LAKEWOOD RANCH — When’s the last time you saw a TV commercial touting Florida as a great place to come to visit, spend money, start a corporation or live and work?
While Florida has a department of tourism to promote the state, the funding for promotions is on a back burner so far back it’s cold, State Rep. Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton, said Friday.
Promoting the state has to take a back seat to medical care, education and law enforcement in a budget year where the state is $2.5 billion short, Galvano told the Lakewood Ranch Republican Club. But that doesn’t mean that the state doesn’t deserve some respect, he added.
“People need to be reminded of Florida,” Galvano said. “We have the most diverse state in the Union. We are the gateway to the Americas. We have access to both the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean. And we are one of the few states with large metro areas that still have room to grow.”
In Galvano’s proposed “Give Florida some love” TV spots, the focus would be on agriculture, tourism, “green” technology, light rail and other emerging public transportation and Florida’s in-state universities.
“When you look at the whole education package, including our Bright Futures scholarships and Merit scholars, we are unparalleled,” Galvano said.
Galvano lamented that, given all the assets, Florida has too much local bureaucracy, weak corporate tax incentives and, in his opinion, too many people who have a knee-jerk reaction that offshore drilling is the way to a sound economy.
“I don’t support offshore drilling,” Galvano said. “But I support exploring solar and other sorts of energy technology, and I support a rail line, and I support the development of biotechnology companies like The Scripps Research Institute, which does tissue-banking.”
Galvano has devoted a full year to come up with a gaming compact with the Seminole Tribe that would pump billions into Florida education.
That compact is still in the throes of negotiations, Galvano said.
One audience member questioned why, if Florida deserves some love, it was recently taken to task in a national report by the Pew Center on the States called “Beyond California: States in Fiscal Peril.” The report focused on California, Arizona, Rhode Island, Michigan, Nevada, Oregon, Florida, New Jersey, Illinois and Wisconsin.
“What do you think of the story about Florida being ranked among states with the most severe financial problems?” Lakewood Ranch resident Lewis Litchfield asked.
“In Florida, we have put money away and we still have a great amount of reserves,” Galvano replied. “We are not losing our credit rating. We are one of those states constitutionally mandated to balance our budget every year. We are not borrowing money. We’re paying as we go. I think the report was a scare-tactic.”
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