Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Danny McAuliffeMarch 4, 2018

State funding is absent for affordable housing programs tailored to those affected by last year’s hurricanes. The reason? Unforeseen constraints created by a high-profile $400 million school safety and mental health proposal designed to prevent another school shooting. Budget chiefs Sen. Rob Bradley and Rep. Carlos Trujillo told Florida Politics on Saturday evening that the […]

Danny McAuliffeMarch 3, 2018

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The Florida Senate took the better part of eight hours during a rare Saturday session to work through 128 amendments — only one of which passed the floor — on a single bill. And even with the amendment’s approval, partisan spirits haven’t changed on the proposal designed to address issues unearthed in the wake of […]

Jim RosicaMarch 3, 2018

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A win turned into a loss Saturday, as the Republican-controlled Senate first approved—then killed—an amendment on a school safety bill that would have mandated a moratorium on assault rifle sales in the state. The legislation, called the “Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act” (SB 7026), is in response to the Valentine’s Day shooting […]

Scott PowersMarch 3, 2018

What are progressive Democrats to do when faced with an omnibus school safety and guns bill that has a few things they like but doesn’t have any of the major provisions they’ve insisted on, and also includes something that they worry might be a poison pill? Democratic state Reps. Carlos Guillermo Smith and Amy Mercado […]

Peter SchorschMarch 3, 2018

There is “zero tolerance” for sexual harassment in the Legislature, leaders say, but an ethics reform package that would create new rules and penalties for sexual harassment may not become law this year. The Florida House unanimously passed the proposal this week, but Republican Sen. Dennis Baxley is blocking the bill in the Senate because […]

Scott PowersMarch 2, 2018

Democrats have launched billboards in Orlando and Tallahassee that declare that Gov. Rick Scott did nothing to address gun safety following the June 12, 2016, Pulse nightclub massacre in Orlando. The Florida Democratic Party has leased two billboards, and the one in Orlando went live Friday. The message charges that the Republican governor’s commitment to […]

Scott PowersMarch 2, 2018

The Pride Fund to End Gun Violence, a national gay rights organization launched in response to Orlando’s 2016 Pulse nightclub massacre in order to advocate gun control, is releasing a new video focusing on the pain and anger surrounding mass murders, with the intention of keeping emotions high. The video makes a direct accusation toward […]

Scott PowersMarch 2, 2018

Florida’s Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson was conspicuously absent from a meeting President Donald Trump convened Wednesday in the West Wing with key lawmakers and stakeholders in the gun violence debate following the Parkland massacre, and on Friday he dismissed the meeting as show, and predicted Trump will pivot from assurances he made there. Speaking […]

Scott PowersMarch 1, 2018

Florida’s Republican U.S. Senator Marco Rubio on Thursday announced his Senate plan to respond to the Parkland massacre, which includes strengthening school security, providing for “restraining order” powers for police to confiscate weapons from dangerous individuals and adding to the gun purchase background-check databases. Rubio said his plan, which he called a comprehensive response, has […]

Scott PowersMarch 1, 2018

Republican gubernatorial candidate Ron DeSantis on Thursday denounced Florida Legislature efforts to tighten gun restrictions and said the mass shooting two weeks ago at the Parkland high school should be seen as “a catastrophic failure” by the Broward County sheriff and the FBI. DeSantis, a congressman from Ponte Vedra Beach, has made similar comments in […]

Tag: Parkland

Hurricane housing programs axed from budget

Post-Parkland Senate bill primed for floor vote

GOP blocks Democratic attempts to change school safety bill

Amy Mercado, Carlos Smith hear opinions on schools and guns bill

Takeaways from Tallahassee — Ethics reform in peril

Democrats’ Orlando billboard proclaims ‘Rick Scott did nothing’ after Pulse

Pride Fund launching on-line video focusing on the emotions of gun violence

Bill Nelson bemoans snub to White House gun meeting as ‘counter productive’

Marco Rubio post-Parkland plan focuses on school security, restraining order seizures

Ron DeSantis calls Parkland massacre a failure of FBI, sheriff; denounces state gun proposals