Facing South Florida: State House Speaker Jose Oliva Discusses Controversial Issues of Healthcare, Gun Safety, Medical Marijuana & More
Follow CBSMIAMI.COM: Facebook | Twitter
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – In a wide-ranging interview in advance of this year's legislative session, Florida House Speaker Jose Oliva sat down with CBS's Jim DeFede on Facing South Florida.
"The most pressing issue - there are many - but the most pressing is health care," Oliva said. "Without a doubt the costs of health care are a runaway train. When I was elected in 2011 it was about 33 percent of our budget, which is significant. Of course this year will be about 48 percent. It's growing at a rate faster than anything else, certainly faster than revenues. And still we have 600,000 people without coverage. And so the real issue is not how much of a commitment we've made to spending money on health care. The issue is the cost of health care. What is causing the cost of health care to continue to skyrocket? That's what we'll be focusing on."
Facing South Florida: Florida House Speaker Jose Oliva On Medical Marijuana, Gun Safety, Education
Oliva blamed the current system of hospitals.
"Hospitals have become these giant monopolies and conglomerates due in part to government regulation that allowed them to have monopolies," he said. "In fact they almost insisted that they be the only hospital in a given area. Over the years these hospitals have started to acquire doctor's offices around them, diagnostic centers around them. They self-refer to their own diagnostic centers and they take in patients from these doctor's offices they buy. In essence they've created a monopoly."
"The other issue is they can charge anything and people feel like, `Well it must somehow be justifiable.' Well in the large amount of cases it isn't. It's just it's outright price gouging and we have to get to the bottom of it."
Oliva said he opposes the so-called Medicaid expansion, which would allow the federal government to pay the cost to provide healthcare for nearly 800,000 people in Florida.
"Well I would tell you that the level of health care that they will get is minimal because many doctor's offices don't take Medicaid," Oliva said, adding it would only be a Band-Aid and that the real problem the state needs to focus on is the cos of healthcare.
WEB EXTRA: Florida House Speaker Jose Oliva Speaks On Healthcare
Oliva describes himself as a small government, conservative who believes people should be allowed to live their lives as they see fit.
"I think people should be able to make the decisions that they would like to make for themselves," he explained. "I don't want to encumber someone's ability to make their decisions. I don't want to tell anyone how to live their lives."
WEB EXTRA: Florida House Speaker Jose Oliva Speaks On Education
When asked about abortion, the Miami Lakes Republican said the issue was more complicated.
"Well the challenge there is that there are two lives involved," he said. "So, where I believe that we should stay out of people's lives, I don't believe that people's lives should be taken. It's a complex issue because one has to think, well there's a host body and that host body has to have a certain amount of rights because at the end of the day it is that body that that carries this entire other body to term. But there is an additional life there."
"And the question that we have to ask ourselves is: What is the limit to which we are going to give one person complete power over the life of another?"
Oliva's use of the clinical term "host body" in describing a woman did not appear to be accidental. He used it five times during the interview.
For instance, while discussing setting limits on abortions based on viability, Oliva said: "As technology moves along, a human body can exist outside of its host body earlier and earlier. And so then one has to think, until what time does the host body have veto power over this other life?"
WEB EXTRA: Florida House Speaker Jose Oliva Speaks On Abortion
The phrase came up again when he declared that life begins at conception.
"Science believes that," he said. "I mean the only definition of science of life is something that grows. From the moment that conception occurs there begins to be growth. And so scientifically that's what it is. But that's not the question. The question is: What is the value of that life? And is it subordinate to the value of its host body?"
When he was asked about the term "host body," and whether it is demeans women, Oliva said he was just trying to be technically accurate in his language.
"You understand that when this discussion is being had, the fetus is also a person and that is being seen as a fetus," he said. "And so we can either use technical terms on both sides or we can just use both lives. I'd be happy to do either. The real question is, there are two lives. There is a weight and a quality to both. Both need protection. What is that balance?"
After his comments were first broadcast, Oliva issued a statement, apologizing for using the term "host body."
"In a recent interview where the very controversial topic of abortion was raised I used the term 'host' to describe a pregnant woman. It was an attempt to use terminology found in medical ethics writings with the purpose of keeping the discussion dispassionate. The reaction undoubtedly shows it had the exact opposite effect. I apologize for having caused offense, my aim was the contrary. This is and will continue to be our societies greatest challenge. I strongly believe both mother and child have rights and the extent and balance of those rights remain in question. I regret my wording has distracted from the issue. My apologies to all."
WEB EXTRA: Florida Speaker Jose Oliva Issues Apology For Abortion Comments
Oliva made it clear during the interview, restricting abortion was not one of his priorities. He said he is focused instead on bringing down the cost of healthcare.
