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This is the second installment of my interviews with our local state legislators. I met with Rep. Holder at his office to talk about his thoughts on where we’ve been and where we are headed.

Did the legislative session meet your expectations?

The legislative session was challenging to say the least. My expectations going in were simply our constitutional charge — which was to balance the budget. And that, in itself, was a challenge. It required the majority of our time. Did it meet my expectations? I am happy with the fact that we were able to balance the budget and at the same time increase funding per student for education. So many people love to look at the number which is allocated for education and if that number is lower than it was last year, then they say, “We cut spending.” … But that’s not true. What happens is that we have an exact amount that is allocated per student in the state of Florida and the number of students fluctuates every year. And because our student population has decreased by 6,000 students from the past year, then that number will decrease accordingly. So even though the entire amount was decreased, the “per-student” amount has increased. That is one thing that I am happy that we were able to do.

We were also able to continue funding health care to the most vulnerable in Florida. One of my biggest successes was to continue the funding for Coastal Behavioral and First Step programs.

The disappointments are that we have more work to do with property insurance and tax reform. My big focus for Sarasota is creating incentives for business to provide new jobs and revenue such as green development and a comprehensive energy plan.

Any idea on how you will go about doing that?

We are on the cusp of putting together a plan that includes renewable energy which recognizes our need to become independent of foreign oil. That is what takes away the partisanship from energy. It is a comprehensive plan that allows us to fuel our vehicles as well as power our buildings. We have to pursue renewables in order to get off of fossil fuels. If it makes more sense, and it’s better and cheaper … then I’m all for that. And I think the oil companies are too, as long as they are included in that.

The Senate passed an energy bill, but it died before it got to the House. Are you saying that the Senate energy bill wasn’t comprehensive enough?

I’m not saying that. … I didn’t see it. I don’t think that we had enough time to study something that big this year. We had so many revisions on the budget and we got to the point that we knew we wouldn’t have enough time to vet it properly. Therefore, let’s pass it next year … and that’s what I am going after. I have spoken to the chairman of the energy committee [Rep. Paige Kreegel] and we are on the same page as far as wanting to see this go through. I even sponsored an amendment to that energy bill that would provide a study for a feed-in tariff program. I did that because there was a bill for a statewide feed-in tariff that wasn’t getting heard. We want the discussion to go on through the summer. We want people from the local organizations to talk about it. And I think that that is happening.

You and Keith Fitzgerald have both talked about a pilot program in Sarasota with FP&L for a Feed-in Tariff (Renewable Energy Dividend). Is this something that you would support and work with Rep. Fitzgerald on this?

Keith and I work well together and have become friendly through the process. There have been a lot of frustrations as far as different bills not coming up. I supported his feed-in tariff bill this past session. I think a good place for Keith’s feed-in tariff would be in that energy plan. A part of our energy solution would be to work with the energy companies to develop a program that would encourage participation in the production of energy. With solar panels on their homes, individuals should make it a part of their everyday life. It makes sense. And we have good products. Technology has improved. We need to make it a part of our everyday lives.

It seems that there is a disconnect between what the citizens want and what the legislature produces in regard to renewable energy. We have a unique opportunity here in Sarasota. Not only do we have citizen support, but we have three influential representatives in our area who are directly involved in energy; you, along with Reps. Fitzgerald and Kreegel. What will the three of you set out to accomplish?

What we are really talking about is the iceberg. We are not talking about the tip of it. The feed-in tariff program, the drilling bill — those are all individual issues that expand into this massive plan. We really need to focus on Florida’s plan. It’s created by more than just the legislature. It takes the governor’s office, it takes private companies, it takes scientists, the Department of Environmental Protection, the economic development plan… It’s a massive undertaking.

It’s obvious that you are supportive of renewable energy. Then why at the last minute did the oil drilling bill come on the radar and then do so well within the House when nothing was passed on renewable energy?

The problem is that it shouldn’t be called the “drilling bill.” It doesn’t automatically set up drilling. What it does is give the executive branch the authority to set up drilling in Florida waters. If you are asking why that came up when the energy bill did not come up, I don’t know.

You voted for offshore drilling. Do you feel that you represented your constituents in the best way possible with that vote?

First of all, I think that bill was a way to really start the debate about how people feel about Florida waters. It was very clear to me during the past couple of years that the people of Florida certainly want to become independent of foreign oil and want to look at the viability of extracting one of our natural resources: oil in the gulf. … But in a responsible way. I don’t think that the comments that have been made about my support of that initiative have really included the renewable side. In that bill there is a section of it that includes funding for renewables and sustainable energy. I think what you read in the press was more opinion than what actually occurred. We knew that what we were really talking about was the beginning …about putting a plan together. I think it’s viable that we recognize a comprehensive energy plan for Florida. There are 22 states that have one, and we don’t. It makes sense that we have an energy plan. I don’t think that the energy bill was suppressed; it just didn’t make the cut. It is a problem because it’s a priority to us, the people of our community, but with all of the difficulties of our budget, we ran out of time and it just didn’t happen. But what that means it that next session it moves up in the priority list. And I will push just as hard to make it go through.

