Amid the likely changes, petition signatures have continued pouring into the state Division of Elections in recent weeks, with two initiatives ready for Supreme Court review and others nearing that initial threshold.
Florida Legislature
Siding With Environmentalists, DeSantis Vetoes Bill Prohibiting Bans on Plastic Straws
In his first veto, Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday rejected a bill that would have blocked local governments from banning plastic straws.
Florida Cities Sue State Over ‘Small Cell’ Wireless Law, Citing Home Rule Violation
The Florida League of Cities and three cities contend the 2017 law infringes on home-rule powers and leads to an unconstitutional “taking” of city property to benefit wireless companies.
DeSantis Will Sign Controversial Bill With Conditions on Felons’ Voting Rights
Earlier in the day, the League of Women Voters of Florida held a conference call with reporters urging DeSantis to veto the Amendment 4 implementation bill.
From Vacation Rental Deregulation to School Board Term Limits: 11 Dead Issues from the 2019 Session
When lawmakers hit the road Saturday after ending the 2019 legislative session, they left behind hundreds of bills and issues that did not pass. But there’s always the 2020 session, which will start in eight short months.
Lawmakers Approve Record $91.1 Billion Budget; 10 Big Issues from the 2019 Session
The budget includes high-profile spending issues such as $680 million for the Everglades and other water projects; a $242-per-student increase in school funding; and $50 million to maintain for at least another year the state’s embattled tourism-marketing agency Visit Florida.
Renner’s Criminal Justice Reform, Including Lesser Punishments and More Work Options, Gets Overwhelming, Bi-Partisan Vote
Florida lawmakers on Friday overwhelmingly approved a criminal-justice package that includes the first change in 35 years to the legal threshold for felony theft and reducing punishment for some non-violent offenders.
Bill Pushing Underground Power Lines Passes, But Higher Utility Bills Are Likely
A key part of the bill would change the way underground power-line projects are financed, a change that could lead to more projects — but also higher bills for utility customers.
Florida Senate Passes Bill Prohibiting Local Governments From Regulating Plastic Straws
On a 24-15 vote, the Senate imposed a moratorium on plastic-straw bans, the latest example of the constant tug-of-war between the Legislature and cities and counties over local regulations.
Senate Approves Vast Deregulation of Hospital Expansions and Opens Way For Canadian Drugs
Under longstanding law, hospitals have needed to seek certificates of need from the state Agency for Health Care Administration to build facilities or to add certain services.THat would be eliminated.
Florida Senate Creates New Program Using Public Money To Fund Private School Tuition
Florida senators on Thursday passed legislation that would allow more students to use taxpayer-funded scholarships to pay for private-school tuition, a major step toward expanding school choice in the state.
House Passes Controversial Felons’ Voting-Rights Bill, Setting Up Financial Hurdles Before Restoration
The House’s party-line, 71-45 vote drew a rebuke from backers of the amendment, who called the bill “a failure to live up to the bipartisan commitment” demonstrated by the 61 percent of voters who approved Amendment 4.
House Would Toughen Driving and Texting Law But Opposes Hands-Free Only Use of Devices
Police could pull over motorists texting and driving, under a House measure, but the House opposes a Senate proposal that would allow only hands-free use of cell phones while driving.
It’ll Be Harder For Citizens To Get Their Initiatives On the Ballot If House Has Its Way
Petition-gatherers to be registered with the state, ballots would have to include information about contributions raised by amendment sponsors, whether out-of-state petition circulators were used and whether amendments could lead to tax increases.
Hands-Free Cell Use In Car May Become Requirement in Florida Under Senate Plan
The House measure matches the Senate proposal in shifting texting while driving from a “secondary” offense to a “primary” offense, but it doesn’t impose a hands-free requirement.
At Walk-Ins Across 9 Flagler Schools, a Call to Lawmakers To Stop Undermining Public Education
Teacher and service employee unions organized the walk-ins at the schools to pressure lawmakers to improve per-student allocations and lessen the favored financial and other terms granted charter and voucher programs.
Eyes on the 2022 Senate Presidency:
Five Questions For Travis Hutson
The St. Augustine Republican, who also represents all of Flagler, is the Senate’s top economic development budget writer and sits on other major committees, including the Appropriations Committee, the Judiciary Committee and the Rules Committee.
