10/22/25 Walton County Legislative Delegation Meeting

[transcript] If everyone would, please be seated. We'll get the meeting started. I'm calling this meeting. The Walton County Legislative Delegation order to meeting. I'll actually President Mel Ponder will lead us in prayer and then Senator Jay Trumbull will lead us in the pledge. If you will, stay with us. Let's pray. Those gracious Heavenly Father, how good and pleasant it is when your brethren dwell together in unity. For Father, you say there you command the blessing. So Lord, I thank You, Lord, that You have assembled us together, Father, to first seek first Your kingdom, and Your righteousness, and also the wisdom, discernment, and understanding from heaven. But we thank You for godly and great leaders and Senator Trumbull and Representative Abbott. We thank You for legislature, Lord, that they're part of and they're letting their light so shine before others, drawing people closer to You, but leading with excellence, leading with character, and leading with the gift that You've given both of them. We bless them and their families. We bless our gatherings tonight. Lord, I pray, Lord, as petitions are brought forward. Give them the servant to understand the times and the seasons we're in in. And Lord, I thank You for giving them wise counsel, blueprints from heaven. What are Your ideas and inventions? Lord, I thank You for this time as we come. May others lead this place inspired to run the race they're called to run. May Your hand be heavily upon this county and all north with Florida. May Your kingdom come, Your will be done just here today and in heaven. We thank You for what You're doing. We ask You some Jesus name. Amen. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one ammunition under God and invisible with liberty and justice for God. First, we want to start by thanking the Board of County commissioners for allowing us to have this meeting in the facilities. We really appreciate that. It's a great setting and a great opportunity in just the right place to do it. So we want to thank you guys for allowing us to use the facilities. We're going to take an opportunity real quick to introduce our staff. It's what makes the Senator and I actually decent. So we, you know, every once in a while, we get all this credit, but it's them in the background that's doing a lot of the legwork. And we want to take this opportunity to thank them and make sure that you guys know who they are because a lot of times that maybe your first contact to getting to us. With me, I have Miss Anne, who runs Artifiniac Office of the College campus there in the Phoenix, Max Scott, who handles the east side of the district. He's over Mary Anna in the Chipotle College. And then Miss Sam Sullivan, who accompanies the Tallahassee all the time. So these three are what make, make me click and make things clicked over in Tallahassee. So I want to take the opportunity to say thank you to them. And then tonight, I've got two of our three staff members here, Andrea Daini, and then Kim Rogers, who's about to run away. All right. Well, if you're in audience, you didn't have an opportunity to fill out one of these and you do want to speak to that. Get with one of our staff, raise your hand and we'll get you a form to fill out and then we'll be able to recognize you and as we continue going. Today's, the purpose of today's meeting is just to receive public comment. It's not a question and answer type scenario. Whether it may be some questions and answers, we might ask you some questions and look for some answers on some of the projects or some of the things that are important to you. But it's issues that we want to hear from you so that we guys, so that when we go to Tallahassee, we know what is important to you guys and what we need to do and be focused on while we're over there. So with that, I'll get started. President Milponder, you're up first. Thank you, Senator. Thank you, Representative, for the time to be here tonight. We're so incredibly grateful for your leadership and your service to not just the great people here at Walton County, but also Northwest Florida and the whole state of Florida. Thank you for a few minutes to be with you. This morning's as we appreciate support. You given not just the communities here at home, but also for us at Northwest Florida State College, we're incredibly grateful. With your help in Northwest Florida State College serves over 7,000 students across Oklahoma and Walton counties, including two centers right here in Walton County. This is your Taco Center of the Dupini X Springs and our South Walton Center, which we share with Seaco's collegiate high school right down the street from not too far from here. We're leading the way in developing partnerships and aligning our programs to meet the needs of our growing workforce and our region offering programs in fields such as aviation, nursing, cyber security, education, advanced manufacturing, and welding. Just to name a few. Earlier this fall, you joined us to celebrate the ribbon cutting at our South Walton Center. This partnership with Seacoast has helped transform the lives of students in Walton and allow them to pursue higher education without leaving the county. Last year, the legislature approved the first half of funding for our workforce innovation center on our nice full campus. We cannot be more grateful and thankful. We appreciate center of trouble. We know you carried that in the Senate and we'll be coming back next year to also petition you as well as rep me for that side of the equation. And so we'd be honored if you would get that considerations. We also be pursuing funding for our new hospitality programming that will be an immediate benefit to the local business community here in South Walton. And we'll be coming to both each of you for the House and the Senate side of that as we previously discussed. Additionally, we're focused on working with you and our friends who attended Russell Hughes in the Walton County School District to provide new opportunities for students in the north end of an Urban Air Defense Center. We're thankful for your service and all that you do to benefit your constituents, our students, and here right here in Walton County. And you've also recognized your staff, but also to want to thank them for their kindness to us. They're excellence in their hospitality service. And as they both do, when you come in and you greet them, you just feel better about yourself leaving. Oh, thanks to both of your leadership, probably the whole floor from the top of the bottom and without your leadership and your kindness yourself, they would probably not be as excellent as they are. But we are grateful for them, their friendship and their kindness. And so with that, the Senator, Mr. Herpes, and that is my request. And then happy to take any questions you have. I'm good. Thank you, Mr. President. I think you're prepared also. Yeah, absolutely. I might have come to all of them. Mayor Bob Campbell. Good evening. Representative added in the center of trouble. I'm Mayor Bob Campbell, representing the City of Phoenix. And it's my honor to come for you today on behalf