From funding requests to gun laws to the culture wars, Polk legislators get an earful

WINTER HAVEN — Polk County’s state legislators heard from two distinct groups during Friday’s annual pre-session public meeting.

Local elected officials and representatives of various public and private entities made appeals for state funding, while some city leaders also asked the lawmakers to honor the concept of “home rule.”

The legislators also absorbed the statements of private citizens, some of whom urged the lawmakers to champion a law allowing guns to be carried without permits or sought changes in election procedures.

The county’s six legislators sat on a stage at the Polk State College Center for Public Safety for what amounted to a listening session lasting about 3 1/2 hours. The gathering, held each year in preparation for the legislative session, provided an introduction for the one new member, Rep. Jennifer Canady, R-Lakeland.

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The delegation's other members are Sen. Ben Albritton, R-Wauchula; Sen. Colleen Burton, R-Lakeland; Rep. Josie Tomkow, R-Polk City; Rep. Sam Killebrew, R-Winter Haven; and Rep. Melony Bell, R-Fort Meade. Burton is in her first term as a senator after serving in the Florida House for eight years.

The agenda listed 40 people who registered in advance to speak, though a few did not show up. The format allowed each speaker three minutes at a microphone placed at the front of the auditorium.

Elected leaders from seven cities spoke near the start of the meeting, and at least three of them — Bartow Mayor Steve Githens, Auburndale Mayor Dorothea Taylor Bogert and Winter Haven Mayor Brad Dantzler — emphasized their desire for home rule, the concept of allowing local officials to set policies affecting their cities and counties without state control.

Bogert repeated that request when she spoke again on behalf of the Ridge League of Cities, offering the slogan: “Local voices making local choices.”

“We are closest to our citizens, and we're best positioned to determine how we are going to grow and what we need to do for our economic development,” Bogert said. “We want to partner with our state leaders to protect our ability to control the direction and future of our municipalities because it allows the leaders of the cities that are elected by the citizens to make local decisions.”

The Florida Legislature in recent years has adopted some measures pre-empting actions by cities or counties. In last year’s session, for example, lawmakers passed a bill that would have allowed businesses to sue municipalities over regulations that could reduce their revenues.

Deputy County Manager Ryan Taylor estimated that the measure would cost Polk County $27 million a year. Albritton, Burton and Tomkow voted for the bill, while Killebrew and Bell voted against it. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis vetoed the measure.

The Legislature in recent years has also taken pre-emptive action on the regulation of short-term rentals, smoking in public areas and setting building-design standards, according to the Florida League of Cities.

Pitching for funding

City officials also made pitches for funding they hope will emerge from this year’s legislative session, which begins March 7. Individual lawmakers submit appropriations requests each year for possible inclusion in the massive budget bill the Legislature is required to adopt. Last year, the Legislature approved a budget of $112.1 billion, though DeSantis removed $3.1 billion through line-item vetoes.

Githens told lawmakers that Bartow sustained flooding near a lift station during Hurricane Ian in September, and he said the city hopes to install 15 backup generators at water facilities. He asked legislators to help with the estimated cost of $1.4 million.

Frostproof Mayor John Albert requested state funds to help cover the cost of extending its sewer system into an area where housing developments are planned. That would eliminate the need for septic tanks, a source of pollution to water supplies. Killebrew, in a rare response from a legislator, said he will request such funding.

Lakeland City Commissioner Sara Roberts McCarley requested $950,000 in appropriations for an education center at Se7en Wetlands Park. The Legislature allocated that amount last year, but DeSantis vetoed the funding, part of $6.2 million in grants for Polk County he deleted.

That was at least the third time that funding for Se7en Wetlands had been vetoed, going back to former Gov. Rick Scott’s action in 2018.

Dantzler discussed Winter Haven’s plans for the Sapphire Necklace, a network of waterways that is part of a long-term hydrologic restoration project. He requested state funding for that project and support for improvements along Lake Silver.

Legislators also heard from local educational entities. Heather Pharris, an executive at Florida Southern College in Lakeland, requested state funds to help preserve buildings designed by renowned architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Pharris said the Annie Pfeiffer Chapel and the Buckner Building are at greatest risk from water damage.

Polk State College benefited greatly from last year’s appropriations, receiving tens of millions for renovations and maintenance. President Angela Garcia Falconetti thanked the legislators for that funding and asked for additional money, including $16.2 million for a two-story building at Polk State’s emerging Haines City campus.

Maggie Mariucci, an executive with Florida Polytechnic University in Lakeland, said the school seeks $3.6 million in funding through the state’s Engineering School of Distinction program. She also mentioned plans for a $13 million student achievement center.

Kat Nickell of the Polk Education Association, the union representing public school teachers and workers, urged lawmakers to address salary compression among teachers. The Legislature last year approved money to raise salaries for starting teachers, but Nickell said some longtime teachers now make only slightly more than newcomers.

Nickell also asked for a restoration of tax allotments to pre-2008 levels and a boost in funding for public education capital outlay projects.

Representatives of several nonprofit organizations made appeals for either funding or for policies they said would support their programs.

