Last Call — A prime-time read of what’s going down in Florida politics.
First Shot
Rep. Sam Garrison said Wednesday that the “wave is coming” in terms of infrastructure needs, and state leaders “are either going to ride the wave or you’re going to be crushed by it.”
Garrison, a Fleming Island Republican who is in line to become House Speaker in 2026, told attendees of the Florida Chamber Foundation’s Transportation, Growth & Infrastructure Summit that the state House is hoping to ride that wave.
“Infrastructure, for a long time in Florida, we’ve been back here somewhere talking about roads,” he said. “But infrastructure in today’s economy, as you all know, means much more than that. It’s not just about roads.”
Garrison said the state’s airport, seaport and even space travel infrastructure are becoming increasingly important to transportation in the long term. But Florida’s government can sometimes be shortsighted.
“What we have traditionally at this point is a little bit of a tension between the way that we structure our government in Florida. It brings a tremendous number of assets. We have term limits, which I think are wonderful — I’ll die on that hill all day. But that does bring with it some challenges,” he said.
“They incentivize us to look at the short term in the absence of the long term. And those of you that have been in Tallahassee a long time, I think that’s a common refrain we hear often. One that, quite frankly, has some validity to it.”
But infrastructure doesn’t work in “two-year bumps.”
At least in the House, he’s confident Speaker-designate Paul Renner will bring that long-term focus to the House when he takes the gavel after the 2022 elections. Garrison plans to do the same when he takes over.
He said he recently met with some auto dealers to talk about the impacts the electric vehicle revolution will have on their industry and whether the state has the infrastructure to handle it.
“We were sitting at this kind of roundtable that when we looked ahead 10, 15, 20 years, we kind of had a general understanding of what the future was going to bring. But the interim of how we get from where we are today to where we want to be 20 years from now could be a lot of different things,” he said.
“And if you don’t have a strategic planning mindset to manage the change that’s coming? Well, like I said, you’re going to be caught in the undertow as opposed to riding that wave.”
Evening Reads
“How Ron DeSantis transformed Florida’s political identity” via Patricia Mazzei of The New York Times
“Ron DeSantis is following a trail blazed by a Hungarian authoritarian” via Zack Beauchamp of Vox
“Behind the scenes, Disney fights the repeal of its special tax status” via Lori Rozsa and Beth Reinhard of The Washington Post
“Florida’s March tax revenues land $626M above estimate” via Gray Rohrer of Florida Politics
“Plaintiffs drop federal case against Florida’s redistricting plan” via Jacob Ogles of Florida Politics
“Val Demings, Marco Rubio each top $30M raised in Senate battle” via Scott Powers of Florida Politics
“Universal parks return to pre-pandemic attendance levels” via Gabrielle Russon of Florida Politics
“Former Florida surgon general disputes state’s vaccine, transgender guidance” via Kirby Wilson of the Tampa Bay Times
“Meet Gov. DeSantis’ pick for Education Commissioner: Manny Diaz Jr.” via Ana Ceballos of the Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times
“Florida approves more math books but provides no explanation” via Leslie Postal of the Orlando Sentinel
“The revolt of the college-educated working class” via Noam Scheiber of The New York Times
“U.S. GDP falls 1.4% as economy shrinks for first time since early in pandemic” via Sarah Chaney Cambon of The Wall Street Journal
“Who student-loan forgiveness really helps” via Jerusalem Demsas of The Atlantic
“Netflix’s big wake-up call: The power clash behind the crash” via Kim Masters of The Hollywood Reporter
Quote of the Day
“Even though I haven’t shied away from making comments to the media or anything like that, it’s not my intent to be out in the forefront. My intent is to fulfill the duties of the commissioner and do my job.”
— Sen. Manny Diaz, on how he will approach his role as Education Commissioner.
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