of the City Council and request legislative action to allow the city to acquire the property known as Harveston Field from the state. That property is about five blocks north of 90, right? Dead center of the Phoenix Spring. Currently, both our community center and the fire department is located on that property. And we believe that the city would be positioned to apply for emergency grants. Other funding opportunities need if the city own that property. We're grateful for the help from both the Senator Trumble and Representative Abbott. And our efforts in working with the state to help the city acquire the centrally located property near our growing downtown area. Please know that we are in agreement. This property will be used continuously for recreational, governmental, public safety, and community means and purposes. We also understand that if the city were to choose to no longer own the property, it would revert back to the state. Therefore, we request that the local bill be filed to provide for this transaction and that we look forward to working with you on this hearing the 2026 legislative session to advance this proposal. The other of these are the covering the three priorities that the city council had chosen to put before you. The city of the Phoenix Spring also has a number of projects that are needed to support for future business homes. And our city council continues to make it a priority to address these needs. Because of the competitive nature of the appropriations request in the Florida legislature, this year we sought to identify the three most important projects to submit for consideration. Last session, we were extremely grateful for your support for one million dollar legislation appropriation for the wastewater affluent forced main replacement. It represents a multi-million dollar project. It is critical for new commercial and residential developments as well as new industry. The increased capacity will lead to additional population growth and the creation for more jobs in the area, which are vital to the city of the Phoenix Spring and surrounding area. Last year, we received approximately $300,000 from Northwest Florida water management industry to be used towards the design phase of the project. We also currently have one million dollars in a federal community project funding request that our congressman Dr. Neal Dunn is working to get approved by Congress. So please know that we're not leaving any stone unturned and that you can rest assured that any state appropriations the city received during the 2026 legislature session will be used effectively efficiently to complete this project. And additionally, the city's existing central service area is comprised of several miles deteriorating AC water mains that have significantly exceeded this life expectancy and pose potential health risks for its residents. Therefore, it has been recommended that certain lines be replaced and upgraded with improved pressures as well as enhance the interconnectivity and redundancy of the distribution system as to cover more words here. Our last project this year is additionally funded and needed to complete the airport runway extension and widening project as you know. We recently opened the new terminal and the new phase in the expansion is one that is guaranteed to lead to new businesses looking to come to our area. Again, we're confident this project will fully support new community growth, critically economic development projects and into central Walton County area for many, many years to come. Please let me know if you have any questions or would like to us to provide any additional information on these projects. Now we'd like to thank you both for your continued support for our legislative parties and look forward working with you in this upcoming session. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. I think we heard of local bill. I'll make a motion as we run local bill that transfers the property located harborson field from the state of to the city of the financial experience. Is that a without an objection or is that do I need to say verbally yes? The stupid yes, that objection. That's not good. And local bills originate out of the house so it will all be up to Shane's for Shane to get it done. Mayor. Is this better? Yes. So for those who didn't hear Shane made a motion to go ahead and move forward with the local bill is originate in the house for transferring the property from the state to the financial experience of which we agreed to. Up next, Mayor Russ Bali city of report. Good evening, Senator Trumble and representative Abbott. As mayor of the city of report on behalf of the council, I'd like to take this opportunity to request support for the city's 26, 2026 legislative priorities. As you know, our city, city's unprecedented growth has resulted in additional streets, stress on our existing infrastructure and celebrated our future needs. But before I discuss our legislative priorities for this year, I would like to take a quick moment to again express our appreciation to each of you for the appropriations we received last year from the Florida legislature for the marketing way. These connector and the wastewater treatment facilities, these projects will enable us to better serve our growing number of residents in our area. Prior to the start of the 2026 legislative session, the city council has once again identified water and sewer utility improvements as a critical need. This year, the city would like to seek additional funding needed for a new wastewater treatment facility that will allow existing and proposed residential neighborhoods to connect to the city sewer and abandon existing septic systems. Meeting these increasing capacity demands is critical to the sustainable growth in our area. Another priority that we greatly appreciate your support of is the water storage tank and that is needed well needed on county road 3280. And this will help handle the growth on the eastern side of the city. And additionally, we're seeking funding for the marquee East connector road sewer extension where this project will provide us with the ability to extend our services to a key section of the city from US 331. Please let me know if you have any questions or would like additional information on any of these projects. In closing, I would just like to say thank you to each of you for your continued support for our legislative priorities and we look forward to working with you doing the upcoming committee weeks and 2026 legislative session. Thank you, ma'am. Thanks very much. Next we have Ms. Analyze from Northwest Florida Area Agency on Aging. Good evening. Thank you both for making time to be here tonight. And I feel like I need to echo the appreciation of the county commissioners because you haven't sent any seeds. They're amazing. And the whole crowd has been appreciating them. So we are survivors at Northwest Florida Area Agency on Aging, really administrative agency that deals with all of the funds and community care for the elderly, home care for the elderly and the Alzheimer's Disease Initiative. And so my first grateful point is thank you for the continued support for those