Jessica Davis of the Children’s Home Society of Florida asked for $11 million to expand its network of Community Partnership Schools. She also requested legislation that would hold state agencies financially responsible for harm that children experience in the foster-care system, rather than allowing them to pass the burden on to providers such as the Children’s Home Society.

Larry Williams, CEO of Peace River Center, a nonprofit behavioral health program, asked legislators to provide more funding to cover a gap created by the state’s increase in minimum wages to $15 an hour for Medicaid providers.

Williams said the pay increase, though “very well intended,” had a negative impact of about $1.5 million on Peace River Center’s budget.

Gene Conrad, president and CEO of the Aerospace Center for Excellence in Lakeland, asked legislators for $8 million to expand a program that provides training in aviation maintenance for students from Travis Technical College. He also requested $450,000 to support a master plan for the annual Sun ‘n Fun Aerospace Expo.

Pushing for gun rights

The audience of more than 100 sat quietly through the comments from elected officials and leaders of organizations. That changed when the first of about 20 private citizens addressed the legislators.

Sheryl Rubin set a dominant theme of the citizen statements when she opened her comments by reciting the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which establishes the right to keep and bear arms. Rubin was the first of a few speakers urging lawmakers to pass a law allowing “constitutional carry,” or the possession of weapons in public without a permit or license.

Florida now requires citizens to obtain a concealed-carry license in order to be armed in public places. Gun-rights groups have pushed for a law allowing permit-free carry, and DeSantis has signaled that he supports the idea.

Some advocates for “constitutional carry” also want Florida to allow citizens to display guns openly in public. None of the speakers Friday specified whether they supported that idea.

Rubin, wearing a vest covered with gun-related patches, also asked the legislators to abolish a section of state law that creates “gun-free zones,” such as schools.

“We are not here asking you for money,” Rubin said. “We are asking you to respect our constitutional rights. That is why you are hired. … Don't wait for someone else to take action. Be bold. Be unafraid. Be a leader. The time to act is now.”

Rubin’s final words drew applause from at least half of the audience, the first of several rounds of clapping following addresses by private citizens.

Glynnda White, secretary of the Polk County Republican Party, echoed the call for a permit-free carry law, as did her husband, Royal Brown III, president of the Winter Haven 9-12 Project. Both also demanded the changes to the state’s “red-flag law,” passed in the aftermath of the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018.

The law enables law-enforcement agencies to seek risk-protection orders that, with a judge’s approval, allow the temporary removal of weapons from someone deemed a danger to themselves or others. White dismissed the orders as unconstitutional.

Brown requested specific changes to the process of obtaining risk-protection orders. He suggested that a hearing should be required before an order can be issued and that the government provide a defense attorney. He also asked that the time frame for an order be shortened to 30 days from an alleged threat and said the subject of such an order should not automatically be entered in a national crime database.

Concerns about elections

Richard Nutt was the first of several speakers to raise concerns about Florida’s election system. He implored the lawmakers to eliminate the use of any machines in election offices, arguing that “election machines lead to unfair elections.”

Quoting a series of Bible verses, Nutt talked about “the use of fraudulent scales and deceit.” He said that machines malfunction and cause delays in voting, citing incidents in Arizona during the November election. Polk County Supervisor of Elections Lori Edwards spoke early in the meeting but had left by the time of Nutt’s comments.

White, the Polk GOP secretary, also spoke about elections, making a reference to “cheating SEOs” (supervisors of election). She said county elections offices should conduct elections only by paper ballots.

“If they can’t count paper ballots by midnight, remove them,” White said.

Elizabeth Suits asked the legislators for a series of specific changes tightening procedures for voting by mail.

Education and the 'culture wars'

A few citizens offered criticisms of the state’s and county’s education systems. Robert Goodman, executive director of County Citizens Defending Freedom, a conservative political group based in Mulberry, expressed concerns about Polk County Public Schools’ use of tablets in place of textbooks.

Goodman said the district has not been transparent in letting parents know what material is available to students on the tablets. He also said the devices contain software that displays popup surveys based on social emotional learning, a concept many conservatives oppose.

Goodman alleged that the state is selling information submitted by students to private companies and sharing it with government agencies.

Bobby Dees of Winter Haven spoke of “socialism and wokeism infecting our schools in Polk County.” He accused Polk County Public Schools of keeping “pornographic books” in libraries and said a process by which the district reviewed 16 challenged books was inappropriate.

Dees asked legislators to strengthen the Parental Rights in Education Law, passed last year and labeled by critics as “Don’t Say Gay.”

Virgil Ullom of Babson Park presented a more general critique of society. He lamented that “the left” wants to redefine marriage and is telling children that they are free to change their genders.

“This lie comes from Satan and is child abuse,” he said.

Ullom said he was born in 1939, a time before such “nonsense” existed. He urged the lawmakers to call on God to direct their actions.

Gary White can be reached at gary.white@theledger.com or 863-802-7518. Follow on Twitter @garywhite13.

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Polk lawmakers hear about funding requests, gun laws and culture wars