Nanny Senate: Students Would Have to Get Parental Consent Before Seeking Mental Health or Birth Control
The so-called “Parents Bill of Rights” would allow parents to access and review all of their children’s school records and change the way students can seek mental-health and reproductive-health services, including counseling and birth control prescriptions.
Bill Allowing Cheaper Drug Imports From Canada Advancing Against Big Pharma Fit
Gov. DeSantis has championed the legislation as a way to curb prescription drug costs. But his effort continues to draw opposition from representatives of the pharmaceutical industry who say importing drugs could increase the amount of unsafe and counterfeit drugs.
Renner’s Panel Goes Jekyll and Hyde on Felons, Easing Punishments But Not Voting Rights
The House Judiciary Committee Palm Coast’s Paul Renner chairs on Tuesday passed a crime bill that eases some punishments and makes it easier for felons to reintegrate society but also passed a restrictive interpretation of Amendment 4 and felons’ right to vote.
Senate Panel Advances Bill That Would Require Felons to Pay Fines and Restitution Before Voting
The 3-2 party-line vote followed a hurried 27-minute hearing on the bill, sponsored by Sen. Jeff Brandes, the Pinellas County Republican. Opponents of the bill are pleading to make financial burdens a roadblock to voting.
Senate Panel Divides 5-4 in Advancing Measure Requiring Minors’ Parental Consent for Abortion
After rallying and testimony from numerous activists on both sides of the issue, a Senate panel Monday approved a proposal that would require minors to receive parental consent before having abortions.
Florida House Unanimously Approves Plan That Would Permanently Add a County Judge in Flagler
The Florida House on Thursday unanimously approved a plan to add two new county judges, one of them in Flagler, where County Judge Melissa Distler’s workload has long been among the heaviest in the state.
Felons’ Right To Vote and Paul Renner’s Cynical End Run Around Amendment 4
Paul Renner, Flagler’s GOP representative and future Speaker of the House, is being dishonest and disingenuous in his defense of a bill that would make felons’ right to vote dependent on paying back all financial obligations.
House Prepared To Raise Threshold For Felony Shoplifting From $300 to $1,000
Efforts to raise the threshold amount for the first time since 1986 have stalled in the Legislature in the past. This year’s proposal (HB 589) has steadily moved forward in the House, as criminal-justice reform advocates say there is momentum to pass such measures.
Past Prison Sentences Could Be Reduced as Criminal Justice Reform Advances at Legislature
A bill that would give the Legislature power to decide on a law-by-law basis whether to reduce past prison sentences cleared a Senate panel Monday following tearful testimony from criminal-justice reform advocates.
Flagler Watches as Vacation-Rental Bill That Would Eliminate Local Or Homeowner Association Regulations Advances
The House bill approved today would eliminate local control and all grandfather clauses in vacation-rental rules, including those in Flagler and Flagler Beach, but Flagler officials say they’ll prevail in the end.
Lawmakers Mulling New Way To Regulate Medical Pot: Limiting How High You Can Get
Florida patients can now smoke medical marijuana, but some Republican legislative leaders want to put a limit on how high they can get when lighting up: The House is considering a proposal that would cap THC levels in medical marijuana at 10 percent.
Suicides of 2 Parkland Students in a Week Have Lawmakers Questioning Schools’ Mental Health Funding
Two suicides in the span of a week involving student survivors of the Parkland school shooting have sparked a new question at the Florida Capitol: How much mental-health money should the state provide to schools?
Lawmakers Again Float Bill To Make Texting While Driving a Primary Offense; Other Distractions Spared
Currently, police can only cite motorists for texting if they are pulled over for other reasons. By making it a primary offense, police could pull over motorists for texting behind the wheel.
‘That’s Like a Poll Tax’: Senate Bill Would Require All Restitution Paid Before Restoring Voting Right
Dozens of people who traveled to the state Capitol to plead with lawmakers to do nothing or to dramatically scale back House and Senate bills designed to carry out the amendment. Many amendment supporters do not believe the measure requires legislative action.
Critics See Jim Crow Poll Taxes In House Plan To Make Felons Pay Up Before Voting
Felons would have to clear up any financial obligations, including court costs, fees and fines, before having their voting rights restored, under a House proposal castigated by critics Tuesday as a modern take on Jim Crow-era poll taxes designed to keep black voters from participating in elections.
House Piles Up Exceptions and Controversies to Automatic Restoration of Felons’ Voting Rights
House proposals would broaden the definition of sex offenses that would keep a felon from regaining the right to vote and would add a slew of financial obligations before a felon could get the right back.
