ORANGE PARK – Although there are 24 other counties with more people and larger legislative contingencies in Tallahassee, Reps. Sam Garrison, Bobby Payne, and Sen. Jennifer Bradley reminded a filled Thrasher-Horne Conference Center last week that Clay County benefited from the pact the three have created.

“Here we are in Northeast Florida,” Garrison said. “We’re workers. We call it the three legs of the stool.”

All three were guests of the Clay Chamber on Wednesday, April 24, and they told business and government leaders of their challenges and successes of the just-completed legislative session. All three said a lot of work was completed in the 60-day session.

“In this session, there were about 20,000 bills filed and about 200, give or take, depending on what the count memorials are, about 250 passed,” Bradley said. I had a very busy session this year. It was a really, really busy session. I thought I filed 18 bills out of the Senate, which was probably the highest amount I’ve passed since I’ve been there.”

All three said the signature legislation dealt with social media. Governor Ron DeSantis signed bills approved by the House and Senate that banned children younger than 14 from having their own social media accounts. Children ages  14 and 15 must have accounts with parental consent.

Garrison said about 3% of children used cell phones 10 years ago; now, it’s more than 72%.

“We feel like the parents are being excluded entirely from social media platforms,” he said.

Payne, who represents the Keystone Heights area, Garrison and Bradley also talked about challenges to infrastructure, AI pornography, rapid development, shrinking green and agriculture spaces, drug abuse, mental health issues, social media and healthcare.

“It’s an all-hands-on-deck situation, and we’re putting real money behind it,” Garrison said. “Quite frankly, we’re just trying to keep pace right now. It’s going to take a sustained investment going forward. How do we structure that? That’s a big issue for us.

“We’ve developed a reputation as a county over the last 10 to 12 years, in partnership with the BCC, our municipalities, and our constitutionals. When we show up, and they say this is a need, we start from a position of OK, that makes sense.

“We don’t get the luxury of passing the buck. We have to figure it out. It’s the stuff that matters to you and your community. It’s your school. It’s your roads. It’s your prisons. It’s your water that you drink. It’s all that sort of stuff.”