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.

But Gov. Ron DeSantis did receive and sign a slate of bills and the January jobs report showed the unemployment rate ticking up again to 4.5 percent – enough to cause concern even among some Republicans

MID-APRIL

When talks between the House and Senate to allocate funding for different parts of the fiscal year 2026-2027 spending plan crashed in early March, requiring extra time for budget talks for the second consecutive year, a general “mid-April” timeline was given for the return.
That led many to anticipate lawmakers to take up the process on April 13, with the work overlapping the five-day special session Gov. Ron DeSantis called for congressional redistricting that begins April 20.
On Wednesday, House Speaker Daniel Perez, R-Miami, and Senate President Ben Albritton, R-Wauchula, sent separate memos telling lawmakers no deal on allocations has been reached and they aren’t ready to begin formal negotiations.
“While I believe we are making great progress, it will not be necessary for you to return to Tallahassee prior to the special session called by Governor DeSantis,” Albritton wrote. “We will share a schedule for that special session as soon as possible.”
Perez called “external speculation” of a special session next week “not accurate.”
The special session for congressional redistricting is still moving forward, although the motivating reason DeSantis gave for calling the session hasn’t come to pass.
DeSantis cited a pending U.S. Supreme Court decision on a Louisiana redistricting case as the primary reason to redraw Florida’s congressional districts.
He believes the ruling, when it comes, will strike down part of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that allows districts to be drawn on racial grounds to address historic discrimination. That would require, DeSantis claims, the state to redraw some districts in South Florida.
Despite the lack of a ruling, though, DeSantis doesn’t think lawmakers need to wait.
“We know how that Supreme Court case is going to come out at this point. I don’t think there’s much of a dispute about that,” DeSantis said while at a bill signing event at the University of South Florida. “And I think Justice Alito is writing the opinion. So, us looking at our map, understanding the issues in that case, and fixing it, I think that’s appropriate whether the decision comes before we do it or after.”

STATE LABELING

DeSantis started the week with a bill signing, this one to designate groups as “domestic terrorist organizations.”
The measure was crafted to back up an executive order he issued in December placing that label on two Islamic groups.
The law, effective July 1, bars courts from enforcing any provision of a religious or foreign law. It was crafted to prevent the use of the Islamic code known as Sharia law.
Another provision allows the state’s Chief of Domestic Security – currently Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Mark Glass – to designate a domestic or foreign terrorist organization. The Governor and the Cabinet would approve the designation.
“The legislation we’ll sign today is the strongest action Florida has ever taken to protect its people from this influence,” DeSantis said during a bill signing event at the University of South Florida’s Gibbons Alumni Center in Tampa. “And obviously, it spans finance, it spans political, it spans culture.”
The bill (HB 1471) was filed in support of DeSantis’ executive order classifying the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, and the Muslim Brotherhood as terrorist organizations.
In March, U.S. District Judge Mark Walker issued a preliminary injunction against the order, writing that it violated CAIR’s rights by targeting and threatening those providing the organization with material support.
Criticizing the legislation DeSantis’ office helped author as advancing “a political agenda,” CAIR-Florida Executive Director Hiba Rahim said in a statement on Monday the law jeopardizes student speech, freedom of religion and due process.
“This is not just about CAIR. This expanded and deeply flawed framework can attack any organization that dares to dissent,” Rahim said in a statement. “As Floridians, together, we’ll watch how this unprecedented law is enforced, and whether it is used or abused.”

