Incoming Florida House speaker adds technology and strategy committees and re-creates a public integrity panel; Senate's Boyd names leadership team

Incoming Florida House Speaker Sam Garrison, R-Fleming Island, told House members in a memo sent Thursday night, Nov. 5, that he will re-create a Public Integrity Committee and add two new standing committees, the Florida Phoenix reported Friday. The memo did not name chairs or members for any of the panels, according to the Phoenix.¹

SignalData could not open the memo or any House or Senate release on the announcements. This report relies on the news reports credited below, along with the state constitution.

House committees

The Public Integrity Committee will handle public corruption, lobbying, financial disclosure and conflicts of interest, the Phoenix reported. It said the panel resembles the Public Integrity & Elections Committee the House had under former Speaker Chris Sprowls, who led the chamber from 2020 to 2022.¹

One new committee, Policy & Strategy, will handle issues that span more than one policy area, including long-range planning and fiscal stability, according to the Phoenix. Garrison wrote that he wants the House "to consider where Florida needs to be in five or 10 or 20 years," it reported.¹

The other, Advanced Technology & Digital Security, will oversee state technology, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, digital privacy and data governance, the Phoenix reported. It replaces the Information Technology Budget & Policy Subcommittee that outgoing Speaker Daniel Perez created, and it will handle policy only; spending decisions will go to the full Appropriations Committee and its subcommittees, according to the Phoenix.¹

Florida Politics reported that the memo also changes the House Budget Committee's name back to the Appropriations Committee and that the House would go from nine full committees to 11.² When Perez took over in 2024, he renamed the House Appropriations Committee the Budget Committee, the News Service of Florida reported at the time.³

Garrison wrote that "we kept most of the current structure," the Phoenix reported.¹

Senate leadership team

Senate President-designate Jim Boyd, R-Bradenton, named his leadership team Thursday, the News Service of Florida reported through CBS News Miami.⁴

• Sen. Ana Maria Rodriguez, R-Miami-Dade, president pro tempore
• Sen. Nick DiCeglie, R-Indian Rocks Beach, majority leader
• Sen. Danny Burgess, R-Zephyrhills, Rules Committee chairman
• Sen. Jay Trumbull, R-Panama City, Appropriations Committee chairman
• Sen. Colleen Burton, R-Lakeland, Fiscal Policy Committee chairwoman

Boyd said DiCeglie "came up through the local political party structure," according to the report. Trumbull previously chaired the Senate's Health and Human Services Appropriations Committee, and Burton previously chaired Health Policy, it said.⁴

Organization session

The Florida Constitution requires the Legislature to convene on the 14th day after each general election to organize and choose its officers.⁵ After the Nov. 3 election, that is Tuesday, Nov. 17, the date the News Service of Florida reported for the session, when new members are sworn in.⁴

What the records do not show

• SignalData did not open Garrison's memo or a Senate document listing Boyd's appointments; the committee descriptions and names above are as reported.
• The Phoenix reported that the memo named no chairs or members for the House committees.
• Reports opened by SignalData through Nov. 6 did not list the full Senate committee chairs beyond the five posts above.
• Florida Politics reported that Garrison's memo did not address the return to the Appropriations name.²