Senate President Ken Pruitt is calling next week "turf war week" in the Legislature, for good cause.
The chamber plans to consider a raft of special-interest driven proposals that could help pad the wallets of phone companies, insurance companies and casinos.
"You name it, it's out there," says the Port St. Lucie Republican.
Pruitt has been less-than-enthusiastic about most of these bills, and points out that his chamber has spent its first seven weeks passing a lot of public policy from new teacher bonuses and environmental protections to crime-and-punishment fare.
But now, the corporations that pony up the tens of millions of dollars every campaign season to help lawmakers stay in office will get their day. In fact, they get a week.
Pruitt says it's a decision he's made out of deference to individual senators and the new leadership structure in the Senate that spreads power among more members.
"These are senators who have filed bills that they feel worthy of being considered," Pruitt said. "It is my thought process that let's go ahead and put it out on the floor in one week."
So, next week could be the bellwether for whether "flattening the pyramid" has in fact strengthened the hands of special interests of diluted their power.