Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Peter SchorschMarch 9, 2016

Constituents of Andy Gardiner on Wednesday will receive mail from Uber Florida criticizing the Senate President for blocking any kind of vote on a heavily lobbied proposal involving app-based transportation services. Uber wants the Senate to approve legislation that has already passed the House preventing local governments from banning or regulating it and other ridesharing companies such […]

Peter SchorschFebruary 21, 2016

Borrowing from the Bard: “To (fill in the blank), or not to (fill in the blank), that is the question.” The week-that-was was filled with a fair amount of false starts, delays and Hamletian indecision. To name a handful, U.S. Rep. Gwen Graham still hasn’t decided whether to run again for her 2nd Congressional District […]

Jim RosicaFebruary 18, 2016

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State Rep. Jose Felix Diaz, the Florida House of Representatives’ point man on gambling, said Thursday said the Senate’s current version of the Seminole Compact and accompanying gambling overhaul is “too much” for his tastes – and that of his membership. “There’s a lot of extra slot parlors in the Senate bill,” said Diaz, the […]

Jim RosicaFebruary 18, 2016

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Senate President Andy Gardiner says he’s still unclear whether changes made this week to the proposed gambling deal between the state and the Seminole Tribe of Florida would violate an existing agreement between the two. “We probably have to get some revenue estimating numbers to find out,” he told reporters after Thursday’s floor session. “There are […]

Jim RosicaJanuary 13, 2016

The sausage-making began in earnest Wednesday morning, as the Florida Senate teed up nine bills for final approval and passed a sweeping $95 million educational policy bill and a water protection measure desired by House Speaker Steve Crisafulli. The education bill (SB 672) was sponsored by GOP state Sen. Don Gaetz of Niceville, a former schools superintendent. Among other […]

Rich TemplinJanuary 6, 2016

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Once again, the media is abuzz and many in the Florida Legislature are absolutely giddy at the prospect of what they call a budget surplus this year. State fiscal analysts are predicting a surplus of about $635 million and the Governor’s Office, using a bit of fuzzy math that no one outside of his administration […]

Jim RosicaJanuary 4, 2016

Staff from the Florida Senate and Auditor General’s office will meet Tuesday to assign random numbers to districts in the state’s new Senate District map. Senate President Andy Gardiner announced the meeting in a Monday news release. The random numbering will be done in an open meeting at 9 a.m. in Room 412 of the Capitol Complex’s Knott Building. Staff […]

Shannon NickinsonSeptember 20, 2015

The Florida Children and Youth Cabinet recently voted to write state leaders urging them to prioritize early education and child services for “the first 1,000 days” – from pregnancy to age 3. Based on data from the Pensacola Metro Dashboard, only 66.2 percent of Escambia County’s 5-year-olds are ready for kindergarten; in Santa Rosa County […]

Guest AuthorJune 25, 2015

Now the Special Session is finally over and the Legislature finally finished the budget they worked on long into the night. They handed it to the governor so he could have his way with it and put his pen to paper, signing it into law with one hand and slashing it with his veto pen […]

Guest AuthorJune 22, 2015

This year in Tallahassee, there has been no shortage of opinions on how to divide the dollars the Florida Legislature is constitutionally required to spend on natural resources through Amendment 1. Throughout the debate, some have tried to hold our lawmakers to an arbitrary standard, arguing for tens of millions of dollars to be spent […]

Tag: Senate President Andy Gardiner

Not to be a skunk at Andy Gardiner’s picnic, but …

Takeaways from Tallahassee — the “Hamlet, Magna Carta, and MMA” edition

Jose Felix Diaz says House would “riot” over Senate gambling legislation

Andy Gardiner questions impact of changed Seminole Compact, gambling bill

Senate passes education, water bills

Rich Templin: The great Florida surplus myth

Random renumbering of Senate districts slated for Tuesday

Shannon Nickinson: Our children need more than a letter

Gary Stein: What have tax cuts really accomplished?

Brewster Bevis: Legislature shows leadership by ensuring Amendment 1 dollars benefit everyone