The Senate and House took questions and amendments Wednesday on their respective state budgets.
The House is proposing $97 billion and the Senate 95, but going forward those proposals are likely to inflate.
The Senate is currently not factoring in $10 billion in federal stimulus and neither chambers’ budgets reflect a $2 billion increase in projected state revenues announced Tuesday.
Senate Budget Chair Kelli Stargel also pointed out increases in expected medicaid costs and student enrollment projects further complicate the financial situation.
“Clearly we continue to see significant fluctuations in revenue and workload estimates and we do not yet have a full view of the long term adjustments to our economy,” said Stargel.
The two chambers have until midnight on April 27th to agree on and publish a final budget, if they hope to end session on time April 30th.
On Wednesday, Florida lawmakers will vote to spend $3 million to begin diverting nearly a half billion gallons of wastewater into deep wells before it can leak into Tampa Bay.
Manatee County will be expected to match the money, but environmentalists question the safety of the plan to dispose of the water.
With 300 homes evacuated and nearly a half billion gallons of nutrient rich waste water threatening to leak into Tampa Bay, Florida lawmakers will vote on Wednesday to spend an emergency $3 million to begin cleaning up the mess.
“The initial ask was six million from us and six million from the county. So this is a start on that six million,” said State Senator Jim Boyd, who represents Manatee County. “At this point I believe, the commission and DEP supports it, is a deep water injection. So this will be part of the funding for that.”
But Dave Cullen of the Sierra Club argues with the wells, comes risk.
“If it moves and migrates to the drinking water aquifer, how are you going to clean it up?” said Cullen.
He also said the disaster should come as no surprise to policy makers.
“We’ve looked for regulation of phosphate mining and it has fallen largely on deaf ears,” said Cullen.
Senate President Wilton Simpson wants to use roughly $200 million from federal stimulus funds to clean up Piney Point once and for all.
“And it could be $180 million, or it could be $250 million. I think starting somewhere in that ballpark will get us to a closure point. So I would hope,” said Simpson.
Over the next five years or so that we could close this operation out, maybe less.
Late Wednesday afternoon, the House Pandemics and Public Emergencies Committee will begin an investigation into what happened, why it happened and what to do next.
The Sierra Club is calling the emergency a statewide problem in the making.
There are 25 other similar sites across the state.
The majority are located in Hillsborough and three surrounding counties, although several are located in North Florida near Lake City.
Permanent alimony would end under legislation headed to the House floor, but it’s a provision in the bill dealing with time-sharing of children seems to be causing the most controversy.
Under the legislation, alimony payments could only last for half the length of a marriage, unless the recipient is medically needy or caring for a disabled child.
Both men and women making endless payments to their exes testified in support.
“I can barely pay this monthly alimony and I don’t see any end in sight,” said permanent alimony payer Sonia Delgado.
Tim Kruger said he can’t marry his girlfriend, because her income would be factored into his alimony and increase his payments.
“My pastor says I’m going to Hell and my attorney says don’t marry her,” said Kruger, who is also paying permanent alimony.
Opponents, mostly attorneys with the Florida Bar Family Law Section, argued the change will hurt the most vulnerable.
“That’s low income families that can’t afford attorneys,” said family law attorney Beth Luna.
But it’s another provision in the bill causing the most controversy.
During a divorce proceeding courts would start with a presumption both parents should be entitled to an equal time-share of their children.
“That’s sort of a one size fits all approach,” said Representative Ben Diamond, a Democrat.
Even some Republican lawmakers expressed hesitations.
“My parents didn’t get along and so the 50/50 child sharing would not have worked for them,” said Republican Representative Elizabeth Fetterhoff.
Similar legislation has been passed twice, but was vetoed both times by then-Governor Rick Scott.
Even though the legislation wouldn’t help those currently stuck in alimony-limbo, Delgado believes the status quo isn’t working.
“And that makes marriage in Florida seem like a liability more than a happiness,” said Delgado.
The bill now moves to the House floor and has one more committee stop in the Senate.
If passed, the changes would apply to all divorces in which a final order has not been issued prior to July 1st 2021.
Republican lawmakers are anticipating a fight over the second amendment with the federal government and are pushing a memorial that would make the Legislature’s commitment to fight any effort to restrict gun rights clear.
