The Board of Governors of the Florida Chamber of Commerce convened last week at Amelia Island for their annual summer meeting.  The meeting was heavily flavored with Florida election year politics along with planning for the 2003 legislation session.  Attendees received in-depth briefings on the Chamber’s 2002 political strategy through its two beefed-up political action committees designed to impact key congressional and legislative races around the state.  Receiving major focus in our region were the hot races for the new East Central Florida congressional seat, the new Hispanic-dominated state house seat in Orange and Osceola Counties and for the state senate seat held by retiring Sen. “Buddy” Dyer in Orange County.  Education and workforce development plus healthcare, transportation, and taxes again received top billing for placement in the Chamber’s 2003 Business Agenda.  Shortly, the Florida Chamber will unveil its 2002 Legislative Report Card which ranks legislator's voting records on key business issues.  Our region’s legislators are generally expected to again be leaders in the scoring…………………An issue rapidly rising on the minds of many business and Chamber leaders is the increasing number and unknown costs of several proposed constitutional amendments possibly appearing on the November as well as on future ballots.  Of particular concern are the proposed “tax reform” amendment spearheaded by Senate President John McKay and the amendment limiting school classroom size…………….Incoming Senate President-Designate Jim King of Jacksonville appeared as the meeting’s keynote speaker and offered a sobering preview of Florida’s fiscal picture next year.  King called on Florida’s business community along with other special interest groups to prepare to “share in the pain” that will be necessary in dealing with an anticipated $1.3 billion deficit next year………….  Chamber resolutions in support of the Sept. 10 Sales Tax referendum for Orange County school construction and renovation are being considered for action by three Chamber boards.  The Leadership Alumni Board of Directors took its first look last week while the Small Business Chamber’s Executive Board and Chamber’s Executive Board have approved submittal of differing draft resolutions of support to their respective Board of Governors for discussion and final action in July.  ……………..Change4Kids, the political action co-chaired by Dick Batchelor and former Cong. Lou Frey in support of the referendum, held a briefing recently for referendum activists to report on key activities since its formation.  In an upbeat report, they reported on the work of the group’s Communications and Public Relations Committees, new polling results, campaign financing and outlined the political strategy leading up to Sept. 10………………Offsetting the positive news coming out of Change 4Kids was the unfortunate news Orange County led the state in the number of  “F” schools based on student 2002 FCAT scores which is the key component of Gov. Jeb Bush’s A+ Educational Program……………..Freshman GOP Cong. Ric Keller is the recipient of a glowing endorsement for re-election from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.  In making its endorsement, Keller’s perfect 100% Chamber rating was cited based on his key votes on important business issues such as taxes, international trade and energy..………………Looking ahead: Watch for the first part of an exclusive two part First Monday interview in the upcoming July issue with regional congressional candidate and outgoing Speaker of the House Tom Feeney as he reflects on his tenure as Speaker and looks ahead to the congressional campaign……………..

Mike Ketchum is Vice President of Public Policy for The Orlando Regional Chamber of Commerce.