Florida’s GOP Lawmakers Accelerate Plan To Use Far More Public Dollars for Private Schools
The House Education Committee on Thursday approved a bill (PCB EDC 19-01) that would create a new voucher program, known as the Family Empowerment Scholarship program, which would be open to many middle-class families.
You May Now Smoke It: Florida Lawmakers End Ban on Medical Reefers With Overwhelming Majorities
The House passed the proposal (SB 182) in a 101-11 vote Wednesday, sending the bill to the governor two days before a March 15 deadline he had set. The Senate passed the bill last week.
Claiming Indoctrination, Florida Lawmakers Want To Survey University Students and Faculty’s Political Views
The Board of Governors would compile and publish the results each year. It remains unclear, however, what the Legislature would do once the data comes in.
Everything From Impact Fees to Franchise Fees Could Be Called ‘Taxes’ Under Proposal Worrying Cities and Counties
On the local government level, the proposal would identify as a tax any new or increased special assessment or non-ad valorem assessment, impact fee or mobility fee, and franchise fee.
Florida’s House and Senate Are Nearing a Deal on Allowing Any Form of Smokable Pot
Under the revised plan, dispensaries could sell any form of smokable marijuana, and patients could buy devices to smoke cannabis at state-licensed medical marijuana treatment centers or other retail outlets, such as head shops.
Back From “A Prison Known As the US House of Representatives”: DeSantis’s State of the State Address
Gov. Ron DeSantis’ State of the State address, as prepared and provided to media, on the first day of the 2019 legislative session. The text does not reflect improvised asides and added personal stories.
From Pot to School Safety to Deregulation: 10 Issues To Watch In 2019 Legislative Session
Led by Senate President Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton, and House Speaker Jose Oliva, R-Miami Lakes, lawmakers this year will deal with myriad issues, ranging from passing a state budget to deciding whether to allow patients to smoke medical marijuana.
Shop Local, But Under Tallahassee Rules: Lawmakers Seek to Restrict County and City Regulations
A broad proposal aimed at curbing local business regulations advanced in subcommittee despite criticism that it could block ordinances that prohibit “puppy mills” or the regulation of fertilizer use near waterways.
Renner Wants ‘Objectivity’ To Drive Felons’ Voter Restoration, But Hurdles Are Multiplying
Elections officials could face a Herculean task trying to verify whether people who’ve registered to vote have met all the conditions required to make them eligible to cast ballots.
Lawmakers Approve Smokable Pot, But It Must be Pre-Rolled and Filtered
The amendment also would require pre-rolled joints with filters. That was designed to address concerns about the negative health effects of smoking.
Senate Panel Weigh Watered Down ‘Sanctuary Cities’ Ban, Eliminating Sanctions on Local Governments
The anti-sanctuary cities bill may be now more appealing to the Florida Senate, which is viewed as the more moderate chamber and has blocked similar proposals in the past.
State GOP Targets ‘Sanctuary Cities’ Even Though There Are None in Florida
Critics of the bill argue efforts to outlaw “sanctuary cities” have more to do with partisanship than with thwarting an existing problem as there are no counties or cities in Florida that act as “sanctuaries” for undocumented immigrants.
Lawmakers Again Trying to Ban
Red-Light Cameras Across Florida
As of December, 49 local governments in Florida had red-light cameras in operation, according to the state Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles.
2018 Roundup: For Florida, Another Massacre, Another Hurricane, Another Shift To the Right
Florida was struck by a hurricane for the third year in a row, was the site of yet another mass shooting, saw the end of the Supreme Court’s liberal wing and the election of a Donald Trump acolyte as governor.
Hansen, Mullins Win County Commission, Howell and Branquinho Win Palm Coast, McDonald Re-Elected to School Board
The races for Flagler County Commission and Palm Coast council were not close in a mid-term election that saw turnout rise to an astounding 64 percent.
A Few Big Legislative Races, Scattered Through Florida
Donors, party leaders and political operatives don’t like to toss away money on lost causes. With that in mind, here are some of the races to watch Tuesday in various regions of the state.
Amendments 1, 2 and 5: Taking Aim at Taxes Through Homestead Exemption, a Cap and Supermajorities
Three proposals on the November ballot that would make tax-related changes to the state Constitution have drawn conflicting views from the real-estate industry, local governments and other groups about the measures’ potential economic impacts.