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Michael MolineApril 24, 2017

The House Appropriations Committee will meet Tuesday morning to consider a “standard operating budget,” pending progress in negotiations with the Senate over spending priorities for the fiscal year that begins July 1. House Speaker Richard Corcoran announced the move in a note to House members Monday evening. He acted after Senate President Joe Negron rejected […]

Staff ReportsApril 24, 2017

Senate President Joe Negron has rejected a House proposal to settle some $4 billion in state budget disagreements with a “continuation budget.” Negron said in a memo to senators Monday that House negotiators made the proposal over the weekend. “Despite serving as the Appropriations chair in both the House and Senate, I had never encountered […]

Michael MolineApril 21, 2017

The Florida Commission on Ethics voted unanimously Friday to resist efforts by House and Senate leaders to exert control over its hiring, firing, travel, and other business, citing fears for its independence. The panel agreed to back Chairman Matthew Carlucci in rejecting a “delegation of authority” issued on March 21 by House Speaker Richard Corcoran […]

Michael MolineApril 17, 2017

Gov. Rick Scott endorsed a key element of Senate President Joe Negron’s Lake Okeechobee plan Monday — storing and treating water south of the lake — and called upon the House and Senate to invest $200 million in repairs to the Herbert Hoover dike. Scott said during a news conference that the state can afford […]

Michael MolineApril 12, 2017

Senate President Joe Negron’s $1.5 billion plan to fix Lake Okeechobee, and stop overflows of toxic “guacamole water” into the state’s rivers and streams, passed the Senate Wednesday on a vote of 36-3. Last June’s overflow of toxic algae blooms, which devastated tourism and sickened many people, and prompted Gov. Rick Scott to declare a […]

Michael MolineApril 5, 2017

Senate President Joe Negron’s ambitious water-quality plan survived a more-than-two-hour hearing before the Appropriations Committee Wednesday, clearing the panel against only two dissents. The $1.5 billion bill would begin planning to build reservoirs and water treatment facilities south of Lake Okeechobee in hopes of avoiding repeats of June’s disastrous algae bloom in South Florida waterways. The […]

Michael MolineApril 4, 2017

The reservoir system that Senate President Joe Negron hopes to build south of Lake Okeechobee is about to get smaller but deeper. Negron announced plans Tuesday to possibly scale back the project’s acreage while still storing between 100 billion and 120 billion gallons of water by increasing the reservoirs’ depth to 14 feet. “An amendment […]

Michael MolineMarch 22, 2017

While Sen. Dorothy Hukill recovers from cervical cancer, Senate President Joe Negron has named additional members to committees on which she serves. In a memo dated Tuesday, Negron said Sen. Anitere Flores will help out in the Education Committee, which Hukill leads. “Sen. Hukill will remain the chair of the Committee on Education,” Negron aide Katie Betta said. […]

Michael MolineMarch 13, 2017

Magic Johnson visited with Senate Democrats Monday to praise Medicaid managed care programs that are using town hall meetings and church outreach to steer HIV, dental, geriatric, and other health care to poor people in 60 Florida counties. The programs have served 9,500 people with HIV during the past four years, Johnson said. Moreover, “our […]

Michael MolineMarch 8, 2017

Senate President Joe Negron‘s plan to build reservoirs south of Lake Okeechobee got bigger Wednesday, when a budget subcommittee voted to raise the price tag from $1.2 billion to more than $3 billion and fold in water resources projects around the state. SB 10, as amended by the Appropriations Subcommittee on the Environment and Natural […]

Tag: Senate President Joe Negron

Talks stalled, House schedules committee review of continuation budget

Joe Negron says no to House’s proposed ‘continuation budget’ as talks stall

Ethics commission bucks legislative leaders’ assertion of authority

Rick Scott endorses water storage south of Lake Okeechobee, but not buying land

Senate approves plan to fix Lake Okeechobee, end algae invasions

Joe Negron’s Lake Okeechobee plan clears Senate Appropriations Committee

Joe Negron’s Lake Okeechobee plan undergoing another revision

Joe Negron adds to committees’ strength during Dorothy Hukill’s recovery

Magic Johnson visits Tallahassee to talk up Medicaid managed care

Negron’s Lake Okeechobee plan absorbs additional water resources projects