Over the past six years I have had the privilege of serving you in the Florida House of Representatives. And, over the last two-year term, I have been able to work on many different bills and appropriations. I have successfully secured many of our legislative priorities and helped pass legislation that will make Florida a more affordable and better place to live.
HB 1263/943 – MY SAFE FLORIDA HOME
It was an honor to carry the My Safe Florida Home program bill again, which appropriates $200 million dollars for grants, bringing the total to over $600 million for this program. It also eliminates the requirement that DFS maintain a list of participating contractors for the grant portion of the program. Participants may choose any Florida licensed contractor to perform the improvements.
HB 1311 – THE OFFICE OF THE BLUE ECONOMY
This is a bill that I filed with Rep. Kelly Skidmore. This bill would have created the Office of the Blue Economy in a State University. The focus of this was to facilitate research as well as have Florida be the home of innovation for the ocean economy. The good news is that, although this bill did not go through the traditional process as an individual bill, we were able to have the bill language added to the Florida House Education package (HB 1285) with the name changed to the Office of the Ocean Economy, and the institute will be housed at Florida Atlantic University.
HB 603 – EXPLOITATION OF VULNERABLE PERSONS
This bill creates a new protection for our seniors, allowing authorities to prosecute crimes of exploitation committed against adults aged 65 and older without consideration of the victim’s physical or mental capabilities. Until now Florida’s criminal exploitation laws have only applied to cases involving victims with disabilities or age-related vulnerabilities. With offenses of:
• Less than $10,000, the offender commits a third-degree felony.
• $10,000 or more, but less than $50,000, the offender commits a second-degree felony.
• $50,000 or more, the offender commits a first-degree felony.
Another important part of the legislative process is the appropriations process. Over my past two years I was able to bring in over $3 million in appropriations to the City of Lighthouse Point for stormwater drainage and bridge replacement projects, as well as library and parks funding for:
Lighthouse Point NE 21st Avenue Stormwater Drainage Project
Lighthouse Point NE 28th Street Bridge Replacement
Lighthouse Point NE 31st Court Bridge Replacement
Lighthouse Point Sample Road Bridge Replacement
As always, it is an honor to serve you as your State Representative in Tallahassee.
