Jesse Scheckner
House Speaker Daniel Perez, a Miami-Dade resident for more than 30 years, doesn’t appear to be showing favoritism to his home county in his new role as House Speaker.
He’s assigned four Representatives from Miami-Dade to Chair positions for the 2025 Legislative Session.
Five will serve in Vice Chair capacities.
And unlike his counterpart in the Legislature’s upper chamber, Senate President Ben Albritton, Perez handed no committee leadership positions to Democrats.
Atop the list of incoming Chairs, alphabetically, is Coral Gables Rep. Demi Busatta Cabrera, who will helm the newly formed Higher Education Budget Subcommittee.
Miami Rep. Vicki Lopez will steer financial matters too as Chair of the new State Administration Budget Subcommittee.
Hialeah Rep. Alex Rizo, the immediate past Chair of the Miami-Dade GOP, will take over the new Intergovernmental Affairs Subcommittee.
Rep. Mike Caruso, a Delray Beach Republican, will serve as Vice Chair under Busatta Cabrera. Republican Reps. Linda Chaney of St. Pete Beach and Griff Griffitts of Panama City Beach will do the same under Lopez and Rizo, respectively.
Miami Lakes Rep. Tom Fabricio also scored a Chair seat, but it’s an on-again/off-again one. He’ll serve as Alternating Chair of the Joint Select Committee on Collective Bargaining, sharing the duty with Palm Bay Republican Sen. Randy Fine.
Fabricio is the only incoming Chair also to receive a Vice Chair assignment from Perez. He’ll sit beside Jacksonville Republican Rep. Wyman Duggan in the influential Ways and Means Committee.
Other Vice Chair posts went to:
— Miami Beach Rep. Fabián Basabe in the Human Services Subcommittee under Chair Lauren Melo, a Naples Republican.
— Sweetwater Rep. David Borrero in the Rules and Ethics Committee under Chair Sam Garrison of Fleming Island, who is slated to be Speaker in 2026. Borrero will also serve as Whip of the Judiciary Committee under Chair Chuck Brannan of Macclenny and Vice Chair Webster Barnaby of Deltona.
— Miami Rep. Juan Porras in the Commerce Committee under Chair James Buchanan of Sarasota, and in the Industries and Professional Activities Subcommittee under Chair Mike Giallombardo of Cape Coral.
— Islamorada Rep. Jim Mooney in the State Affairs Committee under Chair Will Robinson of Bradenton, and in the Natural Resources and Disasters Subcommittee under Chair Adam Botana of Bonita Springs.
In addition to not giving any committee leadership positions to Miami-Dade’s six Democratic Representatives — Wallace Aristide, Kevin Chambliss, Ashley Gantt, Dotie Joseph, Felicia Robinson and Marie Woodson — Perez also forwent assigning Chair or Vice Chair posts to Republican Miami Reps. Omar Blanco and Mike Redondo.
Perez, who took the House gavel last month, has implemented or announced several changes ahead of the coming Session. He vowed to make the chamber “leaner” and more forward-looking with new panels on information technology investment and threat assessments, loosened some restrictions on member activities, and unveiled plans for a new website and interactive bill analyses.
The 2025 Legislative Session commences March 4 and runs through May 2. Click here to view the full list of House committees and their members.
