Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

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 […]

Scott PowersOctober 16, 2017

A Brightline train derailed in February and opponents of the planned, east-coast, high-speed passenger rail service expressed frustration Monday that they only recently learned about the accident and criticized the company for not mentioning it during Florida Legislature testimony about rail safety. Citizens Against Rail Expansion in Florida and the counties of Indian River and […]

Scott PowersAugust 30, 2017

U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz now has gotten the other ten Florida Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives to join her call for a one-day Florida Legislature special session to replace Confederate General Edmund Kirby Smith‘s statue in the U.S. Capitol. “We must denounce symbols of what supremacy and stand up for love and […]

Gary FineoutJuly 28, 2017

Florida’s price tag for losing legal battles – which has included courtroom fights over drug testing, voting rights and gay marriage – continues to grow under Gov. Rick Scott. Scott recently agreed to pay $1.1 million to cover the legal bills of physicians and medical organizations in their successful challenge of a law that restricted […]

Jim RosicaJuly 13, 2017

The Florida Supreme Court Thursday dismissed a challenge of Gov. Rick Scott‘s veto of reimbursements to homeowners whose healthy citrus trees were torn down by the state. The homeowners had asked the court to undo Scott’s veto of more than $37 million by filing a petition for writ of mandamus, an order to an elected official to perform a certain […]

Jenna Buzzacco-FoersterJuly 10, 2017

New College of Florida will request more than $3.6 million from the Florida Legislature in fiscal 2018 to help continue its effort to grow enrollment. The New College of Florida board of trustees on Monday voted to approve its fiscal 2018-19 legislative budget request. The 2018 request includes a single item — more than $3.63 million […]

Tag: Florida Legislature

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

Brightline February train car derailment comes to light; critics call it ‘disturbing’

Florida Democrats in Congress call for Florida special session to replace statue

Florida’s cost for losing lawsuits keeps growing

Squeezed: Supreme Court denies challenge of citrus veto

New College of Florida to request $3.6M from state as part of three-year growth plan