Three of Osceola County's representatives in Tallahassee and Washington D.C. were on hand Wednesday morning to provide a legislative update, sponsored by The Osceola Chamber, at the Gaylord Palms convention center.
State House of Representatives members Carolina Amesty (district 45), Kristen Arrington (46) and Paula Stark (47) took questions from Walt Disney World Government Affairs Manager Leticia Adams in a relaxed town hall setting — they even took the questions seating in comfy chairs on the stage — regarding things like the state's new $115 billion budget and legislation that passed — and didn't — during the recently-completed session.
U.S. Rep. Darren Soto appeared via video from Washington, where he was called to vote on the federal debt ceiling topic. State Rep. Fred Hawkins had a schedule conflict and state Sen. Victor Torres did not attend due to illness.
Stark talked about her freshman session in the Legislature -- her "rookie year" -- and spoke a bit about learning the ropes of getting legislation and local appropriations passed.
A bill she sponsored regarding the preservation of historic buildings -- she still heads up St. Cloud Main Street when she isn't in Kissimmee -- didn't make its way through both chambers, but she was able to address those who live in mobile homes, who may own the home but are paying skyrocketing lot rents.
"It is a form of affordable housing," she said. "Many of those residents are seniors on fixed incomes that can't keep pace with these rents."
Stark was able to push through a funding bill for for microchip manufacturing initiatives at NeoCity, "So we won't have such the need for foreign investment in that," she said, and funding for improved drainage for Buenaventura Lakes, which saw intense flooding during Hurricane Ian. She said she's also working to get the city's entire historic district placing on the National Registry of Historic Places.
Arrington touted her school guidance bill, which makes it law for school counselors to also feature trade and technical education paths to students as an alternative to college after graduation.
The state's $117 billion budget was a discussion item. Some $90 million in appropriations are earmarked for Osceola County through their efforts, for things like a hotel/motel conversion to attainable housing. Arrington discussed funding to keep economic sectors like the film industry coming to the state to keep the area's economy humming. Enterprise Florida, a promotion to bring businesses to Florida, will be liquidated, but Visit Florida, as a statewide tourism marketing arm, will continue to be funded.
"I'm glad, they (Visit Florida) have strong grassroots initiatives to bring people from across the world into our community, Stark said. "I think they do a good job bringing tourism into Florida, and I hope we keep it that way."
Soto, by video, touted that unemployment and inflation are dropping together, and Florida tourism is skyrocketing. An infrastructure package passed to allow $3 billion to flow in for projects like improving I-4 and extending Poinciana Parkway to State Road 429, Green Garden Village in Poinciana will create 2,000 high pay jobs, even without the hydrogen production units that local residents vehemently opposed.
The event also highlighted the area's biggest employers, like the embattled Walt Disney World, who has taken on the state government and Gov. Ron DeSantis in how it will govern itself. Senior Manager of Government Relations Elizabeth Watkins touted the investments made in the area, such as fronting the land to begin construction of 1,400 units of affordable housing.
A pair of the University of Central Florida's best economic minds, Director of the Institute for Economic Competitiveness Dr. Sean Snaith and College of Business Dean Dr. Paul Jarley, spoke on the moving parts of the economy, like the effect of artificial intelligence (AI) -- the prevailing view is it will spark changes in the financial system and that AI that makes mistakes could ironically end up replacing itself.
Snaith spoke about the current economic factors that are going into the current period of inflation, and the possibility of a imminent recession, which got the attention of the crowd.
"The first half of 2022 was a mild recession," Snaith said. "There are factors on the dashboard that are blinking ... long-term interest rates are getting lower than the short-tern rates.
"This recession, if it happens, will be relatively low impact for Osceola County. Tourism continues strong. We are sandbagged here, to use a term going into hurricane season, locally."
