State lawmakers offer thoughts, update on new legislation at chamber

The West Orange Chamber of Commerce invited state legislators to update attendees on the recent issues to come up in Tallahassee during the 2019 legislative session.

The guest speakers in attendance included Sen. Victor Torres, Rep. Geraldine Thompson, Rep. Bruce Antone, Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith and Rep. Anthony Sabatini. 

The speakers were asked to provide their opinions and explain the context of recently passed legislation and other issues affecting west Orange County. 

The moderator, Jay Galbraith from Valencia College, first suggested lawmakers share their thoughts on the recent 34% cut to funding for Visit Florida – the state’s tourism marketing corporation.

VISIT FLORIDA

The legislators explained state lawmakers decided to cut the funding to Visit Florida because there’s doubt about how much Visit Florida’s marketing efforts contribute to the state’s tourism levels. 

Thompson said the legislature had also wanted to find out if there was a way to measure the benefit Visit Florida provides in comparison to the regular marketing of tourist destinations, themselves. Thus, they gave the organization a year to prove its value to the legislature. 

“I don’t support the elimination of Visit Florida, as has been proposed by some,” Smith said. “I think this is about weighing properties. The question is, how valuable is it in comparison to other priorities. … The debate here is how much is Visit Florida spending contributing to the tourism we see in Florida?”

HOME RULE

The lawmakers were also asked to offer their thoughts on Home Rule. The state recently passed several bills, including a bill regarding vegetable gardens in residential front yards, that several local governments believe create an unnecessary intrusion on their authority and involve issues that, they perceive, are best left to a local community.

While Smith, Antone and Thompson vehemently defended the idea of Home Rule and said they believed in allowing ‘local solutions to local problems,’ Sabatini expressed a contradicting opinion.

“I believe that we should always shoot for government that is small, has low taxes and less regulations no matter what level it is,” Sabatini said. “Local government has been ballooning in Florida over the last few decades. … And so, I’m very proud this year we did a lot to stop the creeping control of local government in Florida.”

SEMINOLE DEAL

Another issue discussed during the luncheon was the ongoing negotiation between state lawmakers and the Seminole Tribe to reach a new deal. 

The tribe, which operates several gambling facilities in the state, shares about $300 to 350 million in revenue per year with the state, but that revenue has been jeopardized ever since a federal judge ruled that Florida violated the agreement. The legislature and the tribe are now attempting to reach a new deal by the end of May, when the current agreement expires, the legislators said.

ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY

The speakers also briefly spoke about environmental and water policy. Thompson explained some environmental priorities were not funded because a lot of the state’s resources were diverted to communities in the Florida panhandle impacted by Hurricane Michael. 

“We know that our waterways are very important,” Thompson said. “We’re seeing fertilizer washing into the waterways, and we all have some responsibility for that. But people have always come to Florida because of that environment, because of our natural resources. And those are things we absolutely have to protect.”

EDUCATION FUNDING

The moderator’s last question involved K-12 and college education. He requested the legislators express their thoughts on the recent discussion surrounding education issues.

Smith commented that the recent misspending issue that occurred at the University of Central Florida spurred the legislature to require more accountability from the board of trustees in state universities.

Antone, Sabatini, Torres and Thompson said they were in favor of school choice, but disagreed with diverting funds from public schools to charter schools via the voucher program, because charter schools are not held to the same standards and accountability measures as public schools.