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The state has a new, 30 year gaming compact with the Seminole tribe.

Under the deal, the tribe will pay the state $2.5 billion over the next five years.

The deal will likely be challenged the moment it is ratified.

The occasion was called historic.

The 30 year deal comes after five years of failed negotiations.

“The money that we generate from our casino’s is life changing from an education and health standpoint,” said Seminole Tribal Chief Marcellus W. Osceola Jr.

Under the deal the tribe will add Craps, Roulette, and remote sports betting.

The tribe can contract with parimutuel tracks for sports betting, taking 40 percent of any profits.

The tribe can also contract with the major players in the industry.

The deal is worth billions to the state.

“To have an agreement like this, which is going to provide the state with a minimum of $500 million a year, that’s something I think is really important,” said Governor Ron DeSantis.

Questions remain over whether this deal violates a 2018 voter approved constitutional amendment that requires voter approval before any gambling expansion.

Organizer John Sowinski argues it does.

“The federal law deals with the state and the Tribe entering into compacts for those forms of gambling that are already legal within the state. Sports betting is not already legal. It is subject to voter approval if its going to be on the reservation or anywhere else,” said Sowinski.

But the Governor and Chief believe the deal with withstand legal scrutiny.

“I think we’ve created a model that these wagers are being processed on Tribal land. I think it will pass muster,” said DeSantis.

Before any lawsuit, the deal must be ratified by state lawmakers.

A May 17th date has already been set for a Special legislative session.

As the Tribe’s revenue grows the state’s share will increase.

It is expected to produce over $6 billion for the state by the end of the decade.

Florida may soon have its first $100 billion budget, a nearly $8 billion increase over the current year.

An open economy and billions from the Federal Government have made the increase possible, but there is almost a problem of having too much cash.

Florida’s Capitol is awash in money.

More than $20 billion coming from the Federal Government.

The cash has eliminated the need for the major across the board cuts once contemplated.

“We still have a tremendous amount of issues we need to pay for, but at the end of the day, the federal money is very helpful,” said House Appropriations Chair Jay Trumbull.

But it is almost a problem of having more money than can be spent.

The House Education budget has $2.8 billion in federal money to help remediate students who fell behind during the pandemic.

“Schools districts have no idea how they are going to spend the $2.8 billion that we got in December. That speaks to the insanity of what Democrats did in Washington,” said House Education Appropriations Chair Randy Fine.

On top of $2.8 billion that arrived in December, Florida is getting another $7 billion to help schools reopen.

But as Fine points out, Florida schools have been open since fall.

“And by the way, the fact that our schools are open proves that all of these blue states abused their children by not being open that whole time,” said Fine.

Senator Doug Broxson is in charge of education funding in the Senate.

“A boatload of money dumped on us,” said Broxson. “And spending money recklessly is not what we should be looking at.”

The House wants to use $3.5 billion of the Federal money to refurbish state buildings, universities and local schools, but the spending plan is still in flux.

Among the things still to be worked out are $1,000 teacher and principle bonuses the Governor wants.

Lawmakers must agree on the spending plan by the end of Tuesday if they want to go home on time by the end of next week.

Legislation making it easier for parents to understand their legal rights when it comes to their children is headed to the Governor’s desk.

While there was no debate on the floor, the vote came down largely along party lines.

Senate sponsor Ray Rodrigues told us ultimately, the bill doesn’t really change anything.

“Currently parental rights are spread throughout the Florida statute, which is literally tens of thousands of pages. If you’re not an expert and know how to navigate that it can be difficult to find exactly all of the rights that are enumerated to parents. We fixed that now. We have one section where they’re easily found,” said Rodrigues.

Those rights span from the realm of education to healthcare.

“We’ve taken case law in the area of healthcare, which has long held that parents need to consent to healthcare for their children, and we’ve put it in statute. So we’ve codified that so it’s clear,” said Rodrigues.

But there is opposition to the legislation.

LGBTQ advocates fear the bill will require school guidance counselors to ‘out’ children to their parents.

“And young people who are struggling with their self identity will know there is no safe adult in their schools,” said Reverend Russell Meyer with the Florida Council of Churches.

But Rodrigues said that’s not the case, arguing the rights over a child’s healthcare don’t carry over to guidance councilors.

“A school guidance counselor is not a healthcare practitioner. Any child at any school can go see their school guidance counselor without specific prior authorization,” said Rodrigues.

And if you’re a parent and don’t want to hit the statue books, part of the bill will require schools to inform you about your rights.

