Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Jim RosicaApril 2, 2018

The head of a group that opposes casino gambling in Florida is telling lawmakers to take a pass on a Special Session for unresolved gambling issues. “If ever there was an issue that the Legislature has already spent too much time, energy, intellectual capacity and political capital, it is gambling,” No Casinos president John Sowinski wrote […]

Jim RosicaMarch 30, 2018

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Top men in the Legislature are considering a Special Session to tackle unresolved gambling issues from the 2018 Regular Session, including renewal of a deal between the state and the Seminole Tribe. It’s all about the money. The Tribe paid a little more than $290 million last fiscal year into state coffers as part of a 2010 […]

Peter SchorschMarch 26, 2018

Joe Negron is making the rounds. The outgoing Senate President is doing post-Session interviews and sit-downs with the News Service of Florida, the Palm Beach Post, his hometown TC Palm, WPTV, and pretty much anyone else with a pen and notepad at the ready. For the most part, Negron is focusing on policy, including offering his personal […]

A.G. GancarskiMarch 22, 2018

Governor Rick Scott and Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam are in the twilight of their current tenures. Putnam wants to replace Scott and has been vocal in criticisms of Scott policy. Putnam vowed to bring back the drug czar position that Scott eliminated after he took office in 2011, although the commissioner was quick to point out that Scott […]

Scott PowersMarch 20, 2018

Three fathers of murdered students, three sheriffs, and state Sen. Lauren Book are among the appointees to the newly created Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission established to investigate the Feb. 14 massacre and identify and address what could have been done differently. Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri will chair the commission established through […]

Jim RosicaMarch 19, 2018

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In a brief ‘exit interview’ last week with Florida Politics, outgoing Senate President Joe Negron said lawmakers over the last two Sessions “made tremendous progress” on goals he set out in his 2015 designation speech, “a blueprint of things I tried to accomplish.” Among those, beefing up higher education “with world class faculties,” addressing pollution […]

Drew WilsonMarch 16, 2018

Gov. Rick Scott got some praise from the Florida Health Care Association on Friday for signing the 2018-19 budget. Shortly after Scott put pen to paper the group put out a statement lauding the $88.7 billion plan, specifically the funding bumps it will bring to nursing homes, nearly 600 of which are represented by FHCA. […]

Drew WilsonMarch 12, 2018

Americans for Prosperity-Florida, the free market fighters, are celebrating a long list of legislative accomplishments as the 2018 Legislative Session comes to an end. Among their top priorities this year was a bill to allow direct primary care contracts, SB 80, and the House education package which includes a requirement that teacher unions to have […]

Peter SchorschMarch 11, 2018

Nobody expected a tragedy like Parkland to suck all the oxygen out of the Legislature’s 2018 Regular Session. Lobbyists were left scrambling to save their clients’ priorities as lawmakers hustled to rejigger the budget to accommodate hundreds of millions of dollars for school safety and mental health initiatives. Some survived, many did not; although that’s […]

Jim RosicaMarch 10, 2018

Just as it always does in recent years, a legislative effort to revisit the state’s gambling laws tanked in the last week of this year’s Legislative Session. Senate President Joe Negron and House Speaker Richard Corcoran released a joint statement Friday night: “Despite the good faith efforts of both the House and Senate, a gaming bill […]

Tag: Joe Negron
Image via Palatka Main Street.

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Legislative leaders ponder special session on gambling

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In twilight of their time in office, daylight emerges between Rick Scott, Adam Putnam

Sheriff Bob Gualtieri to lead Douglas High commission with Lauren Book, three fathers

Joe Negron reflects on past, looks to future

FHCA gives Rick Scott thumbs up on budget

Free market fights end in wins for 2018, AFP-Florida says

Winners and losers emerging from the 2018 Legislative Session

Sunshine State gambling #fails: A short history (updated for 2018)