Janelle Irwin Taylor
Last month, Sen. Nick DiCeglie was named Chair of a key Senate committee. Now, it seems like he’ll oversee an expanded committee.
Senate President Ben Albritton named DiCeglie head of the powerful Appropriations Committee on Transportation, Tourism, and Economic Development. The committee in recent cycles has had 12 members, including the Chair and Vice Chair. This year, the committee will have 15 members.
Leading alongside DiCeglie will be Sen. Tina Polsky as Vice Chair. Other members on the committee include Sens. Kristen Arrington, Bryan Ávila, Mack Bernard, Jay Collins, Erin Grall, Blaise Ingoglia, Tom Leek, Jonathan Martin, Stan McClain, Barbara Sharief, Carlos Guillermo Smith, Keith Truenow and Tom Wright.
The committee includes many returning members. Of those named to the committee this year, five are returning from service on the committee in the 2022-24 term, including DiCeglie and Polsky, who served as rank-and-file members in the previous term. Also returning are Collins, Grall and Wright.
The committee is also stacked with Senators who know a thing or two about one of the committee’s namesake issues: transportation.
Two members are former County Commissioners from South Florida — Bernard and Sharief — where traffic is a regular frustration. Ávila and Polsky also hail from South Florida, and Arrington and Smith are from the Orlando area. They all have experience addressing, or at least suffering, congestion in their districts.
Notably, the private Brightline high-speed rail connects Broward and Palm Beach counties to Orlando, with plans to eventually connect to Tampa, which neighbors DiCeglie’s district.
But while transportation is no doubt a large portion of the work that the committee, colloquially known in The Process as TED, tourism and economic development are likely to be priorities this Session for DiCeglie. His home in Indian Rocks Beach on the Gulf Coast suffered catastrophic damage, putting DiCeglie in an unfortunate class of thousands of residents who found themselves navigating cleanup, recovery and, for many, displacement.
Speaking with Florida Politics earlier this month after committee leadership posts were announced, DiCeglie made clear that his hurricane experience would inform much of his priorities in the 2025 Legislative Session. Infrastructure is a large part of work that TED conducts, and DiCeglie will be searching for fixes, including funding long overdue needs that, once brought to current codes, will help mitigate flooding.
And tourism took at least a small hit due to the hurricanes. While much has returned to some semblance of normalcy along the beaches, it’s a far cry from business as usual before Helene flooded coastal areas and dumped mounds of sand along areas of Gulf Boulevard.
Mounds can still be seen along many Pinellas beaches, some beach access points remain closed and not all businesses have fully recovered and reopened. Still, the state is looking to remind tourists that even if it’s not 100%, the beaches — and the surrounding Tampa Bay area — are open for business.
Martin is also no stranger to infrastructure needs, representing parts of Lee County in the Fort Myers area where Hurricane Ian brought devastation in 2022.
With a stacked crew on TED, DiCeglie may have the muscle needed to affect change.
“Many Senators have a subject matter expertise gained by either professional excellence or prior legislative service. This experience is a tremendous benefit to the Senate,” Albritton said in a memo announcing committee assignments Friday.
“As you know, I also believe one of the benefits of a citizen legislature is the new approaches and differing points of view offered by individuals who have limited or no prior experience with a particular subject matter. I worked to balance these ideas in finalizing committee assignments. I appreciate the willingness of Senators to both take on new challenges and to continue service in areas where you have a wealth of experience.”
In addition to members in South Florida, Central Florida and Tampa Bay, other members placed on TED also bring relevant experience to the table. Collins and Ingoglia call the Tampa Bay area home. Grall’s district includes coastal areas of Indian River and St. Lucie counties, in addition to the bulk of the district that is inland, and she’s a Vero Beach native. Leek represents parts of Volusia County, where Daytona Beach is located, as does Wright.
McClain represents, among other areas, parts of Levy County, which on the southern part of the Big Bend has also experienced repeated hurricane devastation in recent months and years.
As with all committees given the GOP supermajority in the Senate, Democrats will have little voice. Of the 15 members serving on TED for the next two years, only five are Democrats — Arrington, Bernard, Polsky, Sharief and Smith.
