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Hello from Tallahassee.
This is Mike Caruso, your newly elected State Representative for District 89, which runs from Boca Raton through Singer Island, of which I am so proud and honored to serve. Since January, I have been traveling back and forth to Tallahassee for training and committee meetings.
I was appointed by Speaker Oliva to serve on 6 committees, including Ways and Means, Energy & Utilities, Transportation and Infrastructure, Insurance and Banking, Higher Education, and Joint Legislative Auditing. Over the past 2 months we have been hearing from different state agencies and community partners so that each committee member can be well informed on issues. In the past 2 weeks, we have begun hearing bills from members, focusing on important issues such as vocational and technical training, ethics reform, and water quality, issues I heard most about while I was campaigning.
As a State Representative we are allowed to file six bills, and the first bill I filed was one that has been important to this district and this county for many years now. Sober homes have been in the news a lot – for the wrong reasons – but the Legislature and the State Attorney’s Office have done a lot of good work over the years working to end the cycle of Recovery to Relapse in Florida. But there is still more to be done. The legislation I filed has many parts to it, but two key highlights are raising standards for the supervisors and managers of sober homes and further clarifying patient brokering.
The second bill that I filed is related to discrimination in public schools. It adds religion into what is prohibited discrimination in the Florida public school system, including our colleges and universities. Anti-Semitic incidents are on the rise all over the world and while we can’t prevent hateful acts from occurring completely, we can give our educators a tool when determining if the action was based on religion and anti-Semitism, which is why I’ve defined anti-Semitism in this bill.
Other bills which I have filed deal with issues involving Blue Green Algae, Public Swimming Pool Safety, Sales Tax Exemptions, Retired Physicians, and Hospitals.
On Tuesday, March 5th the 2019 Legislative Session begins with a Joint Session at 11:00 AM to hear from Governor DeSantis. This will be his first Session as well as mine, and I’m looking forward to working with him and my legislative colleagues over the next years to move good public policy forward for Florida. You can watch the Governor’s remarks live on the Florida House website (www.myfloridhouse.gov). Session only lasts 60 days and during this time I will be sending out eNewsletters and updating Facebook and Twitter often. Please watch for news about important legislation moving through the legislative process. If you have any questions or ideas you would like to share, please contact me. Email is the best way to do that during this busy time – Mike.Caruso@myfloridahouse.gov, but you can also call my Tallahassee office at 850-717-5089. I really appreciate hearing from constituents, especially when they want to share their opinion on a bill I will be voting on that may impact them in the future. Until then, enjoy our beautiful Palm Beaches of District 89.