JOBS

Florida’s jobless rate for January was posted Wednesday at 4.5 percent, 0.2 percentage points higher than in December.
The jobless mark is also 1 percentage point higher than a year earlier, with the Department of Commerce figures showing the state lost 20,600 jobs in that time.
U.S. Sen. Rick Scott, who while governor maintained “jobs, jobs, jobs” as his mantra, expressed concerns over the state’s trajectory.
“Florida shouldn’t be losing so many jobs, and we shouldn’t be surpassing the national unemployment average for the first time in years. Creating more jobs needs to be PRIORITY #1!” Scott posted on X.
The January figure represents 499,000 people qualified as out of work from a labor force of 11.12 million.
The number of people out of work is 20,000 higher than revised December figures. Meanwhile, the workforce declined by 7,000 in the same month-to-month comparison.
The monthly report was released a day after Gov. DeSantis joined business leaders and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott at the Perez Art Museum in Miami to promote the Texas Stock Exchange.
In brief remarks, DeSantis talked of the “very healthy competition” Florida has for business with states including Texas, Tennessee and Georgia.
“That’s been really, really good, not just for the people of our individual states, but for the region as a whole,” DeSantis said. “We’ve shown a great framework for how you can succeed and really grow your economies and give people more opportunities.”

STORY OF THE WEEK: DeSantis signed a bill allowing the state to designate groups as “domestic terrorist” organizations.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “Union and Glades (counties) are the canary in the coal mine.” – Sen. Jennifer Bradley, R-Fleming Island, after the state stepped in to help manage the distressed finances of two rural school districts.

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.

“I applaud the House for getting into this fight. I think they’ve got a lot of folks that brought forth a lot of good ideas,” DeSantis said while at Anderson Circle, Plaza de la Constitución, in St. Augustine on Wednesday. “But what I’ve also said, and I said from the beginning, I didn’t see this necessarily happening in this regular session. And I think the Senate agrees with that. We’re going to be coming back. There’s going to be opportunities to be doing it. I think you have to do it right.”
The remarks were a marked departure from his characterization of the House property tax proposals as “milquetoast” when they were first unveiled in October.
DeSantis hasn’t put forward his own proposal, but on February 19 the Republican-controlled House voted 80-30 along party lines on its bill to put a measure on the 2026 general election ballot that would eliminate all non-school taxes for properties with a homestead exemption.
Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Ed Hooper last week said the Senate was working on its own proposal, which wouldn’t be as “generous” as the House effort. Hooper said the Senate is concerned about assisting small, fiscally constrained counties that would be hardest hit by reducing the revenue from homesteaded properties. But Hooper wouldn’t put a timeline on releasing the proposal.

Senate President Ben Albritton added last Thursday that, “I have said, by the way, in concert with the Governor, is that getting it right is more important than doing it quickly or having that particular timeline set in stone.”
Wakulla and other small counties that rely heavily on property taxes have expressed concern about the possible fiscal impact of property tax reform being eyed by the legislature to put before voters in November.
DeSantis vowed to hold harmless the fiscally constrained counties in the state, including Wakulla.
In January, DeSantis called a special legislative session for the week of April 20 to redraw congressional districts as Republicans seek to maintain control of the U.S. House in this year’s elections.

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.

‘SEE YOU NEXT WEEK’

As for negotiations over the $113.6 billion fiscal year spending plan from the House (HB 5001) and the Senate’s $115 billion proposal (SB 2500), those remain on hold.
House Budget Committee Chairman Lawrence McClure advised the chamber late Wednesday budget conference talks with the Senate will not get underway this weekend.
“It looks like we are not going to conference this weekend. I intend to go home. And I’ll see you next week,” McClure, R-Dover, told the chamber.
Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Ed Hooper, R-Trinity, made similar comments at the start of the Senate floor session on Thursday.
Lawmakers are slated to end the 60-day session on March 13, which to finish on time with a completed budget would require a targeted deadline of March 10 to craft a single spending plan. That deadline involves a law requiring a 72-hour “cooling off” period once the final budget is made public before lawmakers can vote on it.

GUNS, FISHING, BEER

Last year lawmakers passed a tax cut bill worth an estimated $1.6 billion in savings for taxpayers. That included making the back-to-school “tax holiday” an annual August-long event in state law and permanently lifting sales taxes on many of the individual items tied to the hurricane season — such as batteries, portable generators and tarps.
This year’s version looks like it will be more modest.
The Senate’s tax cut plan (SB 7046) has $34.1 million in savings. It seeks to revive the hunting, fishing and camping “tax holiday” to run from mid-September to the end of the year. The holiday lifts sales taxes on select ammunition, firearms, bows, crossbows, and related accessories.
The proposal also permanently lifts sales taxes on liquified petroleum gas tanks with a capacity of 20 pounds or less.
The House goes deeper with its $152.6 million plan (HB 7031).
The package calls for moving the back-to-school holiday dates to July 20 through August 20 and running the hunting, fishing and campaign holiday from Sept. 1 through the end of the year. The plan also cuts the tax rate on American-made beer for the fiscal year. A separate one-year exemption is sought on firearm accessories, including holsters, magazines, muzzle devices, sights and suppressors.

