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Speaker Designate Sam Garrison names committee chairs

A group of people sit in a room facing a man gaveling in.
Kate Payne
/
AP
Florida House Speaker Daniel Perez gavels in a special legislative session on immigration at the state capitol in Tallahassee on Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025.

House Speaker-designate Sam Garrison on Monday announced the names of the state representatives who will chair committees during his two-year term.

The Fleming Island Republican’s announcements Monday followed Senate President-designate Jim Boyd’s announcement of some of his top appointments.

Garrison named Rep. Traci Koster chair of the powerful Appropriations Committee, making the Tampa Republican the chief budget negotiator for the House. Her counterpart in the Senate is Panama City Republican Sen. Jay Trumbull, named chair of the Senate Committee on Appropriations last week.

Expectations are for Rep. Jennifer Canady to be elected House speaker-designate during the planned November organizational session. In the two-year build-up to the 2028 session (when the Lakeland Republican is expected to become speaker) she will chair the Policy & Strategy Committee. Canady is married to former Florida Supreme Court Justice Charles T. Canady, who stepped down last year to take a job at the University of Florida.

Meanwhile, Rep. Adam Botana will head the Rules & Calendar Committee.

Rep. Demi Busatta was named speaker pro tempore but will also head the Health & Human Services Committee. The panel will hear all healthcare-related legislation. Rep. Mike Redondo takes the lead on healthcare financing, being named chair of the Health Care Appropriations Subcommittee.

And there’s more

Other state representatives named by Garrison to chair committees are:

  • Rep. Fiona McFarland, a Sarasota Republican, chair the Education & Employment Committee;
  • Rep. Jason Shoaf, a Republican from Port St. Joe, chair the Commerce Committee;
  • Rep. John Snyder, Republican of Stuart, chair of the State Affairs Committee;
  • Rep. Kaylee Tuck, a Republican from Lake Placid, chair of the Judiciary Committee.

Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Michael Moline for questions: info@floridaphoenix.com.

Christine Sexton has spent more than 30 years reporting on Florida health care, insurance policy, and state politics and has covered the state’s last six governors. She lives in Tallahassee.
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