Rep. Roach gets going on 2023 session
The 2023 Florida State Legislature kicked off its new year with a special session last week. Among the topics considered was Disney’s special status for Reedy Creek, immigration and pay for college athletes.
Even before that, state reps and senators have been in Tallahassee working with the various committees that will produce the bills that will move onto the State House and Senate floor.
Rep. Spencer Roach, R-76, will be among those working on the lineup for the two-month session that starts next month.
Roach represents the newly realigned district, which covers North Fort Myers and parts of Charlotte and DeSoto counties, making for one of the largest districts in the state according to area.
Roach said this will be a challenge, since the needs of these areas are different, making for a very diverse district, with areas such as Punta Gorda and Babcock Ranch, as well as North Fort Myers and Arcadia, where there is a larger minority population.
“Eastern Charlotte County’s needs are about the same as Cape Coral, but DeSoto is much more similar to North Fort Myers. It’s more rural and there’s a lot of need there,” Roach said. “Lee and Charlotte counties are first-world counties in the state. North Fort Myers and DeSoto are recipient counties with an underserved population and low tax base.”
But one of the things that many in North Fort Myers are worrying about is the homeowners insurance crisis, something Roach experienced firsthand when he learned his carrier is pulling out of the state.
He found another carrier, at a much higher rate. Others, who have mortgages and must have a policy, haven’t been as lucky.
Roach said avoiding a complete collapse of the insurance industry in Florida is Job One.
“I have seniors who are paying more for insurance than they are on their mortgages. This is a real crisis and every day we hear about another carrier pulling out,” Roach said. “Our job will be to craft some solutions to incentivize these businesses to come here, to put in tort reform and end the worst abuses of the system.”
The state legislature last year held two special sessions on insurance. Even Roach questions if they did enough or if it was too little, too late. Time will tell.
Of course, Roach and the entire legislative delegation in Southwest Florida wants to get an much recovery money from Hurricane Ian as possible. Lee and Charlotte counties were the epicenter of the storm, with areas like Fort Myers Beach and Sanibel completely devastated.
“We want to bring back as much money and assistance both state and federal as we can to rebuild this community as soon as possible,” Roach said. “It’s going to be a good decade before this community is fully recovered.”
The state legislature will also be looking at funding for school districts. They don’t want to see cuts in funding because of a drop in student enrollment, since funding is predicated on enrollment.
“Because of Ian, we have people displaced. We have 20,000 homes in Lee County that were destroyed. We want to make sure our districts and other government entities get penalized financially,” Roach said. “These students are starting to matriculate back here. Also, five schools were virtually destroyed and their students were displaced. We want to make sure our districts have the resources they need.”
The Florida legislative session runs from March 7 through May 5, plus any special sessions that may come up after that.
To reach CHUCK BALLARO, please email news@breezenewspapers.com