Alexis Calatayud

Senator Calatayud sponsored SB 1424 in the 2023 Florida Senate session as the companion to House Bill 7039, both targeting harmful three-cueing reading practices in schools and educator preparation programs. The Senate bill advanced through committee, but the enacted vehicle was HB 7039, which passed both chambers with the same policy goals; under HB 7039, Florida educators are now required to use science-backed phonics instruction that excludes the three-cueing system. The legislation also appropriated approximately $158 million to help districts replace non-science-of-reading instructional materials, fulfilling the substantive policy commitment Calatayud championed. Calatayud chairs the Senate Education Postsecondary Committee and serves as Vice Chair of the Education Pre-K–12 Committee, putting her directly in the legislative seat to advance these reforms.

Senator Calatayud led SB 7000 (Deregulation of Public Schools/Instructional, Administrative, and Support Personnel) during the 2024 Florida legislative session, which the Senate passed unanimously in January 2024. The bill would have granted school districts expanded authority over teacher certification, salary schedules, multiyear contracts, and personnel evaluations. However, SB 7000 died in the House ('Died in Messages' on March 8, 2024); a closely related companion bill, CS/SB 7002, was enacted as Ch. 2024-159. The core deregulation objectives Calatayud championed were thus partially advanced through the companion legislation, though her specific bill did not become law.

Senator Calatayud held a 'Breakfast with Senator Alexis Calatayud' event at Cutler Bay Town Hall on March 26, 2024, co-hosted by Miami Community Newspapers and sponsored by the Cutler Bay Business Association, offering District 38 residents direct informal access to their senator. On April 17, 2026, she returned to Cutler Bay Town Hall for community office hours, meeting one-on-one with residents to assist with state services, discussing tax reform impacts with councilmembers, and engaging with the Town's Active Adults program. These documented appearances across multiple years demonstrate a consistent and ongoing pattern of in-district constituent engagement throughout her term.

Upon taking office, Calatayud applied her professional background at the Florida Department of Education — where she served as director of legislative affairs and director of public policy and programs — directly to her Senate legislative agenda. In 2023, she sponsored SB 1424 targeting three-cueing reading instruction and led SB 7000 on school personnel deregulation in 2024, both squarely within her FDOE expertise. She chairs the Senate Education Postsecondary Committee and serves as Vice Chair of the Education Pre-K–12 Committee in the 2024-2026 term, confirming that her education policy background has been substantively applied to her Senate work.

Calatayud voted in favor of SB 2-A during the December 2022 special session, which eliminated one-way attorney fees in property insurance cases and created the Reinsurance to Assist Policyholders (RAP) program. In the 2023 regular session, she voted for HB 1503, which further reformed property insurance litigation, both signed into law by Governor DeSantis. These reforms have produced measurable results by 2025-2026: Citizens Property Insurance filed for and received approval for an average 8.7% rate decrease for personal lines effective June 2026, the lowest Citizens policy count in 14 years was recorded (approximately 385,000 policies by end of 2025), and private carrier competition has expanded. However, Florida's average annual home insurance premium still hit $8,292 in 2025 — an 18% increase over 2024 — and the state remains the most expensive for property insurance nationally, with rates for individual Miami-Dade homeowners still significantly elevated. No new property insurance legislation passed the 2025 session. The promise is partially fulfilled: systemic reform and early market stabilization have occurred, but premium relief for most homeowners remains incomplete.

In the 2023 and 2024 legislative sessions, Calatayud voted in favor of multiple public safety bills, including measures that increased penalties for fentanyl trafficking and supported law enforcement recruitment and retention funding. She backed SB 1120 (2023), which enhanced penalties for retail theft and organized retail crime. Her voting record has been consistently aligned with pro-law enforcement legislation in the Florida Senate, and Ballotpedia scorecards from 2024 and 2025 confirm her continued alignment with conservative public safety positions. In the 2025 session, she sponsored S 1240 (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Care) and S 768 (Controlling Business Interests by Persons with Ties to Foreign Countries of Concern), which reached advanced committee stages. No significant reversal of her public safety voting pattern has been identified in 2025-2026.

Calatayud supported HB 1 (2023), which created universal school choice in Florida by expanding the Family Empowerment Scholarship to all students regardless of income, and voted for related parental notification and curriculum transparency measures. In her 2024-2026 term, she chairs the Senate Education Postsecondary Committee and serves as Vice Chair of the Education Pre-K–12 Committee, placing her at the center of education policymaking. In the 2025 session she sponsored bills including S 1006 (Video Cameras in Public School Classrooms), S 1102 (School Readiness Program), and S 1708 (Education). In the 2026 session she sponsored SB 1136 (Dental Screenings for K-12 Students), SB 1170 (Education), and SB 1264 (Private Schools), as well as continuing to refine school-site affordable housing provisions to support educator retention. Her legislative record since 2022 is consistently focused on school choice expansion, parental rights, and curriculum transparency.

Calatayud co-sponsored SB 1170 (2023) alongside Rep. Christine Hunschofsky, which passed both chambers unanimously and was signed into law (effective July 1, 2023 as CS/HB 111, Ch. 2023-231). The law expanded Florida's Sea Level Rise Impact Projection requirements beyond the coastal construction zone to all state-financed infrastructure statewide, requiring builders to assess flood risk before construction. She also backed continued Resilient Florida Grant Program funding through state budgets in 2023 and 2024. In the 2026 session, Calatayud published a Senate newsletter titled 'Hold the Line on the Urban Development Boundary' (March 16, 2026) and led a bipartisan effort — with Senators Ileana Garcia, Shevrin Jones, and Ana Maria Rodriguez — that successfully removed UDB-weakening language from HB 399, protecting Miami-Dade's flood protection buffer. Advocates note that overall state-level infrastructure investment still falls short of the long-term scale needed for South Florida's compounding flood vulnerability, as documented by ongoing research and 2024-2025 flooding events.

Calatayud sponsored and passed the original Live Local Act (SB 102, 2023), Florida's largest-ever housing investment at $711 million, which preempted local zoning for affordable housing development and created new tax incentives. She sponsored SB 328 (2024), which clarified and expanded the Act. In 2025, she sponsored SB 1730, signed by Governor DeSantis on June 23, 2025, adding YIGBY (faith-based land) provisions, streamlining administrative approvals, protecting projects from downzoning, and introducing enforcement mechanisms against local government obstruction. In the 2026 session she carried SB 1548 (requiring local governments to allow affordable housing on school district property to aid educator retention), SB 1520 (narrowing conditions for local opt-outs of Live Local tax exemptions), and SB 1434 (the Infill Redevelopment Act for brownfield housing in Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties), which passed the legislature. Despite this sustained legislative record across four sessions, Miami-Dade housing costs remain among the highest nationally, and implementation of Live Local projects is still in early stages, warranting continued 'Partial' status.