programs to serve as seniors in Florida. Our local partner here in Walton County is Emerald Coast Council on Aging and they do that direct service. But our agency pulls those funds down and we administer it from a scambia to Walton County. We also staff the elder help line and try to make sure we are advocating for seniors. And that brings me to again my thanks but then also my asked. What I also want you to know is that every dollar that gets allocated that comes into Walton County is used efficiently. Very proud that our agency did 99.06% utilization of every dollar. We're going to work on that last little stretch there to get to 100%. But they do a phenomenal job because they care about the community like you do like everybody in this room does. So with that, we kind of make the official model because we use volunteers and then we also are supporting what's already there for our older adults. So what we do is allow them to stay in home and that's really their best place. I don't think anybody has ever said I really like being in a hospital or a nursing home. But by that we're able to do and keep folks in their homes and then of course because of that it's a more cost effective model. Home care is always going to be more efficient and it's always going to be best for the actual adult. Nothing I've heard is said that you're going to have an easy legislative session when you're making budget choices. So I want you to know that we'll be praying for you as you make those choices and ask if you think about older adults in that that we do need increases in those funds to continue to do that good work. Not only does that help older adults but it helps everybody in the community because that older adults being cared by somebody who's also a teacher, a police officer. They're doing all of those things and our services allow them to do that and hopefully the least stress and the most support. Thank you again, I'm very glad to have this time with you this evening and we really appreciate your work. Thank you. Thank you for what you're doing. Ms. Kelly Hernandez, the Director of Reclus of all Homeless Continuing of Care. Bobby Bez, the horrible ghost. The new standard trombone representative Abbott and guest in the gallery behind me. As you said, my name is Bobby Bez and I have the honor of serving as a mission and advocacy coordinator for the Ark of the Young World Coast. We're a nonprofit organization that supports children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Currently, we serve over 200 adults, 130 children and additional 200 children at our aquatic education center. That by the way is part of our Children's Center which is the only daycare program that works with children with and without developmental disabilities. We employ a dedicated team of 189 staff who work tirelessly every day to help people live, work and thrive independently in Oklahoma and Washington County. I want to start off by thanking you, thanking you on behalf of everyone at the Ark of the Young Coast, our staff, our families and most importantly the people that we serve. We are incredibly grateful for the support that you've shown in the recent legislative appropriation during the 2025 session. Thanks to that investment in a time where several agencies like ours are having to close their doors, we have been able to continue to provide competent, thoughtful, qualified professional programs and services on community. We are understanding of the challenges facing our individuals and the families and your acknowledgement of the unique challenges agencies like mine, a face in providing programs that service is focused on, disabilities, respect, choice for all and encouraging active citizenship and inclusion. It's greatly appreciated. The dedicated efforts and support have been showing that all Florida citizens have access to independence, dignity and meaningful lives. It's powerful. However, that fight for quality care continues despite previous years' victorious achievements. We ourselves have had to close doors in our North and Upper County and reduce the number of group homes that we have providing services to meet budget restraints. With that in mind, we are coming here today to ask for your support in the Ark of Florida's legislative platform. As you probably know, the platform is requesting shorter waitlist on the ADP funding services, provider adjustments and I look at wages to put it bluntly in the last little bit of my time. What we're facing with right now in our field is that we can't compete with other stores in our community when the rate of services to the ratio of the pay doesn't match. Thank you. Samarit is not here tonight. So Sarah Moss, constitutional rights of Walton County Propheumers. Hello, good evening. I wanted to speak this evening on constitutional rights and property owners because this is something very dear to me because I have had my rights taken away by individuals in Walton County. The Florida Constitution defends against life and property. All citizens should be afforded due process. The Florida Constitution prohibits laws from appearing obligations of contracts. The rights to accuse should have a trial by impartial jury. Citizens should have the right free from intimidation, harassment and abuse. I would like to point out today that the judicial section of the Constitution reserves judicial power to the court system and identifies the court system as being the Supreme Court District Court of Appeals, Circuit Courts and County Courts. No other courts may be established by the state, any political subdivision or any municipality. I lived in HOA for a short time. I don't want to spend too much time on that. However, I would like to mention some of the Florida statutes that are HOA's weaponized against citizens like myself to bypass due process and take my rights as a citizen. First off is allowing fines as penalties and private contracts. I don't want to get into too much on that. I think my attorney is much better at explaining that one. But I would like to point out that there was a time when I was actually fine for a campaign sign in my yard and I thought that I had a right to support any campaign sign of anyone that I wanted. Well, my neighbors didn't like it. They charged me $100. They charged a total of $2,500 for that campaign sign. I purposely refused to pay them, so I quit paying on my account. I paid all dues for the exception of the fines and other disputed charges. They filed a lien on my property. I contested that lien to try to push this issue into the court system. They decided through the Florida statute 720.3085, eight that they were going to instead of collect the legal way through the court system, they were going to garnish my rents. So I would like to point out that that right there takes away the whole due process for any property owners to have any chance of rights. I actually posted an eviction notice for my renters and they informed me that they paid over $4,000 to my HOA and that their legal obligations had been taken. In regards to impartial juries, I would like to point out that I know there's a lot of counties in the state of Florida that are currently using