Officials will try to fix PIP, tax laws
By DONNA WRIGHT, NICHOLAS AZZARA and MELANIE MARQUEZ
Herald Staff Writers

Legislators will be busy this month trying to repair two laws - one aimed at cutting property taxes and the other covering uninsured motorists.

Gov. Charlie Crist announced Monday that the Legislature will hold a special session later this month to address property tax reform and, during a special session already scheduled Wednesday, will consider restoring Florida's no-fault law.

A start date has not been set for the property tax session later this month.

"By addressing property taxes before the end of the month, we will ensure that the people of Florida have the opportunity to vote to lower their property taxes on Jan. 29," Crist said in an news release.

Rep. Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton said the second session is an opportunity to do more than make sure an amendment hits the January ballot.

"The amendment would have been a good start in many respects, but there's more to address with non-homesteaded properties and commercial property," Galvano said. "My goal would be to be able to provide broad relief while minimizing the impact, and that has to involve some sort of replacement funding."

He doesn't see the upcoming session as a rushed attempt to fix what a judge deemed was wrong.

"The primary goal should be to have meaningful effective reform that has minimal impact on service delivery," Galvano said. "I'd rather wait and do it right instead of rushing it through to get it onto the January ballot."

Manatee County officials lowered the county's overall budget by $21 million, following June's tax reform. Only a week after adopting a 2008 budget, they're preparing to make deeper cuts to the 2009 budget in anticipation of a constitutional amendment.

"I expect they'll attempt to modify the language to make it more acceptable to voters," said County Administrator Ed Hunzeker. "I would prefer they re-think their approach and deal with those payers of property tax that the Legislature didn't deal with in the special session - those people that invest in property in the business community. Their time would be better served if they could give those payers relief."

Hunzeker added that he hopes legislators take into account any suggestions from the Florida Taxation and Budget Reform commission, which has been tasked with forming plans to improve Florida's tax and budget process for the next two decades. A public forum will be held on the 26th story of the Fred Karl Hillsborough County Center at 4 p.m. Wednesday.

"The one thing the Legislature refused to do this year was, they didn't view you as voters but as people with investment property," Commissioner Jane von Hahmann told a crowded room of frustrated taxpayers last week. "You should go talk to them about solving the inequity problem. Voice your concerns to the Tax Budget Reform Commission. It's important."

Meanwhile, Galvano was pleased that he and his colleagues will take up the no-fault law, which expired Monday. Without the law, people injured in auto accidents will no longer automatically have up to $10,000 of their medical expenses paid.

Instead they'll have to rely on their own medical coverage - if they have it - file a claim against the insurance company of the driver at fault or sue the at-fault motorist.

"I wrote to the governor three weeks ago, urging him to put PIP (personal injury protection) on the agenda," said Galvano. "It would have been reckless to allow it to sunset given the fragile condition of our health system."

Local hospital and insurance officials praised the addition of a no-fault measure in this week's special session.

Manatee Memorial Hospital says it would face substantial loss of revenue if lawmakers do not renew the no-fault law.

"It would have cost us somewhere in the neighborhood of $2.5 million a year if all the PIP payments had gone away and patients had not paid those amounts in place of their insurance companies," said Moody Chisholm, Manatee Memorial chief executive.

Hospitals in the Tampa Bay Region alone could lose upwards of $55 million, according to the Florida Hospital Association.

Those increased health care costs are a burden Florida hospitals should not have to bear, said Bob Fowinkle of Moore, Fowinkle and Schroer insurance agency.

"It's my understanding that they are going to try to increase the medical payment schedule to 200 percent of Medicare," said Fowinkle. "That will help the hospitals and maintain the stability of the insurance market."

-The Associated Press contributed to this story