Infrastructure and resiliency

Florida’s infrastructure and resiliency agenda is increasingly shaped by a push and pull between speeding up post-storm recovery and preserving the ability of local governments to plan for longterm safety and sustainability.

State Rep. Lindsay Cross has said her legislative priorities center on infrastructure and resiliency, pointing to Senate Bill 180, which was designed to streamline rebuilding and permitting after hurricanes by bypassing certain bureaucratic hurdles.

While supporters framed the bill as a necessary tool for rapid recovery, Cross warned it restricted local governments’ ability to update comprehensive plans, zoning rules and environmental protections — even when changes are needed for safety, sustainability or resilience.

She has also emphasized the need to rebuild storm-damaged voting locations and expand ballot access for displaced residents. Cross has argued that when repairing a home or business, the last thing someone should have to worry about is whether their vote counts.

In addition, she has raised concerns about aging wastewater treatment facilities and the need to better leverage grants and state budgets to address systems already under strain.

At the municipal level, St. Petersburg Mayor Kenneth Welch has framed resiliency as central to the city’s future, arguing that repeated hurricane impacts and climate change demand faster, more flexible and locally driven infrastructure investment.

Through initiatives such as the St. Pete Agile Resilience Plan, Welch has emphasized stormwater upgrades, wastewater system improvements and coastal protection. He has also warned that state preemption can undermine safety, sustainability and longterm planning.

Despite significant local investment and coordination with the legislative delegation, Welch has argued that rebuilding should not come at the expense of local control — a debate expected to continue through the 2026 legislative cycle.

Education

Florida’s education agenda heading into 2026 remains shaped by unresolved disputes over charter school expansion and local control, following years of legislative action that expanded state authority over public school districts.

Charter schools were originally intended to improve outcomes in underperforming areas. In recent years, lawmakers broadened the law to allow Schools of Hope to co-locate in underused public school buildings, even when those schools are not failing.

State Sen. Darryl Rouson, now vice chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, has said he plans to use the role to make the biggest impact possible while also working to stop what he views as bad policy.

Rouson has pointed to Senate Bill 424, which would repeal what he has called the “abhorrent” co-location mandate and restore control and funding to public schools.

Health care

As of Jan. 1, Affordable Care Act premium tax credits expired following the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, during which congressional Democrats and Republicans failed to reach a resolution.

As a result, millions of Americans now face higher premiums or the loss of health insurance altogether, intensifying concerns about affordability and access to care.

Rep. Kathy Castor has argued that the lapse reflects Republican opposition to extending the credits, warning that continued inaction will deepen a health care affordability crisis for working families.

She has pushed for an extension or permanent renewal of the subsidies, framing the issue as a choice between stabilizing coverage or allowing millions to be priced out of the insurance market.

Republican critics have countered that the enhanced tax credits were always intended to be temporary and fiscally unsustainable. They argue that repeated extensions inflate costs and mask deeper structural problems in the health care system, calling instead for alternative or market-based models.

Competing proposals to restore, replace or restructure the tax credits are expected to continue through the 2026 legislative cycle.

Affordability and housing tax

Florida’s affordability debate is increasingly colliding with a growing wave of foreclosures and renewed uncertainty around property taxes, as state policy choices place pressure on homeowners and local governments at the same time.

Florida continues to rank among states with the highest foreclosure rates, driven in part by hurricane-related insurance claims, FEMA-related delays and a surge of new filings moving through a court system now required to push cases forward more quickly.

Attorneys have warned that accelerated timelines risk forcing homeowners through foreclosure before loss mitigation or insurance disputes can be resolved, raising concerns that affordability challenges are being compounded rather than alleviated.

At the local level, uncertainty over millage rates and speculative proposals to eliminate property taxes altogether have further complicated budgeting.

Pinellas County Commissioner Dave Eggers has said the county has rolled back its millage rate for four consecutive years while still facing unfunded mandates imposed by the state, calling it ironic that counties are pressed to cut spending even as new requirements arrive without state support.

Eggers has warned that a full rollback or elimination of property taxes could leave counties unable to respond to emergencies or mandates, forcing commissions to preserve revenue flexibility while searching for efficiencies that do not reduce services.