special magistrates. In Walton County, I have seen specifically where special magistrates, they run zoning and the zoning board of adjustments. They work for the zoning board of adjustments and they cannot provide impartial education for residents because they work for the zoning board of adjustments. And I've seen them in cases where they have denied zoning laws, you know, they have desired, I'm sorry, denied zoning variances. Then they turned around and essentially acted as kind of judge, jury and punisher on the same exact case for which their employer, Walton County, had actually denied them. So I just wanted to point that out and I thank you for your time. Thank you, ma'am. John Peterson. Hello, thank you for being here and thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight. My name is John Peterson, I'm here on behalf of the Old Sea Grove neighborhood community to share how SB 180 has wiped out over two years of community led and community supported work to preserve our neighborhood. As background, Old Sea Grove is a historic 1930s neighborhood located directly adjacent to seaside on 38. We're known for our dense tree canopy charming dirt roads and our small old Florida field. Some of which you can see in the slides I provided for the packet of them if you have those with a respect around. Like many Florida communities over development and overcrowding have become big threats to Old Sea Grove's future. Our infrastructure is strained, our trees are being bulldozed, and our residents are being pushed out by monster party houses. Again, there's some examples of those in photos. In 2023, Walton County suggested we develop a neighborhood plan, the purpose of which is, and here on quoting Walton County code, to empower neighborhood communities to make the changes they wish to see in their neighborhoods, which helps make Walton County better place to live work and play. So for 15 months we followed a careful process of research input meetings online surveys and neighborhood votes to develop a neighborhood plan that represented consensus and compromise among our diverse community of full-time families, part-time residents, and out-of-state rental operators. In a final vote last September, 85% of voting property owners said yes to this plan. This not only surpassed the 67% threshold required by Walton County, it was the highest approval they had ever seen for a neighborhood plan. It took five more months for a plan to work through the county approval process due to scheduling delays, but by February of this year, it was adopted as part of the Walton County Land Development Code. Our community was excited, we were energized, we were hopeful, we finally had some tools to protect the things that make Old Sea Grove a safe, beautiful, and desirable place to both live and visit. But five months later in July, Walton County revoked our neighborhood plan. They cited Section 28 of SB 180, a retroactive clause that cites three hurricanes that didn't even impact Walton County. My neighbors aren't that devastated, our hands feel tied and our spirits are quite low. We feel like any power we had scraped together through our hard community building efforts had been given right back to the outside developers who already done irreparable damages to Old Sea Grove. SB 180 unfortunately is their green light to do more. We know SB 180 have good intentions, but it needs to be fixed. It's shotgun approach to restricting local planning and development was unnecessarily broad and stifles the very type of democracy in this county needs more of. That is neighbors getting together, finding compromise, and making positive changes to their community. So thank you again for your time tonight. We look forward to seeing some changes in the next legislative session. Yeah, I think it's a great point if anybody else has any comments or concerns on Senate Bill 180. That bill is going to originate in the Senate, Representative Abbott. I'm co-sponsoring the bill. Senator Gates is running it in the Senate, and then Senator Abbott is running it in the House. You don't get that title. So anyway, the goal is specifically related to that piece of policy is to exempt Northwest Florida who was not at all affected by the three hurricanes that were cited in the original bill. So stay tuned, hopefully that will be successful. We appreciate it. Dr. Carolyn Zunian, one kind of prevention coalition. Thank you very much, Representative Abbott and Senator Trumble. I really appreciate the opportunity to speak to you today. And I'd like to echo the sentiments of several other speakers and take a moment to recognize and thank your legislative aids and office staff. While you gentlemen are both very busy to help us as constituents feel constantly heard and respected. So much love to all of you. Thank you. I'm Dr. Carolyn Zunian speaking on behalf of the Walton County Prevention Coalition. Our mission is working together as one to improve our community for all, and we have endeavored in this task for over two decades. As a nation, we have long directed money and resources to fighting substance abuse, first against heroin and cocaine, then to fight fentanyl and meth. Now we're seeing increased abuse of veterinary drugs like xylazine and nidazine and designer drugs like Spice and 708 Hydroxymetrageny. No amount of money and law enforcement has addressed the underlying causes of substance abuse like childhood trauma, mental health issues or chronic pain. And when people are suffering and do not have access to health care, they will self-medicate. Walton County is just now scheduled to receive coordinated opioid response network funds, which will allow us to intervene directly in lives entangled in the web of addiction and abuse. To offer real hope and treatment. Now more than ever, it is important to support a harm reduction approach, the goal of which is in essence to keep folks alive until we can get them into treatment. Part of this approach is legalizing the use of drug testing supplies. In 2023, you both voted to decriminalize the use of fentanyl test strips, and thank you very much for that. I'm hoping that this year you will do the same for other test strips. Currently 10 states have decriminalized all drug testing supplies and more have allowed xylazine testing in addition to fentanyl. xylazine needs increased attention, not just because it is a potent tranquilizing agent and complicit in overdoses and deaths, but because it causes devastating wounds and extensive tissue necrosis and if untreated leads to limb amputations. Wound care can cost tens of thousands of dollars per patient and amputations lead to a lifetime of disability. As you are considering bills this year, please vote for things that expand healthcare access, especially mental health services alongside measures that support harm reduction approaches like decriminalizing xylazine test strips. Thank you. It's my understanding that Senator Gates is working on a bill that he's going to introduce that would decriminalize xylazine test strips. So I believe you will see a bill this session. Thank you very much. Dr. Ron Shires for Neuropathic Physicians Association. Melissa Forbord, Animal