We can imagine plenty of reasons for the Legislature to reject Dan Gelber's idea of a special session on the oil disaster. None of them would be a good reason.
Reason 1: Dan Gelber is a Democrat, a state senator from Miami Beach, in a Republican-dominated Legislature. Reason 2: Dan Gelber is running for attorney general. Reason 3: A special session at which the Legislature embraced one or more of Sen. Gelber's ideas could help Sen. Gelber's campaign. Reason 4: Any special session invariably would lead to calls for the Legislature to place on the ballot a constitutional amendment that would ban oil and gas drilling in state waters, and Republicans don't want Democrats reminding voters that in 2009 the Florida House rushed through a bill to lift the ban.

But there's no Joe Barton wing of the Republican Party in Florida. GOP legislators blame BP for the exposed, underground gusher that is poisoning the Gulf of Mexico. Republicans want BP to pay all claims. Though BP has promised to do so, there's reason to doubt that promise.

BP has resisted paying claims from the deepwater drilling moratorium that President Obama imposed, even though the moratorium - lifted by a judge, with the White House planning to appeal - applies only to about three dozen of the 3,600 wells in the gulf. Also, as we predicted a while back and The Washington Post reported last week, BP's lawyers are preparing a case that blame also rests with the company that owned the rig (Transocean) and the company that cemented the well (Halliburton). Sorting that out could take years, while Floridians and state governments await reimbursement.

To protect Florida, Sen. Gelber proposes the Legislature review laws that cover economic loss. He notes that in a recent case fishermen in central Florida couldn't collect on claims for income loss from polluted fishing grounds because they "have no property interest in the fish." Sen. Gelber also suggests a new law to penalize companies that show bad faith in paying claims and create deceptive claims systems.

At this point, Gov. Crist has created a legal advisory council, with two former state attorneys general as chairmen, to "focus on gathering information and strategies" related to current claims and future lawsuits. The governor also has begun assembling a "strike force" of private lawyers to work pro bono and help make the state's case.

Mr. Gelber proposes something different: a compensation commissioner. He points out that there will be claims in federal and state court. There will be criminal cases along with all the civil litigation. This compensation commissioner, Sen. Gelber says, would be an advocate for the state and an administrator of the claims system. Such a person in Florida might work with Ken Feinberg, the lawyer who administered the compensation awards from 9/11 and the Virginia Tech shooting, and now is managing the $20 billion escrow fund that BP established.

The state gets a new governor and attorney general in January. The Legislature doesn't meet until March. Oil keeps flowing. So should ideas for protecting Florida's interest. Offer them in a special session.