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Staff ReportsFebruary 6, 2017

February will be a busy month for state lawmakers hoping to raise a few bucks for their next campaign before the start of the 2017 Legislative Session. Several candidates will be holding campaign fundraisers in Tallahassee during back-to-back-to-back committee weeks this month. House Majority, the campaign arm of the Florida GOP, will host fundraisers for […]

Michael MolineJanuary 26, 2017

Tourism business owners flocked to a Senate committee room Thursday to plead the case for Visit Florida, the state’s embattled tourism promotions agency. Representing both large operations and independent hotels and restaurants, they urged members of the Appropriations Committee to let the agency continue to sell Florida to potential tourists in the United States and overseas. […]

Michael MolineJanuary 24, 2017

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A bipartisan coalition of lawmakers have endorsed proposed legislation to ban extraction of oil and gas via hydraulic fracturing in Florida. “This bill is concise and straightforward. It bans fracking of all types in Florida,” Senate sponsor Dana Young said Tuesday during a news conference outside the Senate chamber. “As a sixth generation Floridian and avid […]

Michael MolineJanuary 23, 2017

Members of the Senate Committee on Commerce and Tourism couldn’t resist hazing Sen. Kathleen Passidomo before approving her bill to exempt female sanitary products from the sales tax. “I think this is Sen. Passidomo’s first bill” as a member of the committee, Sen. Jack Latvala said of his colleague, a Naples Republican elected to the […]

Michael MolineJanuary 23, 2017

The new head of Enterprise Florida Inc. defended the organization Monday against complaints that it doesn’t raise enough private-sector money, saying a required one-to-one match of public and private dollars applies only to operating expenses. Chris Hart, who became president and CEO just weeks ago, cited the statute that created the economic development organization in […]

Michael MolineJanuary 12, 2017

Senate Appropriations Chairman Jack Latvala sent a message Thursday to the House leadership: Don’t expect to force the Senate to abide by your strict new budget rules. “We have our own rules in the Senate. We are going to abide by our own rules,” Latvala told reporters following a committee meeting. “I think it would […]

Michael MolineDecember 15, 2016

Visit Florida, beleaguered over its $1 million promotional contract with the rapper Pitbull, found a defender Thursday in Senate budget chairman Jack Latvala. In light of a soft construction sector, “what’s kept the whole outlook from softening up has been our strong tourism economy,” Latvala told reporters after the Appropriations Committee heard about the financial demands […]

Michael MolineDecember 15, 2016

Senate budget chairman Jack Latvala isn’t interested in balancing state government’s books on the backs of counties hit hard by the BP oil spill. And he believes the state might have to let local property taxes increase along with home values. All in the name of meeting pressing needs in a state in decent financial shape now, but […]

Peter SchorschMarch 27, 2016

Another year passes, and another Rick Scott Chief of Staff is out the door. The Governor’s office announced last week that Kim McDougal will succeed Melissa Sellers in the top staff position, making McDougal Scott’s fifth CoS in six years. Which makes us wonder: Where are they now? Mike Prendergast, a retired Army colonel, moved over to become Executive Director of the Florida Department of Veterans’ Affairs, […]

Peter SchorschMarch 21, 2016

I was not sure if today was state Sen. Jack Latvala’s birthday, so I double-checked the list of lawmakers birthdays furnished by LobbyTools. Nope, today is definitely not the senior Latvala’s birthday. It’s Nov. 3. Still … If you had told Sen. Latvala last year that come the first day of spring he would be: on […]

Tag: Sen. Jack Latvala

February poised to be busy month for fundraising for lawmakers seeking re-election

Visit Florida defenders swarm Senate Appropriations Committee hearing

Bill to ban hydraulic fracking attracts bipartisan support

Tampon tax exemption clears Senate Commerce Committee

Enterprise Florida’s new chief defends the economic development program

Jack Latvala to House: The Senate makes its own rules

Jack Latvala defends Visit Florida amid Pitbull contract controversy

Jack Latvala not keen on raiding oil spill fund to balance state budget

Peter Schorsch: Five big stories in Tallahassee last week

It’s not Jack Latvala’s birthday!