This is the second installment of my interviews with our local state legislators. I met with Rep. Holder at his office to talk about his thoughts on where we’ve been and where we are headed.
Did the legislative session meet your expectations?
The legislative session was challenging to say the least. My expectations going in were simply our constitutional charge — which was to balance the budget. And that, in itself, was a challenge. It required the majority of our time. Did it meet my expectations? I am happy with the fact that we were able to balance the budget and at the same time increase funding per student for education. So many people love to look at the number which is allocated for education and if that number is lower than it was last year, then they say, “We cut spending.” … But that’s not true. What happens is that we have an exact amount that is allocated per student in the state of Florida and the number of students fluctuates every year. And because our student population has decreased by 6,000 students from the past year, then that number will decrease accordingly. So even though the entire amount was decreased, the “per-student” amount has increased. That is one thing that I am happy that we were able to do.
We were also able to continue funding health care to the most vulnerable in Florida. One of my biggest successes was to continue the funding for Coastal Behavioral and First Step programs.
The disappointments are that we have more work to do with property insurance and tax reform. My big focus for Sarasota is creating incentives for business to provide new jobs and revenue such as green development and a comprehensive energy plan.
Any idea on how you will go about doing that?
We are on the cusp of putting together a plan that includes renewable energy which recognizes our need to become independent of foreign oil. That is what takes away the partisanship from energy. It is a comprehensive plan that allows us to fuel our vehicles as well as power our buildings. We have to pursue renewables in order to get off of fossil fuels. If it makes more sense, and it’s better and cheaper … then I’m all for that. And I think the oil companies are too, as long as they are included in that.
The Senate passed an energy bill, but it died before it got to the House. Are you saying that the Senate energy bill wasn’t comprehensive enough?
The full interview can be found on Creative Loafing
