There is a saying that goes "no news is good news"  Well, I have no news to report.

 

On July 23rd, Bob Levy and 2 of his associates, Mike Compton and I met at the Governors office in Tallahassee with the highest member of his staff that deals with legislation.  We had ample time to discuss the reasons for the increase in fees and many questions were asked and I was glad we had the opportunity to answer these questions in person. 

 

After we left the meeting, we all felt that we made a favorable presentation and were well received.

We all had the impression that they finally understood that what we were asking for was a user fee and not a tax, which the Governor is against.  We went over in datail how much the cities and counties were losing by insufficient revenue to cover the costs of process serving and when that shortfall is included in the budget, the general public has to pay in the form of a tax.

 

I heard from Bob Levy yesterday (August 14th) that he has not heard back from the Governors office.  He did explain that they were quite busy with the upcoming special session and the PIP insurance problems and that is probably the reason he did not get any word from them.  He did state that he will keep on it and that is all we can ask at this time

 

To be perfectly honest about this sutuation, there is no telling which way the Governor will fall.

If he approves, Bob is ready to file the new bill immediately.  It will then have to go through committee approvals again which should be no problem given the track record we have on this issue.  If he does not approve - start thinking about voting for a new Governor.

 

Jack Lippman