By JIM TURNER
News Service of Florida
TALLAHASSEE – Gov. Ron DeSantis continues to express increased support for the property tax cut measure the Legislature put before voters on the November ballot.
But he still isn’t going to be at the forefront pushing the proposal to voters and believes his approach lawmakers modified was better.
By GRAY ROHRER
News Service of Florida
TALLAHASSEE – Two former local elected officials and a nonprofit group filed suit Thursday in Leon County Circuit Court against the property tax cut amendment placed on the November ballot by lawmakers, alleging it is misleading.
The group is called Save Our Voters From Misleading Ballot Language and the two officials are Thomas Campenni, former Mayor of Stuart, and Michael Davey, former Mayor of Key Biscayne.
By JIM TURNER
News Service of Florida
TALLAHASSEE – Florida heads into the hurricane season with a budget now in place, even if for a second consecutive year it took longer than expected, with a third special session on the horizon.
Lawmakers overwhelmingly approved a $114.5 billion spending plan Friday, wrapping up a special session to complete the budget 77 days after they failed to do so during the regular session.
By JIM TURNER
News Service of Florida
TALLAHASSEE– Gov. Ron DeSantis still isn’t fully on board with cutting the state gas tax to counter mounting fuel prices.
But as legislative budget leaders head into the Memorial Day weekend having spent the past week of the special session quietly behind closed doors, DeSantis said Friday he’d sign a tax package that includes a reduction in the state’s 22-cent-a-gallon gas tax.
“If they put it in the tax package, I’ll happily sign it,” DeSantis said during a bill signing event in Jacksonville.
From News Service of Florida
Ocean Conservancy, an environmental advocacy group based in Washington, D.C., is backing a legal challenge to the recent federal approval of exempted fishing permits for Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina.
The lawsuit was filed May 5 by the Southeastern Fisheries Association, shortly after the National Marine Fisheries Service issued exempted fishing permits allowing the four states to set their own red snapper regulations for state and federal waters.
Earthjustice, a Tallahassee-based environmental law nonprofit representing Ocean Conservancy, announced it was filing an amicus brief in the case on Monday.
The filing states the fishing permits undermine U.S. fisheries law and impose “grave harm not just to the South Atlantic red snapper population and those who depend on it, but to the rational, lawful operations of federal fisheries management itself.”
Ocean Conservancy contends the changes will result in the annual catch limit being exceeded by 20 times. A release from Earthjustice states the annual catch limit for the recreational sector is 22,797 fish. Meanwhile, a recent two-day red snapper fishing season in Florida resulted in 24,885 landed fish.
On May 11, Gov. Ron DeSantis announced a 39-day red snapper fishing season in the Atlantic coast this year, an expansion from the two days allowed last year.
DeSantis has long pushed for the federal government to allow longer red snapper seasons in the Atlantic to match the expanded season on Florida’s west coast, where the state manages the red snapper population.
“Every single person I talk to that fishes out there will say (the fish are) everywhere,” DeSantis said during an appearance in Fernandina Beach to announce the Atlantic season. “I don’t believe that the data is accurate. Sure enough, the experience (on the Gulf coast) has shown that that’s the case.”
By JIM TURNER
News Service of Florida
TALLAHASSEE – Special session season will soon be a reality in Florida.
Long awaited, the Senate on Friday published its bills for the non-congressional redistricting side of the session Gov. Ron DeSantis called, which begins on Tuesday. Meanwhile, the House and Senate went public a day earlier with plans to discuss the budget over three weeks in May.
By JIM TURNER
News Service of Florida
TALLAHASSEE — Lawmakers remain in a holding pattern, with no concrete progress made on the budget.
Legislative leaders issued memos to members saying they won’t need to return to the Capitol next week because there’s no agreement on allocations – top line numbers for the spending plan.
By JIM TURNER
News Service of Florida
Gov. Ron DeSantis said the effort to offer voters property tax relief will require time beyond the regular session.
With the regular 60-day session set to end March 13, DeSantis claimed that despite the House approving property tax relief legislation (HJR 203), the Senate agrees with him that the creation of a November ballot item on homestead property taxes will be addressed after that date.
By JIM TURNER
News Service of Florida
Most lawmakers got a somewhat unexpected weekend off as the House and Senate didn’t begin the budget conference phase at the conclusion of the regular session’s seventh of nine scheduled weeks.
With talks growing that extra time will be needed on a property tax cut amendment to put before voters, a top priority of Gov. Ron DeSantis, the chambers did release tax cut packages this week. And while the size of the cuts isn’t as large as in prior years, there are still significant differences between the chambers that could complicate budget talks.
By JIM TURNER
News Service of Florida
TALLAHASSEE – Hours after the Senate announced Thursday it would delay the release of its budget to align its timing with the House, the House unveiled its spending plan.
The $113.58 billion House proposal would be about $1 billion less than the current budget.