Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Michael MolineOctober 12, 2017

Florida’s tax structure will produce only $52 million in gains on existing state spending during the coming fiscal year, and will leave lawmakers more than $1 billion in the hole during each of the two budget years after that. That doesn’t count what the state needs to spend to recover from Hurricane Irma. The news […]

Scott PowersAugust 2, 2017

Thanks Jack Latvala, from Winter Park, signed Clear Channel Outdoor. A billboard has appeared on Winter Park’s busiest boulevard praising and thanking state Sen. Jack Latvala, the Clearwater Republican who chairs the appropriations committee. The ad thanks him, and credits him for saving Florida jobs, supporting Florida tourism, and supporting Florida businesses. The billboard’s disclaimer […]

Michael MolineApril 16, 2017

Representative Scott Plakon may have succeeded where a devotee of Southern Heritage failed in blocking the replacement of Confederate Gen. Edmund Kirby Smith as one of Florida’s two representatives in the National Statuary Hall collection. Seber Newsome III of Save Southern Heritage appeared before the Senate Appropriations Committee last week to oppose sending Smith packing. It was a lost […]

Michael MolineApril 6, 2017

The Senate Appropriations Committee wastes little time or comment approving a proposal to make sure the public is notified within 48 hours of a toxic spill. The panel took bare minutes to vote the bill out unanimously. It was the final committee stop on the way to the Senate floor. CS/SB 532, the Public Notice […]

Guest AuthorApril 5, 2017

Medicaid payment reform for nursing homes is both necessary and complex. And done well, it should be the result of clear policy objectives, careful consideration, vigorous debate and detailed modeling. On behalf of our 250 members across Florida, we encourage the Senate Appropriations Committee to ask tough questions and thoroughly vet the new nursing home […]

Scott PowersApril 3, 2017

The Florida Legislature may be negotiating how to cut funding to the office of 9th Judicial Circuit State Attorney Aramis Ayala — and ironically the less-controversial potential cut to her budget is the bigger of two now moving through committees. That sorting may begin this week when the House and Senate appropriations committees begin their […]

Les NeuhausMarch 16, 2017

More than three-quarters of Florida’s corrections officers have less than two years’ experience. In some state prisons, a single CO will be left alone to supervise 150-200 inmates in a jail block. Contraband has become so bad, one random search of (just half) a Dade facility turned up $15,000 in street value of cocaine, seven knives, […]

Les NeuhausMarch 16, 2017

In the decades before tablets and standardized testing wormed their way into primary and secondary schools, school playgrounds were a familiar place for children and adolescents. Up to an hour a day was spent running around, throwing balls to, or at, one another. But with all the technology and pressure to make the academic cut, […]

Michael MolineFebruary 9, 2017

The chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee defended state spending on economic incentives Thursday by pointing to evidence the effort produces solid returns on investment. Visit Florida, for example, returns $3.20 cents for every dollar spent on advertising, according to figures (here; scroll down) from Amy Baker, state government’s top economist. Enterprise Florida’s international offices […]

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. […]

Tag: Senate Appropriations Committee
Donald Trump attended a UFC fight in Miami Saturday. Image via The Associated Press.

Irma confounds already straightened state budget prospects, committee learns

Jack Latvala ‘thank you’ billboard appears in Winter Park

Looks like that Confederate general will remain in Statuary Hall collection

Pollution-spill notice bill races to approval by Senate Appropriations Committee

Steve Bahmer: Senate must ask tough questions on Medicaid payment reform

Legislature to consider cuts to Aramis Ayala’s office — deeper or angrier

Florida prison chief: State losing corrections staff to ‘Wal-Mart,’ creating insecurity in system

School recess, in disarray statewide, to become uniform under Senate bill

Jack Latvala says evidence doesn’t support House on job incentives

Visit Florida defenders swarm Senate Appropriations Committee hearing