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Even though February is the shortest month of the year, it has been one of the busiest. As I shared with you in my previous newsletter, I and a few members of my Leadership Team travelled to Tallahassee to speak with our state legislators about the significant issues that are impacting our office and the community we serve. To view my address before the Florida Senate Appropriations committee, please click here.
We are thankful that the Florida Legislature has initiated a process to address the desperate needs of Florida’s criminal justice system. We are also hopeful that our Representatives and Senators, as they head toward the conclusion of the all-important budget process, will have a broad view of the present and future and supply sufficient funding to end this salary and hiring crisis we are facing.
My meetings with members of the Florida Legislature and their staffs were very positive and they recognized how important it is for our criminal justice system to recruit, develop and retain talented prosecutors and public defenders. They are aware that our current salary structure renders us unable to compete with the salaries of other state, local, and federal governmental agencies.
Members of our business and faith communities and our community-at-large have reached out to us to see what they can do to express their concern and support. Their voices, along with yours, can truly make a difference.
That is why members of the business community and I held a press conference on Wednesday, March 2nd to express our collective concerns and to voice our support together for our ongoing efforts to hire, train and retain the best legal talent necessary to protect you, the people of Miami-Dade County and Florida.
Thank you once again for your continued support for the work that we do at the State Attorney’s office to keep our community a safer place to live, work and raise our families.
