Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle prepare to increase access to hurricane preparedness funds and former President Donald Trump throws support behind one candidate for RNC chair.
Lawmakers plan to increase hurricane preparedeness
Property insurance is a top concern for both Republicans and Democrats in Tallahassee.
While this session isn’t promising any big changes, there is at least one measure that would offer consumers some relief.
Condominium owners could be in luck if House Bill 1029 is passed. The proposal would expand the My Safe Florida Home Program. Previously, the program applied only to Florida homeowners. But under the bill, condo bosses might cash in too.
Lawmakers have one big goal, to drive down rising home insurance premiums across the state.
If passed, the state will expand matching grants to condo owners trying to harden their homes ahead of harsher tropical weather.
“We were listening to the concerns of a lot of the 55 and older people who are on limited fixed incomes in older buildings. And the question came, why can’t they access this grant program? Because they’re homeowners, to Rep. Mooney’s point, like anybody else,” Rep. Christine Hunschofsky said.
The proposal would shift the current grant program to allow condo owners to have access to funds to prepare for hurricanes.
“The fact that they can now tap into what everybody else been tapping in to. They’re more resilient. They’re hardened. It should overall help the insurance rates in the state. Overall, great bill,” Rep. Jim Mooney said.
The pitch comes as leaders triage a property insurance crisis. Rates in Florida are among the highest. What’s worse is another hurricane season in on the horizon.
“A lot of condominiums have been placed on the coastal line. They’re the first line when a hurricane hits. Many of them are not hardened and so they’ve had a difficult time getting insurance, especially wind only,” Rep. Vicki Lopez said.
Meanwhile, leaders are negotiating a property insurance dispute. In the budget, Gov. Ron DeSantis wants a one-year tax break on property insurance. But the House is offering that to commercial companies instead.
In a statement, spokesperson for Speaker Paul Renner Andres Malave said, “At this stage in session, there are always differences between our initial proposal and what the senate and the governor each put forward, respectively.”
The My Safe Florida Home Program isn’t new, but it’s gotten some renewed interest in recent years.
This time around, lawmakers could inject the program with roughly $225 million.
Trump throws weight behind potential new RNC Chair
Former President Donald Trump is looking to shake-up the Republican National Committee.
Trump endorsed North Carolina GOP Chair Michael Whatley to succeed Ronna McDaniel as the RNC chair.
And he wants his daughter-in-law Lara Trump to serve as co-chair.
Lara Trump also happens to be from North Carolina.
Whatley has served as the chair of the North Carolina Republican Party since 2019. He is also the general counsel for the RNC. He led the state party as Republicans retook supermajorities in the state House and Senate.
He is also a close ally of Trump, who won North Carolina in both the 2016 and 2020 elections. Whatley has been criticized for repeating the former president’s false claims that the 2020 election was stolen.
Whatley ran for co-chair of the RNC last year, but that effort failed despite an endorsement from Trump, according to the AP. South Carolina’s Drew McKissick won the seat for co-chair.
Rep. Brian Mast discusses Israel trip
Over the winter recess, Florida Republican Congressman Brian Mast flew overseas to help about 40 new amputees in Israel with their recovery process.
He was invited by “The Next Step,” a project of the Israel Medical Fund.
“They were looking for somebody to come in, speak to all of these new amputees, some of them from the military, and in military treatment centers, some of them civilians that were just in their home on the morning of Oct. 7, some of them that were at the concert,” Mast said.
Mast once volunteered for the Israel Defense Force in 2014. On his most recent visit to Israel, he visited a rehab ward for wounded IDF soldiers and border police officers with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
He said the first advice he gives typically isn’t to the amputees themselves, but to their families.
“I tell them, you gotta be a jerk, you gotta be a pain in their tush, as they say … because if you handle them with little soft gloves and don’t push them to sweat, and have blood, sweat, and tears during physical therapy, they’re never going to get strong enough to be to the point that they have the best possible mobility that they can to go forward in life for whatever the rest of their life is,” he said.
While they may be tough words, they came from someone who knows what it’s like to wear prosthetics himself. Mast lost both legs and a finger to a roadside bomb in 2010 while serving in the Army as a bomb technician in Afghanistan.
“I lost two limbs, serving my country, serving my brothers to my left and right in combat,” he said. “And because of that, I have no regrets.”
Gary Darling
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