A House panel Friday approved a proposal that would impose 12-year term limits on county commissioners in most of the state, after changing an earlier version of the bill that would have led to eight-year limits.
Florida Legislature
In Free Florida, the Dictionary Is Dangerous to Your Children
A few people who call themselves parents but are really frustrated bullies who want everyone else to lead the miserable lives they do, at least when they’re not engaging in threesomes, have successfully made black holes of Florida’s school and classroom libraries and further marginalized slews of children whose one solace might have been that one book.
Palm Coast’s Sen. Hutson Votes with Majority in Latest Bid to Scale Back Local Vacation-Rental Regulations
Almost every year since 2014, Florida lawmakers have been trying to reduce local regulatory control on the booming vacation-rental industry or shift it to the state–what’s called “pre-emption.” The state would then bar local governments from enacting many of their own regulations. A Senate panel today cleared the way for the latest such attempt, with Sen. Travis Hutson in the majority. The bill goes to the Senate floor next.
Stop the LGBTQ Cheap Shots
There are some feel-good bills and cheap shots that require no courage to vote for and bring the political bonus of being difficult for an opponent to argue against this summer, when most legislators will be back home running for re-election. And no topic makes for easier demagoguery than sex, specifically any activity that makes strait-laced Republicans a little squeamish.
Welcome to the Old South, The Myth that Refuses to Die
In Florida, we prefer not to discuss ‘slavery’ unless we are enlightening the ignorant about how it was Not That Bad. You have only to read Miss Margaret Mitchell’s brilliant and perfectly accurate novel to see the Truth of this.
Bill That Would Allow Kids 16 and 17 to Work Over 30 Hours a Week During School Year Advances
The proposal by Tampa Bay area Republican Rep. Linda Chaney (HB 49) would allow 16 and 17-year olds to work more than 30 hours a week during the school year and allow for fewer mandatory work breaks. The proposal was approved on a party-line vote in a House committee and is one committee stop away from making it to the House floor for final approval.
‘Call It a Culture War If You Want’: Paul Renner’s Opening-Day Speech Cites Reagan, Churchill and Children
In his opening-day speech before the Florida Legislature, House Speaker Paul Renner spoke of what he termed the “devastating effects” of social media on children, invoked culture war rhetoric and made a reference to Churchill saving Britain from Nazis, and pledged to punish “flash mobs that target retailers.” Here’s the full text of his speech.
Lawmakers File Bills to Prohibit Youths Under 16 From Having Social Media Accounts, and End Existing Ones
The bills would require social-media platforms to bar minors under 16 from creating social-media accounts and use “reasonable age verification” methods to check the ages of people when accounts are created. The bills also would require social-media platforms to terminate existing accounts that are “reasonably known” by the platforms to be held by minors younger than 16 and would allow parents to request that minors’ accounts be terminated.
GOP Measure Would Forbid Government Agencies from Using Individuals’ Preferred Pronouns
Mirroring a House bill filed in November, a Senate Republican on Thursday proposed a measure that would place restrictions on government agencies in the use of personal pronouns.
Lawmakers, in Longshot Over Feud with DeSantis, Seek to Return Disney District to the Company
Orange County lawmakers backed a longshot proposal that could essentially return to the Walt Disney Co. control of a special taxing district that was revamped after Gov. Ron DeSantis got into a feud with the entertainment giant.