Florida legislators hide projects in university budgets

Progress Boulevard Extension is one of Alachua's newest roads, courtesy of Florida's taxpayers. State lawmakers agreed to pay $500,000 for the two-lane, black-topped road that leads to nowhere.

The money for the road came in last year's budget, but the project can't be found anywhere in the 400-plus-page bill passed by legislators and signed by Gov. Rick Scott. It's not part of the billions the state spends each year on transportation. It's not in any capital project budget.

Looking at the road, which extends less than a mile to an undeveloped plot of land, there's no way to know the money to build it came from the University of Florida.

And there's certainly little evidence the money was meant to entice Coqui Radiopharmaceuticals Corp., a medical diagnostics company based in Coral Gables, to build a $250 million manufacturing center at the end of the road north of Gainesville.

The cash for that project and dozens of others made at the special request of individual lawmakers is hidden inside the state's $82.3 billion budget, with no mention of Progress Boulevard Extension or Coqui. Over the past seven years, lawmakers have quietly tucked nearly $315 million for their secret projects into state budgets, hiding them in the billions they give to universities to operate with the understanding that this is extra money for special purposes, according to a review by the Naples Daily News of appropriations records.

The secret money is now at the center of a controversy pitting Republican House and Senate leaders against each other. House Speaker Richard Corcoran, R-Land O' Lakes, widely regarded as a future gubernatorial contender, wants every lawmaker to file requests for special spending before the 60-day session begins. His plan, which passed the House, required that such requests be filed last week as separate bills that would be voted on by the Legislature.

“This type of wasteful insider spending is why we are fighting for increased transparency and accountability," Corcoran said in a statement last week. "We have been very clear in the House that gone are the days of anonymously added projects, nameless requests, hidden lobbyist requests, and the wasteful spending of taxpayer money. Our goal is to ensure that every dollar has a name attached to it, ever project a sponsor, and every penny is accounted for.”

However, Corcoran has been part of the system that approved the secret projects. Florida Polytechnic University in Lakeland received $1.5 million in 2015 when Corcoran ran the House budget committee. The money paid for a no-bid contract with a company linked to a well-known lobbyist that duplicated a $1 million competitively bid state contract to provide the same anti-hazing service, according to a 2015 article in The Palm Beach Post.

Senate leaders pushed back fiercely last week against Corcoran, claiming they had significant legal arguments already developed that could be used in a lawsuit against the House rule, challenging any effort by the speaker to tell senators how to run their chamber. The two sides now are negotiating, although it's not clear if they'll come to an agreement that would eliminate threats of a government shutdown if they don't resolve the impasse.

Senate President Joe Negron said Friday through spokeswoman Katie Betta that he supports more transparency in the budget process, but he didn't address Corcoran's proposal.

"President Negron is committed to improving transparency within the budget process, and believes there is certainly more than one way to achieve that goal," Betta said.

The battle boils down to whether the special projects requested by lawmakers, often at the urging of universities, will be clearly identified in the budget, and perhaps vulnerable to the governor's line-item veto. The projects are not publicly identified in the budget. They aren't discussed in committee meetings. They don't receive any committee votes.

Instead, the lawmaker requests submitted to budget chairmen are added when a small group of House and Senate lawmakers who write the state's budget meet in conference to hash out differences at the end of the legislative session.

Former Senate President Andy Gardiner, R-Orlando, used the secret budget process to send $5 million to the University of Central Florida for the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts. Gardiner folded the money into UCF's budget after Scott vetoed an identical request that was itemized in the previous year's state budget.

"I would dispute that the way we appropriated the money was wrong because it was the same way several higher education projects are appropriated and then added as one line item in the budget," Gardiner said. "I understand why they're having these discussions with transparency being such and important issue, and I think Joe and Richard will eventually figure it out."

This year's budget includes more than $45 million worth of secret projects tucked inside $1.7 billion sent to the universities. Each year, the university system's Board of Governors receives a report listing the projects that received money, including those requested by presidents and other university officials. For example, Florida State University President John Thrasher has received $2 million to pay for additional faculty at FSU's law school and to offer scholarships, but this additional money is not itemized in the budget.

It's not clear which lawmaker requested money for the Progress Boulevard Extension in Alachua. But records from the State University System of Florida show the $500,000 went to the University of Florida for Coqui Radiopharmaceuticals "to support the administrative and operational activities of the corporation." Those documents say nothing about the money being used to build a road.

UF spokeswoman Janine Sikes said the $500,000 paid for the road that was intended to lead to the site where Coqui had planned to build its manufacturing center. The university hoped to partner on medical research projects with the company. But Conqui decided to move to Tennessee instead, and the university handed the brand new road, complete with new curbs, over to the city of Alachua, Sikes said.

The road is on land owned by the University of Florida Foundation, which planned to donate the extension to the medical company.

The city has no plans for the road that ends near San Felasco Hammock Preserve State Park. Another nearby road serves as the park's main entrance, where visitors pay $4 per car and $2 per pedestrian.

“That’s really about it for people going up and down the road,” city of Alachua Lead Engineering Technician Harry Dillard said. “It provides access to the park.”

Another secret project funded through special legislative requests was the money for FSU's law school.

The first $1 million in 2015 was not among the written requests submitted by House and Senate members. The $1 million in this year's budget, sought for two faculty positions and an undisclosed number of scholarships, was requested by Thrasher, FSU's president and a former senator. Thrasher made the request through Sen. Bill Montford, D-Tallahassee.

Montford said while his request did not face public or lawmaker scrutiny like most items in the budget, the secret process allows lawmakers to respond quickly to requests.

Thrasher said his request helped level the financial playing field for FSU as it competed against the state's other three public law schools receiving taxpayer dollars. Thrasher said he asked Negron to help find more money for the law school.

Negron, who led the criminal justice appropriations subcommittee that year, asked Montford to handle Thrasher's request.

Thrasher said he understands why lawmakers are calling for more openness in how state money is spent.

"I get why they're changing the rules because I was over in the Legislature for so long," Thrasher. "I support any increase in transparency."