When you look at his past, and ongoing, efforts in the Legislature, Miami Springs Republican Sen. Bryan Ávila believes there’s a clear through-line: affordability.

He’s worked for years on the issue, whether through measures focused on insurance, property taxes or giving homeowners in his district added protections against damage to their properties from nearby limestone mining.

That focus continues into 2026. Ávila has several proposals on deck he hopes will help residents financially while staying consistent with his conservative aims.

“It’s trying to make our residents’ quality of life better, while at the same time making it more affordable,” he told Florida Politics. “That’s the common theme, certainly, that I’ve had throughout my years in the Legislature. And this Session is no different.”

One potentially major bill Ávila is developing with the Senate Finance and Tax Committee, which he chairs, will tackle the hot matter of property taxes.

House lawmakers are advancing numerous proposals of varying impact, some of which strongly resemble bills Ávila filed years ago. Ávila said his idea is more in line with what Gov. Ron DeSantis has called for: producing a strong, single ballot proposal that voters are likely to approve in November.

As for what that will look like, Ávila said that depends on the feedback the panel receives. Like Senate President Ben Albritton, he said he doesn’t want to rush things.

“We’re looking at one bill that will really have a significant impact in reducing property taxes for the residents of Florida,” he said.

“We’re running through every one of the analyses we have to get it right. Because this is obviously a significant initiative that deals with a lot of stakeholders — over 400 municipalities in the state, 67 counties, 67 school districts, fire districts, hospital districts — and we certainly don’t want to come back in subsequent Sessions to fix something we could have addressed now through a thorough and detailed approach.”

Another affordability-minded measure Ávila is carrying (SB 484) focuses on data centers — specifically, safeguarding Florida consumers from spikes in their utility bills due to the rising power and cooling demands of those centers.

Data centers are large facilities that house servers and networking equipment used to store, process and deliver digital data. They’re spreading across the U.S. as demand grows for cloud services, artificial intelligence, streaming and remote work.

They use a lot of energy and water to cool their systems down. And they’re contributing to rising utility bills, studies have found.

Ávila pointed to states like Virginia and New Jersey, where utility customers are seeing some of the nation’s largest year-over-year electricity bill increases. A recent Bloomberg News analysis found that some U.S. consumers have seen their monthly electricity bills skyrocket by up to 267% over the past five years.

“That’s something that really puts a strain on a lot of families who are just trying to make it through, save for retirement, our kids’ education and to put food on the table,” he said.

The fix SB 484 proposes, Ávila said, would call on the Public Service Commission to set new rules separating the cost of meeting data center power and water demands from those of residential customers and other local businesses.

The bill will also include a provision, he said, to enable those residents and businesses to have input on whether a data center can set up shop in their community.

“It’s going to shield our consumers,” he said.

A third priority bill (SB 584) would address illegal commercial driving, an issue that drew ample coverage last year after investigators said an undocumented immigrant driving a tractor trailer caused an accident that killed three people in St. Lucie County.

Ávila said his bill wasn’t inspired by that tragedy, but rather a rise Miami-Dade County Tax Collector Dariel Fernandez has seen in people fraudulently claiming to be licensed to drive commercial vehicles.

“We’ve had some individuals come in to get their license, and they’ve said they’ve gone through this course. But when you start asking them questions, they absolutely don’t have any idea of what any of that entails with regard to the license they’re applying for,” he said. “There’s been a whole host of irregularities, and (Fernandez) has been very active in trying to hold bad actors accountable.”

SB 584 and its House twin (HB 953) by Miami Republican Rep. Omar Blanco would authorize the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles to formally delegate enforcement authority over commercial driving schools to county Tax Collectors through interagency agreements.

Under those agreements, Tax Collectors could bar driving school operators from Tax Collector Offices, investigate fraud or practices undermining license integrity, require license verification and inspect driving school premises for legal compliance

“We want to make sure that when they’re out on the road, they’re not going to be a menace to society,” he said. “We want everyone that is driving any truck or vehicle on our roadways to be absolutely qualified and licensed to be driving.”

As usual, Ávila is also filing a host of local appropriation requests to benefit seniors, law enforcement, infrastructure and other demanding matters.

“We’ve seen how, more and more, local governments’ budgets are being stretched thin,” he said. “I plan on delivering for my community.”

The 2026 Legislative Session begins Tuesday.