Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Jim RosicaJanuary 1, 2018

Four bills passed during the 2017 Legislative Session go into effect on the first day of the new year. HB 435: This bill updates the Office of Financial Regulation’s regulatory procedures and requirements for international financial institutions. SB 590: This bill authorizes the Florida Department of Revenue to establish parenting time plans agreed to by both […]

Guest AuthorDecember 13, 2017

Throughout my professional career, I have been dedicated to the continued growth and enhancement of quality long-term care in Florida. A key element of quality care is maintaining a sense of independence among the elders we serve, a priority that is fostered by Florida’s long-standing commitment to helping them remain in the least restrictive setting […]

Peter SchorschDecember 5, 2017

If you want to blame someone, blame Charlie Justice. Or, for that matter, you can blame the late C.W. “Bill” Young. Because when the Florida Senate is reduced to proverbial ashes in early 2018, those still standing will be left to wonder where everything went wrong. And that’s why you should start blaming Justice. Or […]

Scott PowersDecember 4, 2017

Airbnb is launching a television commercial this week in Tallahassee to convince Florida Legislators of the back-home support for vacation rentals, which again are facing the prospect of legislation over whether and how local governments can regulate them. The new commercial running this week in the Tallahassee market, “Airbnb citizen,” features Pensacola Mayor Ashton Hayward talking […]

Scott PowersNovember 20, 2017

There is no pardon for the Groveland Four. At least not yet, and possibly not in the foreseeable future, despite much celebration last spring that they deserved and should receive posthumous pardons. The Groveland Four are the young, black men who were falsely accused of raping a white woman in rural Lake County in 1949. […]

Joe HendersonNovember 15, 2017

The dirty secret for public school teachers in Hillsborough County, or basically anywhere in Florida, is that the amount they are paid doesn’t cover all the work they do. Many teachers just shrug at that reality and spend part of their “free time” grading papers, preparing lesson plans, or volunteering at school events because they […]

Mitch PerryNovember 9, 2017

A coalition of law enforcement and civil rights groups are determined to have the Florida Legislature approve (or at least consider) a bill next year to expand and strengthen Florida’s current hate-crime laws. Calling themselves the Florida Hate Crime Coalition, the group penned a letter and launched an online petition drive to compel Ocoee Democratic state […]

Ana CeballosNovember 8, 2017

As lawmakers in both the House and the Senate push for a strict ban on minors getting married, some legislators in the House said Wednesday they would like to keep judicial discretion when older teenagers want to legally wed. “I do not support the part where someone who is pregnant can’t get married just because […]

Ana CeballosNovember 8, 2017

A years-long battle in the Legislature to pass a bill requiring high school students take a course teaching them how to manage money is back again. Sen. Dorothy Hukill‘s bill, though, had a small victory on Wednesday. SB 88 advanced the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on pre-K-12 Education, leaving one more committee stop before it can […]

Joe HendersonNovember 1, 2017

Stay with me. This one gets a little weird. While you were distracted by the latest the latest episode of “Florida’s Got Dirt,” your First Amendment rights were put in the crosshairs again. Confused? It’s just another day in the state’s center of power. On the front page of Wednesday’s Tampa Bay Times was a […]

Tag: Florida Legislature
Stolpersteine

Handful of new laws go into effect Jan. 1

Deborah Franklin: Protect Florida elders by keeping nursing home certificate-of-need process

The coming nuclear war in the Florida Senate

Airbnb takes to Tallahassee TV to promote vacation rentals

Where are the Groveland Four pardons? Their story continues in silence

Joe Henderson: Teachers deserve raise, but where is the money?

Civil rights, law enforcement groups urge lawmaker to hear hate crimes bill

In child marriage debate, some want flexibility with older teens

Bill mandating financial-literacy class for students advances

Joe Henderson: Got whiplash? Absurdity rules in Tally