Passidomo says she’ll vote against Amendment 3

During her final legislative session, Florida Sen. Kathleen Passidomo voted to put a sweeping property tax amendment on the Nov. 3 ballot. 

But now, as she prepares to leave the Legislature after serving 16 years, the term-limited Naples Republican says she plans to vote against Amendment 3. 

During a wide-ranging discussion at the Sept. 30 Greater Naples Chamber Wake Up Naples event, Passidomo called the amendment one of the most significant issues to come out of the 2026 legislative session and said she voted in the Senate to put it on the ballot because she believes voters should have the chance to decide. 

The proposed measure would increase the homestead exemption for nonschool property taxes to $150,000 in 2027 and $250,000 in 2028, among other changes. 

She told the crowd of about 200 guests that she was meant to address the September meeting of the Collier Bar Association touting the amendment. 

“I was supposed to speak in favor of it, and I actually said I’m going to vote against it,” Passidomo said. 

She said she understands the need for property tax relief as Florida property values “are going through the roof,” with voters concerned that revenues were not being spent wisely. 

“My philosophy is — and this is why I’m voting against it — if the local government is collecting all that money and they’re spending it unwisely, or they’re not fiscally responsible, well, vote them out of office,” Passidomo said. 

Passidomo said she is concerned that a statewide approach could disproportionately affect rural communities and special districts that rely heavily on property tax revenue and lack safeguards against potential funding losses. 

“I think it is a well-intentioned bill, but you know, the road to hell is paved with them,” she said. 

Legislative legacy  

Beyond the tax issue, in a conversation moderated by Jenna Buzzacco-Foerster, senior director of public affairs at Fort Myers-based communications firm Gravina, Smith, Matte & Arnold, Passidomo said the 2026 legislative session was productive for Collier County and Southwest Florida. 

She pointed to investments in water, sewer and stormwater infrastructure, which she said would remain a big issue, and to investments in Everglades restoration and environmental protection. 

For Passidomo, those priorities reflect a legislative career — first in the Florida House and then in the Senate — that was largely focused on how the state manages its rapid growth. 

While serving as Senate president from 2022 to 2024, she championed the Live Local Act to help address workforce housing and the Live Healthy Act to expand Florida’s healthcare workforce and access to healthcare. 

Passidomo acknowledged that Live Local has not always worked as she had hoped it would, with some local governments resisting it and some developers looking for loopholes, but she still defends its purpose. 

“That was a really good bill,” she said, “a really good bill that is kind of being thwarted in several places.” 

The Live Healthy Act, also championed by Passidomo, addresses another growth-related challenge: a shortage of physicians and other healthcare providers. 

She said she was particularly excited about a mental health teaching hospital program and the investment in adding medical residency slots in an effort to keep more physicians in Florida after their training. 

People are sometimes waiting six or eight months just to get a doctor’s appointment, she said, regardless of insurance coverage or “whether you’re a millionaire or indigent.” 

“It doesn’t matter, if there are no doctors to take care of you, whether you can pay for it or not,” she said. “And we have a real healthcare crisis.” 

Growth management as a priority  

The state’s rapid growth also informed Passidomo’s support for the Florida Wildlife Corridor, which preserves connected rural and environmentally sensitive lands and which she describes as one of the Legislature’s most significant accomplishments. 

“The most important thing that we have to address as a state is growth and growth management,” she said. 

That belief drove Passidomo’s opposition during this past session to what was called the Blue Ribbon Bill, which would have allowed landowners of 10,000 contiguous acres or more to bypass local approval for development if 60% of the property was designated for conservation. 

Passidomo said she objected after reading the bill and realizing that “in the conservation areas, you could build things like golf courses and stadiums and data centers.” 

“So, I went rogue, and on the [Senate] floor I used my last [political] juice, and I defeated that bill,” she said. “But it may come back, and we have to be careful. 

“We have to do a statewide growth management plan; we have no choice.” 

What comes next 

As for Passidomo’s own future, she is weighing her options as she looks forward to returning home to Naples full time. She and her late husband, John, a longtime Naples attorney who died in 2024 following a hiking accident, had planned to travel after her retirement, but now she wants to focus on staying active in the community. 

She said many organizations she has worked with have asked her to become involved with them, adding that some people have suggested she run for a seat on the Naples City Council — or even for mayor. 

No matter what path she chooses, Passidomo said, she has no plans to step back from community life. 

“I want to be busy,” she said. “I have probably a good four or eight years of being able to give back, and I want to do it in one way or another. I just don’t know what.”