TALLAHASSEE -- Shaken by the prospect of a painful budget year, the Florida Legislature held a low-key ceremony Tuesday to swear in new members and elect the presiding officers of the House and Senate.

Republican Jeff Atwater, a North Palm Beach banker, is the new Senate president, and Republican Ray Sansom, a Destin businessman, is the new House speaker.

Sansom replaces Miami's Marco Rubio, who retired because of term limits.

The 120-member House gave the oath of office to 35 newly elected representatives -- 21 Republicans and 14 Democrats -- while the 40-member Senate swore in seven senators, including five Republicans and two Democrats.

They take office in the worst economy in decades, when the Florida budget is bleeding money and the economy is shedding jobs in record numbers. By June 30, legislators must complete the only task required by the state Constitution: pass a state budget.

Meanwhile, the state's revenue picture is expected to darken. On Friday, lawmakers will get a new economic forecast from state economists that will spell out how far the state's revenues are expected to drop below expectations.

Revenues have already dipped more than $600 million below what economists forecast last spring when legislators wrote the state budget.

The state faces a $1.2 billion cash shortfall through January, and early predictions are that revenues will drop another $1 billion.

Sansom and Atwater must decide soon if there is enough money to borrow from unspent trust fund accounts to stave off a special budget-cutting session until lawmakers return for the regular session in March. If the shortfall is too deep, they must call a special session to cut the budget beyond the 4 percent that agencies have been told by the governor to hold back.

Atwater said his first act will be to appoint a bipartisan committee of senators to help find solutions for the state's economic and financial problems after consulting with business, academics and economic experts.

''Floridians are hurting,'' Atwater said. ``They have seen secure jobs disappear, and the stock-market collapse has hit the most vulnerable the hardest. . . . This is a crisis, and we will treat it as such.''

The panel will make its recommendations before the Legislature convenes in its March 2009 regular session.

Sansom acknowledged that the state's slow economy ``needs to be awakened.''

He warned members that the state has ''an over-regulated work force'' and ``citizens that seem to be exhausted with government.''

He said businesses are laying off longtime employees and homeowners are foreclosing at record numbers: ``Members, we have our work cut out for us.''

Sansom and Gov. Charlie Crist have said they would prefer not to have a costly special session and would rather borrow from the $1.2 billion that remains in unspent trust fund accounts to solve the cash shortfall. But Atwater predicted the forecast on Friday ''will be quite severe'' and said he is more open to a special session.

''I think that it won't take a rocket scientist to read the tea leaves,'' Atwater said. ``I can't close the door to the prospect of us needing to be back sooner to concentrate more clearly without distraction as to the challenge the budget has for us.''

The change in legislative leadership has diluted South Florida's grip on some of the most powerful positions in the Legislature.

Rep. Franklin Sands, of Weston, was sworn in Tuesday as the House Democratic leader, replacing Dan Gelber, who won a Senate seat.

Sands remains the only member of the Miami-Dade and Broward delegations to hold a leadership post.

Sen. Steve Geller, the Cooper City Democrat who led the Senate Democratic caucus, retired because of term limits.

Senate. Rep. Perry Thurston, a Plantation Democrat, told the House Democratic Caucus that Sands will pursue an ``inclusive agenda that will move our state forward.''

''These times are going to be challenging, and with these challenges come opportunity,'' Sands said.

Having just come off a difficult election battle that required both Democrats and Republicans to defend several seats, lawmakers returned with virtually the same partisan divisions they left with.

There was no change from the 26-14 margin for Republicans in the Senate, while the Democrats picked off one seat in the House, bringing the margin to 76-44.

The House and Senate each voted to approve a new set of rules to govern their committee structure, with the House creating a Finance and Tax Committee that is expected to tackle property taxes, and two House budget committees that will manage the budget deficit.

The Senate watered down the hard-fought ethics rules that were voted in four years ago.

Instead of forcing senators to ''immediately'' set up a website once they engage in fundraising for a political committee, the new rules require them to ''promptly'' set up the website, but only to the degree it's required by law -- which gives them five days.

The House also held a memorial service for Rep. Stan Mayfield, a Vero Beach Republican, who died in September of esophageal cancer. He was replaced by his wife, Rep. Debbie Mayfield, who was elected two weeks ago.

Join the discussion

Note: If this is your first time using our NEW commenting system, you will have to LOG OUT and then LOG BACK IN.

The Miami Herald is pleased to provide this opportunity to share information, experiences and observations about what's in the news. Some of the comments may be reprinted elsewhere in the site or in the newspaper. We encourage lively, open debate on the issues of the day, and ask that you refrain from profanity, hate speech, personal comments and remarks that are off point. In order to post comments, you must be a registered user of MiamiHerald.com. Your username will show along with the comments you post. Thank you for taking the time to offer your thoughts.

     Showing: Oldest first Newest first Most-recommended first Least-recommended first

@Nyx.AuthorDisplayName@ wrote on @Nyx.PostedAtTime@:

@Nyx.CommentBody@

@Nyx.Recommender@ @Nyx.AbuseReporter@