A fringe benefit of affiliation with Traffic Safety Consultants is the work we do on your behalf via the Florida Providers for Traffic Safety, Inc. FPTS is a two-year-old industry organization that works to promote highway safety and to champion traffic safety programs throughout the state. Membership is limited to driving and traffic schools, curriculum providers, and safety councils.
Two recent FPTS actions have dealt with the privatization of DHSMV operations that would have unfairly hindered competition in the industry. Recently, FTPS helped to block bidding on a contract to print the state’s traffic citation paperwork that would have granted the winner exclusive advertising rights on every citation issued by the state of Florida. An investigation by the state legislature caused the bid request to be withdrawn.
A second, ongoing FPTS effort involves a similar contract. For the past two years, a traffic school provider had been awarded the contract to print the state’s Driver Handbook without reimbursement from the DHSMV — in exchange for the exclusive rights to advertise in it. A 2008 budget appropriation sponsored by Sen. Mike Fasano (R‑New Port Richey) provided the DHSMV with $600,000 to print ad-free handbooks. Governor Charlie Crist line-item vetoed Fasano’s proposal, but left the money it allocated to the DHSMV in the budget. FPTS filed suit to overturn the veto, arguing that Crist could not block the appropriation’s intent without also eliminating the allocated funds from the budget. On Oct. 19, 2007, Circuit Judge John C. Cooper agreed and struck down Gov. Crist’s veto. The final outcome of the issue is pending, but a handbook free of advertising (or with a simple list of providers) is FPTS’s ultimate goal.
No comments:
Post a Comment