President’s Message
Social Distancing and Our Economic Future
I
n just a few short weeks, the world that we live in changed dramatically! We went from a thriving economy and record-low unemployment numbers in Florida to putting brakes on everything. Our society was asked to be socially distant, and the economy around the world paused. It is anybody’s guess as to what the recovery looks like or how long it may take. However, there is no disputing the fact that impacts in Florida could be deep and far reaching.
ANANTH PRASAD
The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic are unclear, and all eyes will be on the state’s economists and the Revenue Estimating Conference (REC) meetings, which now will meet monthly instead of quarterly to give us some sense of the state’s financial health.
I am thankful to the leadership of Gov. Ron DeSantis and his team during these extraordinary times, and I take comfort in the fact that his measured and thoughtful leadership coupled with the Florida Legislature setting aside record reserves of $4 billion in the upcoming fiscal year will help blunt the impact that Florida will see. Meanwhile, the Florida Legislature went extra innings and concluded its legislative session by passing the budget of $93.2 billion for the next fiscal year. The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic are unclear, and all eyes will be on the state’s economists and the Revenue Estimating Conference (REC) meetings, which now will meet monthly instead of quarterly to give us some sense of the state’s financial health. As to the budget that was passed, FDOT’s budget saw an increase of $368.5 million for a total of $10.3 billion with $9.3 billion toward the Transportation Work Program. As REC tallies the actual receipts of gas tax, other fees, and tolls that make up the State Transportation Trust Fund, FDOT is required by law to have a financially constrained budget that will result in projects getting deferred from the next fiscal year to outer years to address revenue shortfalls. FDOT will have to take these steps regardless of what the Florida Legislature does.
That brings us to the next question of economic stimulus. Time and time again, an infrastructure stimulus package has been one of the go-to-remedies for an ailing economy, both at the national and the state level. Maybe this crisis will result in the much-needed structural fixes to the federal Highway Trust Fund to make it solvent and provide for a one-time infusion of funds. Stay tuned! As we closed the book on the 2020 legislative session, not much was achieved as to our priorities because of various reasons – some technical, some philosophical and some pure politics. I can’t thank Rep. Alex Andrade (R) enough for his tireless efforts to get his bill (HB 395) passed in the House (which he did) and to have the Senate take his bill and pass it. Unfortunately, the bill died in the Senate for reasons unknown to me. We will reboot our priorities again next year and have already laid the groundwork with future Senate leadership to achieve a better outcome. Here’s to hoping that, by the time you are reading this, things are getting back to normal where we are not socially distant, the economy is starting to rev up, and that there is a vaccination in sight for COVID-19. God bless America!
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