Will Robinson

Q. What are the top 3 issues facing Florida as a whole, but, in particular, our region?
A. In no particular order: (a) Getting our economy back on track after COVID-19; (b) getting people back to work; and (c) investing in education to attract and retain a strong and skilled workforce.

Q. Anticipating a decline in revenue during upcoming fiscal years for Florida, how would you address budget shortfalls? What are your priorities within a decreased budget?
A. Just like all Floridians have had to do over the past few months, the State of Florida will have to tighten its belt and find ways to decrease spending and invest wisely in priorities. Raising taxes should never be the answer. We have to continue to prioritize our spending needs over wants. My priorities are in education, infrastructure and water quality.

Q. Transportation continues to be an issue, both in terms of existing options as well as long-term planning and projects. What are your top 2 transportation priorities in our region and how would you fund them?
A. We have major infrastructure challenges traveling over all the Manatee River bridges and those involve my top two priorities. We must adequately plan for the future. The Fort Hamer Bridge took years to plan and construct and is now obsolete for the need in that area. My top priority is the corridor that includes Desoto Bridge. That entire area needs major improvements. The bottleneck is a major safety concern, as some folks cannot get to the hospital during certain times of the day. The process has been lengthy but the state and our community must focus on this issue before it becomes even more unmanageable. Second, the I-75 bridge and US 301 interchange near the Ellenton outlet mall must be replaced. Another transportation network nightmare. Funding for both would come from general revenue and the State Transportation Trust Fund.

Q. In Florida, and especially in our area, water quality is an essential part of our economy and quality of life. What can the Legislature do to address water quality?
A. Over my past two years in the legislature, I am proud of the work we have done in conjunction with our great Governor to improve water quality in Florida. Contrary from what you hear from the media, our Governor and the Republican-led Florida legislature have a great environmental track record. In the 2019 Session, we secured record funding in the budget to combat red tide. I was proud to co-sponsor that bill. In this past session, funding was secured to raise US 41 in south Florida to enhance Everglades preservation and water quality in that area. On the policy side, we passed some of the toughest environmental regulation bills in years. We are all tired of the local sewer spills that seemingly happen every day. We passed a bill that greatly increases the penalties for those that pollute our waterways. We also passed great bipartisan legislation this past session to help address major problems with stormwater issues and leaky septic tanks. Unfortunately, some wonderful local and statewide water projects were vetoed in the last budget. I will certainly be fighting hard to see these projects and others get into future budgets.

Q. As businesses move to recover and build the economy, what are some strategies that you would support that positively impact these businesses both now and in the future?
In the legislature, we must continue to lower taxes and fees, like the business rent tax. We need to do all we can for small businesses as they try to recover from the COVID-19 economic recession. We have seen tremendous growth in the regulatory power of local government. We must take a look at that, as increased regulation will continue to slow the growth of recovery for small businesses. Finally, many people come to Florida because they love our quality of life; our clean water, beautiful beaches and parks and highly ranked education system [we are ranked #1 in higher education in the USA!]. We must continue with all the great work we have done to improve our quality of life in Florida.