Welfare Association. Gentlemen, thank you for this opportunity. First off, there is a bill that's going to be presented by, excuse me, Representative Linda Chang from Pinellas County and Senator Kristen Earrington of Oceola County, protecting minors who are a felony to commit animal cruelty in the presence of minors. This would include taking children to animal fights or in the case of domestic violence having children witness a family pet being cruelly abused for the perpetrator's sick pleasure. It would also increase animal fighting from a level one to a level five on the punishment score sheet. As I said, this bill doesn't have a number yet, but it will be coming bipartisan leave. And I've also heard rumblings of a bill to protect, to prohibit the Fish and Wildlife Commission from issuing special activity licenses for protected and endangered species. That would be for taking an export. This prohibition would not affect regular S.A.L. licenses and permits. Because of the giant manorade debacle that went viral here in the Panty and Old Flora has gone nationwide and some internationally. And it was right here in our backyard. I hope that you will both get behind a bill to prevent this. Thank you. Thank you. Jennifer Still, cultural arts Alliance of Walcott. Good evening. Thank you for allowing me to speak tonight. Thank you to your staff. And I want to say thank you for listening to us during last session at Arts Advocacy Day and here at the delegation meeting. The legislature took great steps to restore Florida's investment in the arts and organizations around the state in the current budget. Unfortunately none of that funding reached Walton County. And as we face another confusing and delayed grant process for 2627. I ask you to stand with your arts and culture constituents who facilitate and those who appreciate and deserve the quality of life that the arts provide in your districts. Just to give you a little history just days before the state's grant panel reviews were scheduled this summer September 5th. The CAA and 800 other applicants were notified that everything the guidelines, the application, even the scoring rubric would change. All of us who had already met the original deadline are now being asked to reapply without any clarity on the new process or timeline. And it's unclear whether we will even have a program package to present the legislature of this session. Combined with the 2025 vetoes, the 2026 heavily abridged recommendation of the passing grants, state erasers of public art and reduced investment from local and federal government. Florida's creative community could soon be in crisis despite delivering proven economic value. In 2022, when arts and culture was fully funded at the state level, Walton County's arts sector generated 57 million in economic activity supported 652 jobs and contributed $8 million in tax revenue. Statewide industry adds $45 billion to Florida's economy and returns $9 for every $1 invested. Here in Walton County, those funds directly support arts education in our school system, and arts and music program at Walton Correctional Institution, theater for families at Emilco's theater company, and beloved programs like the 38 Songwriter's Festival, the Underwater Museum of Art, and the Flutter by Children's Arts Festival. Last year, the CIA reached over 14,000 students and created 1,700 opportunities for cultural connection with participation growing by 10%. So the demand is there. If restored this year's cultural and museum grants line item would bring $936,000 to Senate District 2, with 460,000 of that included in House District 5. 300,000 of that would go to Walton County to help grow our economy, educate our youth, and enrich the lives of all of our residents and visitors. And the Cultural Arts Alliance mission is from where we are now all the way to Paxson, so we serve the entire county. I ask that you protect and sustain this funding, ensure the grant process remains accessible and fair, and give us the opportunity to schedule time with you in the coming months to share feedback on upcoming legislation that could change the process for good. Thank you so much. Nathaniel Fisher, Emerald Coast Theater. Thank you, gentlemen, for being here. My name is Nathaniel Fisher. I'm with Emerald Coast Theater Company, and I'm going to echo a lot of what you just heard from the Cultural Arts Alliance in Jennifer Seal. Our mission is to enrich and entertain the Emerald Coast through Educational and Professional Theater, and we do that through education programs, as well as productions, collaborations that promote life along learning, as well as provide excellent professional entertainment in the Northwest Florida community. I like to say we do theater, but what we really do is community. We just use the art of theater to accomplish that. Our economic impact is over 3.4 million in revenue to the area. Our annual audience served is over 28,000 and increased numbers, as Jennifer just mentioned. We've seen an 18% year-over-year increase, so there's definitely a desire and want for art in Walton County. Our youth education programs, we serve Diffuniax Springs, Freeport, as well as South Walton, so again, we're also trying to serve the entire county. After school and weekend programming, as well as field trips to the theater for kids to enjoy and to be inspired and educated through professional theater, we see over 2,500 students annually. There's 60 direct and indirect jobs created, government revenue over 115,000 state government revenue over 139,000 and federal government revenue over 50,000. So again, the revenue, it's not only community building, but it's also revenue building. So our request is that arts funding be restored to previous levels as an investment in a proven cultural and economic asset for our region. With your renewed drift support and more cost theater company can amplify its already proven impact, expanding access to the arts, growing educational opportunities for local youth and driving continued economic vitality by growing the state economy through year-round programming that engages residents and visitors alike. And I also share in Miss Steele's frustrations of what's going on with we put in grants and now everything's up in the air, we don't know what's going on with that. So increased funding would create even more jobs, strengthen local economies. It also supports mental health and community connection, especially in these rural areas. And with restored arts funding, we can nurture students, support mental wealth, wellness and fuel, Walton County and Florida's economy. Thank you. Thank you. Dan Curry. Thank you very much. I had four items, but Mr. John took SB 180 from me and you guys answered that, so thank you very much on that as well. Item number one would be beach renourishment, since the signing of SB 1622 on June 24, 2025, where the governor signed legislation to protect local beach accesses and expedite coastal restoration. We have not seen much headway. I'm told we are still waiting for the Army Corps to start and or complete their survey wherever that process is at. I'm sure I speak for a lot of folks here in Walton County asking for