Judge rules Florida prison privatization plan unconstitutional (Updated)

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The union has long questioned the financial benefits of privatization and the calculus behind the 7 percent savings mandated by Florida statutes. The lawsuit contends that by inserting the privatization measure into the budget, legislative leaders avoided a rigorous public debate on the merits of privatization, and in the process violated legal and constitutional provisions intended to keep budgetary and policy-making measures separate.

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The thrust of the first argument is that the privatization scheme is a policy change that should have been enacted through separate legislation, not budget proviso language. The complaint also contends that by tying the privatization proviso to the entire set of budget items for the Department of Corrections, lawmakers essentially made the change veto-proof, because if Gov. Rick Scott had vetoed the privatization scheme, he would have struck down the department’s entire budget, a situation Article 3, Section 12of the state constitution was designed to prevent.

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“I applaud the judge for her wise decision to declare the attempt at privatizing these prisons unconstitutional,” Senator Fasano states. “The Florida Legislature should not be making major policy decisions by inserting last minute proviso language into the budget, thus circumventing the committee process. An issue as important as prison privatization should have been given the chance for thoughtful debate in the substantive committees that oversee this issue.”

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“I congratulate the hard working correctional officers who have scored a major victory with this ruling,” Senator Fasano continues. “These fine individuals, who put their lives at stake each day as they run Florida’s prisons, deserve the ruling that has been handed down today.”