As President of the Florida Home Builders Association (FHBA), I want to say thanks for all whom traveled to Tallahassee and advanced the FHBA legislative agenda. We focused on 6 priority issues: Statute of Repose; Impact Fees; State Assumption of 404 Permitting; Affordable Housing Funding; Construction Defects and Condominium Bulk Buyer Protections. To view a copy of our Legislative handout, click here.
It makes a difference when legislators see the “folks from back home” proving that you do care. In case you didn’t attend you missed:
- Reception honoring our FHB-PAC 1,000 Club Members at Proof Brewery where 7 legislators appeared, many of whom are running for statewide office or congress.
- Tuesday morning’s Legislative Briefing began with comments by Rep. Frank White (R-Pensacola) who is a candidate for Attorney General and Sen. Kathleen Passidomo (R-Naples) who is sponsoring 4 FHBA priorities;
- The legislative briefing packets contained lots of helpful information of where to go, what to do and what to leave behind. The “leave behind” was a big hit with the legislators which briefly summarized the FHBA’s priorities.
- Our GA Chair, Frank Severino, offered a Lobbing Seminar for first-time hill visitors. It received great reviews.
- To cap off the day, the FHBA hosted a Legislative Reception Tuesday evening.
- The event took place at one of Tallahassee’s “historical” watering holes next door to the Capitol.
- Many of our legislative friends showed up to mingle with FHBA members and staff. A good time was had by all.
- The following day, for those that didn’t party too hard, was taken up by the Board of Directors meeting.
While the FHBA was meeting this week in Tallahassee, the Florida Building Commission (FBC) was meeting in Jacksonville. The main news from the FBC was the establishment of a Residential Construction Cost Impact Work Group.
Why a Residential Work Group:
- To provide a residential builders perspective and comment on impactful code proposals.
- To put a price tag on proposed changes to the code
- To place residential builders on equal footing with other proponents of code changes who are representing Technical Advisory Committees (TACs), i.e. roofing advocates have a Roofing TAC; electrical advocates have an Electrical TAC; fire protection advocates have a Fire TAC, etc.
See the list of members of this new work group. You’ll recognize all the members.
Residential Construction Cost Impact Work Group
| Jay Carlson
Carlson & Soforth PO Box 511232 Punta Gorda, FL 33951 941-637-1244 jcarlson@sunline.net Builder |
Rick Goff
KG II Development 4980 S Ferdon Boulevard Crestview, FL 32536-5230 850-682-8635 goff@kgiidevelop.com Builder |
| Ray Puzzitiello
Puzzitiello Builders, LLC 2101 Vista Parkway, #114 West Palm Beach, FL 33411 561-939-4852 ray@puzzitiello.com Custom Builder |
Lee Arsenault
New Leaf Construction, Inc. 4348 Southpoint Boulevard #210 Jacksonville, FL 32216-0933 904-802-0993 larsenault@newleafci.com Custom Builder |
| Mike Keesee
Keesee and Associates, Inc. 668 N Orlando Avenue, #106 Maitland, FL 32751-4459 407-880-2333 mike.keesee@gokeesee.com Engineer |
Alan Gremillion
GL Homes 1600 Sawgrass Corporate Pkwy, #400 Sunrise, FL 33312 954-753-1730
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| Jeremy Stewart
Jeremy Stewart Construction PO Box 1918 Crestview, FL 32536-7918 850-682-6156 jeremystewart@crestviewhomes.com Builder |
Ed Dion
Dion Builders 1105 Lothian Drive Tallahassee, FL 32312-2835 850-386-5664 eddion@eddion.com Remodeler |
| Bill Smock
Gator Plumbing 1104 64th Street Ct E Bradenton, FL 34208-6216 941-747-1110 billsmock2@yahoo.com Plumber |
The work group will be working with FBC staff in the near future to become integrated into the FBC code development process of the 7th edition of the code over the next three years.
Wow! What a great week to be FHBA’s President.