your help to expedite the restoration process. Item two, water quality. In the testing thereof for the Chakta Hatchee Bay, and all the streams and creeks that flow into it. Recently, I'm on the board of the Chakta Bay Historic Committee, and I was told that the Alecaw Creek that happens to be near a closed-down landfill had high readings of metal about 10 years ago. I've asked if there have been any recent testing on these levels to see if they increased or decreased, and I've been told that there has not been. High levels of metal and water can pose significant health risks. Common heavy metals found to drink the water include lead, arsenic, mercury, cornea, copper. These metals can either can enter water through various sources such as industrial waste, agricultural runoff, and hazing out infrastructure. Even small amounts of these metals can be harmful, especially to vulnerable populations like children and pregnant women. I would love to request any and all help in funding additional water testing in these areas. Last, roads, and specific, state road 20 from Niceville to Freakwater. It's been years and years that I've heard that this road has been widening. I haven't seen or heard anything officially yet, so I would hope that we're working on this. There are areas along this road that need some updates. Blind curves, lack of turn lanes, continued congestion, elevations that cause line of sight issues and concerns, just to mention a few. If this widening project is actually on the books, could you help in speeding up the process? If it isn't, can you look at putting it on the books? Thank you. Thanks, sir. Jason Kahn, Wong County School District. Good evening. Thank you, Senator Trumble, and Representative Abbott for being here. I'm Jason Kahnelano, Chair of Wong County School Board. Superintendent Hughes, since his apologies, we're not being able to attend tonight. He had a death in his family, and he's attending to those needs. But our vice chair, Jerry Mickey, is here with us, and our facilities director, Jill Smith is also here, and she'll be sharing some information with you all this evening. We appreciate your service and collaboration with the school district, as we continue to work to provide the best and safest education that we can to our students. Just a few highlights about our amazing school district. We are ranked third in assessments in the state of Florida, and that includes being in the top 10 of 20 of the 21 assessment categories. We're also ranked second in school grades, and ranked second in graduation rates in the state of Florida, with over 97% of our seniors graduating. And all five of our DPPK programs received a rating of excellence, which is the top rating in the state. We're here tonight because one of the topics that has received a lot of attention this year is property taxes, and how we're going to do with that. Just wanted to give you some information that 89% of our operational budget is funded through local tax revenue. 100% of our capital improvement budget is funded through local tax revenue. Representative Abbott, I know you have sponsored a bill dealing with some property taxes, and it excludes impacts to school property tax. We appreciate that. So there are several other bills that have been introduced in the House, and that has been maintained to exclude an impact to school districts. We're simply here just to ask that you continue that support. For us, as that conversation continues in Tallahassee, because it will be a significant potentially be a significant impact to our district. We are unique, as in many other categories, Walton County is unique. But on average, less than 50% of other school districts funding is locally, it's from local dollars. So just simply here to say we appreciate your attention to that, and that you just remember our students, our staff, and our district as you represent us, and support us in Tallahassee. We appreciate you being here, and your staff being here. And as always, we're ready to work alongside you as we serve our constituents. So thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. Jill Smith, Walton County School District. Good evening. It's great to be here. I am here on behalf of Superintendent Hughes. As Mr. Hallam mentioned, he sent us your grant so they could not be here tonight. But he didn't want me to extend his sincere appreciation to you Senator Chumble and Representative Abbott for the ongoing support of Walton County School District. The appropriations that we have received have greatly enhanced our career technical education programs in all regions of our county. These are giving our students invaluable hands-on learning experience and direct connections to our local workforce. While we will not be submitting a state appropriation request this year, we look forward to continuing the strong partnership and are excited to submit a CAT grant this year. This will continue to grow our CT programs and provide even more opportunities for students to gain real-world skills in our region's most vital industries. Thank you again for your support. Thank you. Good evening, Senator and Representative. My name is Alana Levell and I am a certified volunteer ombudsman with the Florida long-term care ombudsman elder care program. We ensure that the nursing home and assisted living residents are protected and we are their advocates. There's now more than 204,000 long-term care beds in Florida and it's increasing daily. Residents' needs are more complex than ever with a growing stream of memory care additions to many of these homes. But our ombudsman program has less than half the volunteers and staff that we had 15 years ago. Our part-time ombudsman like myself are often responsible for a thousand residents well above a recommended ratio. I myself have seven facilities here in Walton County and probably will be assigned to more as time goes on. Some of the things we do, we help advocate with the residents, we help them with some of the discharge issues that they're going through. We emphasize a lot of the advocations for the memory care folks because the Alzheimer's and dementia patients are growing with leaps and bounds right now. And we help them with all sorts of other issues, a lot of elder children of some of these residents have tried to steal their money while they're in some of these homes. It's more common than they would believe. So today I just have a couple asks, can you help us protect our funding? It's not that much, but we would love to get more volunteers each year they try to cut our program. Could you please help us invest in staffing so that could stabilize the volunteer model? And finally, promote the work of the ombudsman program around the state to enable us to recruit more volunteers that can help these residents. Thank you. Thank you, ma'am. Bob and Ron. Good evening, Bob and Ron. I'm proud and blessed to be a resident here in Walton County. I want to thank you for taking the lead on doing something with SB 180. You already heard someone from Walton County telling you how it's impacting their neighborhood. There are many counties that have pursued suing Tallahassee, a thousand friends of