Nevertheless, Oliva acknowledged given some of the abortion laws that are being proposed around the country and the possibility the Supreme Court may weigh in on historic rulings such as Roe v. Wade, he expected the issue of abortion to be part of this year's legislative session, which starts on Tuesday.
Oliva said he will support bills that would create a so-called "cooling off period," which would delay a woman from receiving an abortion. He would also require the woman be given "information" that might ultimately affect her decision.
"I would support things that are consistent with other laws," Oliva said. "So, in the state of Florida you cannot get a marriage license without a cooling off period of a couple of days just to make sure that two adults, two capable adults are required to take some time. You're required to take a certain amount of time before you buy a firearm just in the event that you are making a bad decision for yourself."
He said he doesn't know why some people would oppose a similar law when it comes to abortion. "We feel that it is an offense to ask someone before ending another life to take a time and think about it to fully understand what it is," he said.
Asked if such a law assumes the woman hasn't already weighed her options, wrestled with her choices, and made a decision that is in her best interest, Oliva responded: "And the same argument can be made for a marriage license, same argument could be made for the purchase of a gun. We're making assumptions that perhaps we probably should not make."
It is not clear how far these bills will likely go this year. Typically they make their way through the House and facing a tougher reception in the Florida Senate.
On the issue of guns and school safety, Oliva said despite the laws passed in the wake of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas shooting, he does not believe "we are significantly more safe than we were last year."
WEB EXTRA: Florida House Speaker Talks To CBS4's Jim DeFede About Guns
Months after the tragedy, the Legislature passed several measures, sponsored by Oliva, that included raising the age to buy a firearm from 18 to 21 and established a process to take guns away from individuals deemed a risk. Oliva said more needs to be done.
"I don't believe that we're doing everything we can," Oliva said during an interview with CBS Miami. "I think we've spent a lot of money. We've started to create, at a good rate, a mental health safety net. But I'm concerned that in Broward County, where this terrible tragedy happened, they still did not yet have policies in place that would have prevented this. I'm concerned that it has become an issue a political issue about guns as opposed to the safety of a school and how we truly keep our children safe. I think that like a lot of issues it gets highly politicized, but I don't feel that we are significantly more safe than we were last year."
When the legislature convenes on Tuesday, guns will once again be a major issue. More than four dozen gun-related bills have been filed, including measures that would undo the gun restrictions put into place last year.
Oliva said he would oppose those efforts. "It would be disingenuous of me to have crafted a bill, passed it through the House, and then come back and try to repeal parts of it," he said. "It would either say something about my thinking then or my thinking now."
WEB EXTRA: Florida House Speaker Jose Oliva Speaks On Medical Marijuana
One proposal not expected to make it through the House, is a bill banning assault weapons, like the one used in the Stoneman Douglas shooting, that left 14 students and three teachers dead.
Instead, Oliva said he would support bills that would allow teachers to be armed in the classroom.
"When someone says a teacher with a gun, you know the first thing in your mind is your second grade teacher [mine was] Miss Murphy and you thought my goodness Miss Murphy couldn't possibly carry a gun," he said. "Well Miss Murphy would have never passed the almost military like training that it would have taken to have been deputized by the local sheriff to carry a gun. Miss Murphy couldn't have possibly done the continuing education required or the continuing training to maintain that proficiency."
As part of last year's Marjory Stoneman Douglas Public Safety Act, support staff, including coaches, are eligible to carry a gun on campus, if their local sheriff's department opts into the program and the person passes the training. Oliva would expand the so-called Guardian Program to include teachers.
"Nowhere that we introduce more trained people with weapons do we have more gun violence," he added. "You know the president walks around goes around the country highly protected. Some of our state officials go around protected some members of Congress go around protected."
WEB EXTRA: Florida House Speaker Jose Oliva Speaks On Gun Laws
Critics worry introducing more guns into schools could lead to more shootings.
"Isn't that a terrible assumption though," Oliva said. "I mean think about that for a moment. You're saying that if a teacher gets a gun all of a sudden it starts to seem like that's the weapon they should use. They should use that instrument to solve all problems."
"The bill's very specific," Oliva added. "That weapon cannot be used to break up fights. The only issue in which a teacher may use that weapon is in the event of an active shooter. That is the single issue."
On the budget, Oliva has expressed concern that the $91.3 Billion budget proposed by Governor Ron DeSantis may be too much.
"So the goal of the House is to craft a budget that spends less per resident than it did last year," he said. "It'll still be a budget that's higher than last year's."
Oliva said he supports increased spending on the environment, but stopped short of agreeing to the $625 million figure recommended by the Governor for Everglades restoration and improved water quality.
Facing South Florida: Full Interview With Jose Oliva
