The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the opportunity- and the need- to make telehealth as accessible as practicable. Telehealth helps reach audiences that may otherwise be unable to access care and provides the opportunity to improve patient care, treatment, education, and services, and ultimately bend the cost curve.

One only needs to look at the experience of other states that have reduced or eliminated their tourism marketing efforts to understand what will happen if VISIT FLORIDA is eliminated. States like Colorado and Washington that have drastically cut or eliminated their investment in travel promotion have experienced immediate and long-term negative economic impacts. Destinations that fail to invest consistently in travel promotion will see visitors, jobs, and tax revenues go elsewhere. Should Florida choose to follow suit, tourism and the economic activity and taxes it generates will certainly decline.

My name is Dominic M. Calabro, and I am President and CEO of Florida TaxWatch, an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit, taxpayer research institute and government watchdog which, for more than 40 years, has worked hard to improve the effectiveness, efficiency, and accountability of Florida government and promote a fair and equitable system of taxation.

Tallahassee, Fla. – Today, Florida TaxWatch (FTW) is releasing a comprehensive assessment of broadband access in Florida, as well as proposed strategies for expansion in unserved areas. In the report, entitled Closing the Digital Divide: The Expansion of Broadband Internet Service to Unserved Areas of the State, the trusted taxpayer research institute for over 40 years also emphasizes the need for fast, reliable, and affordable broadband Internet service in Floridians’ daily lives.

Tallahassee, Fla. – Today, Florida TaxWatch is releasing a policy brief entitled The Economic and Fiscal Impacts of Education and Training Beyond High School in Florida. It is the first installment in a two-part series, examining educational achievement rates across Florida’s demographic populations to identify current achievement gaps and their impacts on the state economy.