week and addressed some of his goals for the upcoming legislative session that begins next week.
“No matter what side of the political spectrum you may lay on, it’s just so disappointing to see what’s happening,” Gaetz said. “I would like to think in Florida — even though we get on the floor of the House, we debate tough sometimes, sometimes we even get angry with folks in the moment — we would never sacrifice the security of our state, the economy of our state the way I think we’re at risk of seeing with this sequestration.
“I hope that we don’t feel the impact on our economy here, but we may,” he added. “We have to face the simple truth that 65 percent of our economy in Okaloosa County is tied to the military. So when you have uncertainty in the defense contracting community that’s driven by Washington, then folks are hiring less, they’re growing less, they’re out competing less and then we have less economic activity for all the rest of our businesses.”
At the state level, Gaetz said the biggest issue he sees in the Legislature this year will be how Florida reacts to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, or “Obamacare” as he and many others call it.
Gaetz said the state has three options: The Legislature can vote to expand Medicaid as recommended by President Obama and supported by Gov. Rick Scott; create a state exchange program and devise an insurance system; or to do nothing.
Gaetz said the problem with the first two options is that despite the hundreds of millions of dollars that would initially come in to fund the programs, the federal dollars would soon expire and the state would have to continue to pay for them. He prefers taking no action.
“I would rather see how other states react,” Gaetz said. “I wouldn’t want Florida on the leading edge of growing government so much and digging deeper into our lives.”
As chairman of the House's Criminal Justice Subcommittee, Gaetz sees all the bills related to gun rights. Following last year’s Trayvon Martin shooting, he said he expects a debate on Florida’s “stand your ground” law, which allows justifiable use of force in self-defense.
Gaetz said some lawmakers are proposing changing the law to make it a person’s legal duty to retreat if they are attacked.
“That doesn’t make any sense,” Gaetz said. “I’m going to fight hard to keep the stand your ground law in place. Anytime we lose someone, it’s tragic. The death of Trayvon Martin was a tragic event in Orlando, but I don’t want to exacerbate that tragedy by making my constituents less safe.”
Gaetz also was asked how the state can break its addiction to Citizen’s Insurance, which taxpayers subsidize.
Gaetz said the only answer is an unpopular one: for the Legislature to drastically raise the rates for Citizens Property Insurance to make it more competitive with other companies.
“We have to find more folks in Tallahassee who are willing to press the button and vote ‘Yes’ to raise rates on people,” Gaetz said. “And look, that’s tough on me. I represent this coastal district. I have a number of constituents that are on Citizens, but I have voted to raise their rates and I’ll keep voting to raise their rates because I don’t believe in an economic model where the government makes us subsidize the risk that somebody else chooses to take.”
Contact Daily News Business Editor Dusty Ricketts at 850-315-4448 or dricketts@nwfdailynews.com. Follow him on Twitter @DustyRnwfdn.