SINE DIE!

Today was the last day of the 2008 Legislative Session, known as Sine Die. During the last 60 days, elected officials from across our state struggled to balance a state budget with decreased revenues.

Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink worked with legislators throughout the session to pass laws that protect Floridians, including bolstering penalties for fraudulently selling annuities to seniors, requiring better training for public adjusters while regulating fees, and improving the My Safe Florida Home hurricane mitigation program.

Floridians still face $28 billion in hurricane risk in the event of a catastrophic storm. CFO Sink will continue to urge fiscally responsible legislation to reduce the risk of hurricane assessments on Florida’s families and businesses.

 

The CFO also spoke with the group about the importance of financial literacy and learning to manage their money now as they prepare for college. She encouraged the group to consider the diversity of jobs available in public service and include those opportunities in planning for their careers.



More than 850 middle and high school students will be competing in Tallahassee to represent Florida at the National History Fair Competition in Washington, D.C. in June. The competition is being held at Tallahassee Community College and is open to the public from 3:30 to 5:00 p.m. on May 2, 2008, where hundreds of entries will be on display. Approximately 30,000 students in 25 counties participated in local and county level competitions, narrowing the field to those competing this week in our state’s Capitol.

CFO SINK'S OFFICE PARTICIPATES IN NATIONAL MEETING ON CLIMATE RISK TO FLORIDA'S COASTS

Left to right: Ben Diamond, Special Counsel to the CFO, Susan Watts, Bonita Bay Group, Kathy Baughman McLeod, Deputy Chief of Staff to the CFO, and  Brian Lucas, Bonita Bay Group, attended the Ceres conference in Boston, Massachusetts.

Kathy Baughman McLeod represented CFO Alex Sink as a panelist in an insurance workshop titled Models Wanted : How insurance catastrophe models can help business and government plan for climate change  

Climate change brings a wide array of geographic risks, from sea level rise to drought. While the public and private sector are working more than ever to limit the extent of climate change, business and government are increasingly aware that some degree of climate change is inevitable and will pose increasing risks to populations and investments.

With representatives from insurance, reinsurance, cat modeling, banking and government, the workshop explored how different sectors are preparing for climate change, including emerging adaptation models that combine traditional catastrophe models with climate data. These new models not only characterize risk under existing conditions, they also test adaptation options--including infrastructure investments, building codes and land use scenarios--and are increasingly in demand in both the public and private sectors.

 

STIMULUS PAYMENT SCHEDULE Direct Deposit Payments: If the last two digits of your Social Security number are, your economic stimulus payment deposit should be transmitted to your bank account by: 00 – 20 May 2 21 – 75 May 9 76 – 99 May 16

Paper Checks: If the last two digits of your Social Security number are, your check should be in the mail by: 00 – 09 May 16 10 – 18 May 23 19 – 25 May 30 26 – 38 June 6 39 – 51 June 13 52 – 63 June 20 64 – 75 June 27 76 – 87 July 4 88 – 99 July 11

The IRS is issuing payments of up to $600 ($1,200 for married couples) plus $300 for eligible children younger than 17, throughout the spring and summer. The first wave of payments will go to people who opted for direct deposit on their 2007 income tax returns.

There are many people who are eligible for an economic stimulus payment who have not yet filed a tax return. IRS officials indicated that retirees, disabled veterans and others who normally do not file a tax return still have until Oct. 15 to submit a 2007 return to receive a stimulus payment this year.  Individuals who have no tax filing requirement but who have at least $3,000 in qualifying income should file Form 1040A. Qualifying income includes any combination of earned income, nontaxable combat pay or certain payments from Social Security, Veterans Affairs and Railroad Retirement. Use direct deposit to get your payment faster.

The sequence of payment deliveries is being done according to the last two digits of the individual's Social Security number. For direct deposits, if your number ends in 00 to 20, the funds should be transmitted to your bank by May 2, provided your 2007 tax return was filed and the IRS processed it prior to April 15. All such transfers should be made by May 16.

Paper checks will be distributed from May through July according to a similar schedule. Individuals who did not submit a return in time for it to be processed by April 15 may see their stimulus payments later than the scheduled dates, the IRS said.