Legislative legacy: Sen. Mayfield reflects on time in the Florida House, Senate: ‘Honor of my life to serve’
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – After serving a 16-year tenure in the Florida Legislature, Sen. Debbie Mayfield, R-Vero Beach, spoke with Florida’s Voice on her numerous successes over the years and what’s to come in the future.
Mayfield served in the Florida Senate from 2016-2024 and served as a Florida representative from 2008 to 2016. During her time in the Senate, she served as the Republican majority leader from 2020-2022 and the Senate Committee on Rules chair since 2023.
Mayfield advanced significant legislative initiatives throughout her career, ranging from championing legislation on clean waterways and cancer parity to advocating for parental rights and beyond.
From an appropriations standpoint, Mayfield was highly successful in bringing back local funding for her district year after year. During her time in the Senate, she said she secured over $92 million for water quality projects alone.
“Whether it’s a new building for Eastern Florida State College, or a new building for Indian River State College, airport expansion, road extensions… you go up there and fight for bringing money back home that can help your constituents and help your economy,” Mayfield said.
Even though the legislative sessions were a significant part of the role, Mayfield told Florida’s Voice her duty as a lawmaker “was more than going to Tallahassee.”
“I would say, 80% of our work is constituent work. It is really helping the people, and it is very rewarding,” Mayfield said.
Mayfield said over the years, she received many calls for assistance from constituents in a variety of areas, such as trouble with receiving unemployment checks, child support, or even getting in touch with loved ones who were incarcerated. She noted that some constituents face constraints in terms of financial means and access to resources.
“The impact of the people who get back to you and the appreciation they give you for just taking the time and being respectful and talking to them, and helping them through the process… to me, that’s more rewarding than anything else that you could get through this legislative process,” Mayfield said.
Lawmakers on Mayfield’s legacy: “A meaningful difference”
In 2022, Mayfield was asked to serve as Chair of the Senate Committee on Rules by Senate President Kathleen Passidomo, R-Naples.
Passidomo previously described Mayfield as a “loyal advisor, trusted confidant and good friend.”
Mayfield said this year, Passidomo was “just a force to be reckoned with on all of the policy issues that we had to tackle.”
“She’s really accomplished a lot in her two years as president and I couldn’t be more prouder of what she did,” Mayfield said.
Mayfield said Passidomo’s leadership style was not hierarchical, but rather a team effort, often having freshman and sophomore members run top priorities.
On March 5, during the Senate’s farewell ceremony for Mayfield, multiple lawmakers gave heartfelt speeches reflecting on her accomplishments and memories during her tenure.
Passidomo said she and Mayfield shared “many laughs and many tears” over the years.
“Our friendship goes well beyond this arena. I’ll always remember our conversations. […] You have been my sounding board, my confidant, and my first line of defense,” Passidomo said.
“We’ve gone through so much since we served in the House, and in the Senate, I can’t even imagine not spending the time with you that I have over these years. So, you know, don’t go too far,” she said.
Senate President-Designate Ben Albritton, R-Bartow, also spoke highly of Mayfield during the ceremony and called the lawmaker “one of the hardest working people” he has been around in his life.
Albritton said Mayfield’s public service “has mattered” and she has “made a meaningful difference.”
“Yes, in the environment, but in so many other places. I, for one, hope that your public service doesn’t end here – that there’s some opportunity out there for you to continue to do the things that you do to make a positive difference,” Albritton said.
“I don’t know what it’s going to be. But here’s what I’ll tell you… I’ll put my money on you,” Albritton said at the end of his speech.
In her farewell speech to members, Mayfield said it has “truly been an honor of my life to serve.”
“I will leave you with this: Be humble, be kind, live simply, love generously, care deeply, and leave the rest to God,” Mayfield said in closing.
A look back: legislative initiatives
In the earlier days of her career as a lawmaker while serving as a Representative, Mayfield carried a cancer parity bill during the 2013 session.
According to BillTrack, the bill requires that “individual or group insurance policy or contract or health maintenance contract that provides coverage for cancer treatment medications provide coverage for orally administered cancer treatment medications.”
“Under your health care plan, they allowed it to be treated and paid through through your health care plan, which made it more affordable for people to get their cancer treatment,” Mayfield said.
