Policy Priorities

The Florida Legislature is systematically dismantling growth management laws to benefit developers, at the expense of rural communities, taxpayers, and Florida's natural resources. Every legislative session, bills are filed that undermine local control, sacrifice farmland, ignore infrastructure limits, and threaten the state's water supply. Through his leadership with Defending Rural Florida, John Hallman has spent years advocating for policies that protect Florida's rural communities, working farms and ranches, wildlife habitat, and environmentally sensitive lands. His firsthand experience monitoring and fighting these legislative proposals has provided him with a unique understanding of how state policy is reshaping Florida's landscape and why stronger growth management protections are essential to preserving the state's natural heritage and quality of life.

Florida needs campaign finance reform to protect our communities from the outsized influence of developer money in state politics. Across Florida, rural towns, family farms, and working-class neighborhoods are being sacrificed to serve the interests of those who can afford to buy legislative outcomes, often at the expense of local control, conservation, and common sense.

We work to advance practical, industry-informed legislative policies that support the growth and long-term success of Florida’s food and beverage businesses. Our policy objectives focus on reducing unnecessary regulatory barriers, promoting fair and competitive markets, strengthening workforce development, supporting responsible business growth, and ensuring industry professionals have a meaningful voice in the legislative and regulatory process. 

Florida’s craft beverage laws should evolve to support small, independent producers and a changing marketplace. Our legislative objective is to create self-distribution opportunities for craft breweries and distilleries. With 41 states already allowing some form of self-distribution, Florida has an opportunity to modernize its laws, encourage entrepreneurship, and strengthen its homegrown craft beverage industry.