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Leon County Legislative Delegation listens to Community needs before the annual session – Tallahassee Democrat

Leon County Legislative Delegation listens to Community needs before the annual session – Tallahassee Democrat

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With less than a month before the 60-day sprint of budget disputes and legislation, which is a legislative session in Florida, the four-member legislative delegation of Leon County met with community leaders and residents on Friday in Capitol.

The delegation includes Senator Corey Simon, R-Tallahassee, and representatives of Jason Driver, a Republican from Port St. Joe, and Democrats Alison Tant and Galop Franklin, both of Talahasi.

They sat and listened for nearly two hours, as about 44 speakers made the field to finance different causes in political silos, including public education, criminal justice and healthcare, and a hog-uh of initiatives for financing culture and art, renewable energy and transportation S

For example: Dental therapists want to be recognized as a profession, the defenders of the elderly want money for dementia and research by Alzheimer’s, and the families of those held in state prisons asked the legislators to increase the supervision of a “broken correction department”.

Scott Mazur, President of the Association of Teachers in the classroom of Leon, told the delegation a lack of state implementation of the requirements for certification of teachers “reduces the professionalism” of teaching.

“Fifty -one percent of the teachers hired last year were non -certified,” Mazur said. He asked if anyone would fly on planes if 51% of the pilots were non -certified.

Leon County Commission Chair Brian Welch Outlined A Nine-Point Legislative Agnda That Urges Lawmakers to Support “The Protection of the State Workforce” EEKS TO ELIMINATE MORE Than 700 NET POSITIONS S

The county also wants Florida to expand Medicaid’s coverage as provided for in the affordable care Act. Following the approval of the law in 2010, the legislature constantly rejected the proposal to record those who make less than $ 22,000 a year in the Public Health Insurance Program.

“The expansion will be beneficial for thousands of residents of our counties,” Welch said on Monday in text exchange. “The county wants the legislature not to reject it.”

And the county wants the state to join the Southern Railway Commission as part of the efforts to restore passenger rail services between New Orleans and Jacksonville.

“This is a bilateral idea … The district commissions in Ekambi, Santa Rosa, Okaluza, Walton, Gadsden, Leon and Madison have expressed their support for restoration of passenger rail through North Florid S

The Panhandle Road Service was interrupted by Hurricane Katrina 20 years ago. Minor said that its resumption would complement economic growth and increase the capacity for evacuation of emergency and disaster response.

At the end of the meeting, the four members of Leon’s delegations individually thanked the public for sharing their thoughts: “Our job is to listen, to find areas that we can go and spend our time and to stand up for these people,” said Reporters’ Driving for The Meeting.

It represents 11 counties in the Florida House and therefore participates in 11 local delegation meetings as part of its preparation for the annual session. Driver said the meetings illustrate the “perfect mixture” of conservative, liberal and moderate thoughts.

“We attract a lot of this through our universities, our State College and the State Government system. It is a pleasure to be able to go back here in Leon County and hear a bunch of people who know what they are talking about, “said Driver.

James Call is a member of USA Today Network-Florida Capital Bureau. Next to it can be found at [email protected]. Follow it Twitter: @CallTallahasseeS

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