TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Lawyers for public employee unions and a pair of nurses urged a judge Wednesday to block a plan for privatizing health care in Florida's prisons.
They cited the same legal arguments that resulted in another judge's decision stopping the privatization of 29 South Florida prison facilities. The Legislature was ruled in violation of the Florida Constitution because it made that policy decision through a budget provision rather than by passing a stand-alone law.
The unions contend the health care privatization plan likewise violated a constitutional provision limiting each bill to a single subject to prohibit what's known as "log rolling." It's the practice of attaching unrelated provisions, which may not be able pass on their own, to more popular or important measures such as the must-pass budget.
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"No matter how wise it may be to privatize health care services in whole or in part, that was never vetted through the normal legislative process," said plaintiffs' lawyer Thomas Brooks. "That is the evil that the single subject rule is designed to prevent."
Circuit Judge Kevin Carroll said he hoped to rule next week in the health care case. But he acknowledged his decision will be appealed regardless of how it comes out.
That's what happened after Circuit Judge Jackie Fulford ruled the Republican-led Legislature violated the state constitution in the South Florida privatization case. The 1st District Court of Appeal is scheduled to hear oral argument June 27 in the state's appeal.
One of the health care plaintiffs, Doreen Von Oven, said after the hearing that there's a feeling of "fear" among her colleagues.
"If a private company comes in, basically they can just let you go (if) they just don't like you," said Von Oven. She's a licensed practical nurse at Santa Rosa Correctional Institution near Milton in the Florida Panhandle.
Fulford wrote in October that lawmakers could have legally ordered the privatization through a stand-alone bill rather than the budget provision.
The Republican-led Legislature attempted to do that in February, but the bill failed 21-19 in the Senate. Nine Republicans defied party leaders and joined the Senate's 12 Democrats to defeat the measure.
Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Glogau argued the health care budget provision does not violate the constitution but conceded that may be a moot point because it'll only be valid until the fiscal year expires June 30.
Glogau, though, contended privatization should be allowed to proceed anyway because existing law gives the Department of Corrections all the authority it needs to outsource health services.
"Proviso or no proviso, this procurement should be allowed to go forward," he said.
Attorneys for the plaintiffs disputed that argument, saying the department's contract proposals are invalid in part because they are based on an unconstitutional budget provision.
The proviso also is unconstitutional because it changed law or made new law, something that can be done only through a stand-alone bill, said Stephen Turner, a lawyer for the Florida Nurses Association. Turner said it takes away the discretion the Legislature gave the department through existing law.
"That makes my brain hurt, your honor," Glogau said in response to the discretion argument. "That's just not the way the system works."
Besides Von Oven, Brooks argued on behalf of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the Federation of Physicians and Dentists /Alliance of Healthcare and Professional Employees and Janet Wiedeman, a licensed practical nurse at an annex to Wakulla Correctional Institution, also in the Panhandle.
Lawyers for two private bidders, Wexford Health Sources Inc. and Correctional Healthcare Companies, sided with the state
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