Florida. Walton County has decided not to sue Tallahassee and used in dialogue. And I believe we've started that dialogue with you through our county attorney. We look forward to your changes. It has affected Walton County. We had to give over $1 million back to developers because we had enacted a mobility fee. And unfortunately, because of SB 180, this really was not burdensome to them. This has been burdensome to the citizens because now we are responsible for all the infrastructure that we will be impacted with development. I am here to say we want to support you for the changes on SB 180. Unlike many of the citizens that have come here to ask you for things, I'm here to say we support you. I'm on the board of South Walton Community Council. I will give my card to both of your assistants. Tell us how we can write Tallahassee to undo the damage that SB 180 is doing to all the counties in Florida. You said you're going to try to take Northwest Florida out of that mess. And that's fine if you can do that. But all of the counties are affected by it. And I believe only one person in that whole legislature was against SB 180. So there's a mindset and it's not going to be easy for you to try to convince them to do something else from what they voted for. So there are people that really want to help. We don't want to go to the other side of suing and being aggressive and assertive in that area. South Walton Community Council will invite you to support you. So thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I'm going to give you a five-barbering for the rest of the group. The Senate bill that Senator Gates filed that we have, because sponsored, is Senate bill 218. So that's already live and ready to go. Okay. Thank you. Yes, ma'am. Renneries. Senator Trumple and Representative Shane. It's good to see you again. We had a great Walton County 200. You were here last year. I know that you didn't get Orange County changed back to mosquito. But you can still try this year. I'm going to first talk about my adamant opposition to rednerishment. Back in 2001, I was a legislative aide to Representative Bev Kilmer, who was a district staff and representative. And I attended a meeting in Destin, which I think maybe even mail might have been at. But certainly Congressman Miller was there. And other leaders Craig Barker, I think, was a mayor at the time. Never in 25 years has rednerishment come up as a solution. That being said, Walton County is so fortunate to have a lot of our original SIO to Silic plastic quartz sand that came down from the Appalachian Mountains since the last oligocene came down the Appalachicola River and has come over. We need to protect that. SIO 2 is softer than all other kinds of sand. And that's why we had that magical squeak when you walk on the beach. It's SIO 2. It's even CAC03, which kind of looks like it almost is almost white. But it's hotter on the MOH scale. And I'm also concerned about reneurishment changing some of that outer Gulf out there and how it might be affecting the waves and the safety. So again, very much opposed. In 25 years, reneurishment was not part of the discussion. And so I want us to go back and look at our customary use and stay with that. Walton County has done a great job. We've got our state parks which are open to the visitors. We are getting more accesses which are open near me. Eastern Lake has a great big new public access and what's really great about it. It doesn't have no, it has no vendors. So that may be part of the problem is raining in some of those vendors. And especially on those new public accesses. And again, not having five million visitors. Thank goodness it's dropped some. Thank goodness. Because with COVID, we had five million visitors and it would take sometimes an hour for me to get just two miles to the public grocery store. So it's better. There's enough tourists and enough beach access. There's more needs to come up but they're coming on for three million, maybe four million but not five. And so we need to focus on the quality beach that we have and sustain it. And going back to the type of visitors we have, I think we need to take a kinder look at our snowbirds and maybe the Margaritaville people that will come down and spend $500 on dinner and not spring breakers if I have twisted tea. Thank you. Eric Sellace. Now apologize about butchered that. You did better than most of the seven. Thank you both for coming along. I'll speak with you. I'm once again going to address SB 180. I just wanted to clarify a little bit more. Most of it's been addressed but one of our biggest concerns is I'm with the Point of Washington neighborhood plan. Our plan has been in effect for over 15 years. And we also spent two years revising the plan. And the county unanimously voted all five commissioners to have the county pay for that revision. So it was paid for a taxpayer dollars. We spent two years. I spent hundreds of hours working on myself. Here's my concern. With SB 180, it was declared null and void because it was voted into log. I think a month after you guys put the effective, the date, the cutoff date. So now the county board of county commissioners has voted that plan off the county books. So by law, by our land development code, even if you change that, does that force us to go through the county process of doing the plan all over again now that it's been taken off of the books. So I just asked that when you address that you think about the fact that by law we have in our land development code a process that we have to follow to get these things done and that process took us two years. And so if you say the panhandle is not affected by this, does that automatically wipe out, you know, the vote that was taken to take it off the books or can they legally put that on the books without us having to go through that process. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. House bill 217 is the house bill number for the bill we've got going. Linda, I know you're going to attempt this. That's okay. And I spoke for you. Thank you. Thank you. David Miller? The same guy he used. He used to come here every day after he got there. Okay. Rachel Payne. I think I think we address SB 180. Good afternoon, evening. Representative Abbott and Senator Trumble. Thank you for letting me speak to you today. I'm a Medicaid waiver support coordinator in Florida. I have consumers in the Scambia, Santa Rosa, Oklahoma, and Washington and Bay counties. And I think Representative Abbott, you met with one of my families over the summer in July. So I have the privilege of walking beside individuals with developmental intellectual disabilities and their families as they navigate a system that well intention is overwhelming and complex. What makes the Iowa budget waiver truly special and truly viable is that it allows for independent advocacy. Support coordinators are not employed by APD and we are not tied to any managed care organization. We work directly with the individuals and families we serve. Our only incentive is their success, their stability, their progress, and their ability to live meaningful lives. Unlike managed care models, waiver support coordinators carry