(C) Florida Phoenix This story was originally published by Florida Phoenix and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . New Legislative Black Caucus chair: ‘We have to figure out how we work together’ [1] ['Issac Morgan', 'More From Author', '- December'] Date: 2022-12-10 With state lawmakers convening Monday in the Capitol, the leader of the Florida Legislative Black Caucus is pushing issues facing Black communities statewide, including affordable housing, health care, and criminal justice reform. A special session is scheduled in the Florida Legislature to consider legislation that would reduce costs of property insurance and provide tax relief to residents whose homes were damaged in hurricanes, among other proposals. State Rep. Dianne Hart, a Democrat representing part of Hillsborough County, is the new chair of the Florida Legislative Black Caucus. In a telephone interview, Hart told the Florida Phoenix that her goal is to collectively identify top five priorities in Black communities and present them to leaders of both chambers on Monday. “When we get to Tallahassee, we should have that all ironed out and know exactly what our top priority issues for the legislative session will be,” she said. In addition, Hart explained “that there will be other issues” for the caucus to tackle during the 2023 regular legislative session. “That is the route that I am proposing. We could have that by Monday to know exactly what it is we are going in there to ask for,” Hart said. The caucus met in November to discuss overall concerns in communities of color across the state, Hart added. She said plans are underway to hold meetings that “will allow legislators an opportunity to determine” key priorities “as we go back into this legislative session.” ‘A real crisis’ Meanwhile, House Speaker Paul Renner and Senate President Kathleen Passidomo on Tuesday released a rough outline for the special session next week. As previously reported by the Phoenix, the schedule includes several items related to reforming property insurance, such as ways to “reduce the cost of litigation regarding property insurance claims” and “foster the availability of reinsurance for property insurance.” Hart argued that many Black residents are affected by insurance price escalation as well as rising rents. “We tried last time but not much luck, especially in getting any reduction in costs for homeowners,” she said, referring to a special session held in May to pass insurance reforms. “What we really are facing is a real crisis in many of our Black communities. … They’re facing an even more uphill battle than many of the newer communities, absolutely.” Hart added: “When we took a look at insurance from a Black perspective, remember that, in our community and many of our older communities, the homes are older; the people who own them are older; and the issue is that we may not have had that same set of [building] standards years ago that we have today. “When insurance companies are coming into the community to take a look at whether or not they are going to reinsure you, rewrite your policy or not, they may ask for inspections. What we would have gotten years ago is not the same thing that we have today.” As for rents, Florida has seen a dramatic spike in prices for apartments and houses in 2022, as previously reported by the Phoenix. Florida’s rental market has become problematic for many families and workers, according to a March 2022 report by Florida TaxWatch, a nonpartisan, nonprofit research institute. “We all know that rent is a monster, and so is insurance for everybody,” Hart said. “We have an issue with our rent stabilization and we have not yet figured that piece out, how we legislatively even have that conversation.” “But that is an issue not only for Black communities; that’s an issue for all communities,” Hart said. Hart also stressed the importance of “making sure that our HBCUs [Historically Black Colleges and Universities] continue to get the funding that they need and continue to produce the next batch of leaders out of our universities.” Black Republicans The Black delegation in the Florida Legislature has increased to four Republican members overall for the 2022-24 term following the midterm elections. Previously, there was one Black Republican — state Rep. Webster Barnaby of Volusia County. Now three African Americans serve as Republicans in the Florida House. In the Senate, Corey Simon is the only Black Republican. He represents a number of counties in North Florida including Leon and Gadsden, the state’s only Black-majority county. Overall, the Black Caucus is made up of 29 members from both major political parties, according to an analysis by the Phoenix. Still, most of the Black members are from the Democratic Party. The 40-member Senate has seven Black lawmakers; the 120-member House has 22. When asked if she foresees any difficulty working with those Black Republicans, Hart said, “We don’t know.” She believes they have priorities to address “that are different than the Democratic issues,” she said. “I am just a firm believer that we have to figure out how we work together,” Hart added. “How do we work through that and still be a unified caucus? So, that’s something we will have to work on.” [END] --- [1] Url: https://floridaphoenix.com/2022/12/10/new-legislative-black-caucus-chair-we-have-to-figure-out-how-we-work-together/ Published and (C) by Florida Phoenix Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/floridaphoenix/