April 16, 2018
Florida Farm Bureau Federation will recognize two state legislative leaders for their outstanding work and contributions during the 2018 legislative session for Florida’s farmers and ranchers. These lawmakers provided leadership on key bills and issues that will significantly improve and strengthen our agricultural community in Florida, including temporary tax relief to help in hurricane recovery efforts, regulatory relief and improvements to Greenbelt.
This year, Florida Farm Bureau is proud to recognize Sen. Kelli Stargel and Rep. Paul Renner as our Legislators of the Year.
Sen. Kelli Stargel
During the 2018 legislative session, Sen. Kelli Stargel’s hand was on nearly every bit of Florida Farm Bureau’s legislative agenda. Sen. Stargel sponsored two important pieces of legislation: a bill to expand the exemption for agricultural-restricted license plates and the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services’ legislative package, which included improvements to Greenbelt.
As Chair of the Senate Finance and Tax Committee, Sen. Stargel also included the entirety of Sen. Denise Grimsley’s legislation providing tax relief for hurricane relief and recovery on the Senate’s tax cut package.
“Florida Farm Bureau appreciates Sen. Stargel’s continued commitment to our state’s farmers and ranchers,” said Adam Basford, director of State Legislative Affairs at Florida Farm Bureau. “Sen. Stargel has been a leading advocate for agriculture during her time in the Senate and we sincerely thank her for her role in providing tax relief to aide in hurricane recovery for those impacted by Hurricane Irma.”
Rep. Paul Renner
As Chair of the Ways and Means Committee in the House, Rep. Paul Renner played a leading role in securing critical tax relief for farmers and ranchers impacted by Hurricane Irma. During the 2018 legislative session, Rep. Renner was committed to providing as much hurricane recovery assistance to as many producers around the state as possible, doing what he could to put dollars back in the pockets of growers for storm recovery.
“Rep. Renner was a leader in the House of Representatives in 2018 for an important part of Florida Farm Bureau’s legislative agenda,” said Basford. “We appreciate Rep. Renner’s efforts to provide disaster assistance to the agricultural producers who sustained more than $2.5 billion in damages due to Hurricane Irma. Rep. Renner is a wonderful legislative partner and we sincerely thank him for his help in providing disaster assistance to as many agricultural producers who were impacted by the storm as possible.”