If the Governor signs the bill it will take effect on July 1st.

The Senate watered down its election reform bill Thursday.

An amendment added on would now allow election supervisors the option of video streaming their ballot duplication process to candidates, instead of requiring them to allow rooms full of observers.

Another change removed a requirement that would have only allowed supervisors to validate mail in ballots with a wet signature on file, not an electronic one.

Whether the changes will make it into the final product is yet to be seen.

“What ideas will prevail, what things we’ll run into on the way there, I don’t know and it’s part of the exciting mystery of a great democratic republic,” said Senate sponsor Dennis Baxley.

The House has not yet taken up its version of the election reform bill.

The two chambers have only eight days remaining to get their two proposals aligned.

The Florida House gave tentative approval for nursing homes to substitute a new class of employees known a Personal Care Attendants for some of the duties of Certified Nursing Assistants Wednesday.

AARP and others argue the homes want to get by on the cheap to fill required hours of care, but the homes have said without PCA’s, meeting requirements for care will be almost impossible.

Before COVID, nursing homes were already facing staffing shortages.

“We have a workforce crisis. We need to bring more people into our buildings,” said Kristen Knapp with the Florida Health Care Association.

To help fill the vacancies, the state approved the use of personal care attendants by emergency order.

Representative Sam Garrison is sponsoring legislation to make the PCA’s permanent.

“Hopefully, we want to see more CNA positions that are vacant now, filled. We want to see more and more people in these positions,” said Garrison.

Right now, there are about 7,000 vacancies statewide.

Certified Nursing Assistants are required by law to provide an average of two and a half hours care a day to each resident.

They must have 40 hours of overall training.

“That’s what we ask for. Why not require 40 hours for personal care attendants? Our issue, though is the risk that we are putting on residents,” said Zayne Smith with the AARP of Florida.

While AARP supports the concept, it is worried about PCA’s having only two days of classroom instruction before going to work.

“You know, they got the liability protection. Now they are wanting to use lesser paid, lesser qualified staff in the facilities. Let’s not forget if they have a negligent act, they’re not going to be able to be sued,” said Smith.

Nursing homes disagree.

“Look, these are individuals, who I don’t think less qualified is a fair statement. These individuals go through a training. They have to demonstrate they are competent,” said Knapp.

The industry describes Personal Care Attendants as paid interns that will free certified nursing assistants to provide more hands on resident services.

In the end, the nursing homes argue without the attendants, care for aging baby boomers be hard to find and more costly.

The Florida House has approved legislation that would revamp and improve the state’s unemployment system, but the two chambers are still far apart on increasing benefits for the unemployed.

The issue will be hotly debated in the days ahead.

The House’s unemployment reform bill focuses only on improving the efficiency and capacity of the failed state’s unemployment system.

“So right, wrong or indifferent, the amount and the duration of benefits is not what this very good infrastructure bill is about. This bill fixes a broken system,” said House sponsor Representative Chip LaMarca.

Democrats had hoped it would go further.

“Our benefits are too low. You can’t get them for long enough,” said Representative Omari Hardy.

Florida’s unemployment benefits rank among the lowest in the nation, with only three state’s offering a smaller maximum weekly payment.

Across the Capitol, the Senate is pushing a proposal to increase max weekly benefits from $275 to $375.

They also want to add two additional weeks of payments for recipients.

“Well the last time we addressed this issue was probably 20 years ago and since then we’ve seen the cost of homes and the cost of living and the cost of really everything rise,” said Representative Jason Brodeur.

Negotiations between the two chambers are still ongoing, but the House sponsor told us his legislation and increasing benefits are two separate issues.

“I think there’s a fair amount of folks I can speak for, a fair amount of Republicans that have talked about it and if it comes over here I’m sure we’ll have that conversation. This just was not the vehicle for it,” said LaMarca.

The Senate sponsor is hopeful a deal can be worked out, even if it doesn’t go as far as he would like.

“That’s either the amount of money you get or the length of time that you get it and there’s some real discussion going on about what those calculations look like, how you do them and what is fair,” said Brodeur.

Even if the chambers come to an agreement on benefits, the Governor has said he doesn’t support the idea and would rather focus on getting Floridians back to work.

Retiring FSU President John Thrasher is being honored today by the Florida Legislature where he served in both chambers before becoming FSU’s 15 President.

Lawmakers took notice that under his leadership, FSU has made significant gains in state and national rankings, rising from number 43 to number 19 in the US News and World Report Best Colleges Guide for 2021.

