Brevard County’s six-member legislative delegation heard a number of requests and concepts from different public officers and constituents at their annual assembly on Thursday, as they do annually.
The distinction this yr, although, is that they carried out their assembly remotely, through Zoom, due to the coronavirus pandemic and to permit the assembly to go on with out the legislators, their staffs and the audio system crammed right into a assembly room.
The 52 audio system got two to a few minutes apiece to make their pitches, which lined a variety of matters — amongst them arts, enterprise, felony justice, training, surroundings, well being, homelessness and veterans.
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The All-Republican Brevard legislative delegation contains Sens. Debbie Mayfield and Tom Wright, in addition to Reps. Thad Altman, Randy Tremendous, Rene Plasencia and Tyler Sirois.
Listed here are just a few highlights from the 2½-hour assembly:
Electrical car tax
To maintain the assembly shifting, the six legislators requested few questions and made few feedback after audio system completed their displays.
One exception was following the presentation of Georganna Gillette, govt director of the House Coast Transportation Planning Group.
Gillette famous that the elevated use of electrical automobiles, coupled with the elevated gas effectivity of gasoline-powered automobiles, has minimize into state gasoline tax income, which is a serious methodology of funding street initiatives.
“Our transportation income is just inefficient to fund our transportation wants,” Gillette stated. “Our concern is that it is beginning to meet up with us. It is a tough state of affairs that we’re in. However it’s one thing that we do must concentrate on sooner, moderately than later. The way in which it is funded at present is basically damaged, fairly frankly.”
Gillette prompt that the legislators ought to begin methods to maintain the income stream going for street initiatives with what she termed a “potential income substitute supply.”
Amongst the choices being talked about are a “car miles traveled” tax on automobiles, based mostly on miles pushed; or a particular surcharge on car registration charges for electrical automobiles.
Gillette different potential choices — reminiscent of elevating the gasoline tax or gross sales tax — haven’t been in style options
Mayfield, who is also Florida Senate majority chief, stated state authorities would wish to take an preliminary step of allocation cash for a research of the difficulty.
Mayfield famous that house owners of electrical automobiles are utilizing Florida’s roads, “so they need to be charged, in some capability.”
Tremendous, who drives an electrical car, stated electrical car house owners do not keep away from paying taxes to drive their automobiles.
“As an alternative of paying a tax on the gasoline pump, their electrical payments go up, and electrical payments are taxed,” Tremendous stated. “So the truth that the Legislature has chosen to not take that cash and provides it to transportation has been a coverage selection.”
Weapons and liquor
Brevard County Commissioner John Tobia, a former member of the Florida Home of Consultant, was the primary speaker to handle the legislative delegation, as a consultant of the County Fee and its legislative priorities.
At a current County Fee assembly, Tobia had made a sequence of suggestions to switch the proposed legislative priorities submitted by county employees for consideration, saying his personal proposals have been “close to and expensive to my coronary heart.” Commissioners went together with Tobia’s proposals, and requested him to make the presentation to the state legislators.
Tobia made fast work of his listing, wrapping up in lower than 1½ minutes. Amongst his asks have been restoring the rights of 18-to-20-year-old Brevardians to maintain and bear arms within the county; and deregulating liquor gross sales by grocery shops.
Among the many gadgets that Tobia did not deliver up that have been on the county employees’s authentic listing have been state funding for a brand new Brevard County Emergency Operations Heart; funding for water initiatives to enhance the situation of the Indian River Lagoon and different native waterways; and full funding of a program that helps inexpensive housing initiatives.
The venture on the county employees’s authentic listing that Tobia did point out was funding for the House Coast Transportation Planning Group’s highest-priority initiatives — Ellis Highway widening, State Highway A1A hall enhancements and the St. Johns Heritage Parkway.
Municipal points
Seven representatives of Brevard’s cities and cities and municipalities normally addressed the delegation.
Amongst their recurring points have been:
- Continued help for initiatives to assist enhance the situation of the Indian River Lagoon, together with changing properties with septic techniques to sewer service, stormwater initiatives, muck dredging and shoreline restoration.
- Permitting municipalities to retain native management inside their communities of regulation of short-term rental properties, additionally referred to as trip leases. This contains ensuring such companies are correctly licensed and insured, and adjust to state and native tax-collection guidelines.
- Requiring gross sales tax to be collected for web transactions by Floridians with out-of-state corporations, partly to guard brick-and-mortar retailers inside Florida from having an unfair drawback.
- Permitting cities and cities to control smoking in public parks inside their communities.
- Assist funding for affordable-housing packages.
Assist for Port Canaveral
Port Canaveral Chief Government Officer John Murray requested for continued state help for port initiatives.
He requested legislators to permit the Florida Division of Transportation cut back or defer the matching grant necessities for state grants that ports obtain, noting that Port Canaveral’s income has decreased sharply due to the halt to cruising since March stemming from the coronavirus pandemic.
“Investments within the port’s infrastructure is vital to our future,” Murray stated. “Through the years, we’ve got diligently reinvested revenues earned from our operations into rising our port.”
Murray additionally for continued help on a venture to interchange the State Highway 401 bridge, “and guarantee this stays a precedence venture for FDOT, regardless of finances difficulties, within the years to return.”
Opposing vaccine mandates
Three representatives of the Florida Freedom Keepers group addressed the delegation in opposition to any efforts to mandate vaccinations throughout public well being emergencies just like the COVID-19 pandemic.
Florida Freedom Keepers focuses on sustaining civil liberties, particularly medical and spiritual freedom.
“All medical procedures, together with vaccines, include doubtlessly catastrophic dangers, and may by no means be forcibly mandated, particularly within the USA,” Allyson Holley instructed the legislative delegation.
Carol McCullough stated that “the place there may be danger, there should be a selection. Neither authorities nor enterprise ought to have the authority to mandate medical procedures. There isn’t any foundation in a free society for compelled medical procedures. And for many who select to choose out, discrimination shouldn’t be tolerated.”
McCullough stated she feared that “vaccine certification is on the horizon” for the COVID-19 vaccine, and that “this should be stopped.”
“We want you to struggle for the rights of your constituents to decide on the easiest way they see match to safeguard their well being,” McCullough instructed the legislators.
And Jade Zalewski stated: “I firmly imagine people ought to have the correct to decide on and never be compelled by mandate or discriminated in opposition to for his or her medical decisions. Now we have all witnessed unprecedented authorities overreach. Private medical freedom is an pressing and essential challenge that can’t be ignored for the better good.”
Prescription labels for blind
Camille Tate, talking as a consultant of the Nationwide Federation of the Blind of Florida, requested legislators to push for requiring pharmacies to offer prescription drug labels in codecs which can be accessible for the blind and for the sight-impaired.
“This can be a security and well being hazard and concern for us, as a result of, if we can’t learn the data that everybody else receives in an accessible format, we’re susceptible to taking the mistaken dose, the mistaken medicine, not realizing any contraindicators or taking expired drugs,” Tate stated.
Delegation elections
Mayfield was elected chair of the Brevard Legislative delegation for the approaching yr, succeeding Plasencia. Altman was elected vice chair.
Dave Berman is authorities editor at FLORIDA TODAY. His Political Spin column runs Sundays in FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Berman at 321-242-3649 or [email protected]. Twitter: @bydaveberman
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