THE CAPITAL, TALLAHASSEE, March 26, 2010.....The battle over the nation’s health care system that has consumed Washington, D.C. for more than a year moved to the states this week, lead by one state in particular: Florida.

Attorney General and likely Republican gubernatorial nominee Bill McCollum suited up for a healthy legal fight over the recently approved the federal plan and lawmakers waged battles in committees and on the floor of the Senate that echoed the contentious health care debate in Congress.

Saying "the freedoms of Americans were impaired" by the federal legislation, McCollum’s lawyers were in federal court in Pensacola minutes after President Barack Obama signed it into law, trying to block its requirement that Florida residents buy health insurance. And before Obama put pen to paper, a House panel approved a proposed resolution to block the requirement.

It all made Florida a central battleground in the next round of the national health care fight. McCollum’s lawsuit was filed on behalf of 12 other states in addition to Florida.

"The President of the United States signed into..law a health care bill that in our judgment and the judgment of 12 other state attorney generals is unconstitutional and invades the sovereignty of the states," he said. "It forces people to buy something, in the sense of buying a health care policy or pay a penalty, a tax or a fine that simply the Constitution does not allow Congress to do."

Just as quickly as McCollum delivered his legal analysis of the health care bill, Democrats diagnosed the lawsuit as being politically motivated. House and Senate leaders said their prescription for the lawsuit was asking the state's auditor general to investigate McCollum's office if he proceeds. And on the Senate floor, a Democratic senator running to replace McCollum tried to unsuccessfully to amend a bill (SB 712) that deals with the attorney general's ability to hire outside counsel to outlaw the federal lawsuit.

The amendment, sponsored by Sen. Dan Gelber, D-Miami Beach, was voted down 24-14 along party lines.

Democrats also howled about the fact that the law firm that will work on the lawsuit for all 13 states is McCollum's former firm, Baker and Hostetler of Orlando. The firm was originally retained by South Carolina, which started preparing for the lawsuit earlier, and will work on an hourly rate, not a contingency fee basis, meaning the firm will be paid whether the states win or lose.
Republicans, however, said McCollum’s lawsuit was just what the doctor ordered and approved a resolution (HJR 37) to override the requirement that Floridians be forced to buy insurance.

It all ensured that as the health care battle moves from the halls of Congress to the campaign trail and the courts, the sun will shine brightly on the Sunshine State.

Points on the Chalkboard