After her unsuccessful bid to succeed the late Bill Young for Congress earlier this year, state Representative Kathleen Peters (R-South Pasadena) is working hard to get re-elected to her House District 69 seat, which she won back in 2012.Spotted on the USF-Tampa campus on Tuesday speaking at Voter Registration Day, the Pinellas County legislator says one of her main objectives going into the 2015 legislative session is going to be focused on mental health issues.
"I'm really digging into it right now," she says about her research on how other parts of the state take care of the mentally ill. That includes touring jail facilities in Miami (which has a work relationship regarding mentally ill patients with Jackson Memorial Hospital) and St. Anthony's in Pinellas County. Next week she intends to meet up with officials at some HCA-owned mental hospitals.
Earlier this year, Pinellas County Public Defender Bob Dillinger dropped a mini-bombshell on the Pinellas County Commission when he said that the county may lose more than $3 million in state funding in the next few years. Since then, he's reached out to Peters, who says she's doing what she can to make sure that doesn't happen.
"We're going to look at funding, equitable distribution, distribution that's effective and makes sense, where we'll need to increase (funds)," she said. "It's going to be a big, comprehensive process," Peters vows, and says it will take more than one legislative session to accomplish.
Currently Florida ranks 49th in per capita in funding for mental health services.
"Criminalizing someone who has a mental illness is not the answer," Peters says.
The Pinellas Republican also says she'll continue her work with homeless issues, which include working with the Art Institute of Tampa on a marketing campaign to change public awareness on the cause.
CL then asked Peters about Duke Energy, which has become the whipping boy among local corporations for several Democratic candidates in Pinellas County this campaign season. Peters is unequivocal in saying that she was unhappy with the utility's change in its meter-reading process that resulted in exorbitant energy bills for some customers, a practice that was so toxic that it was quickly reversed after several lawmakers let their negative feelings be known.
But when asked what she thought of Duke's advanced nuclear cost recovery practices that have also been condemned by local Democrats, Peters wouldn't bite. When asked if she thought Duke has been behaving like a good corporate citizen, she took a noticeable pause.
"I think," she said before pausing further, "I think with transition and change, it certainly isn't appearing so," referring to Duke taking over from Progress Energy over the past year as Pinellas County's only electricity provider. But lest that sound like too harsh, she quickly added that "I haven't dug enough to make a claim like that. I would never make a claim like that without doing more research."
Peters faces Democrat Scott Orsini in November. CL intends to feature him in an upcoming post.