This year’s legislative session offers a lot to be enthusiastic about

As we kick off 2018, a message to Florida lawmakers: Don’t quit while you’re ahead.

Last year, our legislators kept many New Year’s resolutions: trimming the fat from the state budget, making sure taxpayers kept more of their hard-earned money and expanding educational opportunity for children. This session, there are several proposals that would maintain the steady momentum toward a more efficient and effective state government.

At the top of the list are measures to continue ridding our state of corporate welfare handouts for a few favored industries at the expense of hardworking taxpayers. These bills seek to end giveaways to professional sports franchises and make sure ordinary Floridians no longer bear the cost when wealthy teams want to build stadiums or renovate arenas. Lawmakers should pass them right away.

Next up, slashing red tape that restricts economic growth.

Common-sense regulatory reform bills introduced by Rep. Manny Diaz, R-Hialeah Gardens, and Sen. Keith Perry, R-Gainesville, would require the state to review regulations annually and get rid of any that are redundant, overly burdensome, or that disproportionately harm small businesses. This is a practical way to make it easier for businesses and entrepreneurs to do what they do best: Grow our economy and create jobs.

And, while they have their scissors out, lawmakers should also slice through our state’s convoluted certificate of need laws that force health care providers to get a government permission slip before expanding or building facilities, offering additional services or buying equipment. These restrictive mandates decrease the number of health care facilities and the variety of services available, ultimately making care more expensive and limiting options for patients. Getting rid of certificate of need and pursuing additional reforms to laws governing ambulatory surgical centers and other facilities will empower patients and improve our choices.

Alongside reforms such as these, lawmakers can also give a leg up to workers and students in our state.

There’s something for everyone in these proposals and Floridians from the Panhandle to the Keys have much to be enthusiastic about. By building on past success, our lawmakers can make the Sunshine State an even better place to live, work and raise a family.

CHRIS HUDSON, TALLAHASSEE Editor’s note: Chris Hudson is the Florida state director of Americans for Prosperity.