Reversing the state’s retroactive consideration of certain death-penalty cases would amount to “the most egregious judicial activism in the history of Florida,” a lawyer for a Death Row inmate argued in a brief filed this week.
Florida
State and Utilities Gang Up Against Proposed Amendment Deregulating Electricity
The proposal, backed by Citizens for Energy Choices, calls for creating “competitive” electricity markets in which customers would have the right to choose electricity providers or to produce their own power.
Calling It ‘Fiscally Responsible,’ Governor Signs $91 Billion Budget, Vetoing Just $131 Million
Gov. DeSantis praised lawmakers for exceeding his request for spending on environmental projects and for a boost in per-student funding in public schools, though as FlaglerLive previously reported, that funding increase is not necessarily what it seems.
5th Amendment Extends to iPhone Passcode, Court Rules, Denying Police Access to Defendant’s Phone
The ruling by a panel of the 1st District Court of Appeal in a 2018 Alachua County robbery case came after two other state appellate courts came to different conclusions about forcing defendants to supply passcodes to unlock cell phones.
Combative Exchanges Punctuate Hearing on Broward Sheriff Scott Israel’s Fate
Israel and his lawyers maintain that the suspension, something DeSantis pledged to do while running for office last year, was a political ploy aimed at winning favor with voters in Democrat-rich Broward County and supporters of the National Rifle Association.
New Legislation Adds to Early-Voting
Fight on Florida’s College Campuses
A bill Gov. DeSantis is about to sign deals with a variety of elections issues, but a lawsuit is focused on a provision requiring early-voting sites to provide “nonpermitted parking,” which could exclude college campuses.
Denying Voting Rights to Felons Should Be Beneath Us
Who gets to vote should be driven by citizenship, the spirit of the United States Constitution and all America stands for, not by blowhardism and dirty tricks, argues Nancy Smith.
‘Shared Savings’ By Shopping For Lower Health Care Costs? Ballyhooed Florida Plan a Bust
The idea of Florida’s ballyhooed shared-savings programs is to give policyholders an incentive to look for cheaper health services. Early results show no such benefits.
Owners and Dealers of Anacondas Sue to Reverse Florida’s Broad Ban on Invasive Snake
Owners and dealers of anacondas have launched a legal challenge after the state largely banned the snakes amid a struggle to control damaging invasive species.
DeSantis Signs Death Warrant of Homophobic Serial Killer Gary Bowles
Gary Bowles murdered six people in 1994. He is serving life sentences in the murders of John Roberts in Daytona Beach and Albert Morris in Nassau County, and is being killed for the murder of Walter Hinton in Jacksonville.
Pete Buttigieg, Ahead of Miami Debate, Says No to Heavy-Handed Immigration Enforcement
Pete Buttigieg says he would set aside politics and work with Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis to fund “good” environmental projects, while expressing his opposition to Florida’s “heavy-handed” approach to federal immigration enforcement and expansion of school voucher-type programs.
Plotting to Win Biggest Battleground State in 2020, Florida Democrats Can’t Get Around GOP-Controlled Legislature
The Florida Democratic Party’s biggest event of the year wrapped up this weekend with a debate over Election Day voter registration, but any such changes would require GOP approval. That’s unlikely.
Attorney General Moody To Supreme Court on Death Row Inmates: Let ‘Em Die
Attorney General Ashley Moody’s office is urging the Florida Supreme Court to reverse course on decisions that allowed dozens of convicted murderers to have their death sentences reconsidered.
Green New Deal Me In
The Green New Deal may have a hoaky name but at least it’s a beginning, an attempt to push back against a republic of insects and grass, inviting debate in the face of indefensible Republican inaction.
Is State Law Restricting Local Governments’ Gun-Safety Ordinances Constitutional? Judge Hears Arguments.
Florida since 1987 has barred cities and counties from passing regulations that are stricter than state firearms laws. But in 2011, lawmakers went further by approving a series of penalties that local governments and officials can face if they violate the prohibition.
Florida TaxWatch Calls For Eliminating $133 million in Budget ‘Turkeys’; Flagler Is Spared
As of Wednesday afternoon, DeSantis had received 123 of the 174 bills approved by the Legislature during this year’s session. He’d signed 80 and vetoed two.
