By Michael T. Gibson
I have a doctorate degree, and graduated number three in my law school class. By these objective measures, I should be considered a decently smart individual. Yet, after three years of observation of politics in Tallahassee, I am completely clueless as to the operation of our State Legislature and why they do what they do.
You see, I sat down last week to write an update article on key pieces of legislation advancing in the Florida House and Senate. Just two weeks ago, it looked like the Senate was finally taking the obvious answer to the auto insurance crisis, and was seriously making a run to kill PIP for Mandatory Bodily Injury. Then a funny thing happened – Politics.
Last Tuesday, the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee was supposed to vote on SB 7152, which was sponsored by the Committee’s chairman, Senator David Simmons of Maitland. That morning, an article comes out wherein our awesome Governor let it be known that he believed we should stick to the revised PIP law, HB 119, despite a Tallahassee Judge ruling the majority of the law to be unconstitutional. So what happened? As the vote on the bill approached, it was so dead silent you could hear a pin drop. Chairman Simmons had obviously no support whatsoever, following the Governor’s decree.
And that folks is Tallahassee politics at its finest.
I am by no means a political pundit. Heck, I basically hate politics at this point. And all I really can break down and explain to you is auto insurance and civil justice issues – it is what I do. Still, it is so frustrating to watch a situation that is 100 percent fixable, and where there is so much evidence as to what to do and yet, nothing is done. It makes me wonder what else Tallahassee politics makes go horribly wrong.
And then I found it.
Did you know that Florida is about to miss out in millions, if not billions, in funding from the Federal Government, to extend health insurance to millions of Floridians, who otherwise could not afford the same. Why is this going to occur? Because the Florida House, led by Speaker Will Weatherford, still has ideological objections to accepting “Obamacare” money. Seriously? We could insure millions of otherwise uninsurable Floridians, at zero cost to our state, but we are going to take a political stand. Is that doing the will of the people?
Again, maybe I just don’t get it, but it would seem to me that we need to start focusing our efforts on electing officials who go to Tallahassee and/or Washington to actually fix problems. Whether it is auto insurance or health insurance, our goals should be to improve the quality of life and affordability of the same, for all individuals, of all classes. Maybe this is a naïve goal or wish, or maybe, it is so simple that we have forgotten to hold our politicians responsible for the same.
Michael T. Gibson is an Auto Accident Lawyer in Orlando. The law firm of Michael T. Gibson can help you obtain compensation for medical treatment, loss of wages, pain and suffering, etc. that you have incurred as a result of a car accident. Call 888-465-1577 or visit the website, http://www.autojusticeattorney.com.
