Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Jim RosicaMarch 2, 2016

You can’t keep a good bill – or a bad bill, depending on your viewpoint – down in the Florida Legislature. Wednesday night, the House of Representatives quietly put its rewrite of the Seminole Compact and a proposed constitutional amendment on voter control of gambling on the agenda for Friday’s floor session. The legislation is on the […]

A.G. GancarskiMarch 2, 2016

Jacksonville is watching Tallahassee for one thing this session more than anything else: SB 1652, the Discretionary Sales Surtax bill. The House version of the “pension tax” bill passed last week. Whither the Senate? “The Senate bill will end up matching the House bill, and then the Senate will take up the House bill,” says […]

Jim RosicaMarch 1, 2016

Screen-Shot-2016-02-29-at-4.43.02-PM-1024x1024.png

Their lips were saying “not dead yet” but House leadership otherwise made clear that the Seminole Compact and gambling legislation are goners for this Legislative Session. “I’m not ready to declare it dead yet,” said state Rep. Jose Felix Diaz, the Miami Republican who shepherded the bills through the process this year. Diaz spoke after […]

Jim RosicaMarch 1, 2016

Echoing a Seminole Tribe attorney earlier in the day, Senate budget chief Tom Lee opened the possibility that provisions added to the Seminole Compact to placate the state’s pari-mutuels were a “ransom” that tanked the legislation. Lee, the Brandon Republican who chairs the Appropriations Committee, spoke to reporters after his panel finished its Tuesday meeting. As the […]

Jim RosicaMarch 1, 2016

If the Seminole Compact and related legislation don’t pass this session, lawmakers will have no one to blame but themselves, the tribe’s Tallahassee-based attorney said Tuesday. Barry Richard, who represents the Seminole Tribe of Florida, blamed the apparent Tuesday morning collapse of the 2016 gambling bills on lawmakers bending over backward to appease the state’s dog […]

Jim RosicaFebruary 29, 2016

One mystery was solved after a House panel cleared the latest version of this session’s gambling legislation: state Rep. Jose Felix Diaz said language on fantasy sports play was inserted into his chamber’s bill because Gov. Rick Scott wanted it there. Diaz, a Miami Republican, spoke to reporters Monday after the Finance and Tax Committee OK’d on […]

Jim RosicaFebruary 29, 2016

A 122-page “proposed committee substitute” that dropped Sunday night on the House’s 2016 gambling legislation would keep intact the guts of the proposed Seminole Compact, while allowing for expanded gambling opportunities throughout the state. The measure, set for consideration in the House Finance and Tax Committee Monday, makes proposed revisions to the new gambling deal (HB […]

Drew WilsonFebruary 27, 2016

Fleming Island Republican Sen. Rob Bradley has moved his re-election campaign into the newly redrawn Senate District 5 and is, so far, the only candidate in the race. Bradley represents District 7, which is made up of Alachua, Clay and Bradford counties, but new maps approved by Florida Courts at the end of 2015 shifted the first term senator […]

Phil AmmannFebruary 25, 2016

The Senate Appropriations Committee approved Thursday several bills with some cost-saving measures for health providers. The bills now head to the Senate floor. LobbyTools is reporting on SB 1686, sponsored by Fernandina Beach Republican Sen. Aaron Bean, which will allow Florida’s health care practitioners to provide telehealth services. The bill creates a task force under the Agency […]

A.G. GancarskiFebruary 24, 2016

A legislative priority of Sens. Aaron Bean and Rob Bradley and Rep. Neil Combee, SB 228, was signed into law by Florida Gov. Rick Scott on Wednesday. The Self Defense Protection Act offers a narrow self-defense exception to mandatory minimum sentences, in the case of a jury believing that a defendant had a good-faith belief that using a firearm was […]

Tag: Rob Bradley

House throwing a “Hail Mary” with Seminole Compact?

Jax pension tax bill headed for Senate floor vote early next week

House all but declares defeat on Seminole Compact, gambling legislation

Gambling concessions to pari-mutuels same as “ransom,” Tom Lee says

Effort to appease pari-mutuels is killing Seminole Compact

Fantasy sports language in gambling bill because of Rick Scott, lawmaker says

Lawmakers file 122 pages of changes to Seminole Compact

Rob Bradley running in newly drawn SD 5

Senate committee passes series of cost-saving health care proposals

Aggravated assault removed from 10-20-Life in Florida