From the Orlando Sentinel's Editorial Board
Private privatizing
Facing yet another budget shortfall, Florida leaders are under serious pressure to make state government run more efficiently and give taxpayers more bang for their bucks. If leaders can do it by turning some government programs or operations over to private companies without compromising the quality of services, good for them.
But plans to privatize programs or outsource operations, like any other significant policy shifts, will of course be fully disclosed first and subjected to a full and open debate before they go forward — right? Not if the Legislature passes a bill up for consideration today before the Senate Rules Committee.
Privatization The measure would let state agencies conceal their privatizing or outsourcing plans until — and this comes straight out of the bill — "after the contract for the privatization and outsourcing has been executed." In other words, after it's a done deal.
This bill mocks any notion of government transparency and accountability. It's especially offensive in Florida, where open government is both a tradition and a constitutional right.
Some legislative leaders might still be feeling burned from the firestorm they created last year when they passed a plan, later blocked by a state circuit judge, to privatize 29 state prisons in South Florida. Too bad.
If a plan for privatization or outsourcing can't stand up to public scrutiny before it's implemented, it's probably not worth pursuing, anyway.
Legislators need to kill this bill.
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/opinion/os-ed-legislature-privatization-bill-011812-20120117,0,5129812.story
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