Gov. Charlie Crist has signed into law measures outlawing the practice of “double-dipping” from the Florida Retirement System, officials said Thursday.

The new law is designed to close a loophole that has allowed more than 9,000 people, about 200 of whom are elected officials, to collect retirement benefits and a salary at the same time, officials have said previously.

Under the new law, a state employee is no longer permitted to “retire” and return to work in 30 days. The new law mandates a six-month ban on re-employment.

Its provisions apply to retirements that occur on or after July 1, 2010.

At a time when Florida is facing probable layoffs of many of its employees, it was important to reform the system, which hurt rank-and-file workers while benefitting more highly-paid employees and elected officials, said one of the legislation’s sponsors, state Sen. Mike Fasano, R-Spring Hill.

The law applies to all elected officers and employees, officials said. Additionally, any retiree who returns to work will not be able to accrue any new state pension benefits, they added.

State Rep. Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton, who voted for the bill during the 2009 legislative session, said Thursday, “I’m very pleased that the governor signed the bill, it’s an issue that many of my constituents have expressed concern about. The bill fixes a loophole, and that’s a necessary thing to do, especially in economic times like we’re facing.”

The measure will put a stop to the abuse of the state retirement system by elected officials and judges in particular, said Fasano.

“Those individuals will not be able to take a six month break from their elected or appointed positions,” he added. “ It will also keep senior management from retiring and coming right back to their old position at a high salary, since their position will have to remain unfilled for six months,” he noted.

When Alex Sink was running unopposed for re-election as chief financial officer, she was a safe bet not just for Democrats but Republicans as well. Dozens of well-known GOP’ers sent $500 checks to Sink’s CFO campaign in the first quarter of 2009, helping her to accumulate more than $1.1-million.

But everything changed in May when Sink switched races and announced she will run for governor next year. She wants to convert all of that CFO money into her campaign for governor, but she can’t do it without the consent of contributors. Sink has sent this letter to all donors offering to give them their money back on a pro-rated basis. Contributors have until June 30 to let Sink know their intentions.

“If you would like to support my campaign for governor, you do not have to do anything,” Sink writes in the letter, a point that she underlined for emphasis.

It will be very revealing on July 10, when Sink posts her second-quarter financial report, which donors demanded their money back and which ones didn’t. For example, Republican lawyer Chris Kise and his wife, Amy, each gave Sink $500, and he said she can absolutely keep the money. “What they do with the money is their decision,” Kise said, calling it “bad form” for campaign contributors to demand a refund. But lawyer-lobbyist Brian Ballard, whose firm and wife, Kathryn, both gave Sink $500, said he will ask for the money back because the donations were exclusively for Sink’s CFO race. “With all due respect to Chris, it’s bad form to contribute to candidates you don’t support,” Ballard said.

Currently Bill McCollum and Alex Sink have both launched campaigns for the Governors post.  Paula Dockery has yet to declare her candidacy .

With Tallahassee having proven itself too small to contain the political ambitions of Charlie Crist, the race for Florida’s next Chief Executive is wide open.  Alex Sink, the state’s CFO, looks as if she will sail to the Democratic nomination without any opposition.  Bill McCollum, the state’s Attorney General, has so far failed to draw a primary opponent, although State Senator Paula Dockery is said to be considering challenging him.  Regardless of which candidates are put forth, there are serious questions that should be raised of the candidates on both sides of the ticket.

Jeb Bush was arguably Florida’s most powerful governor in recent history.  During his tenure, the role of of the Governor was expanded like never before.  Prior to 2003, Florida’s Governor was merely one of seven equal votes on the state cabinet.  The cabinet voted on all executive level decisions, which meant an alliance of four votes could override the Governor on any executive level decisions.  In 2002, with Jeb Bush’s backing, Florida voters approved a constitutional amendment that shrunk the cabinet to three positions, greatly expanding the power of the governor.  At the same time, voters approved an amendment that eliminated the Board of Regents, which governed the state’s higher education and shifted that responsibility to the new Florida Board of Governors, which are appointed by the Governor.

