Your Chamber Advocating for You
Dear Members and Partners,
Our Executive Director, Doug Izzo will be traveling to Tallahassee to represent our business community at the Florida State Capitol this week. During the visit, he will be meeting with Senate President Ben Albritton, other state legislators, key department heads, and partner organizations including the Florida Chamber of Commerce, VISIT FLORIDA.
These meetings are important to advocate for policies that impact our local economy and to ensure our region’s voice is heard during the 2025 Florida Legislative Session.
Several pieces of legislation we are closely tracking include:
- E-Verify Expansion, which could have implications for workforce availability and compliance requirements for employers
- Property Tax policy, particularly as it relates to business investment and long-term affordability
- Rural Renaissance initiatives, aimed at strengthening infrastructure, economic opportunity, and quality of life in rural communities like ours
In addition to policy discussions, we are actively following the state appropriations process. Monitoring budget requests and allocations is critical to making sure state funding flows back into our district to support infrastructure, workforce development, tourism promotion, and economic recovery efforts.
For those less familiar with how Tallahassee works: Florida’s legislative session runs for 60 days starting January 13th. During which the House and Senate debate bills, negotiate the state budget, and work through committee processes. The session concludes with “Sine Die,” the formal end of the session on March 13th. There is discussion about a special Session convening in April to discuss Congressional Redistricting.
As always, our advocacy efforts are strongest when they are informed directly by our members and stakeholders. If there are issues important to you, your business, or your industry that you would like us to raise or support at the state level, please don’t hesitate to reach out.
We look forward to keeping you informed as the session progresses and appreciate the trust you place in us to represent our community in Tallahassee.