Monday, March 15
Today, the Select Policy Council on Strategic and Economic Planning met. We heard presentations on energy exploration from the Collins Center for Public Policy and the Legislatures Office of Economic and Demographic Research.
I met with my Education Policy Council staff to discuss the agendas for our committees on Wednesday.
Tonight, I go to the Governors Mansion for the Open Government reception.
Tuesday, March 16
Today was National Guard Day at the Capitol. The courtyard was filled with helicopters, artillery and infantry equipment. National Guard soldiers explained how their equipment works and what their units are able to do. Florida has more than 12,000 National Guard members. More than 10,000 are enlisted in the Army National Guard and another 2,000 serve in the Air National Guard.
I met with Majority Leader Adam Hasner and Rep. John Legg for a briefing on bills currently being considered in our education committees.
I later met with various university presidents to discuss their current budgets and legislation important to higher education.
I had the pleasure to speak to the Florida Hospices and Palliative Care Association. It is important to make decisions in the best interest of end-of-life patients and Hospice care in Florida and make sure it remains the highest quality and most accessible in the United States.
This afternoon, we were in Session and heard several bills on second reading, final vote of these bills will be Thursday.
I had a meeting of the Rules and Calendar Council to set the agenda of bills to be heard in session for Thursday, March 18.
The PreK-12 Appropriations Committee met for a budget workshop, and we considered a proposed bill on PreK-12 Education Funding. It passed out of committee.
Wednesday, March 17
The Education Policy Council met to consider the following bills on civics education and community colleges. They both passed out favorably.
I had a bill up relating to economic development in the Economic Development Policy Committee. The bill amends the capital investment tax credit program to be available to businesses that are designated as a qualified target industry.
It also authorizes regional rural development matching grants to be used by the economic development organizations to provide technical assistance to businesses within the rural counties and communities they serve.
It amends the qualified target industry incentive program to allow an additional tax refund payment of $2,000 per job for high impact sector businesses.
And, it authorizes OTTED to waive the average wage requirement for a manufacturing project in any location in the state, so long as the average wage for the proposed jobs created will be at least 100 percent of the areas existing average wage.
It also amends the definition of high-impact business to mean a business in one of the high-impact sectors that makes a cumulative investment in the state of at least $50 million and creates at least 50 new full-time jobs, or a research and development facility making a cumulative investment of at least $25 million and creates at least 75 new full-time jobs.
The bill passed favorably by all.
Rep. Will W. Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, is chairman of the Education Policy Council and serves on Full Appropriations Council, Education & Economic Development, Full Appropriations Council on General Government & Health Care, PreK-12 Appropriations Committee, Rules & Calendar Council, Select Policy Council on Strategic & Economic Planning.
