As local leaders in the economically struggling city of Perry in Taylor County are looking to the state government for help with solutions, Florida Senate President Ben Albritton said during a press conference Monday he does not yet know the solution, but is paying close attention to that community.
“I can tell you right now, paying attention is where it starts and and we all know that that that area of the state, we should be paying attention. So I wish there was a magic wand, by the way, because I will tell you the people I've met over there, just humble and just fantastic, honestly, just fantastic people. So I wish I had a magic wand, but I don't. I'm only the president of the Senate," he said
Perry had two of its largest employers, a Georgia-Pacific cellulose plant and the West Fraser sawmill, close while being hit by three hurricanes in a year. City Manager John Hart told the Tallahassee Democrat the city needs over 120 million dollars in repairs for its wastewater treatment system, fire trucks, and more.
Albritton also faced questions about several controversial bills filed by State Sen. Randy Fine. He expressed uncertainty whether he would back them
He said he needs to speak with the state’s law enforcement agencies about their thoughts on one of them that would lower the gun buying age from 21 to 18.
“Most of you probably remember during my speech, measure three times cut once. That applies here. So we're gonna, we're gonna be doing a lot of measuring on this to understand where we're going and what we're doing,” he said.
He also commented on another one that would remove in-state college tuition qualifying or Dreamers, Albriton said he opposed it when it was first passed a decade ago, but now that it’s in place he would want to find a way to give people a chance to prepare for its potential repeal.
Copyright 2024 WFSU
