Message From Governor Bush, Volume 5, Issue 28

MESSAGE FROM GOVERNOR BUSH

Florida got some great news this week regarding the ongoing success of our education reforms. The National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) released Florida's writing scores for 4th and 8th graders and the results prompted one paper to declare Florida students part of the "writing elite." Florida's public-school students write better than the national average. Fourth grade students in our state ranked eighth in nation, earning the state's first ever top-10 showing on a national test. Eighth-graders ranked 17th in the nation, up from 29th.

I'm extremely proud of these results, as well as the students, educators, and parents who worked so hard to achieve them. The evidence keeps building that Florida's school-accountability program works.

As promised, the Legislature returned to Tallahassee this week to address the need for malpractice insurance reform in Florida. Members of the House showed the courage of true leaders to create a solution, by crafting and passing legislation to reform Florida's medical malpractice insurance system. The result is a good bill that will provide relief for doctors, sanity to the system, and most importantly, continued access to quality medical care for the people of Florida. I support the House bill. It is a fundamentally sound solution to the medical crisis in our state that incorporates the key elements recommended by the task force for meaningful reform.

Floridians have watched with increasing fear as their doctors and medical facilities are driven out of our state by skyrocketing medical malpractice insurance costs several times higher than the national average. Eighty-five percent of Floridians are now aware of the crisis, and 73 percent say they're very concerned about the problem.

Our mandate is clear. Our citizens demand meaningful action to address the problem, and the House bill provides it. Additional delay will not serve Floridians, neither will ultimately passing a bill too compromised to achieve its purpose for the people in our state. I urge the Senate to follow the lead of their colleagues by taking up this strong bill and passing it for the people of Florida. It's the right thing to do.

Despite much of the political posturing that accompanies all hotly contested issues, members in both chambers are committed to finding a resolution that best serves the people in our state. The House and Senate have a long history of compromise, and have always worked together to meet the difficult challenges before them. Their past successes, as well as this week's advances, make me confident this tradition of leadership will prevail on the issue of medical malpractice insurance.

While the Legislature moved forward this week on issues important to all Floridians, the Florida Supreme Court appeared to move in the opposite direction on an issue related to Florida families. Their decision to strike down the parental notification statute passed by the Legislature four years ago is a disappointment to anyone who believes that parents should fully parent their children. We cannot legislate loving, responsible parenting, or legally enforce open communication between parent and child. However, we shouldn't impose legal barriers to that communication either, and I believe the Court's decision may have unintentionally built that barricade this week.

Thank you for your continued support.

Volume 5, Issue 28 Friday, July 11, 2003