Florida’s new low-key state legislative leaders offered a joint agenda Wednesday for the upcoming session focused on water policy, education and tax relief, presenting a firm conservative approach in a less fiery style than many of their recent predecessors.
House Speaker Steve Crisafulli, R-Merritt Island, and Senate President Andy Gardiner, R-Orlando, are embarking on two-year leadership stints as relative unknowns across much of Florida.
Yet they will have significant power in a state Capitol where Gov. Rick Scott’s clout already is being questioned just a few weeks into his second term and where the Legislature is expected to drive much of the policy debate in the session that begins March 3.
Neither Crisafulli nor Gardiner is inclined to the type of bombastic rhetoric that draws attention, and their ideas were presented Wednesday with little flourish during a legislative preview event hosted by the Associated Press.
