By PATRICK GILLESPIE
The Florida Legislature’s long break from action returns in November for a one-day organizational session, followed by its annual interim committee weeks schedule.
On Nov. 19, members will meet for a one-day organizational session, where officers will be selected, and each chamber will begin organizing for interim committee weeks. For many new members following the Nov. 5 election, it will be their first introduction to legislative service.
During interim committee weeks, which will be sporadically scheduled between December and February, legislators will begin hearing policy bills, file budget requests, hear presentations from state agencies about their key projects and programs and updates on the status of 2024 legislative session bill implementation, as well as discussions on key policy topics.
These weeks also represent new leadership in both chambers. Senate President Kathleen Passidomo will end her term as President this November, turning the role over to Sen. Ben Albritton, who will serve as President for the next two years. Speaker Paul Renner will turn over the gavel to Daniel Perez of Miami.
Albritton, of Wauchula, has said he will focus his time on the state’s agriculture.
“My nights in our family’s groves were romantic in a way,” Albritton said during his designation ceremony in 2023. “They helped me develop a lifelong, legitimate love for Florida agriculture. It’s in my blood now…it’s part of what drove me to public service. I know firsthand what it takes to produce the food that feeds our state, our country and the world. If you really stand back and think about it: the survival of agriculture is the survival of humanity.”
“Faith, family, freedom, opportunity in life are indeed the values that define me. But agriculture is a big part of who I am, too,” said Albritton. “I am a product of Florida’s heartland – a place with wide open spaces, beautiful landscapes, gorgeous creeks and rivers, rolling sand hills and small, close-knit towns. A lengthy list of crops are grown there.”
Perez, who is an American of Cuban descent and grew up in Miami-Dade County, used his designation ceremony to speak about the dangers of socialism. He spoke of being influenced by the stories of family members who talked of the fear they felt from unchecked government leaders.
“They knew that power without restraint leads to tyranny just as freedom without responsible results in anarchy,” he said. “I believe in limited government because history has taught us what happens when people in power begin to think they know more than the people who gave them their power.”
He spoke about the importance of leaders in Tallahassee using restraint in creating legislation, focusing on all people and just not just the powerful.
“Just because we have the power to do a thing doesn’t necessarily mean that we should,” he said. “Just because we think we are right doesn’t mean we are justified.”
Interim committee weeks begin the first week of December and will end the third week of February. The 2025 Florida Legislative Session will begin March 4.
Graphic box:
Interim Committee Weeks Schedule
December 2 – 6, 2024 (House of Representatives only)
December 9 – 13, 2024 (Senate only)
January 13 – 17, 2025
January 21* – 24, 2025
*Meetings begin on Tuesday due to Monday holiday
February 3 – 7, 2025
February 10 – 14, 2025
February 17 – 21, 2025
