New House, Senate Leaders Start Moving Forward

By Jim Turner & Jim Saunders, The News Service of Florida

TALLAHASSEE — Incoming House Speaker Daniel Perez on Thursday rolled out changes to House committees, while saying lawmakers have “spent taxpayer funds excessively and indiscriminately in the last few years.”

Perez, R-Miami, detailed a revised committee structure while also announcing a leadership team for the 2025 and 2026 legislative sessions. At the same time, incoming Senate President Ben Albritton, R-Wauchula, announced his leadership team, which includes outgoing Senate President Kathleen Passidomo, R-Naples, serving as chairwoman of the Rules Committee.

The Legislature will hold a post-election organization session on Nov. 19, when Perez and Albritton will formally begin their new roles.

Perez announced what he called a “leaner” committee structure and renamed the Appropriations Committee as the Budget Committee. In making the name change, he cited an increase in lawmakers getting budget earmarks for projects and programs — what are known as “member projects.”

“Although seemingly a cosmetic change, it (the name change) carries a deeper philosophical point. We have spent taxpayer funds excessively and indiscriminately in the last few years,” Perez wrote in a memo to House members. “Member projects in the House budget have grown from $174 million in 2019 to $1.3 billion in 2024, which is a 645% increase. As elected officials, we should not be asking, ‘How much of the public’s money can we spend?’ As a House, we should do what Florida’s working families do every day: budget their money responsibly.”

Perez named Rep. Lawrence McClure, a Dover Republican and close ally, as chairman of the Budget Committee. Meanwhile, Albritton announced that Sen. Ed Hooper, R-Clearwater, will serve as chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Perez also announced changes in the House Education & Employment Committee, where he said subcommittees will move away from a “historic K-12/higher education divide.”

“We need to see our education system as a singular enterprise with the purpose of preparing our kids for their futures whether those futures lead them to college or a profession,” the memo said. “The E&E (Education & Employment) subcommittees will all have a PreK-20 jurisdiction and instead focus on the nature of the education issue under consideration rather than the type of program.”

The committee will be chaired by Rep. Jennifer Canady, a Lakeland Republican who is in line to become House speaker in 2028. Rep. Sam Garrison, a Fleming Island Republican slated to become speaker in 2026, will serve as chairman of the Rules & Ethics Committee.

Perez also created an Information Technology Budget & Policy Subcommittee, which will be under the Budget Committee and the State Affairs Committee. In the memo, he sharply criticized past information-technology efforts.

“Florida invests hundreds of millions of dollars in information technology projects, many of which fail,” Perez wrote. “As a Legislature, we have no clear information technology policy strategy. Our response to the repeated failure to execute IT projects has been to create, dissolve and recreate a technology agency. Technology policy in the Legislature either happens informally through behind-the-scenes conversations or appears as language buried in budget proviso (fine print in the budget). As policymakers and stewards of taxpayer dollars, we must do a better job.”

Perez also announced the creation of a Security & Threat Assessment Committee, which will be chaired by Rep. Tyler Sirois, a Merritt Island Republican who also was named House majority leader.

Other members of the House leadership team are Rep. Chuck Brannan, R-Macclenny, as Judiciary Committee chairman; Rep. James Buchanan, R-Osprey, as Commerce Committee chairman; Rep. Wyman Duggan, R-Jacksonville, as Ways & Means Committee chairman and House speaker pro tempore; Rep. Will Robinson, R-Bradenton, as State Affairs Committee chairman; and Rep. Josie Tomkow, R-Polk City, as Health & Human Services Committee chairwoman.

Meanwhile, Albritton named Sen. Jim Boyd, R-Bradenton, to serve as Senate majority leader. Boyd is expected to become Senate president in 2026. In addition, Sen. Jason Brodeur, R-Sanford, will serve as Senate president pro tempore, and Sen. Joe Gruters, R-Sarasota, will serve as Fiscal Policy Committee chairman.

Democrats have chosen Sen. Jason Pizzo, D-Sunny Isles Beach, to serve as Senate minority leader and Rep. Fentrice Driskell, D-Tampa, to serve as House minority leader.

Lawmakers will start holding committee meetings in December, with the 2025 session beginning March 4.