Staff Reports
Last Call — A prime-time read of what’s going down in Florida politics.
First Shot
Calling it the pinnacle of her legislative career, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law a health care overhaul orchestrated by Senate President Kathleen Passidomo.
The suite of bills (SB 1758/SB 7016/SB 7018/SB 330) deal with everything from where babies are born to the creation of new behavioral health teaching hospitals but the core of the legislation is designed to boost the number of health care professionals working in a state that is growing yet also getting older.
“This is a game changer, our state will forever be changed,” said Passidomo before DeSantis signed the bills into law at an event held in Bonita Springs.
Joining DeSantis and Passidomo were Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph A. Ladapo, Agency for Persons with Disabilities Director Taylor Hatch and Tampa General Hospital CEO John Couris along with a bevy of legislators involved in passing the bills.
Combined, the bills infuse about $1.2 billion into Florida’s health care workforce, from dental hygienists to physicians, so that the state can prepare for a burgeoning and aging population.
Live Healthy does not include a Medicaid expansion as allowable under the federal health care law often referred to as Obamacare. Throughout the 2024 Session, Passidomo repeatedly said expanding Medicaid would not guarantee access to health care. She reiterated those comments Thursday at the bill signing.
SB 7016, which DeSantis referred to as “the big one” during the bill signing contains a $717 million appropriation. Of that, $134.6 million is to enhance hospital Medicaid reimbursement rates to support moms and babies during labor and delivery. SB 7016 also spends an additional $50 million for graduate medical education to expand Slots for Doctors, creating 500 new residency slots to address workforce shortages.
Read more on Florida Politics.
Evening Reads
—“Donald Trump to attend high-dollar ‘roundtable’ with donors in Doral on Thursday” via Max Greenwood and Ana Ceballos of the Miami Herald
—”Trump’s ‘lunatic’ ABC lawsuit is about bullying the media, not winning” via Adam Rawnsley and Asawin Suebsaeng of Rolling Stone
—”3 theories for why Trump’s popularity is rising” via Christian Paz of Vox
—”How Trump could make billions from struggling Truth Social” via Amrith Ramkumar of The Wall Street Journal
—”It’s not the economy. It’s the pandemic.” via George Makari and Richard A. Friedman for The Atlantic
—”Born to die: Florida’s infant mortality crisis” via Cindy Krischer Goodman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel
—”Florida Supreme Court rejects challenge to sports betting Compact” via Lawrence Mower of the Tampa Bay Times
—”The stunning scandal swirling around baseball’s biggest star” via Chelsea Janes of The Washington Post
Quote of the Day
“I want to thank Gov. DeSantis because it was actually his idea, and I just took it and ran with it.”
— Senate President Passidomo, on legislation creating behavioral health teaching hospitals.
Put It on the Tab
Look to your left, then look to your right. If you see one of these people at your happy hour haunt, flag down the bartender and put one of these on your tab. Recipes included, just in case the Cocktail Codex fell into the well.
Asked about VP buzz, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio said he hasn’t had any conversations with Team Trump, but there’s a chance they’ll have A Quiet Word soon.
West Flagler Associates made a bad bet challenging the Gaming Compact in the Florida Supreme Court, but they’re sipping on a Double or Nothing while they wait for their federal case.
The crew at SeaWorld gets a round of Sexy at 60s as they celebrate their milestone anniversary.
Breakthrough Insights
Tune In
The Florida Gators tip off the NCAA tournament tomorrow as the seventh-seed faces 10th-seeded Colorado (4:30 p.m. ET on Friday, TBS).
Florida (24-11) suffered a major blow on Sunday in the SEC tournament when center Micah Handlogten left the game with a lower leg injury. Although he did accompany the team to Indianapolis for the first-round game, he will not play in the NCAA tournament.
Freshman big man Alex Condon will make his first career start in Handgloten’s place. Handgloten was not a major force on offense for Florida. He averaged just 5.3 points per game and scored in double figures only five times this season. But his rebounding and shot-blocking will be missed.
Just how far the Gators advance in the tournament could come down to how Florida’s guards play. Walter Clayton Jr. leads the team in scoring at 17.1 points per game while Zion Pullin adds 15.6 points per game while shooting a better percentage from three-point range (44.7%) than his overall shooting percentage (44.5%). If those two and fellow guard Will Richard (11.3 ppg) can deliver on the big stage, Florida can make some noise in the tournament.
If Florida wins their first-round game, they will face the winner of second-seed Marquette versus the 15-seed, Western Kentucky
Also tonight:
7 p.m. — NCAAW: St. John’s Red Storm @ Florida Gators
7 p.m. — NCAAW: Stetson Hatters @ Florida International Panthers
7 p.m. — New Orleans Pelicans @ Orlando Magic
7:30 p.m. — Nashville Predators @ Florida Panthers
10:30 p.m. — Tampa Bay Lightning @ San Jose Sharks
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Last Call is published by Peter Schorsch, assembled and edited by Phil Ammann and Drew Wilson, with contributions from the staff of Florida Politics.