Mayfield said prior to that, if a patient had an oral treatment, they had to go through pharmaceutical policy plans which were “unaffordable.”
“I would say that was probably one my proudest moments was getting that that bill through,” she said.
“Clean Waterways Act”
Mayfield carried the “Clean Waterways Act” in the Senate, which was signed by the governor in 2020.
She noted the legislation is one of her “biggest accomplishments” and “changed the whole way that we look at our environment.”
According to a press release in 2020, this legislation was a “historic step” in the “fight to protect water quality and conserve the state’s natural resources.”
Mayfield said the legislation doubled fines for water discharge from wastewater treatment facilities into waterways, required septic to sewer programs to be established, established new best management practices for the agriculture community, as well as golf course communities, among other measures.
“From an economic standpoint, it’s vital for our state, not just our community, but our state – to make sure that we have clean water,” Mayfield said.
Fighting for parental rights
During her time as a lawmaker, Mayfield was a fierce advocate for parental rights.
On the House side, Mayfield filed HB 25 in 2014, otherwise known as the “Repeal the Common Core” bill. This bill opposed the nationwide “Common Core State Standards,” a movement to reportedly “set common education benchmarks.”
According to outlets at the time, opponents of the the nationwide “common core” standards argued this would “lead to federal control of the state’s classrooms.”
“Of course it didn’t go anywhere, but I do think it started the discussion of parents involvement in their child’s life whenever we came out with the common core policy,” Mayfield explained.
Mayfield said she was “blackballed” because she filed the bill, although it’s still one of her “proudest moments.”
“I feel like I started the discussion on parents involvement in school, because that’s where it came from, when parents said, ‘this new common core policy and english and math is not what we want our children to learn,'” Mayfield said.
Flash forward to 2024, Mayfield said Cofounder Tina Descovich and the group “Moms for Liberty” have taken parental rights “to a whole new level.”
“They should be getting a lot of credit for doing that,” Mayfield said.
The non-profit group, Moms for Liberty, has championed parental rights efforts, including endeavors to crack down on sexually inappropriate books in schools. Former President Donald Trump notably praised the group’s efforts last year.
Also during her time in the House, Mayfield said she brought up the idea of universal school vouchers, however, some people said it would “never happen.”
“Last year we were able to get it passed – that is so important,” Mayfield said.
Florida’s Voice previously reported the “historic” legislation, HB 1, was signed by the governor in May 2023. This law expanded school choice vouchers to all students in the state. The bill was sponsored by Sen. Corey Simon, R-Tallahassee. The legislation was co-sponsored by Rep. Kaylee Tuck, R-Lake Placid, and Rep. Susan Plasencia, R-Orlando in the House.
Mayfield said it was “very touching” to see this legislation pass, which “renewed the parents rights into the education system, and reminding people that it’s their child – not the school district’s child.”
“This is our fault – we let it get out of control, where the teachers and the school districts think that child is theirs, and that’s not true,” Mayfield said.
“This is our child, we birthed it, we pay the bills, we’re raising it, just because we send them to school doesn’t mean that we give up any of our rights as a parent when we do that. We should have total involvement,” Mayfield continued.
In 2021, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the “Parents’ Bill of Rights” which said the government cannot “infringe” on the “fundamental rights” of a parent to direct the upbringing, education, health care, and mental health of a minor child.
In 2022, further steps were taken when DeSantis signed HB 1557, called the “Parental Rights in Education Act,” falsely labeled the “Don’t Say Gay” bill. The act prohibits classroom instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity in kindergarten through third grade and prohibits instruction that is not age appropriate for students.
Then in 2023, the Parental Rights in Education Act was expanded to 12th grade with exceptions. The law also requires that district school boards be responsible for the contents of classroom material.
“I was just pleased to be part a little part of that process,” Mayfield said.
Mayfield said DeSantis should be “given a lot of credit” for “stepping up” being a leader in the area of parental rights, along with other areas, such as border control.
“I think other states are looking at us saying, well, they made it through and survived, so we should be able to do the same thing,” Mayfield said.
The future
Florida’s Voice asked Mayfield where her future may lead to next.
“I’m kicking some things around, I haven’t really made a complete decision yet – I still have a little bit of time left before I have to make a decision,” she said.
“Just stay tuned,” Mayfield said.
