TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – In a top priority of Senate President Ben Albritton, senators on Wednesday unanimously passed a more than $200 million plan to bolster health care, education, transportation and economic development in rural areas.
Albritton, a Wauchula Republican who owns a citrus grove, said the bill (SB 110) would provide an array of programs that local governments could use “like a buffet” for their communities. He said the money isn’t “hand out” but a “hand up” to provide a chance for residents to “build a career and build a family” in communities where they were raised.
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“This is about quality of life,” Albritton said. “It’s about making sure that rural communities know it’s said, ‘We hear them, see them and they show value. It means something to us. And not just lip service, in real terms. They have value. They have opportunity.’”
Sen. Shevrin Jones, D-Miami Gardens, praised Albritton for his focus on the rural areas to people from more-urban “Starbucks communities.”
Albritton replied that “we’re hopeful for a Starbucks in Wauchula.”
Albritton dubbed the measure, which still would need House approval, the “rural renaissance” bill. Among other things, it includes $25 million for mobile health-care units and telehealth kiosks; $25 million to help physicians and advanced registered nurse practitioners start practices in rural areas; a program to help teachers in rural communities pay student loans; $50 million to assist “farm to market” road projects; and $50 million that fiscally constrained counties could use mostly for public safety and infrastructure.
Also, the bill would expand funding for rural broadband infrastructure from about $5 million annually to $10 million, with a one time infusion of $40 million.
In addition, it would create an Office of Rural Prosperity at the state Department of Commerce to provide technical assistance to local communities, increase funding for “fiscally constrained counties” to account for Inflation and designate $1 million block grants to eight counties with declining populations --- Gadsden, Hardee, Taylor, Jackson, Calhoun, Liberty, Madison and Lafayette.
The eight counties would have to develop plans to use the money to try to boost their populations. Sen. Kathleen Passidomo, R-Naples, said the proposal gives communities a chance to map their futures.
Sen. Corey Simon, a Tallahassee Republican who sponsored the bill, cited the role that rural communities play in producing food.
“I think the misconception is that the bigger counties are taking care of the smaller counties. The reality of it is the smaller counties have helped and assisted the bigger counties,” Simon said before the Senate floor session. “Much of these small counties … are our farming sectors. They are ranchers. They are producers. … Our eggs don’t just come from the shelf. Our eggs come from these producers. And so I think it’s important as a state that we all work together to make sure that those producers can continue to make food resources available to those folks that live in our urban core.”
Rep. Griff Griffitts, R-Panama City Beach, has filed a House version of the bill (HB 1427), which has not been heard in committees.