Florida Model Legislature House of Representatives

The House Platform

Speaker of the House Matthew Pearson-Dawe and House Clerk Jon Rader are determined to have a fruitful and productive legislative session this year in the House. The House leadership would like to focus on the following issues, as well as those found in the Joint Platform. The Speaker and Clerk are excited for the upcoming legislative session!

Education:
  • To ensure that our children are receiving the best possible education, the House is eager to improve our state’s Pre-K programs so the educational needs of our children are met and competitive with the rest of the nation.
  • The House would like to continue to encourage that more vocational options should be available at the high school level, to tend to our students interests and prepare them for skilled jobs once they graduate.
  • Knowing that college degrees are viewed as pathways out of poverty, the House would like to encourage exploration of ways to assist students who may be in financial or housing crisis while pursuing their degrees.
  • The House would also like to support grant programs for technical centers that would directly link higher education programs with local workforce needs; encouraging apprenticeship programs and on-the-job training in high-skill, high wage areas.
  • Increase K-12 per student funding.
  • Fight to keep higher education affordable by increasing performance funding for universities.
Tax Relief:
  • In order to reduce the burden government places on Florida families and businesses, the House plans to implement meaningful tax relief initiatives to empower the Middle Class,  small businesses and businesses desiring to expand into our great state.
Economic Independence for People with Unique Abilities:
  • The House plans to continue to support those people with unique abilities by funding postsecondary designation programs to serve students with disabilities.
  • Expand policy guidelines and revisit ways to fund the Personal Learning Scholarship Accounts
  • Promote employment options for personal developmental disabilities by providing for programs and incentives to Florida businesses who hire workers with disabilities.
Environment:
  • Successfully implement Amendment 1 to protect our water and natural resources with state wide funding with common sense, and business friendly policy strategies and statewide funding to address environmental issues found in our state.
  • Continue to fund everglade revitalization and reconstruction.
  • Fund and implement policies that combat algae blooms and bring incentives that will strengthen and redesign our storm water drain systems to protect our local water and natural resources. These policies will be flexible to adapt to the immediate needs of water managers, but also will these policies must bear in mind that our waters have no borders and any policy implemented in one portion of our state may affect another portion of our great state.
Adoptions:
  • Knowing that strong families help Florida thrive, and that Florida is a place for forever families, the House Leadership would like to promote adoptions by restoring the adoption subsidy program for state and local government employees, create a family recognition program and develop an incentive program for Community Based Care and provider agencies.
  
This list is only the beginning of what the House Leadership hopes to accomplish this session, working with our Representatives and colleagues in the Senate Chambers, Speaker of the House Matthew Pearson-Dawe and House Clerk Jon Rader are confident this will be the most productive session our legislature has ever seen. If you have any questions about the platform, please feel free to contact the House Leadership.

Being a Representative

At Florida Model Legislature, you can become a representative of the lower house of the Florida Legislature. Serving in this position, you will need to prepare extensively. This includes learning about the Real Florida House of Representatives and how it works with the Real Florida Senate. In addition to this, you must pay particular attention to the Difference between the Real Legislature, and the Model Legislature. Some rules will be different, and you may learn about them on our Resources Page. 

In your preparation, you will also need to learn about Florida's system for submitting Bills, and passing them through Committee's. And you will need to learn about Florida Model Legislatures Bills and Committees System.