The university also has the best four-year graduation rate in the state and has made great strides in closing the gap between the general public and underserved students.

FSU retained 95 percent of its freshmen in 2019, well above the national average.

“Graduate school enrollment, a hallmark of any great research university, is also at an all-time high. Enrollment in graduate programs increased by 23 percent in the fall 2020 semester. A rate far surpassing the university’s goal of three percent annual growth. President Thrasher helped advance the school’s academic and research mission and welcomed the best and brightest students in the school’s history,” said Representative and FSU alumni Demi Buscatta Cabrera.

The search for Thrasher’s replacement comes as lawmakers are considering taking records of applicants out of the public eye until finalists are selected.

State House members spent more than an hour Tuesday asking questions about alimony reform before giving the legislation tentative approval, but it was all for naught.

During divorces, kids are often become weapons with parents bargaining for more or less time in exchange for a more or less alimony.

The alimony reform legislation would have set a presumption that parents will share kids equally.

“There is a parent who is an active addict. This would presume that fifty-fifty is in the best interests of the child?” Said Representative Emily Slosberg.

“So, Absolutely not,” said House sponsor Representative Alex Rodrigues in response.

The time sharing gave rise to dozens of questions on the House Floor.

“And like in any other court case, you prove that and the judge will determine is that parent is able to care for their child or not,” said Rodrigues.

Current law outlines 17 factors judges must consider in custody awards, everything from whether there has been abuse, neglect or drug use.

“The judge will still have to abide by those seventeen to twenty factors,” said Rodrigues.

The 50/50 time sharing is not in the Senate version of the bill.

It is also what caused the reform to be vetoed the first time it passed in 2013.

The bill also caps the length of alimony to half the length of a marriage, but a last minute amendment by the sponsor increases the length for marriages lasting longer than 20 years.

“The judge may order alimony for up to seventy-five percent of the marriage rather than the fifty in the underlying bill,” said Rodrigues.

And late Tuesday afternoon, it became clear the bill could not survive the Senate Rules Committee.

Sponsor Joe Gruters pulled it for the rest of this year, saying it will be back next year.

Unclear is whether the House will spend hours debating and passing alimony reform Wednesday on the hope the legislation can be revived in the Senate.

The controversial election reform bill that makes a number of changes to mail ballots in Florida cleared its final committee in the Senate Tuesday, but the sponsor has promised changes on the floor to water down some of the more contentious aspects of the bill.

The election reform bill has been highly debated and criticized by Democrats who argue it’s akin to voter suppression.

“The right to vote should be encouraged, never imperiled,” said Senate Minority Leader Gary Farmer.

But in its final committee stop, Senate sponsor Dennis Baxley indicated changes were coming.

“The purpose, at least for me, has been to clarify our intent for secure, fair and even handed elections,” said Baxley.

Baxley told us one of the provisions on the chopping block is the requirement election supervisors to use a ‘wet’ signature on file, not an electronic one, to verify vote by mail ballots.

“It was very convoluted and misunderstood about how to do that, so we’re just pulling that away,” said Baxley.

Another expected change will allow volunteers to give water to voters in line at the polls.

“We’re interested in the concern and wellbeing of the participants,” said Baxley.

Farmer said that change will prevent Florida from receiving some of the criticism lobbed at the Georgia election law.

“You know, it’s frankly a life, health, safety issue that really needed to be fixed,” said Farmer.

Democrats still have concerns with the legislation including the requirement ballot drop boxes be staffed and requiring mail ballot requests to be renewed each election cycle.

“I don’t envision amendments happening to SB-90 that would get the Democrats to the point where our caucus would support it,” said Farmer.

So far every election supervisor has opposed the legislation.

The hope is the promised changes will be enough to earn their support.

Baxley told us there are still some aspects of the legislation are still being negotiated with the House.

Lawmakers have less than two weeks to come to a final agreement before the end of session.

Legislation that would have banned transgender women from competing on women’s only sports teams was temporarily postponed in its final committee stop Tuesday morning, possibly sealing its fate for this year.

Bill Sponsor and Senate Appropriations Chair Kelli Stargel issued a statement saying her primary focus right now is passing a balanced budget, adding she doesn’t know that the Senate will have time to revisit the trans-athlete bill.

Senate Minority Leader Gary Farmer said it’s his understanding the decision is not about time running out, rather Republicans hearing the concerns of the trans-community.

