by Jason Bellamy-Fults, Recording Secretary, IBEW Local 1205, proud member of the North Central Florida Central Labor Council
Though the Florida Legislative Session doesn’t begin until mid-January and there’s a whole lot of holidayin’ between now and then, our legislators and their corporate sponsors are already well under way. Legislative committee meetings begin in just a few weeks.
Per Progress Florida:
State legislative delegation meetings (town halls) happen in each county and bring together Florida House and Senate members representing any part of that county. These open forums are scheduled before the Legislative Session begins at the Florida Capitol in Tallahassee on Jan. 13, 2026. They offer a unique chance for local communities (nonprofits, businesses, stakeholders, and constituents) to express their priorities to elected officials. This is your opportunity to speak to your representatives about the issues important to you and your family.
Progress Florida has also created a webpage, https://progressflorida.org/florida-town-halls/, which includes a map that provides details on all of the planned town halls throughout the state as well as “talking points/messaging on issues like the economy, health care, and the environment, and best practices for giving an impactful testimony.”
Alachua County’s town hall will take place Oct. 20 at 1pm at Santa Fe College’s main campus (3000 NW 83rd St, Gainesville). The most recent notice I saw online said “for information or to be added to agenda contact treibner.jennifer@flsenate.gov (Office of Rep. Johnson).” Other town halls are also planned for Clay, Levy, Marion, and Putnam counties, among others.
These town halls are not necessarily sleepy affairs. You may remember that at the town hall earlier this year, newly-elected Rep. Chad Johnson proposed a new GRU bill for this year’s legislative session. That bill was created at the request of GRU’s current overlords and would have strengthened their position in response to an overwhelming 73 percent of Gainesville voters who wished to disband the GRU Authority. Johnson withdrew the legislation in the face of swift and overwhelming community backlash, but when asked at the recent Newberry town hall whether he would resurrect such legislation again this year, he didn’t rule it out.
Given that this town hall takes place just days before a second scheduled referendum on this same topic, it will be very interesting to see what Rep. Johnson (or others) bring forward this time.
Particularly given the increasingly heavy-handed role that our state legislature and Governor have been choosing to take in the local affairs of our communities, it’s more important than ever to be aware of who our state legislators are and what they’re up to.
What follows is a continuation of our recap of the 2025 Florida legislative session and what it meant for working Floridians. Our emphasis has been on the Alachua County legislative delegation, but a similar methodology can be applied to other counties throughout our state. Hopefully this will help prime folks for active engagement in this year’s session, including the Oct. 20 pre-game, which we should all try to attend.
Alachua County legislative delegation
Our delegation is composed of two senators and three representatives. To the right are details on these legislators, including their contact information. Senator Bradley and all three of our reps will be up for re-election in 2026. Time to hold some folks to account!
An important bill from the 2025 legislature that may impact working people for many years to come
Fortunately, this year the same infighting that led to a much-delayed budget also meant that the legislature wasn’t nearly as “effective” in their attacks on workers and our rights as in recent years. Many of their most egregious bills failed this year. Some of them sure tried though, and we get a glimpse through these bills of what is likely in store for us in the future.
One can only hope that we have hit our low point in this state and that voters will be ready to start the long, slow process of righting the ship in next year’s election.
Eliminating the Citizen’s Initiative Process (PASSED)
SB 7016/HB 1205
AFL-CIO OPPOSED – The Florida Legislature has passed many changes to state law over the years to make it more difficult for citizens to propose, petition, and vote to make changes they want to the Constitution, usually in response to legislative inaction on key issues (e.g., dedicated funds for land conservation, smaller class sizes, restoration of voting rights for returning citizens, universal pre-K, a higher minimum wage, and medical marijuana – all passed by citizens’ initiative).
These bills continued the years-long attack on the Citizens’ Initiative process in many ways, increasing costs dramatically and even going so far as to threaten volunteer petition-gatherers with felonies unless they first register with the state and go through a government-mandated training program. If allowed to proceed by the courts, this legislation could be the final nail in the coffin for the citizen initiative process.
As one close watcher of the legislature commented: “This is legislation that has been specifically engineered to sabotage future citizen-led amendments by tangling them up in red tape and hitting them with astronomical fines and criminal investigations if they trip over any of it.”
Reps. Brannan and Johnson voted YES for this bill on the House floor, while Rep. Hinson voted NO. Both Senator Bradley and McClain supported this bill on the Senate floor. Perhaps at the Oct. 20 meeting, we can ask our legislators why some of them believed that this bill was necessary when it had already been made incredibly difficult by previous legislation to pass citizen ballot initiatives in Florida.
Why do they seem to believe in making it more burdensome for Floridians to engage in civic democracy and amend our own Constitution? Especially when the real criminal in last year’s citizens’ initiatives resides in the governor’s mansion?