Sponsor Representative Jason Shoaff said he hopes the memorial, if passed, will make Congress and Biden Administration think twice before taking any executive action or passing any law that violates the right to bear arms.
“This is not a bill. It is not enacting any law, but it is sending a very clear message to our representatives in Washington DC where that state of Florida stands,” said Shoaff.
The memorial was passed by its final House committee today and now moves to the floor.
Companion legislation in the Senate has one more committee stop.
A multi-agency task for began investigating a North Florida drug ring last June.
12,000 working hours later, the Department of Law enforcement along with local offices, announced the arrest of 27 people, most from rural Gadsden County Tuesday.
FDLE Commissioner Rick Sweringen said violence followed the group’s activities.
“Between them they have 73 prior drug arrests. Some of them have been previously indicted in Federal drug cases. They have 67 violent crime arrests and between them, they have 175 previous felonies,” said Swearingen.
“This was a unique one. We talked about it. From heroin, to cocaine, crack, meth, to fentanyl. Enough fentanyl to kill almost 30,000 people,” said Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody.
FDLE says at least one murder is linked to the group, but police believe there are at least two others related to the ring’s activity.
Democratic State lawmakers say now is the time for Florida to legalize recreational marijuana in the state.
They’re highlighting a 354-page bill that would legalize recreational marijuana for adults 21 and older.
People could posses up to 2.5 ounces at a time and grow up to six plants for personal use under the bill.
House Sponsor Anika Omphroy said with more and more states moving to legalize, Florida should jump into the market sooner rather than later.
“And I look forward to our chambers actually waking up and realizing it’s far time, way past due. When New York can pass legislation Florida, an agricultural state, should be moving forward with passing legislation also,” said Omphroy.
The legislation hasn’t been put on any committee agendas so far.
Even if the Legislature doesn’t act this year, pending Supreme Court approval, a constitutional amendment legalizing recreational marijuana may end up on the 2022 ballot.
The Florida Senate is using some creative procedural maneuvering to resurrect the controversial ‘anti-rioting’ bill and the move is drawing criticism from Republicans and Democrats alike.
The stage for the move was set a week before the announcement was made.
In late March the Senate Rules committee made an uncommon maneuver, taking up a House version of a non-controversial bill that had been stuck in a lower Senate committee.
A Republican and Democratic lawmaker expressed concerns at the time.
“I want to ensure that we don’t establish a precedent with this bill,” said State Senator Jeff Brandes.
“I really hope we don’t do this with the anti-protest bill,” said State Senator Gary Farmer.
A week later, a similar move was in fact announced for the controversial anti-rioting legislation.
The bill will now only be heard by a single Senate committee before reaching the floor.
Senate President Wilton Simpson defended his decision to reporters.
“About half the Senate is in the budget committee, so I just think that’s the appropriate place to send it to so that it can be fairly vetted before it comes to the floor,” said Simpson.
But Patricia Brigham, President of The League of Women Voters of Florida believes side stepping the process on a bill that could have First Amendment implications is dangerous.
“I absolutely does deserve full vetting and when it eventually goes to court, which I’m sure it will if it’s passed, I think that’s one of the things that should be pointed out. This bill was not fully vetted by our legislative process,” said Brigham.
Democratic Representative Evan Jenne is holding out hope the Senate won’t act as a rubber stamp.
“That the Senate does the right thing and that this bill is put down for the whole of session,” said Jenne.
The legislation is expected to come up for its one and only Senate committee hearing Friday.
If Senators ultimately pass the bill off the chamber floor without amendments it will head straight to the Governor’s desk.
We reached out to the Senate sponsor of the Combating Public Disorder Act for comment on this story, but did not hear back.
As of midnight Monday morning, the state reported more than 6.2 million Floridians had been vaccinated.
It came shortly after CBS News’ 60 Minutes aired a story Sunday night claiming Florida’s vaccine distribution was controlled by money and wealth, but those at the center of the network say there was no favoritism.
The 60 Minutes story began with a powerful statement about the state’s vaccine distribution system.
“We watched Florida’s vaccine rollout deteriorate into a virtual free for all,” said 60 Minutes reporter Sharyn Alfonsi.
“I don’t know that I could say that,” said Tanya Tatum, Student Services Director at FAMU.
Tatum directs the vaccination site on campus, where 3,000 have already been vaccinated.
She doesn’t see the problem.
“No free for alls here. We seem to be doing pretty well,” said Tatum.
