Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Guest AuthorJanuary 3, 2018

As we kick off 2018, a message to Florida lawmakers: Don’t quit while you’re ahead. Last year, our legislators kept many New Year’s resolutions: trimming the fat from the state budget, making sure taxpayers kept more of their hard-earned money and expanding educational opportunity for children across the state. This Session, there are several legislative […]

Peter SchorschNovember 14, 2017

Ballard Partners has hired Katherine San Pedro as its newest partner in the lobbying firms’s Tallahassee and Miami offices, according to a Tuesday news release. “Katherine has a stellar reputation in Florida politics, having forged key relationships with members of the Florida Legislature from her years campaigning and working in the Capitol,” said Brian Ballard, […]

Drew WilsonNovember 6, 2017

Commissioner of Agriculture candidate and state Rep. Matt Caldwell announced support from seven South Florida lawmakers in what his campaign called its “fourth wave” of legislative endorsements. Included in the Monday announcement were House Speaker Designate Jose Oliva, and Reps. Bryan Avila, Michael Bileca, Manny Diaz, George Moraitis, Jeanette Nunez and Carlos Trujillo. Prior “waves” […]

Staff ReportsOctober 10, 2017

Florida sports franchises will be banned from constructing or renovating facilities on leased public land under a bill advanced Tuesday by the House Committee on Government Accountability. Lobby Tools reports that HB 13, sponsored by Republican state Reps. Bryan Avila and Manny Diaz, is identical to HB 77, which died in the Senate during the 2017 […]

Peter SchorschAugust 23, 2017

Republican state Rep. Bryan Avila earned some praise from Americans for Prosperity-Florida for sponsoring a bill to kill Sunshine State stadium deals. The conservative group called the Florida Sports Development Fund, an incentive program greenlighted by lawmakers in 2014, “corporate welfare” and lauded Avila’s HB 6005, filed Tuesday, for attempting to repeal the “sports incentive […]

Staff ReportsJuly 25, 2017

Fifty legislators received top marks from Americans for Prosperity-Florida, the largest number of A+ legislators since the organization began issuing its annual legislative scorecard. The organization released its 2017 Economic Freedom Scorecard, which graded 5,500 votes on 96 issues, on Tuesday. The scorecard showed 50 legislators — 11 senators and 39 representatives — received an […]

Jim RosicaApril 27, 2017

The reaction to the Florida Legislature’s repeal of the state’s “booze wall” law continued long after Wednesday’s vote. The House, on a close vote of 58-57, passed the Senate’s bill (SB 106) to allow retailers to remove the ‘wall of separation’ between hard liquor and other goods. (Full story here.) The legislation now heads to Gov. Rick Scott. If signed […]

Jim RosicaApril 26, 2017

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The Florida Legislature has voted to tear down the booze ‘wall.’ The House, on a by-a-nose vote of 58-57, Wednesday passed the Senate’s bill (SB 106) to allow retailers, at least those who choose to do so, to remove the ‘wall of separation’ between hard liquor and other goods. The legislation now heads to Gov. Rick Scott. […]

Jim RosicaApril 25, 2017

A bill to allow retailers to sell hard liquor in the same store as other goods is one step closer to passing the Legislature. On Tuesday, the House decided to take up the Senate’s version of the “whiskey & Wheaties” legislation (SB 106) out of a “spirit of compromise,” said bill sponsor Bryan Avila, a Hialeah Republican. After two and […]

Jim RosicaApril 24, 2017

A troubled measure to undo the requirement that retailers sell distilled spirits separately from other goods is back on the House calendar for this week. But a number of amendments were filed Friday night that could continue to muddle the legislation’s path to passage. The House on Tuesday will again consider the “whiskey & Wheaties” bill (SB […]

Tag: Bryan Avila
Image via AP.

Chris Hudson: This Legislative Session, Floridians have much to be enthusiastic about

Personnel note: Katherine San Pedro joins Ballard Partners

South Florida lawmakers back Matt Caldwell for Ag. Commissioner

Sports franchise bill passes only committee, heads to House floor

American for Prosperity praises Bryan Avila’s bill to kill stadium incentives

50 Florida lawmakers earn A+ on AFP-FL scorecard

Interests for and against ‘liquor wall’ legislation react to passage

Legislature votes to tear down the ‘liquor wall’

Liquor ‘wall of separation’ could fall in Florida

Is this ‘whiskey & Wheaties’ last hurrah for 2017?