Legislators celebrate local wins amid ‘chaotic’ session

Local lawmakers avoided increasingly pervasive partisan politics to secure state funding for Pinellas County projects. Their collective efforts paid dividends amid an atypical legislative session. 

Rep. Lindsay Cross, a Democrat, called the extended session “a little bit chaotic.” Sen Nick DiCeglie, a Republican, noted the Pinellas delegation was “very successful” despite the “fireworks that were going on in the Legislature all around us.” 

The two lawmakers secured $1 million for the Shore Acres Resiliency Infrastructure project in St. Petersburg’s lowest-lying neighborhood. Cross and DiCeglie also helped establish legislation outlawing vehicular wakes on flooded streets, a city priority. 

“All of our constituents were impacted one way or another from the 2024 hurricane season,” DiCeglie said. “I represent Republicans, I represent Democrats and I represent no-party-affiliated voters, and they’re all incredibly important to me.” 

Cross noted that six of her seven budget requests, totaling $2.88 million, escaped the governor’s veto pen June 30. “ I think that’s pretty good, considering that many projects did not fare well,” she said. 

State Rep. Lindsay Cross.

Cross secured $750,000 to ensure that a sewage lift station in Pinellas Park remains operational during power outages, $455,890 for R’Club Child Care, $250,000 for the St. Pete Free Clinic, $255,000 for Goodwill Industries Suncoast and $166,000 for the Very Special Arts Program. 

While she is proud of bringing home nearly $3 million for her constituents, Cross said the legislative session seemed to lack a clear strategy. “I think there’s just so much uncertainty in Florida and politics,” she added.

“I’ve seen that the focus has been less and less on how to help Floridians and more on personal ambitions and the political theater.” 

However, Cross called her and DiCeglie’s efforts to prohibit creating a wake on streets, which exacerbates flood damage, an “example of how government can work.” Republican leadership included language from their bills in a larger transportation package. 

Cross said the local lawmakers demonstrated a clear problem by highlighting impacted residents and businesses. “A year ago, if you had said that one of my bigger policy accomplishments would have been about not creating a wake while you’re driving, I would have been like, ‘What the heck does that even mean?’ And here we are being able to directly respond to residents.” 

In a prepared statement, Councilmember Brandi Gabbard said the state’s budget reflects the “strength of our partnerships and the power of local advocacy.” Mayor Ken Welch thanked the “entire Pinellas County delegation” for securing funding that will “enhance our resiliency and economic development.” 

DiCeglie is particularly proud of Senate Bill 180 becoming law. The legislation streamlines the permitting process for storm victims, clarifies repair guidelines to mitigate future property tax increases and bolsters disaster management planning and emergency resource coordination between local and state government agencies. 

State Sen. Nick DiCeglie.

DiCeglie said the bill requires local governments to have a debris collection strategy and encompasses “really anything to do with how they’re going to respond and react to a natural disaster.” He noted that many beach communities “just did not have a plan in place.”

“It was basically taking a lot of the lessons learned from the 2024 hurricane season and incorporating that into what I would consider a solid piece of legislation,” DiCeglie added. “I was laser-focused on resiliency. I’m going to continue to be focused on resiliency.” 

He secured $3 million for stormwater improvements and $3 million to enhance seawalls in Clearwater Beach, $1.5 million to move the Treasure Island Police and Fire Departments from a temporary trailer and into a new Emergency Operations Center after storms destroyed the previous facility and $476,000 for an AquaFence flood barrier system in Indian Rocks Beach. 

DiCeglie garnered $1.425 million for water quality improvements to Jungle Lake in west St. Petersburg’s Walter Fuller Park. The project will regenerate three acres of wetlands, help mitigate neighborhood flooding and increase recreational and educational opportunities. 

St. Petersburg is also home to DiCeglie’s biggest budgetary win. He received $10 million, the full amount requested, for a long-awaited Environmental and Oceanographic Sciences (EOS) research and teaching facility.

The University of South Florida will use some of the funding to repair storm-damaged labs at the College of Marine Science. The remainder will go to the EOS, and adds to $24.3 million in previous state funding. 

The governor vetoed $74 million for the EOS in 2022, and a $34.9 million request did not make it out of legislative committees in 2023. USF President Rhea Law, who announced her impending retirement in February, previously told the Catalyst that school officials decided to move the facility inland to increase resiliency and lower project costs. 

“This was very important for me – it was very important for the delegation,” DiCeglie said. “President Law can sail off into the retirement sunset knowing that one of her top priorities was funded. 

“Make no mistake about it, there were conversations really stressing how important a lot of these projects were to be funded, right until the very last minute. It took that hard push to make these things happen.”