SPEED MEETINGS

Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Cabinet rushed through the Cabinet meeting on Tuesday and an Executive Clemency Board meeting on Wednesday.
“Forty-eight minutes. Let’s see someone else beat that,” DeSantis said after the Clemency panel granted 29 pardons and denied 14 others.
In the even shorter Cabinet meeting, clocking in just under 30 minutes, the panel approved $19.8 million for three conservation easements, allocated about $40 million in grants to local law enforcement for immigration enforcement, and agreed to designate 22 acres at Hillsborough College into talks regarding a stadium and mixed-use development with the Tampa Bay Rays.
“What today is just a bunch of parking lots will be completely renovated to a live-work-entertain district that is going to have significant economic benefits to the state,” said Attorney General James Uthmeier. “I also think there’s a lot of great opportunities for the students to do internships, apprenticeships; walk right across the street and have job opportunities right there.”

DATA CENTERS

New restrictions on large-scale data centers, part of Gov. DeSantis’ push to tamp down on the maturing field of artificial intelligence, passed in the Senate on Thursday.
The measure (SB 484) addresses key issues such as electricity and water use needed to maintain the data centers and generally requires public notice of when plans are filed for a data center in the region.
The House has started to advance a similar data center measure (HB 1007), but has yet to show movement on DeSantis’ call for an “Artificial Intelligence Bill of Rights.” House leadership prefers to defer more universal regulations over the field to the federal government.
Asked about the future of the “AI Bill of Rights” effort (SB 482), which was postponed before a vote on the Senate floor this week, Senate President Ben Albritton, R-Wauchula, replied that the “Senate believes in the policy.”

FSU PRESIDENT

Florida State University President Richard McCullough was given a three-year contract extension from the Board of Trustees on Thursday.
“I look forward to the next chapter, and I appreciate the support,” McCullough told the board.
McCullough was vice provost for research at Harvard University before becoming FSU’s 16th president in 2021. His most recent contract from August 2025 increased his base salary to $1.25 million a year.
The extension needs to be approved by the state university system’s Board of Governors.

STORY OF THE WEEK: Budget talks between the House and Senate haven’t formally started, but legislative leaders said they’re exchanging offers on top-line numbers.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “I hope you won’t consider this bad news. For planning purposes, at the conclusion of today’s sitting, you’re all free to go home for the weekend. There will be no conference this weekend.” — Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Ed Hooper, R-Trinity, on Thursday.

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.

The Senate quickly altered its plans, announcing appropriations committees would hold public hearings on Wednesday on its own $115 billion budget, along with implementing and conforming bills would be before the full chamber on Friday.
“Through this budget, we are holding the line on spending, living within our means and striking the right balance between spending and saving,” Senate President Ben Albritton, R-Wauchula, said in a released statement.
The House will start subcommittee budget hearings on Monday.
Among the House’s accompanying bills are measures to keep alive the Emergency Preparedness and Response Fund the governor has used for national disaster and immigration enforcement.

