Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Gary FineoutApril 2, 2017

With about a month left in the regular session, Florida’s Republican-controlled Legislature is on a major collision course over spending. This past week the House and Senate released rival budgets for the coming year that reveal a wide divide between the two chambers on everything from taxes to schools to state worker pay raises. The […]

Jim RosicaApril 2, 2017

Ed. Note: A version of this story ran previously in Saturday’s “Takeaways from Tallahassee” email. It’s long been a Capitol cliché, but there are few pronouncements on a piece of legislation as inauspicious as calling something “a heavy lift.” Saying a bill is “a heavy, heavy lift” sounds even more portending of defeat. Yet that’s how […]

Mitch PerryApril 1, 2017

House members now say the possibility of a fracking ban is dead for the 2017 Legislative Session. Sen. Dana Young thinks it’s premature to administer last rites, at least just yet. “You never say never, but now we’re saying it looks like that will be next year,” Rep. Mike Miller, an Orlando Republican, told the Naples Daily […]

Jim RosicaMarch 30, 2017

As expected, the Senate on Thursday passed its gambling overhaul for this year, including a renewal of exclusive rights to blackjack games for the Seminole Tribe. Sen. Bill Galvano, the chamber’s shepherd of this year’s legislation, told fellow lawmakers he couldn’t promise that “we’ll reach a state of resolution” this session. That said, he expects the […]

Phil AmmannMarch 27, 2017

Joe Negron recently visited Pahokee High School for a town hall meeting to discuss his plans for taking farmland in the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA). During the meeting, the Senate President said he is in discussion with “many owners of land south of the lake” in the effort to acquire 153,000 acres of productive land to […]

Peter SchorschMarch 27, 2017

Joe Negron’s controversial plan to reduce Lake Okeechobee discharges is not going over well with federal officials and lawmakers on Capitol Hill. Last week, many of those involved in Everglades restoration called for Florida to stay the course on federal restoration projects; many were critical of the Senate President’s plan to build a reservoir south […]

Gary FineoutMarch 23, 2017

Students, their parents and school employees would be guaranteed wider rights to publicly pray and express their religious beliefs in public schools under a far-reaching bill approved Thursday by the Florida Senate. Backers of the legislation, including Senate President Joe Negron, contend that the measure is needed because schools have unnecessarily clamped down on free […]

Jim RosicaMarch 23, 2017

Senate President Joe Negron wants to use gambling money sitting in the state’s treasury for spending next year, but said it won’t spell disaster if lawmakers can’t. The Stuart Republican, speaking to reporters after Thursday’s floor session, said he was “optimistic” that the Legislature will finally pass an omnibus gambling overhaul that includes a renewed blackjack […]

Staff ReportsMarch 23, 2017

A top priority of Senate President Joe Negron’s took a hit this week, after Sen. Marco Rubio said a plan to build reservoirs wouldn’t get federal money and would wipe out farming communities. According to POLITICO Florida, Rubio said “there’s no federal money” for Negron’s proposed reservoirs. “We’re going to end up with nothing,” he […]

Jenna Buzzacco-FoersterMarch 23, 2017

A bevy of business groups have joined forces in opposition to a Senate proposal to lower the tax commercial rents by eliminating a tax credit benefiting another industry. Eight of the state’s leading business organizations — including Associated Industries of Florida, the Florida Chamber of Commerce, the National Federation of Independent Business, and the Florida […]

Tag: Joe Negron

Divided over dollars: Florida legislators split on spending

Black clouds loom over this year’s gambling bills

Dana Young, environmentalists still hold hope for fracking ban in 2017

Senate passes 2017 gambling bill

Glades landowners double down on Joe Negron to reveal his ‘willing sellers’

Feds say ‘stay the course’ with Everglades, rejecting Joe Negron’s land buy

Bill would protect religious expression in schools

Joe Negron would ‘prefer’ to use gambling money in budget

Report: Marco Rubio says ‘there’s no federal money’ for reservoir south of Lake O

AIF, Florida Chamber, other business groups join forces to oppose Senate tax proposal