Late last year, Publix made four $25,000 donations to the Friends of Ron DeSantis political action committee.
CBS Asked the Governor if it was pay to play.
“I met with the county mayor. I met with the administrator. I met with all the folks in Palm Beach County. And I said here are some of the options. We can do more drive through sites. We can give more to hospitals. We can do the Publix. And they said we think that would be the easiest thing for our residents,” said DeSantis.
Emergency Management Director Jared Moskowitz, a Democrat leaving the state soon, responded with a tweet taking responsibility for the decision to contract with Publix.
Rep. Omari Hardy was featured prominently in the story.
He told us, many of the Governor’s decisions don’t consider how they will affect people of color.
“Then it does no good for the Governor to defend that decision by saying well most people were okay with it,” said Hardy.
In a statement, Publix called the pay to play allegations irresponsible, false and offensive.
David Kerner, the Mayor Democratic of West Palm Beach also has issued a statement saying, “The reporting was not just based on bad information – it was intentionally false. I know this because I offered to provide my insight into Palm Beach County’s vaccination efforts and 60 Minutes declined.”
School board members in Florida make an average of $34,500 a year, but key lawmakers believe the nonpartisan constitutional office is becoming too political.
Their answer is to take the salary out of the equation.
A joint resolution moving through the House would give voters the power to prohibit school board members from taking a salary.
“61 percent of district school board members in America today as we sit here serve without compensation,” said House sponsor Representative Sam Garrison.
The question would be on the 2022 ballot and if approved, would apply to all newly elected members.
Democrats like Representative Angela Nixon argue it would make school boards less diverse.
“This will lead to an elitist system,” said Nixon.
School Boards are the only constitutional office in the state where women hold the majority of offices.
“If we remove the salaries here, that could change and that could minimize that voice,” said Andrea Messina, Executive Director of the Florida School Boards Association.
The Association argues the level of responsibility and liability imposed on school board members exceeds that of many other constitutional officers.
“All of whom are paid for their time, energy and effort. So school board members ought to be paid as well,” said Messina.
But the sponsor believes the proposal would make the position more service oriented and less politicized.
“Some of the concerns parents have when it comes to their school boards is that it becomes about the politics and not about the kids,” said Garrison.
House Speaker Chris Sprowls agrees.
“The issue is you know getting people who, again, who are committed to the kids. You know kind of like when you get on a board for your local Boys and Girls Club,” said Sprowls.
Chris Doolin with the Small County Coalition doesn’t buy the argument.
“If the Legislature wanted to be courageous here, they would sponsor an amendment that eliminated their own salaries,” said Doolin.
The measure has cleared two committees in the House, but a similar bill in the Senate has not yet received a hearing.
If it makes it to the ballot and 60 percent of voters were to approve the measure, school board members elected before 2022 would still be allowed to receive a salary until they’ve reached eight years of service.
Florida’s Commissioner of Agriculture Nikki Fried is once again raising concerns over the lack of employment protections for Florida’s half million medical marijuana patients.
In a virtual press conference Friday, the Commissioner was joined by Allison Enright, who was fired from her position as a teacher in a Brevard County school after suffering a fall on the job.
Enright had been prescribed medical marijuana as a way of getting off opioids, which she had previously been prescribed to cope with chronic pain conditions.
“You know I felt like a criminal. I felt like I had done something wrong for just trying to become healthy and for taking action to make myself healthier,” said Enright.
Bills in both the House and Senate have been filed this session that would create employment protections for medical marijuana patients, although neither have been heard so far.
Local governments will be severely limited when issuing emergency orders in the future under legislation moving quickly at the State Capitol.
Local emergency orders that limit church services, close businesses, work, travel or firearms purchases would all be limited to seven days under the legislation.
“Before this bill will pass, an executive order locally could be ordered from a city manager. Someone who isn’t even elected. At least now, it’s going to have to be ordered from someone who’s elected by the people. Gonna have to be short duration, and its going to have to apply equally to every single person,” said House sponsor Representative Bob Rommel.
The legislation does allow local orders to be renewed six times, for a total of 42 days.
Cities call the renewal unworkable in an emergency.
“What if your entire infrastructure is down? It doesn’t make sense. This is an unnecessary restriction,” said Scott Dudley with the Florida League of Cities.
But, the limitations are supported by the Governor.