EMERGENCY FUND

The Senate on Wednesday reauthorized the emergency fund (HB 7040) to remain active beyond Monday. But the House had remained quiet on the matter until releasing the budget implementation bill (PCB TED 26-02) that goes before the Transportation & Economic Development Budget Subcommittee on Monday.
Money in the fund can’t be used to buy aircraft, boats or motor vehicles, according to the House proposal. Also, federal reimbursements of state emergency expenditures have to go into the General Revenue Fund rather than into the emergency fund.
And the executive office must provide quarterly reports to House and Senate leaders on the projected year-end chase balance of the fund, an accounting of all inventory and assets purchased by event and agency, and a “written attestation, under penalty of perjury, from the director of the Division of Emergency Management that the information in the report is true, accurate, and complete.”
During the Senate debate, Democrats heavily criticized DeSantis’ administration for spending $4.77 billion through the fund, with much of the money going toward emergencies declared by DeSantis that weren’t related to hurricanes or other natural disasters.
About $573 million has been spent on immigration enforcement, including the detention center in South Florida known as “Alligator Alcatraz.” State officials have said the federal government has pledged to reimburse Florida for all the immigration enforcement expenses, but Division of Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie has said the Department of Justice is holding up the payment.

HOUSE FLOOR

The House approved several bills Wednesday that have uncertain futures in the Senate.
An 84-28 mostly party-line vote in the Republican-controlled chamber supported a measure that puts a definition of “materials harmful to minors” into a controversial 2023 Florida law that led to books being removed from school libraries (HB 1119).
Apopka Republican Rep. Doug Bankson, the bill’s sponsor, said nothing in his proposal “addresses banning classical literature or sexual orientation, gender identity, political views, religious issues, vulgarity, or bad language, violence or gore.”
The identical Senate version (SB 1692) has yet to appear before a committee.
A 92-14 vote passed a ban on state agencies using the term “West Bank” to refer to the section of land controlled by Israel. It also requires new public school and charter school instructional materials and library media center collections to refer to the land by its historical name of “Judea and Samaria.”
Orlando Democratic Rep. Anna Eskamani cautioned against the political implications of altering the wording used in international law and United Nations diplomacy that works towards peace in the region.
A similar version in the Senate (SB 1106) has cleared two committees and will next go before the Rules Committee.
And in a 112-1 vote — Rep. Alex Andrade, R-Pensacola, was the sole opposing vote — the American flamingo was backed as Florida’s state bird (HB 11).
The seemingly annual effort to replace the mockingbird has two committee stops ahead in the Senate (SB 150).

STORY OF THE WEEK: After mixed messages about the status of their corresponding budget proposals, the House and Senate on Thursday and Friday released proposed spending plans.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “If there’s one thing that all of us in this chamber can agree on is, it’s how annoying fraudulent robocalls are.” – Sen. Carlos Guillermo Smith, an Orlando Democrat, on Wednesday as a bill (SB 1516) advanced to make it harder for fraudulent telemarketers to mask their true identities.

TALLAHASSEE — A chill outside the Capitol didn’t improve the at-times frosty relationships between the state’s three top Republican politicos in the kickoff to the 2026 legislative session.
Gov. Ron DeSantis, however, received a warm response from conservatives in the legal community as he cemented his imprint on the Florida Supreme Court with the appointment of Justice Adam Tanenbaum.
The governor also notched a win from the state court this week in a decision that scrapped the American Bar Association as the sole accreditor for Florida law schools.

