A conservative backed group unveiled their legislative agenda for both the state and national levels Thursday.
Americans for Prosperity CEO Luke Hilgemann says he and his staff have talked to millions of people all over the U.S., including the Sunshine state.
“And, every single time we talked to these people, three key messages came through: they want lower gas prices, they want energy that’s affordable for their families, they want health care that has more access, lower costs, and higher quality, and the third thing that they want is a government that doesn’t overspend their family budget, and that’s what this agenda is truly focused on,” said Hilgemann.
Those became the group’s 2015 priorities. Included in that agenda is making the 40-hour work week a bit more flexible, as Brent Gardner, AFP’s Vice President of Government Affairs, explained during a conference call Thursday.
“I know we’ve heard a number of stories about people who work in the lower income, lower opportunity jobs that have to work now two of those jobs to be able to meet whatever their family obligations are in their monthly budget. And, that’s because if they were just to work just one more hour—an hour they wanted to work—it would be unaffordable for the company to maintain their employment. We need to get rid of this arbitrary law,” said Gardner.
More specific to Florida, AFP’s State Director Chris Hudson outlined some of the priorities for this upcoming 2015 legislative session. He says includes lawmakers keeping their financial promises to taxpayers.
“We want to make sure they don’t expand Medicaid,” said Hudson. “We know that it’s a broken system, and we know that it is the last leg of the three-legged stool that is the Affordable Care Act. We want to make sure they reform the pension system, and they take a real good look at Citizens Property Insurance. We also want to make sure that while they’re doing that, they’re being good stewards of our money. We want to make sure that accountability in Sunshine is a good thing. It is a healthy practice. And, something that we will strive to make sure is on their plate going forward.”
Other key issues include school choice and putting an end to the corporate income tax.
For more news updates, follow Sascha Cordner on Twitter: @SaschaCordner .
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