Janelle Irwin Taylor
Rep. Jason Shoaf plans to fight for his district this Legislative Session, with a focus that should benefit other areas of the state as well.
Among his top priorities for the 2025 Legislative Session, Shoaf wants to figure out why Wakulla Springs’ water quality has been declining, and how to fix it.
“Wakulla Springs has been a priority for a number of years,” Shoaf said, noting that a new program at Florida State University (FSU) has student researchers working in the area studying how water quality has degraded.
Shoaf represents House District 7 in the Big Bend area, including all or parts of 11 counties from Dixie to Gulf and as far inland as Liberty and Hamilton. Wakulla Springs is located smack in the center of Shoaf’s district, south of Tallahassee. Shoaf laments how much the springs have changed.
“You could see all the way to the bottom,” Shoaf said. “Now it’s very murky.”
It’s so murky that the iconic glass bottom boat tours that used to frequent the springs have mostly stopped running. So Shoaf wants to “make sure the spring is protected.” And more than that, he hopes to “use those tools that FSU has to offer to take a look at some of the regional impacts that are causing that” and translate those lessons into water quality action in other parts of the state, too.
Shoaf is also prioritizing this year issues surrounding workforce development, something he thinks is crucial in his storm-battered district.
The Big Bend area suffered hits from three hurricanes in just 13 months. Making matters worse for the local economy, Shoaf said several mills have closed throughout the district, closures whose impacts he is familiar with.
“Having grown up in a mill town, when the mill closed it really wiped us out — financially, emotionally and every which way,” he said.
Here again, Shoaf is eyeing a solution that benefits his district and its specific needs, while also translating to progress for the state as a whole. He touted the $100 million allocated in the state’s current budget for workforce development, which, among other uses, provides grants to school districts and the Florida College System on a competitive basis to create or expand workforce development programs for specific employment needs.
“It’s just as important as protecting our natural resources,” Shoaf said, noting that widespread economic challenges were only exacerbated in his district, as well as other parts of the Gulf Coast impacted by Hurricanes Helene and Milton this Fall.
Shoaf, echoing long-standing beliefs that are largely bipartisan, said one-size-fits-all education is no longer viable; not all kids are cut out for a traditional college path and there are plenty of other workforce opportunities that provide living wages, even in today’s high-cost environment.
“We are an ‘all of the above state,’” Shoaf said, adding that education should focus on degrees and certifications that “will not only give them a peace of mind and fulfill them, but also to make a good living.”
“You can’t go to college and spend tens of thousands, sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars and come out with a degree that doesn’t pay the bills,” he said.
Another top priority for Shoaf is reducing the state’s recidivism rates. That is, making sure released inmates in Florida jails and prisons don’t reoffend and wind up back behind bars.
Shoaf said he’s “looking at what other states are doing” and meeting with leaders in the criminal justice field to identify possible policy solutions. He hasn’t identified specifics yet, but said he hopes to have something ready ahead of Session, which starts March 4.
“The policies I’m studying right now would add several requirements before they release an inmate,” he said.
Shoaf explained that doesn’t mean inmates would spend more time behind bars, but would add efficiencies to the release process to ensure various benchmarks — such as access to safe, affordable housing and job opportunities — were met to help keep people from reoffending.
Studies have shown that stable housing reduces recidivism, according to the National Institutes for Health’s National Library of Medicine. Likewise, research from the Brookings Institute shows job training and access to meaningful employment also reduces recidivism.
Shoaf, speaking to Florida Politics Wednesday, also touched on expectations this Session, including the state’s property insurance woes. It’s a topic of particular concern after an active 2024 hurricane season.
“It actually impacts every single Floridian, it impacts everything,” he said. “Anytime you’re dealing with a market that rises or falls off of risk and then you have three hurricanes in 13 months, the risk is going up.”
But Shoaf is hopeful that rates, if they rise, won’t increase by much. He said he hasn’t heard of anything specific yet, but assures “really smart people” are working on it.
He points to building codes as a long-term winning strategy. Look no further than hurricane devastation many have just experienced.
“The newer homes built to current code will be standing and next to it will be a leveled home that was built in the 1980s,” Shoaf said.
That’s not to say forcing rebuilds across the state is a feasible answer in the short term — not everyone can afford major upgrades to their homes, even with help from grants or other incentives. But Shoaf said “the faster we can get those homes hardened, the faster we’ll stop taking such drastic” hits to premiums.
“If I had a crystal ball, I would say this Session will be remembered as one where the House really focused on fiscal responsibility,” Shoaf said.
He praised past Sessions in recent years for “setting the conservative agenda,” policies that have “embraced freedom” and “personal rights,” which Shoaf says have kept “people coming here in droves.”
He’d like to see that progress continue, noting that “everything is on the table.”
