Prop-guard technology is state of the art and ready to roll. Florida's total reliance on the sales tax has the disadvantage of making state revenues hypersensitive to every downward tick in the economy. But whenever any brave leader attempts to broaden that tax base or make it more progressive and fair, lobbyists spring up to nip the action in the bud. We lurch from one budget crisis to the next, suffering scandalous rates of child poverty, overstuffed classrooms and serious slippage in the rank and reputation of our universities. The trucking lobby.
Overweight trucks cause costly damage to pavement.
Not only are fines set at laughably low levels that fail to cover the cost of repair, but also they inflict too little pain to deter flouting of weight limits. Meanwhile, the lobby just keeps on truckin'. A move is afoot to allow even greater weights on our roads. Insurance shell games. In the final minutes of the Florida Senate's session in 1993, industry lobbyists pushed through a bill whose contents were unknown to most senators.