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Rick Scott speaks with reporters during the final week of his first legislative session.
Florida Gov. Rick Scott will watch the 2011 legislative session end on May 6, 2011, without serious movement on many of his most prominent campaign issues.
The budget will include provisions to fund just a tiny fraction of the $459 million corporate income tax reduction that Scott proposed, and none of the school property tax cut Scott proposed.
The Legislature is unlikely to deliver to Scott Arizona-style immigration reforms like he promised during his primary campaign against former Attorney General Bill McCollum. The proposal has failed to gain traction, even in the Republican-dominated Legislature.
On pension reform, Scott wanted to make state employees direct 5 percent of their salary to their retirement, and he wanted to move workers to 401(k)-style plans. In the end, it appears he'll get 3 percent, and the traditional pensions will stay.
And the list goes on.
No two-year budget. No massive spending cuts to the Department of Corrections. And not even a full 5 percent government workforce cut.
Yet there are clear successes Scott can claim. A bill to require people receiving cash welfare assistance to first pass a drug test has passed both chambers and will head to the governor's desk.
He appears poised to receive many of the education reforms he sought -- including changes to benefit charter schools and increases in virtual learning. And Scott already has signed legislation that links teacher pay increases to their students' performance on end-of-year-exams.
PolitiFact Florida has been tracking 59 of Scott's campaign promises. As the session ends, we plan to update many of them to see how Scott fared.
Stay tuned.
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