Lawmakers have approved a permanent, massive reduction of money earmarked for the state’s affordable housing fund. Those dollars come from documentary stamp revenues. The legislation is headed to Gov. Ron DeSantis’ desk for his signature.
Florida Legislature
Florida House and Senate Move Closer on Vast Expansion of Tax Dollars for Private Schools
Senate and House proposals to revamp Florida’s school-voucher programs are closer to aligning after the House Appropriations Committee approved the House version with changes Thursday.
Bill Ending Bright Futures’ Guaranteed Funding Clears Florida Senate, Upending Scholarship Program
The bill would change a system that now provides scholarships to students at either 75 percent or 100 percent of the cost of tuition and fees by making funding dependent on appropriations in the annual state budget, which eliminates guaranteed funding for students.
Florida House Set to Approve Online Sales Tax on Out-of-State Retailers That Would Raise $1 Billion
The money would initially be used to replenish the state’s Unemployment Compensation Trust Fund, which became depleted during the Covid pandemic. After the fund is replenished, the revenue would be used to make a major cut in a tax on commercial rent.
Ban on Transgender Girls in Sports, Requiring Genital Proof in Disputes, Heads for Florida House Vote
The proposal would make participation in athletics contingent on determining a student’s “biological sex,” including the requirement, in disputes, of proof of a student’s birth genitalia as certified by “a health examination and consent form.”
Measure Forcing Colleges and Universities to Survey Students’ Ideological Viewpoints Set to Pass
The proposal also would prevent colleges and universities from “shielding” students, faculty and staff from any kind of speech. Opponents have argued the provision would allow groups like the Ku Klux Klan to come to campuses.
Affordable Housing Under Attack: Flagler Realtors Join Opposition to Decimation of Housing Trust Fund
Flagler County Realtors are joining forces with state counterparts to oppose a proposal that would gut the amount of money the state will spend on affordable housing, by limiting Sadowski trust fund expenditures to that end to 33 percent of the fund’s total.
Florida House Targets School Board Salaries, But Senate Does Not
A proposed constitutional amendment aimed at eliminating salaries for county school board members was approved by a House panel Thursday, with opponents warning it could make boards less diverse. But without a companion bill making it through the Senate, the matter may be moot again this year.
Florida Lawmakers Want Their Home Addresses and Phone Numbers Kept Secret
The House and Senate are advancing proposals that would create a public-records exemption for information about lawmakers, including their home addresses and phone numbers, but opponents question how the measures would interact with a requirement that lawmakers live in their districts.
Palm Coast Student Elliott Bertrand Accuses Senate Panel of ‘Prejudice’ Before 6-4 Vote on Transgender Sports Ban
The Florida Senate Health Policy Committee today approved a bill that would scrap existing policy and ban transgender women from participating in competitive high school and college sports absent testosterone testing that might clear them to play. Elliott Bertrand, a student at Flagler Palm Coast High School, was among the many opponents of the bill who addressed the panel in Tallahassee.