“To play sports is just something that they’ve done probably for most of their lives and they just wanted to continue to do so. And so I think it was very, very unfair the way we were going to handle it and potentially take that away from them. And so I think people have heard that and we very much hope that that bill is dead for session,” said Farmer.

Despite the words of the bill sponsor and optimism from Democrats, Senate Rules Chair Kathleen Passidomo said the bill would be brought up in a future meeting.

Until lawmakers Sine Die nothing is officially dead.

Legislation expanding the use of telemedicine for Florida licensed veterinarians is ready for a vote by the full House after a bipartisan committee vote Monday morning.

The vote came after more limits were placed on what vets could treat remotely.

Veterinarian Julie Moodoyan has been a vocal critic of legislation allowing vets to treat animals remotely.

“Some of those animals will get misdiagnosed or their care will be delayed and that will lead to outcomes that are not good for those pets,” said Dr. Moodoyan.

Vets like Julie have been complaining loudly.

“And you know these big corporations are going to come in looking only to make a profit. And it is in their best interest for the pet to stay unhealthy so they can continue to make money off prescriptions,” said Moodoyan.

Lawmakers listened.

The legislation was watered down to limit what vets can treat, and what drugs they can order remotely without first seeing the patient.

“Remaining in the bill is a provision that allows vets to practice from anywhere, as long as they are Florida licensed,” said House sponsor Rep. James Buchanan.

Under the legislation, animal control staff will be allowed to administer rabies vaccines without a vet present.

That will save shelters and owners money.

Rep. Buchanan counters fears of misdiagnosis, saying it’s up to the vet to do what’s best for the animal.

“It’ll be their obligation to indicate, hey, you need to come in and have a conversation we me and let me take a physical look at the animal,” said Buchanan.

Moodoyan told us the legislation could also impact vets’ wallets.

“I don’t doubt that this would impact the business financially to some degree,” said Moodoyan.

But she said her first priority is helping animals who can’t help themselves.

Vets in Florida are not allowed to prescribe medications if they have not seen the patient in the last 12 months.

The legislation waives the requirement for future telemedicine visits.

Florida Democrats are responded to the signing of HB 1, the controversial anti-rioting legislation, Monday.

They are decrying the new anti-rioting law, calling it an unconstitutional violation of the first amendment.

“You have just declared war on the First Amendment in the State of Florida,” said State Senator Shevrin Jones.

They also argue the bill will have racial implications, suggesting it will be used to silence the voices of those protesting for racial justice and policing reform.

“The day that the jury is going to deliberate about Derek Chauvin and his guilt, it is not lost on me that today is the day that they decided to sign this bill into law,” said Representative Michele Rayner.

They’re encouraging Floridians to push back.

“The good people across this great state will resist. We will hit the streets, following Congressman John Lewis’ advice to never ever be afraid to make some noise and get in good trouble,” said Representative Anna Eskamani.

While some Democrats are only calling on corporations to voice opposition to the law, the Black Caucus is calling for corporations to boycott the state.

“The same people who are being disenfranchised are the same individuals who shop at these places, who patronize these businesses. And so the only way Florida is going to start feeling some of this is to start doing what happened in the Carolinas and what happened in Georgia, where you start hitting them where their pockets are,” said Jones.

Republicans have said the bill only targets violent rioters, not peaceful protesters.

In a press release on the signing of HB1 Governor Ron DeSantis said “In Florida, we are taking an unapologetic stand for the rule of law and public safety. We are holding those who incite violence in our communities accountable, supporting our law enforcement officers who risk their lives every day to keep us safe and protecting Floridians from the chaos of mob violence.”

The courts will likely have the final say on whether the law goes too far.

The Governor’s Office and the Department of Health are pushing back against claims of disproportionate outcomes for Africa Americans in Florida.

A prominent Black Pastor is calling Florida’s vaccine rollout for Blacks a model for the nation.

307 small crosses were on display at Bethel Missionary Baptist Church Friday, marking the first anniversary of the first COVID death in the State Capitol.

“Death is death,” said Reverend RB Holmes.

Reverend Holmes has been leading a statewide effort of Black pastors to vaccinate African Americans.

We asked if there is an impression that Florida is doing worse at protecting African Americans from the virus.

“Well, the data does not say that,” said Holmes.

State data shows the mortality rate for Blacks in Florida is 149.5 per 100,000.

The death rate for blacks nationally is 215 per 100,000.

