Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Christine Jordan SextonApril 1, 2015

Doctors and insurers battled over balance billing in the Florida Legislature on Tuesday. While the House Appropriations Committee advanced a bill, CS/HB 681 by Rep. Carlos Trujillo that would prevent insured patients from being balanced bill by providers for emergency care and place into statutes reimbursement options the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee took a pass […]

Florence SnyderMarch 31, 2015

A half century after an unsolved murder, who did the crime is less important that what the crime did to those left behind. The October 22, 1966 murders of Robert and Helen Sims and their 12 year old daughter Joy changed Tallahassee, overnight, from a place where everyone trusted everyone to a place where the […]

Christine Jordan SextonMarch 31, 2015

An overhaul of state group health insurance benefits moved one step closer to the floor on Tuesday with House Appropriations Chairman Richard Corcoran declaring that he would spend his last breath as a legislator altering the health care program. Before passing the measure, HB 7097, the committee tagged on an amendment that bill sponsor Rep. […]

James CallMarch 31, 2015

This day at the state Capitol lawmakers continue to clear their desks of items before getting down to serious budget work. They dealt with the contentious issues of marijuana, abortion and fracking before having to deal with the $4.2 billion of really contentious differences in the spending plans they are developing. • • • Sen. Garrett […]

Phil AmmannMarch 31, 2015

In his newest editorial cartoon, Bill Day takes on the state’s “Keystone Cops,” otherwise known as the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. FDLE, in a rare moment of self-reflection, acknowledged it “could have better evaluated” the “threat” from Boca Raton-based blogger Daniel Tilson. Tilson’s transgression? Using a Beatles lyric in a recent Context Florida post […]

A.G. GancarskiMarch 31, 2015

Fabien Levy, communications manager for Mayor Alvin Brown’s re-election campaign the past couple of months, has left the campaign in the past 24 to 48 hours, according to two knowledgeable sources. It was a “amicable” parting, the sources said, as the campaign calibrates its message heading into the May 19 runoff election. The source stressed […]

Mitch PerryMarch 31, 2015

A Florida House Committee on Tuesday passed a bill (HB 451) that would replenish a tax incentives program to woo Hollywood film, television and digital productions to Florida, but it wasn’t easy. Orlando Republican Mike Miller is sponsoring the bill in the House, while Nancy Detert from Venice is carrying it once again in the Senate. For the past […]

Ryan RayMarch 31, 2015

A ride-sharing insurance requirements bill that goes hand in hand with a broader effort to pass legislation permitting Uber across Florida made progress today, passing quickly and unanimously through the Senate Judiciary Committee early Tuesday evening. The proposal — SB 1298 — sponsored by Altamonte Springs Sen. David Simmons requires that app-based “transportation network companies” such as […]

Gary FineoutMarch 31, 2015

Amid growing budget discord that could derail this year’s session of the Florida Legislature, Senate President Andy Gardiner dispatched two top Republican senators to Washington to talk with federal officials about more than $1 billion in health care grants the state could soon lose. Gardiner, an Orlando Republican who works for a hospital, took the […]

Associated PressMarch 31, 2015

Abortion rights backers objected angrily to time limits on public comments as a bill requiring a 24-hour waiting period for an abortion got its first Senate committee approval Tuesday. The legislation, SB 724 sponsored by GOP Sen. Anitere Flores of Miami would require a woman to wait 24 hours after a legally required counseling session […]

Uncategorized

House OKs, Senate delays balance billing ban for emergency care

Florence Snyder: The murders that changed Tallahassee forever

Richard Corcoran swears he’ll “crack the status quo” — even if it takes his last breath

The day that was in Florida politics — March 31

Bill Day’s latest: Daniel Tilson and the FDLE Keystone Cops

Fabien Levy leaves Alvin Brown campaign

Film tax incentives package gets through House panel

Uber bill cruises through Senate panel, will see amendment in Appropriations

Florida senators meet with feds on health care money

Abortion rights activists object to waiting-period bill