We have so many resources in this area alone. There’s a fully funded, multi-million-dollar algae-to-bio-fuels company headquartered in Naples that operates in three or four different countries. But they haven’t gotten the attention that they deserve from our state as far as incentives to open up shop here to actually grow the algae. They are headquartered here, but all of their production is elsewhere. Now they are looking at other states in order to set up shop here in the U.S.

Do you think the drilling bill was vetted enough? It’s my understanding that the House was made aware of it and then two hours later, they were voting on it. Who did the vetting for the drilling bill that makes you so certain that it was a good bill?

The discussion that we had… The debate on the floor was a good debate. I personally sat down and asked questions about it because I wanted to make sure that we were talking about specific processes that are safe. And I would make sure that if this bill comes up again, that the process is what we need it to be…which is environmentally safe, making sure that it is hermetically sealed, making sure that there are pumps that are used — not oil rigs, making sure that there are no platforms out there… that it’s done in a responsible way. We are not stupid. No one is going to go out there and put an oil rig on an environmentally sensitive area or a tourist-driven beach area where one would affect the other. It’s unnecessary. There is all this talk about Siesta Key and Casey Key, or any of our resort areas… It wouldn’t happen. If the discussion came up, I certainly wouldn’t be in favor of doing that.

So you are not in favor of any drilling off the coast of our keys like Siesta Key and Casey Key?

I’m not in favor of doing anything that would prohibit or risk the other industries in Florida, such as tourism and environmentally sensitive areas. But I do firmly believe that we are responsible as Floridians and as Americans to use our resources versus putting money or financial resources into the hands of people that want to see the demise of the United States. Secondly, I have a big concern about people like Hugo Chávez, the Chinese and the Cuban government that want to drill in our areas to do the exact same thing and then benefiting from it. There are a lot of safeguards that were presented to us. And I think we will see more.

Are you saying that if the bill comes up again, then you will vet the bill much further than it was before?

I will go so far as to say that I will amend the bill, if the sponsor of the bill doesn’t have the opportunity to make those changes prior to it being present it.

If the sole intent is to get off of foreign oil, would you be in agreement that the bill would state that every barrel that we pump from the shores of Florida would be one less barrel that we would purchase from foreign lands? And if it is your intent to pump oil here so it doesn’t come from foreign lands, then what safeguards are being put into place to prevent that from happening?

Yes, that is the intent. For every barrel that is taken out of our domestic supply, it would be one less barrel that was purchased from a foreign entity. I would say that there should be a part of that bill that addresses our refining capabilities, whether we do that in Florida or not. It is a big issue and it needs to be done in an ample enough time to be vetted properly.

CO2 emissions and environmental disasters are major concerns of our citizens when it comes to drilling for oil and creating energy. Is that a consideration of yours?

Certainly, and those are things that cannot be ignored. These things have to be addressed. If there are risks involved that are safety issues as it pertains to the health of the people that live on the coast of Florida, the health of our environment, and the health of our economy — then certainly it doesn’t make sense. But there are economics involved in this. The way that it was presented to us is that there is $1.5 billion of revenue annually. They are talking about the jobs that are involved are in the thousands.

When you look back at this past session, what do you see?

We only passed 50 percent of the bills that came before us because we were focused on the budget. I believe that energy will be at the top of the list for next session. That is the first thing on my list. We have a tremendous opportunity with a growing industry, we have the private capital, we have the people who could really use this job opportunity, and we have the desire to become independent of foreign oil. That in itself is a “low hanging fruit.”

We did have successful year for some bills. One of the things I have learned is that hard work and tenacity get bills passed. You learn how to work around the system as well as through the system and being a member of the majority, we were able to take several pieces of legislation, like the partial payment of property taxes bill, from Senate messages and make it law. Other bills, like hazardous-duty pay for our military while being deployed and the Green Economic Development Zone are amongst our successes. We would also like to be the Gainesville of the feed-in tariff world of green development. And we have the ability to do that in Sarasota.

One of the biggest disappointments of this past session is that my “texting bill” was not heard. It legislates the prohibition of texting while driving. It will become a secondary offense and it won’t go against your insurance. I have run it the past two years as a promise to my wife. She was moved by the story of those five young girls that died in a car accident in Pennsylvania shortly after their high school graduation.

I would like to also put an effort out to sink more ships off our coast. We just sunk the Vandenberg to become a coral reef in the Florida Keys. It’s a great program that has a one time expense that provides a recurring revenue source for tourism and recreational fisherman. It’s a good program. I’ve already been contacted by other cities that want this program to happen in their waters.

Is there anything else that you would like to add?

My view on energy really came from a lot of different areas. From a governmental standpoint, it really came the person from whom I’ve learned about water, [Sarasota County Commissioner] Jon Thaxton. You have to look at it from region to region. There are different resources that we have for fresh water. Most of those resources are not single source feasible, but if you combine them, then it becomes a part of a feasible plan. In terms of energy, some of the options are not necessarily economically feasible, but that doesn’t mean that you don’t make them a part of the plan. If you take all of the different resources of renewable energy and put them together, then you have a very comprehensive energy program.

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