Florida's Legislature is flush with good ideas.
Sen. Al Lawson's involves a 2 cent-per-roll tax on
toilet paper to pay for wastewater treatment and
help small towns upgrade their sewer systems.
The Democratic lawmaker's pay-as-you-go bill has
been the source of many jokes - bathroom humor you
might say - but he says the issue is a serious
one, especially in some of the fast-growing
Panhandle coastal counties in his district.
"They're experiencing a tremendous boom in growth
and they're not able to accommodate the growth,"
Lawson said. "We've got 17 million people in this
state and all of them can contribute to protecting
our underground water supply."
In a Republican-dominated Legislature that doesn't
like new taxes, the idea is likely to pretty
quickly end up in the tank.
Senate President Tom Lee, R-Brandon, said he
didn't think it would get too far, but didn't rule
it out.
"We'll be getting to the bottom of it real soon,"
Lee said.
The House is skeptical as well.
"We're not wild about tax increases," said House
Speaker Allan Bense, R-Panama City. "But we'll
certainly let it go through the system."
If it were to pass, the extra two pennies would
start being charged in October. Lawson said it
could generate $50 million a year.
It would also need approval from Gov. Jeb Bush. He
said that if toilet paper is taxed, people might
use less of it.
"That's not necessarily a good thing," noted the
governor.