Florida Sen. Lori Berman On Guns, Home Rule & Affordable Housing

Florida State Rep. Lori Berman

Local state legislators held an event on Tuesday, hoping to meet residents and hear some of their concerns, and Senator Lori Berman says that's just what she and Democrat State Representative David Silvers received.

She says affordable housing was a popular topic.

"We have a real crisis for housing for our teachers, for our firefighters, for people who work in the community."

Democrat Berman says the legislature swept a good amount of money from a trust fund earmarked for affordable housing.

She filed a bill this year that would've mandated any money taken from the trust fund for other purposes be returned within five years, but Berman claims it never made it to committee.

So, it's back to the drawing board.

"We are working on legislation to make sure that the affordable housing money goes to affordable housing."

Environmental concerns were also brought up, in the wake of Palm Beach town leaders reversing a ban on plastic bags because the Florida Retail Federation is threatening lawsuits against that town and other municipalities around the state.

Berman says the state needs to get out of the way of local governments.

"I'm a strong believer in home rule so it bothers me when we go to Tallahassee and we preempt local governments from doing what they think is best in their community."

Berman says gun control was also brought up at Tuesday's "Coffee Talk" event in Lake Clarke Shores.

She filed the bill that resulted in Florida's "red flag" law, allowing law enforcement to go to court and remove guns from people who are deemed to be a danger.

"Now my bill that I brought again this year is saying that family members should be able to go to court and say 'I want the gun removed from my family member'."

She says the current red flag law has been used over 2,000 times since it's been in effect.


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