But by the time the session wound down on May 2, Dade lawmakers were able to get some important money for the district, including $3.6 million for the creation of a children's zone in Liberty City, $20 million for Jackson Memorial Hospital and $11 million for Florida International University's fledgling medical school.
''I don't want to sound like it was a home run, but we were very aggressive in trying to minimize the impact of the cuts,'' said Miami-Dade delegation chairman Rep. Juan Carlos Zapata, a Miami Republican.
Those funds must still be approved by Gov. Charlie Crist, who has to sign off on the budget.
Miami-Dade Schools must still bear the brunt of $60.5 million in funding cuts. That figure would have been $68 million, but was whittled down by the influence of outgoing House Speaker Marco Rubio, a West Miami Republican.
The county will also have to figure out how to foot the bill with Broward and Palm Beach counties for a $3 billion wastewater treatment upgrade that must be completed by 2025.
What gains the 25-member delegation made came despite its struggle to define a clear focus of legislative priorities.
`LOOSE CANNONS'
In years past, the delegation met weekly to hash out legislation, but this year the Miami-Dade County Commission cut funding for the Dade delegation office and staff.
That left the delegation with the task of coordinating 25 different sets of schedules. Ultimately, the delegation met only once during the session. In contrast, Broward's delegation met every two weeks with the assistance of an executive director.
''We were like little loose cannons on our own,'' said Sen. Frederica Wilson, a Miami Democrat, who chaired the delegation last year. ``We didn't have a meeting point, we couldn't check off what we were working on and determine where we were at. It really worked against us.''
Providing some sense of focus for the delegation was passing a series of priorities outlined by Rubio in his book ``100 Innovative Ideas for Florida's Future.''
Serving his last term because of term limits, Rubio, with bipartisan support from Miami-Dade legislators, was able to get the $3.6 million for the creation of a ''Magic City Children's Zone'' in Liberty City. The money will be shared with Orlando to provide the foundation for a pilot program aimed at increasing high school graduation rates among inner-city youth.
''This is a victory for our children,'' said Rep. Dorothy Bendross-Mindingall, a Miami Democrat who sponsored the children's zone bill in the House. ``I've always said, either we pay the price now, or we pay later.''
The delegation was also successful in uniting against the passage of bills dealing with crane safety and immigration.
After a string of fatal crane accidents from South Florida to New York, Baker Republican Rep. Greg Evers' crane safety bill appeared poised to pass. Even Gov. Charlie Crist backed Evers' measure calling for a statewide safety code and licensing of all crane operators.
However, Dade lawmakers worked against the proposal at the insistance of the Miami-Dade County Commission, which recently passed its own crane safety bill and wanted to be exempt from the state's bill.
On immigration, Dade lawmakers denounced a series of bills they denounced as anti-Hispanic. The measures would have given local law enforcement agencies more authority to detain illegal immigrants.
Rubio, who sets the House's top priorities, and Rep. David Rivera, a Miami Republican, who chairs the committee deciding the flow of legislation, delayed scheduling the proposals for a series of committee hearings, leading to the bills' inevitable death.
Where the delegation fell short: trying to pass a bill aimed at keeping county control over affordable housing money generated by a county-imposed document tax. Still, Dade lawmakers have three more years to pass the bill, because the provision allowing the county to levy the tax doesn't expire until 2011.
REACHING OUT
Looking ahead to next year's session, several Dade lawmakers say the county must work harder in creating coalitions with neighboring Broward and Palm Beach legislators to keep more funds and programs in South Florida.
''We always get the short end of the stick,'' said Rep. Julio Robaina, a South Miami Republican. ``Unless the tri-county area unites, we will continue to get the short end.''
