Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Joe HendersonMarch 3, 2018

Tom Lee is right. OK, it was more than a bit of hyperbole Friday when Lee, a Republican state Senator from Thonotosassa, said leadership in both chambers is running the Legislature “like a third world country” but he was right on point when his frustration with how bills are presented and passed became headline news. […]

Ana CeballosFebruary 21, 2018

A Senate bill that would allow guns in churches with schools attached was temporarily postponed on Wednesday, but it could still come back later in the legislative session. As Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting survivors filled the seats in the Senate gallery, Senate President Joe Negron said the gun bill by Republican Sen. Dennis […]

Peter SchorschDecember 13, 2017

Environmental group Audubon Florida presented Senate President Joe Negron with an award Tuesday recognizing his “steadfast leadership” in Everglades restoration. Negron earned the “Champion of the Everglades” award for a bill he ushered through the legislature earlier this past session that mandated the construction of a reservoir south of Lake Okeechobee to reduce discharges to […]

Drew WilsonJuly 25, 2017

A pair of Republican state senators sent a letter to President Joe Negron Tuesday asking for a study of the funding formula for Florida’s K-12 schools. Dorothy Hukill of Port Orange and Travis Hutson of St. Augustine wrote that they see the District Cost Differential (DCD) as unfair to some school districts. That’s because the formula reduces […]

Peter SchorschJuly 21, 2017

An organization representing the interests of Florida’s private colleges and universities released a “presidential honor roll” thanking some of the state’s top lawmakers for the historic increase in financial aid for Sunshine State students in the 2017 Legislative Session. The Independent Colleges and Universities of Florida lobbies on behalf of about 30 private not-for-profit schools […]

Michael MolineJune 9, 2017

The Legislature concluded its special session with about an hour and 20 minutes to spare Friday, after voting to improve funding for public schools, colleges, and universities, and revamping the way the state encourages economic growth. While they were at it, the lawmakers passed an implementing bill for the medical marijuana constitutional amendment the voters […]

Staff ReportsJune 9, 2017

Gov. Rick Scott expanded the call of the Legislature’s special session Friday to include money he wants to repair the Herbert Hoover Dike and higher education investments important to the Senate. And here are the details that got us here: The Senate will relent on trying to appropriate more money for hospitals; there will be nothing that […]

Michael MolineJune 8, 2017

Senate President Joe Negron insisted Thursday, for the second time in as many days, that he emphatically was not party to any deal between Gov. Rick Scott and the House over public education spending and economic incentives. Any suggestion otherwise, Negron told reporters following the day’s Senate session, is a “false narrative.” There is evidence, he […]

Michael MolineJune 7, 2017

That deal everyone assumed Gov. Rick Scott struck with legislative leaders to ensure a smooth special session? It didn’t exist. At least, it didn’t include Senate President Joe Negron. Scott invited him to Friday’s press conference held to announce that he was calling a three-day special session on education, Visit Florida, and Enterprise Florida, Negron said […]

Scott PowersMay 18, 2017

Saying that the current limbo of law is bad for doctors and patients, Democratic state Reps. Carlos Guillermo Smith and Amy Mercado pleaded with Gov. Rick Scott and Florida Legislature leaders to call a special session to deal with medical marijuana. “We are here because 71 percent of Florida voters approved the constitutional right to […]

Tag: Senate President Joe Negron

Joe Henderson: Tom Lee is right to rip Legislature leadership

With Parkland students present, Senate postpones gun bill vote

Joe Negron named ‘Champion of the Everglades’

Dorothy Hukill, Travis Hutson K-12 funding formula study

Private university advocacy group honors Florida lawmakers

Legislature adjourns sometimes-bumpy Special Session in a burst of amity

We have a deal: Rick Scott expands scope of special session

Joe Negron doubles down: He was not party to any special session deal

As Special session opens, the Florida Senate asserts its prerogatives

Carlos Guillermo Smith, Amy Mercado say special session needed to end cannabis legal limbo