TALLAHASSEE — Rural areas throughout Florida could soon receive an infusion of cash, after the Florida Senate on Jan. 14 passed the “Rural Renaissance” package that’s a top priority for Senate President Ben Albritton.
The bill (SB 250) includes nearly $152 million to create new grant programs and add to existing ones to help rural local governments add education and health care options, improve infrastructure and approve more affordable housing.
Albritton, R-Wauchula, has argued rural areas have been left behind despite Florida’s growing economy in recent years, struggling to pay for needed infrastructure and education and health care needs. That was echoed by Sen. Corey Simon, R-Tallahassee, who sponsored the bill.
“This won’t be the last time that I’m asking for rural Florida,” said Simon, whose district includes 11 rural counties. “(Local officials) almost break down in tears when they show up because they think they’ve been forgotten.”
Simon amended the bill to remove state funds for grants to the Department of Health, saying the award of $209 million in December by the federal government to Florida will replace that money, which is intended to expand health care options for rural areas. The money was part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act passed by Congress and signed by President Donald Trump in 2025.
Senate Democratic Leader Lori Berman of Boca Raton noted rural towns in populous counties, such as Belle Glade and Pahokee in Palm Beach County, could be left out of the eligibility of many of the grant programs in the bill. Nevertheless she praised the measure as a boon to neglected areas of the state.
“Rural communities deserve the same investment and respect for the dignity of their lives as every other part of this beautiful state,” Berman said.
Florida’s ‘Rural Renaissance’ bill faces obstacles in the House
Senate President Ben Albritton address the Florida Senate during opening day of session Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026.
But although it passed unanimously in the Senate, the measure has faced resistance in the House and could be dragged into budget negotiations between the chambers later in the legislative session. A similar bill passed the Senate last year but failed to pass the House.
“The Senate President has obviously said that it’s important to him. But whether it’s important to him or not it doesn’t change the direction of the bill itself,” House Speaker Daniel Perez, R-Miami, told reporters Jan. 13. “If (House members) want to vote it down they can vote it down, if they want to pass it off the House floor unanimously they can do so as well.”
The bill sets up the Office of Rural Prosperity within the Commerce Department, which will coordinate with rural local governments to help them draw down state and federal grants and issue grants from two new grant programs designed to help rural areas set up technology infrastructure.
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A set of rural communities, known as fiscally constrained counties, would receive at least $50 million in sales tax distributions. There are 31 counties designated as fiscally constrained, making up mostly rural Panhandle areas and landlocked counties in South Florida.
There’s also $35.6 million for the Department of Education to administer a program to provide $15,000 in student loan repayments for teachers and administrators to work in public or private schools in rural areas.
For affordable housing, counties and towns in rural areas would see their minimum amount of State Housing Initiatives Program funds increase from $350,000 to $1 million per year.
Gray Rohrer is the Policy and Politics Reporter for The USA TODAY NETWORK-FLORIDA. You can get all of Florida’s best content directly in your inbox each weekday day by signing up for the free newsletter, Florida TODAY at https://tallahassee.com/newsletters
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Florida’s ‘Rural Renaissance’ bill wants to give economic boost to communities