- A bill to support rural communities through economic development has approval from the full Senate.
- The measure, a priority of Senate President Ben Albritton, is on its way to the House.
- Listen to what the bill offers smaller, rural areas in Florida.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Senate President Ben Albritton says the measure will bring what he calls a “Rural Renaissance to Florida.”
“As I’ve traveled the state, what I’ve seen is just an eminence amount of opportunity in rural Florida," Albritton, a Wauchula Republican, said on Wednesday.
Senators passed the measure unanimously. The bill would mandate new state funding for rural communities.
Some examples include establishing programs for educational and healthcare support within rural communities, fixing roads used for transporting farm goods, and adding a recruitment program that offers different initiatives to recruit doctors and educators to rural counties.
The bill’s sponsor, Tallahassee Republican Senator Corey Simon, spoke about the measure after the Senate session.
“The impact that this will have is far reaching from everything from health care, from education, to transportation," he said.
"Especially dealing with in this part of the state, what we’ve dealt over the last year and a half, with the number of storms that have come through and really decimated these communities.”
Simon said some rural communities have fallen behind in recent years, specifically in economic and population growth.
The lawmaker believes the bill addresses that by creating the Office of Rural Prosperity at the State Department of Commerce. This will ensure small county outreach.
BREAKING: Florida legislation to strengthen rural communities unanimously advances to Senate floor - SB 110
— Florida’s Voice (@FLVoiceNews) March 13, 2025
Bill sponsor Corey Simon (@CSime90): "I don't want north Florida to look like anywhere else but north Florida - and that's why this bill is so special, and so well-crafted… pic.twitter.com/i36zBevPop
The measure also increases grant funding by $50 million for “fiscally constrained counties,” and provides $1 million block grants to counties with declining populations.
“I think there are things that we need in these communities in order to be successful going forward," Simon said. "I was always taught, if you’re not growing, you’re dying.”
The Republican lawmaker estimates his plan will cost about $200 million.