“There need to be checks on local governments. They should not be able to close things down,” said Governor Ron DeSantis.
And it has the support of legislative leaders.
“There should be an opportunity for the Legislature to invalidate and particular order, whether that’s local or state level,” said House Speaker Chris Sprowls.
Rep. Anthony Sabatini fought mask mandates at every level.
“I think this is the best and most important bill filed this year,” said Sabatini.
“I couldn’t disagree with Representative Sabatini more. I think Apopka is not Pensacola, is not Miami Beach, Miami Beach is not Coral Springs. And we need to stop regulating what local governments can and can not do,” said Rep. Dan Dailey.
The senate version calls for orders to be renewed every ten days but right now there is no limit on how many times it can be extended.
Orders also must be the least restrictive they can be under the legislation.
The Florida Department of Health is pushing back after media reports grabbed national headlines once again suggesting the state has undercounted COVID deaths.
The Department of Health argues the study cited in the articles says no such thing.
A study from the University of Utah found Florida had nearly 5,000 more excess deaths between January and September than the state’s official COVID death toll.
“No. Florida is not undercounting deaths,” said Dr. Shamarial Roberson, Deputy Director of Health for the Florida Department of Health. “We capture all reported deaths related to COVID-19. We have a very rigorous process.”
Media reports grabbing national headlines suggested the difference in COVID deaths and excess deaths could be evidence of an undercount, but Roberson said that assumes the pandemic didn’t have other heath impacts.
“If somebody didn’t go to the hospital and they had a heart attack, maybe it was because they were afraid of COVID-19. So excess analyzing and this forecasting tool is just a tool to look at other things that may be happening in the background,” said Roberson.
Even in the original article, a CDC statistician was quoted saying there’s nothing that stands out about Florida’s numbers.
The lead author of the study has also been quoted as saying more research needs to be done to determine how and whether the pandemic played a roll in the excess deaths.
Florida’s top Democrat, Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried shared the original article on social media.
We asked her if the new critiques swayed her opinion.
“I will continue to call light to these issues for continued information gathering and really getting this stuff right because the people of the State of Florida need to know what’s happening in our state,” said Fried.
We reached out to the author of the study directly, but did not hear back in time for this story.
33,494 Florida resident have lost their lives due to COVID-19 according to the Department of Health.
Commissioner of Agriculture Nikki Fried received her first shot of the Moderna vaccine at the FAMU vaccination site Thursday.
Fried said she took the vaccine in a public setting to help reduce vaccine hesitancy.
She’s the first statewide elected official to do so and is encouraging others to follow her lead.
“Because this is how we show leadership and an example. If it’s okay for us, it’s okay for everybody else. The Governor and the rest of the cabinet members who haven’t received their vaccine, I don’t know if they have or not, I certainly would encourage them to do it publicly to show trust in the science and trust in what we need to do to get past this pandemic,” said Fried.
Governor Ron DeSantis said Wednesday he would be receiving his first dose of the vaccine soon, but was noncommittal when asked if the media would be invited.
The US Supreme Court has ruled against Florida in a decade-long lawsuit against Georgia over the water that flows through Atlanta and eventually makes up the Apalachicola River.
The state had contended that Georgia was using more than its fair share of water, which reduced fresh flow into the Gulf, harming oysters and estuaries where game fish breed.
Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried called the ruling disappointing.
“We have significant damage that is happening to our oysters and to our Gulf. And not allowing Georgia to take responsibility is a big disappointment for our state and we need to do everything we can to protect our waters,” said Fried.
More than 200 oystermen used to farm Apalachicola Bay, but since the water flow was reduced, the number has fallen to fewer than 20.
The bay is now closed through the end of 2025 to help it rejuvenate.
Florida Senate President Wilton Simpson said he would use his discretion to send the controversial HB1 anti-riot legislation, already approved by the House, to the full Appropriations Committee rather than Criminal Justice, where the Senate version of the bill has been bottled up.
Simpson said the referral will give both sides a chance to make their arguments.
“And about half of the Senate is on the Budget Committee, so I just think that is the appropriate place to send it to so it can be fully vetted before it comes to the floor,” said Simpson.
But without the referral, the anti-riot legislation would likely have died in the Senate Criminal Justice committee, where there are not enough votes to pass it.
Nor are two thirds of the Senate supporting the anti-riot bill, so there aren’t enough votes to waive Senate rules.
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