State and Local Government TEST

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Institution:

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One of the Florida’s protected rights is imprisonment for debts. This right states that no person will be imprisoned for debts except in cases of fraud. The other is right to costs. It states that no person who has been charged with a crime will be required to pay costs before a judgment of conviction has been finalized. The other is the trial of jury. This right shall be secured to all and also should not be violated. The historical reasons for the Florida protections since 1968 have been to ensure that the rights of the people in this state remain inviolate (Pollock, 1982). They are supposed to protect the citizens of this state from exploitation. The government of this state enforces these rights, and those who goes against them faces the law. There has been no major controversy in these provisions except for the various amendments that have taken place over the years.

Mayor Brown’s pension reform plan outlines how he wanted the city pension system to be amended. He wanted to cap the annual benefits of the employees of Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office at $99,999.00 from nothing. Instead of employees being able to retire after 20 years of service, he wanted to allow retirement after 27 years of service at any age. He also wanted the benefits accrual rate to be 1.67% for all years of service subject to a cap of 50% at 30 years of service (Bayer, 2012). He also wanted the employees of JSO to start their pension at age 60. He also wanted the final pay to be averaged for the last 60 months of service. He also wanted to raise the employees’ contributions to 14% contribution. His main justification for his proposal is that the plan would save $48 million dollars in taxpayer dollars if enacted. He also said that his plan would save $1.5 billion over 30 years.

St John’s River Water Management District is responsible for conducting the necessary research to improve the quality of this river’s water. The District has formed partnership over the years with local governments, other agencies, stakeholders and the public to come up with initiatives to restore the river (Ouyang, 2005). The investments by the District and its partners are the largest in the lower St. Johns River history. They include a citywide no net gain goal for septic tanks (Jacksonville/Duval County) and a program to improve access to the river. They also include an annual state of the river report and a research program to assess why the tributaries of this river are filling in with silt. The main objective of these partnerships is to ensure that there is a substantial reduction in pollution of this river.

In the state of Florida, all the elected officials are term-limited to serve for a maximum of 8 years. One argument supporting term limits is that it helps to curb bad leadership by limiting the number of years a leader can serve (Moncrief, Niemi, Powell, 2004). The other argument is that it gives a chance for other people to exercise leadership by limiting tyrannical rule. One argument against term limits is that it kills the political ambitions of good leaders by limiting their leadership period. The other is that term limits increase the possibility of corruption in the legislative process by interest groups trying to influence the new and inexperienced legislators.

The first major objective of Governor Rick Scotts was to help Floridians create lasting jobs in the private sector. The other objective was to keep the cost of living low for all the Floridians. The Other objective was to ensure that students receive a world-class education that would help them to drive forward the economy of Florida (Stringer, 2012). He accomplished these objectives by reducing property tax by $200 million for Florida’s families and small businesses and the elimination of business income tax. He also helped in the repeal of burdensome rules and regulations, eliminating of public schools’ tenure and a plan to pay effective teachers as professionals. He also helped in creating more than 87,000 jobs in the private sector. The objectives were among the essential components of his campaign manifesto that he accomplished while he was in office.

References

Bayer, T. (2012). Defined (Yet Uncertain) Benefit Pension Plans in America. Chi.-Kent L. Rev., 87, 201.

Moncrief, G. F., Niemi, R. G., & Powell, L. W. (2004). Time, term limits, and turnover: Trends in membership stability in US state legislatures. Legislative Studies Quarterly, 29(3), 357-381.

Buying, Y. (2005). Evaluation of river water quality monitoring stations by principal component analysis. Water research, 39(12), 2621-2635.

Pollock, S. G. (1982). State constitutions as separate sources of fundamental rights. Rutgers L. Rev., 35, 707.

Stringer, S. M. (2011). BANKING ON THE FUTURE. Wall Street Journal.