It is the turn of the rural florida to grow by it

I am a proud son of the rural Florida, Florida's Kernland, six generations deep. Our small, narrow, old communities are filled with some of the most beautiful and hard -working people they will ever meet. The rural communities take care of each other and would give their last dollar and even the shirt from their own back to help a neighbor in need.

Our rural communities are full of opportunities. When I travel over the Panhandle, the Big Bend and the Kernland, I see so much of this not realized opportunity. Opportunity in rural Florida does not only mean development. What I see are opportunities to improve our rural quality of life and at the same time maintain the long -enthusiastic path of life that was deeply valued after the generation. That's why I use my two -year term as President of the Senate to fight for a rural Renaissance in Florida.

We have to update our laws to think about what a rural community can look like in modern Florida. And we have to diversify our view of the economic development in rural Florida. Gone are the days in which we mainly have a target for large companies or anchor transactions with massive capital investments that can promise the promise of high wage jobs and high jobs, but economically a local community when they close or move. We have to concentrate on intelligent community investments and infrastructure improvements that support the growth of our rural communities and benefit the existing companies for growth and transition based on the needs of our economy. This includes our legacy farm and citrus companies, which are well served by improvements to streets to the market for the attitude of families in Florida in Florida families.

The extensions of our broadband infrastructure will drastically expand the possibilities for education, trade and health care in rural Florida. The number of remote workers has almost doubled since pandemic. Just like long-distance work, people offered the opportunity to flee high tax and drive the Lockdown states to the Free State of Florida, improvements in broadband capacity and high-speed internet access will enable people who live in rural communities to benefit from changes in the workforce and place the employment opportunities of the big city on the fingertips of our country residents.

In addition to employment opportunities, our quality of life of rural areas can be limited by access to education and health care. I think we can combine improvements in the traditional infrastructure for schools and hospitals with innovations that expand and strengthen access to these public services. A strong transport infrastructure and access to robust public services naturally attract the community, which means that the modest population levels have to thrive small companies (restaurants, shops, childcare centers). Larger companies, of course, feel attracted to economic incentives financed by the taxpayer without massive. The attractive company companies should be the effects and not the cause of development in our rural areas.

The rural Renaissance legislation of the Senate, which is sponsored by Senator Corey Simon (R-Fallahass), is a bold, comprehensive approach to stand on the structure and modernization of some of our long-term economic development programs with a focus on infrastructure and not on incentives. This plan also complements other legislative initiatives and investments from school for school selection for families in Florida, the Wildlife Corridor, the Legacy Trail Towns and Historical Farm and Ranchlanders in order to expand living healthy initiatives in rural communities. Overall, these initiatives offer rural communities the opportunity to grow according to fit, based on decisions of local families and companies, which call rural florida at home.

Rural communities are strong and proud. I can tell you that the last place where you are looking for guidance is the government, but this legislation describes some things we can do to help. I think we can expand education, healthcare, trade, transport and agriculture, so that the Floridians, who call our rural communities at home, have access to the possibilities that the rest of Floridas has to offer. These are critical improvements and investments to support 31 of our 67 counties and hundreds of rural communities throughout Florida as well as our lively nationwide supply chain of agriculture.

We have recorded enormous economic growth in urban areas of Florida. It is the turn of the rural Florida.

Senate President Ben Albritton represents Charlotte, Desoto, Hardee Counties and parts of the Counties Lee and Polk.