Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Christine Jordan SextonMay 15, 2015

Nine days after announcing the dates, the Florida Legislature issued the proclamation for the special session. The call is wide open, including Medicaid expansion, elimination of certificate of need law, direct primary care, state group health insurance changes,the budget and conforming bills from the 2015 regular legislative session and tax relief. As previously announced, the […]

Guest AuthorApril 22, 2015

“Severe negative fiscal impact.” For more than five decades, local governments and utility companies have had a very good arrangement that works well for everyone. When a private utility needs to run such things as transmission or cable lines, the utility enters into an agreement with a local government and the agreement allows the privately […]

Daniel TilsonMarch 25, 2015

Wake the kids, time to celebrate “Cut My Taxes Week” with Rick Scott! Um… “Hip-Hip…Hooray?” Or is that, “Hip-Hip…I broke my damned hip and your crummy little tax cut can’t help, I need health insurance!” The main event features Gov. Scott and special guests (pinch yourself) that include University of Florida mascots Albert and Alberta […]

Shannon NickinsonJanuary 26, 2015

Pensacola’s business community made its pitch for the 2015 legislative session. Now it will be time to let the chips fall where they may in Tallahassee. At the recent Greater Pensacola Chamber of Commerce’s 2015 Legislative Luncheon, chairman of the board of directors Justin Beck said the group had three broad areas of interest as […]

Associated PressJanuary 5, 2015

Gov. Rick Scott is going to use his inauguration day speech to urge residents from other states to move here because of Florida’s lower taxes. The Republican governor will be sworn into a second term Tuesday. Scott narrowly won re-election in November. After he is sworn in, Scott will give a speech arguing that limiting […]

Shannon NickinsonOctober 23, 2014

Santa Rosa County voters first had the chance to fund construction of a new courthouse in 2002. That measure failed, but the need to replace the nearly 90-year-old facility in downtown Milton, about 25 miles from Pensacola in the Florida Panhandle, has only grown in the intervening 12 years. And if it fails again on […]

Guest AuthorSeptember 7, 2014

Tourists visit Florida for its sunny beaches, shining amusement parks and natural landscapes. In fact, the Sunshine State welcomes nearly 100 million of them each year. They come to stay, play, and pay…taxes. Nearly 74 percent of Florida’s general revenue comes from sales and use taxes, and a large part of that $19.4 billion is […]

Guest AuthorJune 26, 2014

Polls show only 7 percent of Americans approve of the job Congress is doing, and frankly, most of us want to know what is wrong with those 7 percent. However, as dysfunctional as Washington can be, most governments in America function just fine because they are led by caring citizens who are motivated not by […]

Marc YachtMay 13, 2014

An old adage states, “The squeaky wheel gets the grease.” It seems the louder the outcry, the more the attention. Whether the issue is health care, education, taxes, abortion, the media focus on noise. That’s unfortunate because a lot of wise, unassuming folks get lost in the shuffle. They may have good ideas. They just […]

Tag: taxes

Special session called by Senate and House and it’s wide open on health care, budget

Sam Ferreri: Raising taxes by any other name

Daniel Tilson: Gov. Rick Scott's Magical Mystery 'Tax Cut Calculator'

Shannon Nickinson: Health care, taxes top business legislative list

Rick Scott: Tax cuts, keeping government small helps state

Shannon Nickinson: Our infrastructure is expensive and mostly invisible until it breaks

Jerry D. Parrish: More tourists mean lower taxes for Florida’s residents

Kevin Sweeny: Local elections are the ones that affect your life the most

Marc Yacht: Let’s ignore the loudmouths and listen to sensible citizens