“We’re doing thirty percent better actually. So mortality rates are thirty percent lower amongst Black Floridians when you compare us to the national Black mortality rate,” said Florida Deputy Secretary for Health Shamarial Roberson.

More than 115,000 African Americans have been vaccinated at black churches in Florida.

Reverend Holmes says Florida can be a national leader.

“The Governor decided to open up and work with churches to do pop up clinics in African American communities. I think that has moved the needle,” said Holmes.

And the state told us the pausing of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine will have no impact on vaccinating Black Floridians.

In total more than 520,000 Black Floridians have received at least one vaccine dose, but a reluctance is slowing the vaccination rate for Black Floridians.

Rev Holmes said he hopes to have shots in 70 percent of black arms by the end of 2021 or early 22.

Deaths per one death per hundred thousand for white Floridians is 150.5 per hundred thousand, slightly higher than the rate for Black Floridians.

A plan to nix the massive toll road expansion known as M-CORES is finally moving in the Florida House.

The legislation, cleared by its one and only House committee stop Friday, is expected to save the state millions while still alleviating traffic along US 19.

The Governor on the other hand seems uninterested in the Senate’s proposed revamped roads project, which would undo much of the M-CORES plan passed two years ago.

“Obviously I put my John Hancock initially, so I obviously supported it,” said Governor Ron DeSantis in a March press conference.

But nevertheless it’s passed the Senate and is moving forward in the House.

“Seeing some of the revenue that the department has not gotten over the last year because of people not paying gas taxes, we want to make sure that we have the dollars to spend on the existing infrastructure we have in place,” said House sponsor Jayer Williamson.

It cancels two major M-CORES highway projects and remaps a third, extending the Suncoast Parkway up through Madison County to alleviate traffic on US-19.

“We consider this a partial repeal of M-CORES,” said Lindsay Cross with the Florida Conservation Voters.

Cross does say the new plan is more environmentally friendly than the current M-CORES project.

“It takes the south west central corridor completely off the table. And that’s the corridor that would have gone from the Naples area up to Lakeland and would go through prime Florida Panther habitat and some of the Everglades,” said Cross. “So we’re happy to see that that area will be safe at least in the short term.”

One of the benefits of the new plan is that is focuses on widening and improving existing roadways, instead of building new roads through environmentally sensitive areas.

But it also calls for an extension of the turnpike, left up to DOT’s discretion.

With the route to be determined, environmental concerns persist.

“That’s what’s difficult, is that we don’t really know what we’re getting in this bill,” said Cross.

The legislation now heads to the House Floor.

If passed, there’s still no guarantee the Governor will sign off.

But if he does, the path for the turnpike extension would have to be finalized by 2022.

The legislation also calls for the improvements to US-19 and the extension of the Sun Coast Parkway to be developed by 2035.

After nearly three hours of debate the Florida Senate voted to send the controversial anti-rioting bill to the Governor’s desk.

Debate rarely touched on the substance of HB 1, the controversial anti-rioting bill.

Instead, Senators shared their personal stories of protest and facing racism.

“I was born to protest and my heroes have been to jail,” said Senator Darryl Rouson.

The refrain from opponents: the legislation isn’t needed.

“There are laws already that would stop you, that would incarcerate you,” said Senator Victor Torres.

Supporters made the opposite case, arguing destruction seen in Florida and other parts of the country last year show a potential vulnerability.

“The deaths that occurred during the protests, the fires that happened, the looting that happens,” said Senator Kelli Stargel.

In closing, sponsor Danny Burgess said he understood opponents’ concerns, but believed the legislation wouldn’t result in unintended consequences for peaceful protestors.

“The only reference to peaceful protests in this bill protects it. What this bill does not protect is violence,” said Burgess.

The final vote was 23-17 with one Republican breaking ranks.

Following the vote Democrats held a press conference.

Their message to protestors: ‘Don’t let this legislation silence you’.

“It’s time for the people to rise up even more,” said Senate Minority Leader Gary Farmer.

Senate President Wilton Simpson fully expects legal challenges.

“But I don’t see any reason from a common sense perspective that it wouldn’t hold up,” said Simpson.

As soon as the bill is signed into law, the changes will take effect.

Along with enhanced penalties for crimes committed during a riot, the bill allows state attorneys to appeal reductions in local police budgets, creates an affirmative defense from civil lawsuits for people who injure rioters in self defense and waives sovereign immunity for local governments, allowing businesses to sue for damages if their government doesn’t take action to stop a riot.