Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Phil AmmannJune 19, 2015

Citing “blatant political maneuvering and a disregard for the wishes of voters,” few lawmakers can take pride in the 2015 Legislative Session, says Pamela Goodman, President of the Florida League of Women Voters. Her primary concerns in the recently ended Special Session A were notable failures in accepting federal Medicaid expansion money to cover more […]

Christine Jordan SextonJune 19, 2015

House budget chief Richard Corcoran has a message for Gov. Rick Scott. “I would tell the governor to go forth boldly and veto,” Corcoran, said paraphrasing Martin Luther. Corcoran worked with Senate budget chief Tom Lee to hammer out a nearly $79 billion spending plan for fiscal year 2015-16. Addressing a group of reporters outside […]

Christine Jordan SextonJune 19, 2015

Florida’s legislative leaders are trying to make the health care financing decisions they made during the June Special Session veto-proof. The Florida House and Senate were at odds throughout the 2015 Regular Legislative Session on health care spending and policy. Indeed, the inability to agree on how much additional Medicaid funding to include in the […]

Christine Jordan SextonJune 17, 2015

A federal judge in Pensacola cancelled an evidentiary hearing scheduled for Friday that could have required Gov. Rick Scott and Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Sylvia Burwell to appear in court. Judge M. Casey Rodgers issued a one-page ruling on Wednesday saying that lawyers for Scott had filed a notice […]

Christine Jordan SextonJune 16, 2015

Gov. Rick Scott on Tuesday vetoed a trio of bills, including one by Senate budget chief Sen. Tom Lee and another he aid he didn’t even need to reject. Lee supported a rewrite of the Administrative Procedures Act, HB 435, and sponsored the Senate companion bill. The governor said the changes in the bill could […]

Christine Jordan SextonJune 16, 2015

The Legislature can pass the budget at 5:37 p.m. Friday and call it quits. After meeting late into Monday night and adding $300 million more in spending, the General Appropriations Act was electronically furnished to the Legislature, governor and Cabinet at 5:37 p.m. Tuesday. The Florida Constitution requires the Legislature to wait 72 hours before […]

Mitch PerryJune 16, 2015

The Legislature began its final scheduled week of the Special Session with a $428.9 million package of tax breaks it OK’d Monday. The tax breaks were scaled back from Gov. Rick Scott‘s original goal of nearly $700 million, but he appeared in no mood to quibble when he issued a statement before returning from Paris. “Giving […]

Ryan RayJune 16, 2015

At a final budget conference meeting that began at the tender hour of 11:05 p.m. and ran until nearly midnight, state budget writers failed to fully address new state funding for hospitals — the primary impetus for the June special Session to begin with. But they did find time to load up the budget with […]

Christine Jordan SextonJune 14, 2015

There’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday. The National Federation of Independent Business Florida wants to tuck “Small Business Saturday” between those days and has been advancing a proposal that would give shoppers a tax break for shopping locally-owned, independent businesses. The tax holiday was in the House tax reduction package HB 33A, and economists predicted it […]

Christine Jordan SextonJune 13, 2015

Gov. Rick Scott traveled to Paris on Friday aiming to bring back to his home state economic development projects. But while Scott is away House and Senate budget negotiators have reached a deal to give the governor considerably less money than he wanted for business recruitment. Sen. Tom Lee and Rep. Richard Corcoran on Saturday […]

Tag: Tom Lee
TALLAHASSEE, FLA. 11/19/24-Senate President Ben Albritton, R-Wauchula, talks with the media after organizational session, Tuesday at the Capitol in Tallahassee. COLIN HACKLEY PHOTO

Florida League of Women Voters blast record budget that ‘ignores Constitution’

Richard Corcoran to Rick Scott: “Go forth boldly and veto”

Lawmakers aimed to build a veto-proof health care budget

Hearing on LIP lawsuit scratched; Rick Scott, Sylvia Burwell court appearance off

Rick Scott vetoes a trio of bills including one by Tom Lee

Tick Tock: Budget is on the desks

Florida TaxWatch laments Legislature cut only $400 million in taxes

In last-minute budget talks, lawmakers add some $300+ million in new spending in dark of night

Senate says no to Small Biz Saturday tax break

As Rick Scott travels to Paris, lawmakers inch closer to final budget