Vice chairman urges Miami‑Dade County hearing on rising HIV cases; committee approves agenda and adjourns

Senator Garcia, the committee's vice chairman, asked the Miami‑Dade County committee for a fact‑finding hearing on what he described as rising new HIV cases concentrated in African American and Hispanic communities and disproportionately affecting women.

Garcia requested that the committee convene a meeting with the Florida Department of Health and the state surgeon general to gather information and discuss possible responses. "I ask that maybe through this board, through this committee, we could hold maybe a hearing to come up with some recommendations," Garcia said, adding that the new cases were "predominantly in the African American community and the Hispanic community, and it's women who are being diagnosed at a much higher rate than…