no financial incentive to delay, deny, or discourage services. Managed care companies operate under a capitation rate and they get the achieved savings rebate, a bonus for understanding on people's care. They claim to be assuming risk, but the truth is they are making millions from our taxpayer dollars while failing to pay providers for critical services. Behaviour services for children are not being paid and adults who require dental sedation have no services at all. That is an assuming risk. That's profiting from suffering. While support coordinators not managed care are the ones truly bearing the risk and the cost. We lose money when we are required to pay two coordinators during mentoring for a rate meant for one. We manage the chaos of Medicaid unwinding. And where consumers are dropped a little warning and the administrative nightmare and expense that comes with trying to restore their coverage. We are drowning in the unfunded mandate of IConnect, a system that has created an enormous administrative burden with zero financial relief. Managed care has no risk, the families do. When they are misled by promises that look good on paper but leave them without support when it matters most. Each client has a price tag and those managed care companies want them, but to us they are people, not numbers or dollars. So I ask you, at what point does profit become inappropriate, at what point does it become obscene? When you support the waiver, you support a system where relationships, not profits, drive decisions. You preserve a model built on trust, not transactions. You ensure that Florida's most vulnerable citizens have someone who stand in their corner, not because it's profitable, but because it's right. Please keep the waiver strong, keep it independent, keep it viable. Because when you do, you protect not just a program, you protect people. Thank you for your time and continued support of Florida's families and dedicated coordinators who serve them. Thanks Rachel, and this is not directed to you, but I would just ask that as, you know, you're meeting with APD, you know, where I get frustrated about APD is when I was appropriations chair in the house. APD, $3 billion to fund the waiver, to which they spent zero of it. Last year, they had $950 million sitting in a bank account, and we said, hey, spend that first before you come and ask more money for more money. And they were unable to do it again. And so, you know, these are significant resources, and I fully appreciate the, you know, the needs that the state has. But I do believe that some more, that better oversight of resources has to come from the department. Just ask that as you're, you know, meeting with APD and you're meeting with the new secretary, that, and I think Bobby Stollis will do a fantastic job. But that, they have to start acting differently, because for them to revert $3 billion back after a year to not have, you know, $900 million sitting on spent, you know, two years in a row, it's just, it's, if the more folks knew about that, they'd be super frustrated. I'm super frustrated as an artist later. So, I would just ask that while, you know, you know, you know that we are focused on it, and making sure that we're able to get less people, or more people to services and off the waiver, I do believe that a lot of blame has to go towards APD. I just wanted to kind of make that statement, just as you're, as you're, you know, talking to folks. Thank you, I understand. Thank you. Carolyn Drawling. Hello Representative Abbott, and Senator Trumbull, or so thankful again, like everybody else's, for all the work you've done this past year. The Center for Internet Living in Northwest Florida is one of 15 centers throughout the state, who work with people with disabilities, who are out in the community. So, these are not individuals who are having usually support coordinators or who are in the group bones, although we do sometimes help with advocacy and help to make sure that things happen in all aspects of life for people with disabilities. We want to make sure that the Center for Internet Living for all of our delegation across the state understand that we should be a first stop, not the last stop, or the last place to go. Because when people come to get the service from us, we've been doing this business a long time. I'm holding my pen that is symbolic of a, of a sapphire from 45 years, and I wish it was actually a magic wand that we all had the funds that we all need to do the work that we need to do. And we agree with you about the money that's being spent, or not being spent, has been allocated to APD. Last year, one of the asks that Center for Internet Living asked for, as statewide, was for $1.5 million, and yet we have millions and millions of dollars just sitting in a bank account, not being, that's not ours, but this APD is, that's not going to the community to be doing the good work that everybody is doing. Our organization provided about 2800 services last year, and statewide there was nearly 57,000 services provided through the Center for Internet Living. We want to help make sure that people have access to resources wherever they are, and that we can continue to strengthen individuals living in the community, having the choices that they wish for themselves, that they get the advocacy like you're hearing Bobby Best talk about. But they also have the advocacy for themselves to be able to represent themselves and be part of community attend events like we're at today, with transportation, with having housing, with being able to get to wherever they wish to go in line. I myself happen to be a person who's legally blind, I don't drive, I was able to come tonight with somebody else who was able to drive. But I'm able to work full time because there were supports for me when I went to college, not because somebody paid the whole way, but because there was that opportunity to have that accommodation, that opportunity for things to happen. Well I'm giving back to our community, well so does every person with disabilities who works. So when they're working out on our basis, when they're working in your grocery stores, when they're working in the dental office, when they're working as social worker, as I am, or anywhere else in our community with teachers, teacher aids. We're all working to make that difference for our community members, and we just want to be able to see that be funded just as Bobby was sharing. Right now you can make more money going to work at Walmart, which is also really important to our economy, but it doesn't keep our human service organizations funded to be able to do the work that we're doing. It's a cross point where people do need this work, but there's not always enough dollars to do it. So thank you for all the work that each of you do, and I do have flyers for your staff, as well as my heart, if anybody would like more information. Thank you, ma'am. That is all of our parent's cards. If there's anyone else who would like to speak, here's your opportunity for everyone with peace. All right, with that, if there's no further public comments and your trouble moves you rise, meeting adjourned. Thank you. Thank you.