Politics
Lawrence McClure, Susan Valdes to continue leading powerful House budget committee, as Tampa Bay remains well represented
Reps. Lawrence McClure and Susan Valdés will continue leading the House Budget committee, with McClure as Chair and Valdés as his No. 2, House Speaker Daniel Perez announced Monday as part of his committee reassignments.
Valdés, who represents the Tampa-based House District 64, was named co-Chair of the committee last year just days after she changed her party affiliation from Democrat to Republican.
McClure, who represents House District 68 in East Hillsborough County, led the chamber in this year’s Legislative Session through a tough budget challenge that saw weeks of overtime before a budget was agreed upon.
Traci Koster, who also represents parts of the Tampa Bay area in House District 66, will also serve on the Budget Committee. Two Democrats from the region will sit on the committee — House Minority Leader Fentrice Driskell and Rep. Michele Rayner, an interesting pairing considering both are vying for the Democratic nomination for Sen. Darryl Rouson’s seat being vacated next year.
Valdés, meanwhile, will continue service on the Education and Employment Committee and subcommittees for Government Operations, Education Administration, Industries and Professional Activities, and Insurance and Banking.
McClure will continue to serve as the Alternating Chair for the Joint Legislative Budget Commission, a key position that allows the House and Senate to reconcile budget priorities.
Linda Chaney, whose House District 61 covers much of the Pinellas County Beaches, will chair the Government Operations Subcommittee and co-chair the State Administration Budget Subcommittee. Chaney was also named to the Health and Human Services and State Affairs Committees, as well as the Economic Infrastructure Subcommittee.
Rep. Berny Jacques, who represents House District 59 in mid-Pinellas County, is swapping his committee leadership. After chairing the Careers and Workforce Subcommittee for the 2025 Legislative Session, Jacques will now instead chair the Intergovernmental Affairs committee, while remaining a member of Careers and Workforce. He’ll also continue serving on the Justice Budget subcommittee, Insurance and Banking subcommittee and the Security and Threat Assessment Special Committee.
He will no longer serve on the Education and Employment committee or the Criminal Justice subcommittee. Jacques will now also serve on the State Affairs Committee, the Higher Education Budget subcommittee, and the Select Committee on Property Taxes.
Other members representing parts of the Tampa Bay area received or are continuing important posts, too.
House District 58 Rep. Kim Berfield, whose district includes parts of West and North Pinellas, will continue serving as the Whip for the Education and Employment Committee.
Berfield will no longer serve o the subcommittees for Careers and Workforce or Transportation and Economic Development Budget. She’ll remain on subcommittees for Student Academic Success and Civil Justice and Claims.
New to her this year, Berfield will serve on the subcommittees for Health Care Budget and Economic Infrastructure, as well as on the Select Committee on Congressional Redistricting.
Rep. Randy Maggard, of House District 54 in parts of Pasco County, is changing out several roles. He will no longer serve as Whip for the State Affairs Committee, and will instead serve as Alternating Chair for the Joint Legislative Auditing Committee. Maggard will also no longer serve on the Transportation and Economic Development Budget subcommittee, but will serve on two new committees, Commerce and the State Administration Budget subcommittee. He will continue serving on subcommittees for Natural Resources and Disasters and Health Professions and Programs.
In addition to serving on the Budget Committee, Koster, who represents parts of Hillsborough County, will now serve as the Justice Budget subcommittee Vice Chair, after serving as a member of the committee this past Session. She will no longer serve as Chair of the Civil Justice and Claims subcommittee, but will remain a member, and she’ll continue serving on the Judiciary Committee and the Careers and Workforce subcommittee.
Rep. Michael Owen, whose House District 70 includes parts of Hillsborough and Manatee counties, still won’t hold any committee leadership posts. But he’s been named to the new Select Committee on Property Taxes. While he’ll only maintain one committee post from this Session, the Student Academic Success subcommittee, he’s adding several new ones, including State Affairs and Insurance and Banking, as well as the Transportation and Economic Development Budget subcommittee.
Democrats in the region have sparse assignments.
In addition to Budget, Driskell will also continue to serve on the Security and Threat Assessment Special Committee.
Rayner, in addition to serving on the Budget Committee, will continue to serve o the Commerce Committee, as well as subcommittees for Civil Justice and Claims, Justice Budget, and Natural Resources and Disasters. She was also named to the Select Committee on Property Taxes.
Rep. Lindsay Cross, who represents parts of St. Petersburg, will maintain the same committee assignments she had this Legislative Session, including the State Affairs Committee and subcommittees for Housing, Agriculture and Tourism; Information Technology Budget and Policy; Natural Resources and Disasters; and Transportation and Economic Development Budget.
Rep. Dianne Hart will continue to serve on the Health and Human Services Committee and Ways and Means, as well as subcommittees for Criminal Justice, Insurance and Banking, and Transportation and Economic Development Budget. She will also continue serving on the Rules and Ethics subcommittee, which in the 2025 Session was named the Rules and Ethics Special Committee. Hart was also named to the Select Committee on Property Taxes.
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For the first time in a decade, hunters armed with rifles and crossbows are fanning out across Florida’s swamps and flatwoods to legally hunt the Florida black bear, over the vocal opposition of critics.
The state-sanctioned hunt began Saturday, after drawing more than 160,000 applications for a far more limited number of hunting permits, including from opponents who are trying to reduce the number of bears killed in this year’s hunt, the state’s first since 2015.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission awarded 172 bear hunt permits by random lottery for this year’s season, allowing hunters to kill one bear each in areas where the population is deemed large enough. At least 43 of the permits went to opponents of the hunt who never intend to use them, according to the Florida chapter of the Sierra Club, which encouraged critics to apply in the hopes of saving bears.
The Florida black bear population is considered one of the state’s conservation success stories, having grown from just several hundred bears in the 1970s to an estimated more than 4,000 today.
The 172 people who were awarded a permit through a random lottery will be able to kill one bear each during the 2025 season, which runs from Dec. 6 to Dec. 28. The permits are specific to one of the state’s four designated bear hunting zones, each of which have a hunting quota set by state officials based on the bear population in each region.
In order to participate, hunters must hold a valid hunting license and a bear harvest permit, which costs $100 for residents and $300 for nonresidents, plus fees. Applications for the permits cost $5 each.
The regulated hunt will help incentivize maintaining healthy bear populations, and help fund the work that is needed, according to Mark Barton of the Florida chapter of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, an advocacy group that supported the hunt.
Having an annual hunt will help guarantee funding to “keep moving conservation for bears forward,” Barton said.
According to state wildlife officials, the bear population has grown enough to support a regulated hunt and warrant population management. The state agency sees hunting as an effective tool that is used to manage wildlife populations around the world, and allows the state to monetize conservation efforts through permit and application fees.
“While we have enough suitable bear habitat to support our current bear population levels, if the four largest subpopulations continue to grow at current rates, we will not have enough habitat at some point in the future,” reads a bear hunting guide published by the state wildlife commission.
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Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
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