Major issues get little attention as Scott, lawmakers feud
TALLAHASSEE — A surge in heroin and opioid deaths has some officials calling for Gov. Rick Scott to declare a public health emergency. Florida’s teachers are leaving the profession in droves. And state prisons are struggling to hang on to corrections officers because their pay is so low.
But as the 60-day legislative session nears the halfway point, critical issues such as those are getting scant attention as Scott and legislative leaders clash over taxpayer spending for tourism ads, boosting university budgets and property tax rates.
Since Florida’s recent pill mill crackdown on doctors writing phony prescriptions for Oxycontin, drug users have turned to alternatives such as heroin and fetanyl. Deaths from those drugs reached 1,438 in 2015, a nearly 80 percent increase from the previous year, according to state data. Thousands more non-fatal overdoses are taxing emergency rooms and health networks.
Despite pleas from Senate Democrats and South Florida county commissioners, state leaders haven’t taken action to combat the crisis.
Read more: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/politics/political-pulse/os-legislature-issues-session-midway-20170331-story.html
