{"id":796880,"date":"2026-05-14T23:24:18","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T23:24:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/796880\/"},"modified":"2026-05-14T23:24:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T23:24:18","slug":"the-house-is-on-fire-sam-garrison-intensifies-behavioral-health-focus-ahead-of-speakership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/796880\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018The house is on fire\u2019: Sam Garrison intensifies behavioral health focus ahead of Speakership"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rep. Sam Garrison<\/strong> is no longer hinting that mental and behavioral health will be just a priority during his Speakership \u2014 it looks like it could be a ground-up rebuild.<\/p>\n

Speaking at the Florida Chamber Leadership Conference on Safety, Health + Sustainability<\/strong><\/a>, the Fleming Island Republican repeatedly connected shortcomings in the behavioral health system as more than a healthcare issue, but as a public safety, workforce and infrastructure problem.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t have enough providers, we don\u2019t have enough beds, we don\u2019t have a system,\u201d he said. \u201cOur system was created 50 years ago. \u2026 It was designed for a world that no longer exists.\u201d<\/p>\n

Garrison, who will become Speaker after the November elections, added that Florida\u2019s current system is being held together with \u201cduct tape and chicken wire.\u201d<\/p>\n

Drawing on his decade as a prosecutor, Garrison described behavioral health and substance abuse as underlying factors in a majority of violent criminal cases that came across his desk. Co-panelist Andy Keller<\/strong>, the CEO of the Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute, hit another criminal justice beat \u2014 the drain of \u201ctoxic exposure\u201d on law enforcement when they are treated as frontline behavioral health care providers.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIf it\u2019s gotten to a point where someone has been badly hurt, injured, victimized, or even killed as a result of a breakdown in the system, shame on us,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Garrison\u2019s interest in the policy area isn\u2019t new, but his language is becoming far more concrete as his term approaches. In 2023, shortly after becoming Chair of the House Health Care Appropriations Subcommittee, he described mental health as his top takeaway from overseeing the state\u2019s massive health care budget silo.<\/p>\n

\u201cMental health, mental health, mental health,\u201d he told Florida Politics at the time. Back then, Garrison emphasized the need for a \u201ccomprehensive approach\u201d and a statewide \u201cplan of attack\u201d spanning everything from acute hospitalization to preventative care. Earlier this year at the Chamber\u2019s Legislative<\/strong> Fly-In<\/strong><\/a>, Garrison described behavioral health as a \u201cfirst-tier\u201d issue.<\/p>\n

Now Garrison is telling business leaders \u201cthe house is on fire.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got to put out the fire, and then we\u2019ve got to figure out how to build a better fire department,\u201d he said. \u201cIf the Florida business community doesn\u2019t buy into what we\u2019re talking about, it will fail. Period.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

And, of course, the issue dominating discussions on water quality, economic development, campaign messaging and seemingly everything else, too, had a cameo.<\/p>\n

\u201cSix years ago, if I\u2019d run for office, I would not have identified that as a top-tier issue we were going to be dealing with,\u201d he said of artificial intelligence and technology. \u201cNow I can tell you it\u2019s No. 1.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rep. Sam Garrison is no longer hinting that mental and behavioral health will be just a priority during…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":796881,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[36],"tags":[325076,15869,135994,135995,135996,210,517,286432,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-796880","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mental-health","tag-andy-keller","tag-behavioral-health","tag-florida-chamber","tag-florida-chamber-foundation","tag-florida-chamber-of-commerce","tag-health","tag-mental-health","tag-sam-garrison","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116575513687758564","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/796880","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=796880"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/796880\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/796881"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=796880"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=796880"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=796880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}