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.
Florida
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.
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.
In a First, FPC’s Bulldog Patrol Presents Safety Plan to Marjorie Stoneman Commission, Drawing Raves and Calls to Scale Statewide
A six-student team of problem solvers presented their student-centered safety plan to the state commission established after the Parkland school massacre, and were asked by several commission members to spread their plan statewide, including at the Broward school.
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.
The Florida Compact on Immigration: Recognizing Immigrants’ Value Without Demonizing Them
The compact is a set of key principles outlining the need for smart immigration policies at the state and federal levels to drive Florida’s economy forward, including a path forward for undocumented immigrants.
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.
Flagler Claims School Funding Formula Has Unfairly Penalized the District for Years. A Controversial Bill Could Change That.
Flagler was receiving $300 less per student than the average $7,200 per-student share because of the so-called District Cost Differential, which takes a complicated set of “amenities” into account to divvy up state education dollars.
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.
Stetson Issues Explicit Defense of Free and Controversial Expression on Campus, Whatever the ‘Discomforts’
In the culmination of a year-and-a-half process, Stetson University this week issued a statement firmly in defense of academic freedom and free, diverse and controversial expression on campus.
For Use in Joints, Pipes or Bongs: Smokable Medical Pot Finally Hits Florida Market
In other states where medical marijuana has been legalized, smokable products comprise between 40 and 60 percent of sales. Florida voters in 2016 approved a constitutional amendment that broadly legalized medical marijuana.
Voters, In a Constitutional Amendment, May Be Asked Whether To Abolish Constitutional Revision Commission
Proposals moved forward Thursday in the House and Senate, as lawmakers continue to vent frustration with the commission that last year put seven constitutional amendments before voters. All of the amendments passed.
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.
Why Are Florida’s Softshell Turtles Dying Along the St. Johns River?
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and collaborators continue to investigate a die-off of freshwater turtles, and the FWC is asking the public to assist by providing information.
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.