$100 Million Will Raise 91-Year-Old Tamiami Trail, Easing Everglades Flow
Environmentalists say the Tamiami Trail, or U.S. 41, has dammed the natural flow of water from Lake Okeechobee through the Everglades to Florida Bay.
Flagler Braces for Hurricane Season as Florida Reels From 3-Year Streak of Landfalls
Flagler County is still paying the millions in bills from Hurricanes Matthew and Irma, and the state is recovering from a direct hit from a Cat 5 last year, costing $26 billion, as the 2019 hurricane season begins.
Floridians Have a Right To Access Medical Malpractice Records. Shands Sues to Prevent That.
Under Florida law, patients have the right to access adverse medical incident reports, which can play an important role in malpractice cases. UF Health Jacksonville says federal privacy law trumps Florida’s constitutional amendment.
Tax Holiday Begins Friday on Hurricane-Prep Supplies Ahead of Storm Season
Floridians will have seven days to build a hurricane-season stockpile — including batteries, flashlights and radios — free of sales taxes, beginning Friday.
Judge Dismisses Lawsuit Seeking To Block Florida Cabinet From Meeting in Israel, Out of Sunshine
The lawsuit, filed by the First Amendment Foundation and four major news organizations, accused the governor and Cabinet members of “willfully violating the law.”
Supreme Court Reverses Course on Expert Witnesses, Signaling Continued Shift Right
In a move that left little doubt about the new direction of the Florida Supreme Court, justices on Thursday reversed a controversial 2017 decision about the testimony of expert witnesses in lawsuits.
400,000 Florida Children Need Mental Health Services. More Than Half Get None.
220,000 children across the state, or about one child in every classroom, get no mental health treatment for lack of providers. Florida has one psychiatrist who treats children and adolescents for every 100,000 children.
Medicaid Expansion in Florida Would Improve Maternal and Child Health and Reduce Racial Disparities
States like Florida that refuse to expand Medicaid are missing an opportunity to address racial disparities in maternal health and improve child health care, according to a report released Wednesday.
7 Ballot Proposals To Watch Even as Florida Law Makes Citizens’ Initiatives Harder
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.
What Two Florida Counties’ Elections Supervisors Were Hacked by Russians? FBI Won’t Say, Upsetting Lawmakers.
The FBI has maintained there is no evidence that votes or voter information were altered in the hacking. But such assurances have drawn questions.
DeSantis Says ‘We Don’t Want’ Migrants Federal Government Plans to Send to Florida
U.S. Customs and Border Protection could start sending about 135 migrants awaiting asylum hearings twice a week to Palm Beach and Broward counties, to alleviate overcrowding in border facilities.
FPL Will Use Tax Savings To Cover Hurricane Repair Costs Rather Than Lower Customers’ Bills
The issue involves hundreds of millions of dollars a year in savings from a federal tax overhaul and an estimated $1.3 billion in costs of restoring power after the 2017 hurricane.
Florida Considers Prison Guards as Immigration Enforcers; Counties May Be Next
The state request to launch the federal immigration enforcement program, known as 287(g), came as Gov. Ron DeSantis pushed local governments to implement the program at county jails.
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.
Federal Lawsuit Targets Florida Prisons Over ‘Deliberately Indifferent’ Use of Solitary Confinement
Florida’s prison system is “widely overusing” the practice of solitary confinement to manage inmates, sometimes locking them up in cells that are no bigger than a parking spaces over often-minor infractions, according to a federal lawsuit.
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.
Time is Running Out to Save Right Whales
The North Atlantic right whale is the most endangered whale in U.S. Atlantic waters, and entanglement in crab and lobster roping gear remains the biggest threat to the species’ survival.
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.
New Florida Supreme Court Flexes Rightward Muscle, Overturning Two January Decisions
Justices, in a pair of 6-1 opinions Thursday, overturned the two rulings. The only dissenter in both cases: Justice Jorge Labarga, who had sided with Pariente, Lewis and Quince in January.
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.
Supreme Court Sides With DeSantis in Suspension of Okaloosa County School Superintendent
DeSantis stripped Jackson of her post less than a week after he was sworn into office, citing “scathing” grand-jury reports that alleged “dereliction of duty.”
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.