Representative Jose Felix Diaz recently shared his story with the RNLA. Read
about why he became a lawyer, and how his profession influences his role as a
FL Representative.
Tell us something about yourself that isn't readily apparent
from your FL House profile.
I am a gigantic sports fan. My dad actually played
baseball at the University of Miami and I grew up playing youth baseball (and
basketball) at Tamiami Park. In high school, I played five different
sports and was equally bad at all of them. The only reason I made the
teams was because I was so tall that I could do the portions of the sport that
were meant for the big guys. When I went to the University of Miami, I
was there for two national football championship games, and one baseball
championship. Needless to say, I am big Hurricane fan and try to travel
to away games as much as possible.
Why did you decide to become an attorney?
My grandfather and uncle were medical doctors, so I always
thought that I would be a pediatrician growing up. In fact, I started off
at the University of Miami as a pre-med student, studying biology and
chemistry. One of my dad's cousins worked at the Parkinson's Institute on
the Jackson Medical Campus and I got an internship there during college.
As part of my internship, we would do experiments on rodents; and it
didn't always end well for the rats. I remember being so upset by the
death of the animals, that I asked myself routinely how I would react if something
happened to an actual human patient of mine. After some introspection,
and several constitutional law courses as an undergrad, I decided to switch my
major(s) to Political Science / English and become a pre-law student (my Junior
year).
If you could have dinner with 3 people, alive or deceased,
who would the 3 be and why?
Rather than go too deep on this – I will stick to the theme
of question number one. Growing up, my childhood sports idols were (and
continue to be):
a. Michael Jordan
b. Dan Marino; and
c. Cal Ripken, Jr.
What are your legislative priorities right now? What are you
working on?
My legislative priorities are usually pretty
consistent. As a sitting board member of the Children's Trust, I take
kids issues very seriously, including child welfare. For the past three
years, I have been working hard on extending Kidcare coverage to minors in our
State. I also chair the Regulatory Affairs Committee, so I spend a
significant amount of time trying to come up with ways for our state's energy
sources to be diverse, well-priced and reliable. I have sponsored my
chamber's energy package for the past few years, and it is always interesting
to see how proactive we are as a state in comparison to some of our Southern
neighbors.
How has being a lawyer helped you in your work as a
legislator?
Being a lawyer has absolutely given me an advantage as a legislator.
Many of my colleagues rely exclusively on our bill drafting department to help
them come up with legislation (or at least write it). I, on the other
hand, have always drafted my own bills, because I find it interesting and I
think that I can write more efficiently than others. Additionally, my
subject matter experience/expertise is varied because of my varied legal
practice. So, I am able to debate on a whole series of subjects that
others have never really dealt with – like the true impact of zoning
regulations, the difficulties of operating a business in an over-regulated
environment, and the importance of truly protecting someone's real property
rights. There is a perception out there that most of the legislature is
made up of attorneys and that could not be further from the truth. There
are actually very few practicing attorneys in the Florida House and I believe
that those of us that are licensed attorneys carry an increased burden of
making sure that every single piece of legislation that we draft, and vote on,
is constitutional and protects the rights of our fellow Floridians.
No comments:
Post a Comment