On March 27, MidPoint hosted iconoclastic Pinellas County Republican, former Florida State Senator Jeffrey Brandes. After leaving the legislature, Brandes founded a think tank, the Florida Policy Project, to develop best practices and policies to improve the lives of Floridians. His policy project is currently working in 4 primary areas to solve some of Florida’s most intractable problems that the legislature has not effectively addressed, such as unaffordable homeowners’ insurance, unaffordable housing, a lack of adequate transportation, and the need for criminal justice and prison reform.
Sen. Brandes started the Florida Policy Project because in his view, ”Everything in Tallahassee is tactical. Nothing is strategic. There is no real strategy” for dealing with our biggest problems. This is because of the legislators’ term limits and because the institutional leadership has such a short timeline to accomplish anything. From one Senate Speaker to the next, Brandes said, the legislature’s policy priorities may entirely change. “It’s schizophrenic!” But, by utilizing the resources of our universities and experts, and by being data-driven, not driven by election cycles, Brandes is confident his project can develop policy solutions to some of Florida’s difficult challenges.
Property Insurance Needs to be More, Not Less, Expensive?
On property insurance, Sen. Brandes, a self-identified Libertarian capitalist, believes for homeowners’ insurance rates to go down, the state’s insurer of last resort, Citizens, will need to raise rates, so that the private insurers can compete with Citizens, and then they will return to the Florida marketplace. Unless private insurers can make a profit here, he maintains, they will continue to abandon the Florida market. Right now, Brandes believes, the private insurers can’t make a profit in Florida because Citizens’ rates are below market and private insurers can’t compete. Brandes notes that “Citizens’ rates are set by politicians, not by actuaries.” Sen. Brandes is also opposed to coercing more private insurers to sell homeowners’ policies in Florida by requiring that any of them who sell auto insurance in Florida must also sell homeowners’ insurance. He anticipates that such a rule would cause companies to sell only a token number of homeowners’ policies, probably to their own employees, and that wouldn’t affect the marketplace.
Fix Zoning and You’ll Fix Housing
On affordable housing, Sen. Brandes is a true YIMBY (Yes, In My Backyard). He is a champion of more accessory dwelling units, more multi-family housing, more apartments, duplexes, and middle housing. He maintains that we can’t achieve a more affordable housing market without addressing outdated zoning rules that limit these types of housing and favor single-family dwellings on large lots, and we also need to amend rules that mandate parking minimums for new multi-family construction.
On criminal justice and prison reform, Brandes claims Florida has a prison crisis that demands immediate action. With a $2.2B shortfall, he notes, Florida’s prison facilities are crumbling, staff are overstretched, and inmate populations continue to swell. His latest op-ed in the Miami Herald makes a powerful call for urgent, bold reform. With a report from consulting firm KPMG in hand, Brandes has called for a standing legislative commission to modernize Florida’s prison system from top to bottom.
His Political Future is Still An Open Question
Sen. Brandes has often been seen as a rogue Republican for his views on issues that other still-serving politicians may be afraid to touch. He often bucks Republican political orthodoxies. As a Libertarian in the legislature, and now, out of political office, Brandes is unafraid to trumpet a call to raise insurance rates, put more housing density in our communities, or spend billions on prisoners, probably the most unpopular constituency and one that can’t even vote for him if and when he resumes his political career. His plan to get back into politics is still under wraps, however. He won’t close that door but Brandes claims he is still focused on his policy project.
Oh, and he is still a Republican who values his secret ballot.
Our conversation was wide-ranging and covered many other topics, and we could have continued for another hour. You can listen to this entire show on-demand here, on the WMNF app, or as a WMNF MidPoint podcast from your favorite podcast purveyor.
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