Peter Schorsch
Freshman Sen. Jay Collins has been appointed chair of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, a big get for an elected official who only won his seat last month.
Collins’ appointment comes as the new Senator brings with him to the state’s upper chamber extensive experience in agriculture. Collins grew up on a family farm.
“Our state’s agricultural community is vital to the health and economic well-being of our state, and I am honored to serve as Chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture,” Collins said. He then turned his comments toward outgoing Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, the state’s only current elected statewide Democrat, who is leaving office after a failed bid for the Democratic nomination for Governor.
“It’s time to turn the page on our overzealous outgoing Agriculture Commissioner who was far more concerned with waging a personal vendetta against our Governor than she was about issues important to our farmers. It’s time to get back to work to once again address the issues important to this vital industry.”
Collins will also serve on the Appropriations Committee on Education, the Appropriations Committee on Transportation, Tourism and Economic Development, the Education Postsecondary Committee, the Education Pre-K-12 Committee, the Fiscal Policy Committee and Military and Veterans Affairs.
He’ll also serve on a Select Committee on Resiliency and a panel on Collective Bargaining, which is a select joint committee with House members.
Collins, in the November General Election, unseated former Sen. Janet Cruz in the Tampa-based Senate District 14. Collins won with 55% of the vote in a district Cruz had just four years earlier flipped blue by a razor-thin 411 vote margin that triggered a manual recount.
His victory came despite a blue trend in the district and a slight Democratic voter registration advantage, with 36% of the electorate registered as Democrats compared to 34% registered as Republicans.
His appointment comes as part of a sweeping list of committee Chair appointments from Senate President Kathleen Passidomo that showed plenty of love for freshman Senators, including Sens. Corey Simon and Erin Grall heading the Education Pre-K12 and Education Postsecondary committees, respectively.
Unlike her predecessor, former Senate President Wilton Simpson, Passidomo did not name any Democrats to Chair positions. Only Miami Democratic Sen. Jason Pizzo, a former committee head, has a leadership role as an alternate Chair for the Joint Legislative Auditing Committee, which he’ll cede after one year to Republican Boca Raton Rep. Mike Caruso.
More information about committee assignments can be found here.
