Faircracker
Page 49
SPRING 2022
Capitol Update:
By: CAS Government Services Greetings from the Capitol City! The Legislature has made it past the halfway point of the annual legislative session and largely things are shaping up to be on a relatively smooth glide path to the completion of session. One of the bigger issues which has taken a lot of bandwidth during this session is redistricting of Congressional, State Senate and State House Districts. The Legislature is required to redraw districts every ten years based on the population data collected during the decennial census. In addition, Florida’s Constitution spells out specific criteria which must be followed in order to redraw the new districts. Terms of art such as community of interests, compactness, local government boundaries all play into the shape and coverage of the new districts. While it sounds simple enough, inevitably, there will be new districts which has the potential to have incumbents drawn into the same district or districts which have been historically one-party majority become more competitive. Hence, emotions and tempers can flare up as the maps are finalized. In addition to redistricting, the Legislature and the Governor have, to this point, been clipping through “red meat” issues which tend to energize the electorate. Topical bills which address critical race theory, transportation of undocumented individuals, abortion, and parental rights in education have all been moving through the legislature albeit with much debate from and long hours in session. Whether you agree with Governor DeSantis and the Legislative Leadership or not, it is clear their leadership of COVID-19 and keeping Florida business open has resulted in a growing Florida economy and by extension a healthy budget for the state. Florida’s revenue collection continues
to be robust and as a result it is expected the Legislature will ultimately pass the largest budget in state history while maintaining a healthy state reserve fund. To this end, we expect to see healthy funding in state programs and projects including funding for Agricultural Education and Promotional Facilities Grants. These grants have been critically important to many federation members and provide critical funding for facilities and infrastructure which otherwise would be cost prohibitive. On a Federation specific note, a few of the Federation board members made a quick trip to Tallahassee in early February. While the trip was quick, there were several opportunities to meet with key Legislators and staff on issues of the day and equally important, planting seeds for future work of the Federation in Tallahassee. If it were to be described in a word, “opportunity” seems to be the best description. Over the next several years, we are likely to have Governor DeSantis (who has certainly taken the opportunity to visit several fairs as Governor), as well as key legislative leaders in the Senate and the House whom either were or are currently involved with their local fairs and expositions. Given this dynamic, the “opportunity” to re-think and re-brand our messaging in Tallahassee has never been better. This should excite all Federation members, the importance of our events to our youth, to our communities, to the state cannot not be understated. With redistricting and the potential for new faces in Tallahassee as well as potential changes in the Florida cabinet, now, if ever, is the time to make a splash! Thank you for the opportunity to represent you in Tallahassee. We sincerely appreciate the trust you place in us to represent you! Respectfully, Dale, Connie and Jim
Tallahassee—2022 From left: Senator Jim Boyd R-District 21 Gary Reeder, President Manatee County Farm Bureau Dan West, FFF Executive Director
Photo by Eddie Cora
