Jason Brodeur wants to help citrus growers, protect private property rights

Jason Brodeur gets thumbs up from the Florida Chamber.

In the 2025 Session, Sen. Jason Brodeur wants to invest in Florida’s citrus industry, prioritize how to spend casino money to help the environment and protect private property rights.

Brodeur, the influential Republican lawmaker from Seminole County who is Senate President Pro Tempore, is looking to make his mark as he continues to lead the Appropriations Committee on Agriculture, Environment and General Government.

Brodeur is a health care consultant by trade, but he says he understands the agriculture industry. He points to his bachelor’s degree at the University of Florida studying agriculture. Brodeur also owns a small timber farm in Jefferson County of the state’s Big Bend region.

“I am an actual farmer, although it’s not my main vocation,” Brodeur said.

This Session, Brodeur is returning to chair the same committee he has led since 2022.

Florida’s famous citrus industry is in a downward decline as growers battle pests, hurricanes and other problems that destroy their crops. Helping the industry remains a priority, Brodeur said in a conversation with Florida Politics.

“We already have a Citrus Council, and so what’s important for them is making sure they have the resources to continue to address the needs throughout the year,” Brodeur said.

Brodeur is also waiting to learn from the Revenue Estimating Conference how much money will be brought in from casino profits. Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation this year that funnels most casino money toward environmental projects.

“This will be a new source for us to maybe help make sure that we’re meeting some of those other challenges environmentally, such as nutrient loads, making sure that we reduce phosphorus and nitrogen, which could cause harmful algal blooms,” Brodeur said. “So we’re going to make sure we’re addressing all of the most critical things in the environment with that.”

Brodeur anticipates his committee will be appropriating a significant source of dollars — tens of millions, he said — but acknowledged the challenge will be prioritizing how to spend it.

“What I want to do as a priority is to better manage the lands that we have before we go buying even more land,” Brodeur said.

“There are always more asks than there is money available. Sometimes that means doing some base things that aren’t very sexy, but are necessary in order to get to the end goal that you need. Messaging that is sometimes tough, because you’ve got people that want to do things … that have an immediate impact. But if left alone for three years, we’ll be right back to where we started versus doing it right the original way.”

Voters in Orange County near Brodeur’s district approved controversial ballot initiatives in November to limit development on rural lands and give local government more control to govern annexations.

Florida Politics asked Brodeur if he planned to bring forth any specific bills because of the Orange County election results.

Brodeur said “not yet,” but added, “We will see how they are implemented. Most ballot initiatives are a handful of words, and the devil is in the details.”

“There are several times when Orange County is the outlier in terms of the way that the region does things. … So very frequently, Orange County or other counties who bow to popular opinion think that what the right thing to do is exactly what the masses want. But the masses don’t have any skin in the game. It’s not their property,” Brodeur said.

“So for me, we try to strike that balance between private property rights, which is, again, what founded this country. … I tend to side with the property owner, because they’re the ones that own the land.”