Santa Rosa legislators meet with constituents

January 8, 2013 | Pensacola News Journal

A few concerned Santa Rosa County residents turned out tonight to tell their representatives in the state Legislature what they think is important for them to focus on in the 2013 session.

Santa Rosa County’s legislative delegation met at the county’s administrative complex in Milton tonight to take public input for the upcoming session. Santa Rosa County’s legislative delegation consists of District 2 Sen. Greg Evers and Reps. Clay Ford and Doug Broxson, from Districts 2 and 3, respectively. All three are Republicans.

About 40 people attended the meeting, Fourteen individuals, most of whom represented organizations, preregistered to speak at the meeting. Topics they wanted to cover ranged from the requirement that women present proof of name changes to get a driver license renewal to education funding.

Santa Rosa County Commission Chairman Bob Cole presented the commission’s wish list, which included continued funding for a widening of State Road 87 both through Eglin Air Force Base Reservation and from Milton north to the Alabama state line, continued funding for artificial reefs and continued funding for the State Housing Initiatives Partnership, which promoted affordable housing.

Carolyn Kolb, a representative of the League of Women Voters of the Pensacola Bay Area, said her organization hopes the Legislature will enact ethics reform, adopt taxes for Internet sales and address deficiencies in the election system exposed during the 2012 general election.

“Our first concern is the state election system and making sure all citizens are able to vote comfortably,” Kolb said. The league supports an early-voting period of at least two weeks, more flexibility in selecting early voting sites and the ability to update voter registration information at the poll on election day.

Crystal Spencer, speaking on behalf of the American Heart Association, spoke on several issues important to her group, including a proposal to require all high school students to be trained for cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

“This will take only one hour out of their four years in high school,” Spencer said. “It doesn’t take a great deal of specialized training.”

Thanks to redistricting mandated in 2012 and based on the 2010 census, Santa Rosa’s delegation shrank by two members. The districts represented by Sen. Don Gaetz and Rep. Matt Gaetz, which had once included parts of Santa Rosa County, moved to the east.