Will Florida lawmakers let Universal Orlando take another $4 million in tax breaks?
The Trade Show (2023 ed.), Vol. 12
This is “The Trade Show,” a weekly collection of shorter news nuggets and stories from other outlets around the state and country about the special interest-driven issues that lawmakers spend most of their time working on. The name comes from something a mentor once told me before I covered my very first session of the Florida Legislature more than 20 years ago: “Ninety percent of what goes on up here is a trade show.” As always, our content here at Seeking Rents is free to all readers. But please consider a paid subscription to support our work, if you can afford one
Two weeks ago, we had a story about the worst tax break in Florida: An incentive that was supposed to help revitalize poverty-stricken communities across the state — but which has instead become a continuing subsidy for theme-park giant Universal Orlando.
The good news is that the Florida House of Representatives is moving forward with a bill this session (House Bill 5) that would eliminate this incentive program, which Universal has been feasting on for more than two decades.
The bad news is that, if lawmakers ultimately decide not to pass this bill, Universal is probably going to gorge on it again very soon — to the tune of nearly $4 million.
That’s according to an analysis conducted by nonpartisan state economists, who last week studied the potential impact of repealing Florida’s broken “Urban High Crime Area Jobs Tax Credit” program.
Those economists concluded that — if the high-crime tax credit were to remain in place — Universal would be able to claim another $3.8 million from the program following the expected opening in summer 2025 of its Epic Universe theme park.
That would be on top of the more than $17 million in high-crime tax breaks that Universal and its hotel affiliate have already claimed over the past 20-plus years — roughly half the money ever awarded through the program.
Now, $3.8 million might not seem like a lot of money in the context of a $113 billion state budget.
But it is a lot of money in the context of the countless community needs across the state that are all competing for little slices of that pie.
For instance, instead of giving $3.8 million to Universal, we could buy emergency generators for special-needs shelters in flood-prone Pinellas County. We could support the largest food bank in South Florida. We could fund Alzheimer’s and dementia research at the University of Florida
In fact, there are 120 members in the state House, and they have collectively filed more than 2,300 local funding requests this year. And the vast majority of those asks are for less than $3.8 million. Many are for just a few hundred thousand dollars — including ones that would help veterans find jobs, improve neighborhood playgrounds, and expand foster-care support services.
Of course, the folks behind community health clinics, after-school care programs, and septic-to-sewer grants don’t usually shower legislators in freebies like Universal does.
To wit: Just before this year’s legislative session began, records show Universal gave roughly $400,000 worth of free hotel rooms, theme park tickets, food and drink to the Republican Party of Florida and to a separate fund controlled by Republican leaders in the Florida Senate. Those freebies allowed lawmakers to enjoy some lavish pre-session fundraisers at the resort.
The art of distraction
In a late-night, closed-door ceremony, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a near-total ban on abortion into law last week.
But that’s not all DeSantis did. At the same time he signed that six-week abortion ban (Senate Bill 300), DeSantis also signed a bill that will make it harder for homeowners to sue homebuilders who do a shoddy construction job (Senate Bill 360).
Pairing culture wars with corporate issues is a pattern with this governor.
Read: Newly passed bill to lower statute of limitations on fraudulent contracting gets mixed reactions (WPTV)
Mystery solved
A couple of weeks into session, a committee in the Florida House tacked a mysterious amendment onto a bill that would retroactively change the approval timelines for some real-estate development projects.
Turns out, that mystery amendment would help a controversial development in Miami that opponents say threatens the Everglades.
Read: Florida bill would spare controversial South Miami-Dade project from county revote (Miami Herald)
Government in the Sunshine
The Orlando Sentinel has done award-winning work in recent years exposing problems at unregulated private schools that are propped up by the state’s tax-financed voucher program.
As part of its reporting, the newspaper has periodically requested and obtained copies of complaints against private voucher schools that have been filed with the Florida Department of Education. These complaints are public records.
Well, the newspaper recently requested another batch of complaints. But now the DeSantis administration wants to charge the Sentinel more than $10,000 for them.
Read: Florida education agency delays then seeks $10,414 for crucial school voucher records (Orlando Sentinel)
Inside the FHSAA’s period probe
The Palm Beach Post obtained some interesting emails that revealed some of the behind maneuverings — involving everyone from senior DeSantis staffers to the Sprouts grocery chain — in the Florida High School Athletic Association’s since-abandoned plan to make female high school athletes answer questions about their periods.
Read: Timeline of emails: What really happened when FHSAA removed menstrual questions? (Palm Beach Post)
The cleanup crew
Last one for this week: South Florida Sun-Sentinel columnist Fred Grimm looks at how the Florida Legislature has turned itself into the governor’s janitors.
Read: State lawmakers are cleaning up behind DeSantis | Fred Grimm (South Florida Sun-Sentinel)