Charlie Crist has continued to expand the role of the governor while in office, using his position to push through the deceptively named “Save Our Homes” Amendment.  (Deceptive, in that it marginally cut property taxes while negatively impacting funding for local governments.)

With those those two most recent chief executives in mind, here are five questions Duval County voters might want to ask as they begin to think of how they will vote next November.

1.  Where does the candidate stand on the expanded role of state power at the expense of local governments? The candidate’s position on this issue should begin to emerge rather quickly as they hit the campaign trail.  Are the candidates pushing an agenda that includes cutting property taxes?  If so, they are most likely masking an effort to further weaken the ability of local governments to provide essential services to their citizens.  They are also removing the option to cut taxes from local governments and consolidating it in Tallahassee.

2.  Does the candidate support the Crist practice of using non-recurring revenues and trust fund raids to balance the state budget? Sink was quick to announce her opposition to trust fund raids, but McCollum has remained ominously silent on the issue.  The practice is dangerous for Florida and something that will have dire consequences in the long term.

3.  Where does the candidate stand on water issues? This is one that will be quite difficult to pin any candidate running for statewide office down on, but it’s one that North Floridians should be very concerned about.  The recent decision by the St. Johns River Water Management District to allow Seminole County to remove up to 5.5 million gallons of water from the St. Johns River each day will not bode well for the long-term health of the river.  Central Florida has known for years that their growth is not sustainable, but will a gubernatorial candidate be willing to upset the vote-rich I-4 corridor to state the obvious?

4.  Where does the candidate stand on the sales surtax that Gov. Crist vetoed? This is an issue of particular importance to Duval County residents.  Duval is at a disadvantage when compared to every other county in the statebecause of the inability of our elected commission—the city council—to levy a sales tax surcharge to fund indigent care.  Crist inexplicably vetoed a measure that passed the legislature unanimously that would have allowed Jacksonville to shift the burden for indigent care from the city’s operating budget to a half-cent sales surtax, freeing up much-needed funds for other services.

5.  Where does the candidate stand on the Fair District Florida effort? Fair Districts Florida is an effort to put two amendments on the ballot  that would fundamentally alter the redistricting process in Florida.  Redistricting in Florida has grown increasingly partisan in the last several decades.  Groups have been marginalized and districts throughout the state have been drawn in ways that make no geographic sense—it’s glaringly apparent that they exist for one of two reasons:  To either protect an incumbent or minimize a specific segment of the population.  It’s important to know where the next Governor of Florida would stand on this issue—after all, she (or he) would play a major role in drawing new districts after the 2010 census.

Of course, these are just five of the many issues facing the state, but they are a start.  It will be interesting to hear both sides address them as the election nears.

Florida voters have yet to make a firm choice on who they want to replace Republican Gov. Charlie Crist when he steps down in 2010 to run for the U.S. Senate. In the first poll taken since Crist announced he was stepping down, Floridians are largely undecided in the contest between state Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink (D) and state Attorney General Bill McCollum (R).

According to the latest survey from Quinnipiac University, Sink leads with 38% of the vote, ahead of McCollum at 34%; 25% of voters remain undecided. Among independent voters, McCollum leads 32% to 27% over Sink.

“Sink is ahead in the Governor’s race when matched up against McCollum, but voters give him a better job approval rating, 51 – 16 percent, than Sink’s 39 – 17 percent,” said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. “McCollum also has an arguably better favorability ratio, 40 – 13 percent, than does her 25 – 7 percent rating, with 66 percent who haven’t heard enough to form an opinion.”

“One reason may be that in the survey he is identified as a Republican and she a Democrat. In Florida, as in much of the nation these days, the GOP label is not necessarily a plus, even though 50 percent of voters say the fact that Florida’s governor has been Republican since 1998 has been good for the state, compared to 37 percent who say GOP rule has been bad for Florida,” Brown added.

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