For two years, they have bobbed along in a sea of anxiety. Shaken by job losses and sagging home values, their unease is reflected in the monthly consumer confidence reports produced by the University of Florida's Survey Research Center.
State budget cuts will begin draining millions of dollars out of the local economy this month as government employees see their paychecks shrink.
The average government worker in Sarasota, Manatee and Charlotte counties will lose $1,151 annually as the state, for the first time since 1974, requires workers to help cover their own pension costs.
The Reubin O’D Askew Institute on Politics and Society has partnered with the Bureau of Economic and Business Research to develop a series of Florida Focus papers that highlight how various regions in Florida are positioning themselves to move forward after the Great Recession. This paper – the second in the series – is a background essay written for participants in a meeting titled “Orlando: Choosing Our Future after the Great Recession,” that was co‐sponsored by the Askew Institute and the City of Orlando on May 18, 2011.
TALLAHASSEE — When state lawmakers and Gov. Rick Scott talk about their priorities, creating jobs in Florida always ranks at the top. But by the end of the 2011 legislative session last week, state leaders could point to little in the mountain of bills passed that will provide immediate help for Florida's struggling economy.
Summary: This report presents the results of an independent assessment of a potential beverage container deposit refund system for Florida, conducted by the Economic Analysis Program of the Bureau of Economic and Business Research at the University of Florida, and funded by Owens Illinois, Inc. While the analysis represents the best professional judgment of the project team, it does not necessarily represent the views of either Owens Illinois Inc. or the University of Florida.
The Obama Administration may have opposed Arizona’s immigration law, but many other states are looking to enact something similar, including Florida.
They must. Because most everyone at the state level knows that the current U.S. immigration system is busted and the federal government won’t do anything. So even non-border states such as South Carolina, Michigan, Rhode Island and Minnesota are pushing their own immigration legislation similar to Arizona’s.
When Florida voters head to the polls on Nov. 2, 2010, aside from casting votes for public office, they’ll also have six state constitutional amendments to mull over.
One of the proposals up for a vote, Amendment 4, aims to put land use changes before local voters, and has sparked heated debate.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla.— Three renowned economists agree Florida's boom days are over and that the state's recovery from the recession is likely to take awhile.
Economist Kevin Hassett of the American Enterprise Institute said Thursday that Florida is one of the states facing difficulty going forward following a 20-month national recession that wreaked "an astonishing period of economic misery."
Hassett told lawmakers that even if the recession was declared over in August, the risk of calamity remains.
"Gloomy," state Sen. Evelyn Lynn, R-Ormond Beach, said afterward. "What to do?"
To develop his clients' vast land holdings, attorney Glenn Storch met with Volusia and Brevard county officials, bordering property owners and conservation groups.
They talked about roads. They talked about water. They discussed residential densities and jobs creation, debated how much land should be preserved, explored the impact on school construction planning. The company pulled together a panel discussion of national experts to critique their plans in public.
"We have spent four years thinking about how to do the right thing, and we're only halfway there," Storch said recently.
