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TALLAHASSEE (CBS4) ― With the bang of a gavel and an announcement that "We have a quorum Mr. President," Florida senators kicked off a special session in Tallahassee focused on cutting nearly $1 billion from the state's budget.

Senator Fredericka Wilson, from Miami, opened the session with a prayer.

Senate President Ken Pruitt, of Port St. Lucie, then challenged his fellow lawmakers to come up with a workable budget.

"Government can always do a better job," said Pruitt, " and that's what we're here for."

In their proposals, Democratic senator Steve Geller, from Hallandale Beach, said Republicans were only talking about making cuts, not increasing revenue, which is going to meet resistance from his party.

"I expect that most Democrats are going to vote against this bill," said Geller, "because we want everything on the table."

The Republican Senate president reiterated Wednesday that raising new money won't be part of the equation as lawmakers try to balance the budget.

"We're not here about increasing taxes, that would only increase the burden to Floridians," said Pruitt.

While Pruitt noted that the Legislature will have to continue to cut spending when lawmakers return for their regular session in the spring, he implied that new taxes aren't likely to be part of their plan then, either.

"That's not where Florida's future's going to go," Pruitt said. "It's not about increasing taxes."

Geller said Democrats wanted to consider raising money by at least looking at some tax exemptions that, if ended, could bring in several hundred million dollars. Also a possibility in some Democrats' minds is finding ways to expand
gambling and taxing it.

"Our position is everything needs to be on the table," Geller said. "But if they tell us at the beginning, 'No, we're not
going to look at any of these things, only cutting spending,' that's where we parted ways."

The Democrats are outnumbered in the Senate 26-14, so their votes aren't needed to pass a budget balancing plan. Republicans control the House with a 77-42 majority.

In the House, Democrats have accused the Republicans of trying to balance the budget with cuts to education and healthcare. Governor Charlie Crist told CBS4 senior investigative reporter Brian Andrews that was just not true.

"What we're doing is reversing earlier increases that were put into the budget," said Crist, "that's it. I mean, so there's no real cut occurring. We're reducing how much more was going to be added. And we have to do it, I mean, you know, the economy is in a difficult spot for a brief time, so by reducing what we spend we stay in balance and don't blow the bank."
Crist characterized the impending cuts to education, health care, social services and other spending areas as being smaller increases rather than net losses compared to the budget for the last fiscal year that ended June 30.

Lawmakers will need the entire 10 days to complete the budget-cutting job, according to a schedule released by leaders of the Republican-controlled Legislature.

They will start with committee meetings Wednesday and Thursday. Floor votes in both chambers are scheduled Friday, immediately followed by negotiations to resolve differences between the chambers.

Additional conference committee talks will be held Sunday if necessary. There will be no meetings Saturday because Tallahassee hotel rooms are booked solid for a Florida State University football game.

Leadership then will resolve any remaining differences Monday and the finished product will be distributed the next day. The Florida Constitution requires a 72-hour cooling off period for the budget, delaying a final floor vote until Oct. 12.

Meanwhile, many lawmakers also got their first real look at a proposal to restore the state's no-fault personal injury protection car insurance law with changes meant to decrease fraud in the system.

Governor Crist added no-fault to the agenda after the requirement for motorists to carry personal injury protection expired Monday.

House and Senate committees held workshops on the bill Tuesday, but it's not clear yet how much support there is in the Legislature for the proposal. Various interest groups, from hospitals to auto insurers, to chiropractors to trial lawyers have intense interest in what happens, but many legislators are only now getting into the details of whether the system should continue.

The measure would restore the no-fault system that required drivers to carry $10,000 worth of insurance to cover medical and other injury costs in an accident no matter who is at fault.

But the bill also would put new anti-fraud measures into place. Among them, is one requiring that only clinics owned by doctors can be reimbursed from PIP policies, creating a fee schedule spelling out how much insurance companies will pay for various procedures, and creating a list of medical providers eligible to be paid under the system.

Critics say the bill doesn't do enough because it doesn't cap fees for attorneys in cases where PIP claims are disputed, and it doesn't have provisions for reviewing procedures prescribed by doctors to determine whether they're warranted.

The bills could be voted out of committees later this week, but even sponsors of the measures aren't sure yet whether the full Legislature will pass it this month.

Legislative leaders Monday also agreed to call a fourth special session before the end of October to again take up property taxes.

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