Today's mind-boggling question: why would Republican lawmakers want to cut tourism in the state? I can't wrap my head around it, but I argue on today's show that tourism is the number one asset of our sunshine state. Sure, some may argue agriculture is important, and it is, but our state thrives on the more than 112 million visitors that we get each year. 

 But, in fact, Republican lawmakers have indicated that they want to take one of Florida's most important industries — tourism — and hinder it by slashing the budget for Visit Florida. 

The facts don't lie: last year was the sixth consecutive year of record visitation to Florida. Visit Florida markets the state and makes the case that people, when looking for vacation spots, should visit the beautiful and sandy beaches of Florida. Keep in mind that this sixth year of record visitation was also the year of the Zika, Hurricane Matthew, and more, and yet, the tourism industry was able to flourish. Just take a look at the numbers:

• 1.4 million jobs in tourism
• 112.8 million visitors in 2016
• $76 million tourism budget in 2016

The numbers don't lie. We have done an amazing job advancing tourism on a tight budget. But if that budget gets cut even further, how do we persist?

Republican legislators disagree with the fact that using taxpayer dollars to "promote certain interests" is something that they disagree with. They are willing to slash the budget to $25 million (from $76 million right now). How does this make sense? Are we ready to see tourism plummet? 

Richard Corcoran's offer: Keep Visit Florida, slash budget to $25 million, end bonuses, freeze benefits, cut travel

Sounds like a plan... not! I believe that part of the reason for this is the philosophical sense and fallout of what was a celebrated case of rapper Pitbull: he was paid millions to represent Florida, he cut a music video for Visit Florida — he is Mr. 305, after all. Republican legislatures disagree with this, so they're sticking up their noses and "solving" the issue by more or less completely scrapping it.

podcast here

I used this analogy on air today: imagine a hospital shutting down its entire facility because of one botched surgery. That's essentially what the legislators are doing — they're saying NO MORE because of one campaign that they didn't agree with. What a wonderful way of handling the issue at hand. 

A Richard Corcoran-crafted amendment would require Visit Florida to agree to a series of restrictions as conditions for getting a $25 million a year from the Legislature. The tourism agency would have to abide by these statutes:

• Post every contract on a state website 
• Have the governor approve all out-of-state and foreign travel
• Give every contract worth $750,000 or more to the Legislature for consultation 
• Submit its operating budget to the Legislature every year 
• have the Senate confirm its CEO

In the case that Visit Florida doesn't get the message that's being sent, Corcoran's team has crafted a new logo showing a construction cone in front of the Visit Florida and the slogan: "Reforms in progress."

Is slashing the tourism budget the answer? Vote below with your opinion~