New political maps for the Florida House and Senate were approved by the state Supreme Court.

Florida school districts that defied the state’s ban on mask mandates could lose out on a total of $200 million in state funding as a consequence of their action.

Virtually every area of state government is facing a hiring crisis due to low salaries.

Gov. Ron DeSantis voiced support Wednesday morning for a Republican-led bill that would ban most abortions in Florida after 15 weeks of pregnancy and signaled that he would sign it if it landed on his desk.

After the Florida Legislative Black Caucus rolled out a slew of policing reform bills in February, many of the measures have not been heard in committees as time winds down on the 60-day legislative session. House and Senate committees are scheduled to stop meeting early next week.

The Florida House has joined the state Senate in supporting a proposal that would require out-of-state retailers to collect sales taxes on purchases shipped to the state.

“It eliminates those that have over-influence and who can influence these ballot initiatives through their dollars,” Payne said. That is not what these ballot initiatives are,” Jenne, D-Dania Beach, said. Ad“The plain fact of it is that they don’t like these ballot initiatives that have passed,” she said. Lawmakers also made sweeping changes last year to the petition-gathering process to make it harder to put initiatives on the ballot. “Here and across the country, state legislators are attempting to dismantle democracy just because they haven’t liked the outcome of recent elections and ballot initiatives.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Legislation seeking to increase transparency in big tech and fight back against social media censorship is moving quickly through the Florida House after it cleared its second committee stop Monday. Republicans believe conservatives are being unfairly targeted by big tech censorship, but Democrats argue the GOP-sponsored legislation is a response to former President Donald Trump’s de-platforming from Twitter and Facebook. Burgess is sponsoring legislation that would require social media companies to inform users why their accounts were blocked or disabled within 30 days of action being taken on the accounts. AdA similar bill in the House goes much further, requiring social media companies to publish standards for censoring users on their sites and apply them in a consistent manner. The bill would impose a $100,000/day fine on social media platforms for de-platforming statewide candidates and a $10,000/day fine for all other Florida candidates.

The department, which oversees the state's unemployment system, is asking lawmakers for $73 million over the next two years to modernize the system that left hundreds of thousands of jobless Floridians without unemployment checks for weeks and sometimes months. The Economic Opportunity Department launched a review of its own, and the results were presented Monday to the legislative select committee on pandemic preparedness and response. The inspector general’s findings are current being reviewed by economic opportunity officials. The new money requested by the Economic Opportunity Department adds to the $39 million COVID-19-related outlays in its current year budget. AdMeanwhile, the state’s Unemployment Benefit Trust Fund has been dramatically depleted.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Coronavirus, budget questions, anti-riot legislation and an attempt to reign in large technology companies will be among issues lawmakers will take up in their 60-day session that begins Tuesday. More than 2,500 bills have been filed ahead of the 2021 session. The budget is the only bill lawmakers are required to pass, and lawmakers won’t get the latest revenue estimates until after session starts. Ron DeSantis proposed a $96.6 billion for the fiscal year that begins July 1, or $4.3 billion more than the current budget. Reductions will be necessary.”A priority for DeSantis, Sprowls and Simpson is passing protections for businesses and health care facilities that would shield them from COVID-19 lawsuits.

"North Florida was great to us (South Florida) when we had Irma come through. I think we tried to do the same thing back to the Panhandle when Michael came through," said Rep. Evan Jenne, D-Dania Beach. "It's just something I think we as a state need to look at for the long-term protection of our citizens." Because of an increase in powerful hurricanes affecting the state, the annual Long-Range Financial Outlook, put together by Baker's office, suggests establishing a new fund to collect reimbursements from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The forecast cautions that the state's economic stability remains vulnerable to the potential impacts of natural disasters, especially major hurricanes, and outside forces such as escalating trade tensions and global economic downturns.