Jenna Buzzacco-Foerster
The Associated Industries of Florida report card is out, and the Florida Legislature received passing grades.
Tom Feeney, the president and CEO of the Associated Industries of Florida, said the Florida Senate voted in favor of the business community 87 percent of the time, while the Florida House voted in favor of the business community 94 percent of the time.
The annual Voting Record report is compiled by using actual votes cast as reported in the official state records. AIF has published its Voting Records report for the last 41 years, calculating more than 203,290 votes on 1,896 bills with 798 legislators.
“We applaud them for their hard work and for powering the business community forward by eliminating the sales tax on manufacturing machinery and equipment and by passing a tax package that truly meets the needs of Florida’s families and businesses,” said Feeney in a statement.
Thirty-five lawmakers voted in favor of the business community 100 percent of the time, according to the report.
“One of our highest priorities going into this past session was encouraging our lawmakers to address Florida’s major water challenges by developing sound, comprehensive science-based water policy,” said Brewster Bevis, AIF’s senior vice president of state and federal affairs. “We appreciate their passage of the comprehensive water reform legislation, which showed Floridians across the state that their elected officials are dedicated to improving our water quality and are ready to plan for our state’s environmental and economic future.”