CHILLING OUT

House Speaker Daniel Perez, R-Miami, told reporters everything isn’t hunky-dory with Senate President Ben Albritton, R-Wauchula, as the 60-day regular session opened on Tuesday.
Asked by reporters about his relationship with his Senate counterpart, Perez referred to a 2025 state budget and tax-cut package agreed to by the two legislative leaders. Perez said Albritton reneged on the deal after DeSantis said it was “DOA.”
The Legislature needs to be “the independent branch of government,” Perez said Tuesday.
“And if he (Albritton) were to agree with me on that, we will be able to talk,” he added.
Albritton demurred when asked about Perez, saying he won’t bad mouth his colleague.
“Not in a million years. I’m not going to do it,” Albritton said.
In separate addresses to their chambers Tuesday, the pair pointed to the need for lawmakers to make life more affordable for Floridians. The House and Senate began passing bills later in the week.
The Senate on Wednesday backed a $150 million “rural renaissance” plan (SB 250), a priority of Albritton’s which is aimed at boosting such things as education, transportation and economic development in rural areas. A similar effort last year with more health-care provisions failed to gain traction in the House.
Among bills advanced Thursday in the House were proposals to lower the minimum age to purchase rifles and other long guns from 21 to 18 (HB 133) and to require all private employers to use the federal E-Verify system to check the immigration status of new workers (HB 197). Similar proposals flailed in the Senate in 2025.
The House also approved an effort (HB 6003) that would repeal a 1990 law that prevents people ages 25 and older from seeking what are known as “non-economic” damages in medical-malpractice cases involving deaths of their parents. DeSantis vetoed a similar effort last year.
Meanwhile, DeSantis used his final State of the State address to tout accomplishments over the past seven years in areas such as cutting taxes, expanding school choice, increasing teacher pay, remaking the higher-education system and pouring money into Everglades restoration.
“We lead with clarity, conviction and courage,” DeSantis told lawmakers who filled the House chamber. He also touched on his priorities for the session, though he went into little detail and did not announce major new initiatives.
Senate Minority Leader Lori Berman, D-Boca Raton, described DeSantis’ address as a “campaign stump speech” and said he didn’t address “the true issues that affect Floridians about affordability.”

HEADING HOME

DeSantis on Wednesday promoted Adam Tanenbaum from a judge at the Tallahassee-based 1st District Court of Appeal to a justice on the Florida Supreme Court.
Tanenbaum has the “courage” and “warrior spirit” to make tough decisions “regardless of the blowback,” the governor said during an announcement at Seminole High School, where Tanenbaum graduated at the top of his class in 1989.
During his two terms as governor, DeSantis has chosen six of the seven current justices — and two other justices who were later tapped by President Donald Trump to serve on the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Tanenbaum’s appointment cements DeSantis’ legacy of reshaping the court with conservative justices who have reversed years of precedent established by more left-leaning justices on issues such as the death penalty and abortion rights.
Laying out his textualist judicial philosophy on Wednesday, Tanenbaum said he subscribes to “the fixation thesis and the constraint principle.” Tanenbaum also defended the court’s duty to revisit earlier decisions.
“Our goal as judges is always to find the correct original meaning of the law. To instead follow and replicate erroneous interpretations of the past is essentially to make the law, usurping in the process the Legislature’s and the people’s authority. If we as judges profess to apply the law and not make it, then the imperative at all times is to recognize what the law is,” Tanenbaum said.
Tanenbaum replaces former Justice Charles Canady, an appointee of former Gov. Charlie Crist who left to direct the University of Florida’s Hamilton School for Classical and Civic Education.

NEW GATEKEEPERS

Amid mounting pressure from conservatives on the national lawyer group, the Florida Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that the state should “end its reliance on the American Bar Association” as the sole accreditor of law schools.
The court “is persuaded that it is not in Floridians’ best interest for the ABA to be the sole gatekeeper deciding which law schools’ graduates are eligible to sit for the state’s General Bar Examination and become licensed attorneys in Florida,” Chief Justice Carlos Muñiz and Justices John Couriel, Jamie Grosshans, Renee Francis, and Meredith Sasso said in Thursday’s ruling. Justice Jorge Labarga issued a dissenting opinion.
The decision follows a report issued in October by a workgroup appointed by Muñiz.
In most cases, Florida requires people to graduate from accredited law schools to be eligible to take the bar exam to practice law. The American Bar Association has served as the state’s lone accreditor for more than three decades.
The ABA’s accreditation process has come under fire from conservative officials including DeSantis, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier and U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, who accuse the organization of trying to require diversity, equity and inclusion efforts at law schools — a political hot-button issue.
“The (highly partisan) ABA should not be a gatekeeper for legal education or the legal profession,” DeSantis said in a post on the social-media platform X after Thursday’s ruling.
Jenn Rosato Perea, managing director of the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admission to the Bar, said in an email the court’s order “reinforces the authority that it has always had” over licensure of law-school graduates and the law schools it recognizes as accredited.

STORY OF THE WEEK: Florida lawmakers kicked off the 60-day 2026 legislative session on Tuesday, with House and Senate leaders making affordability a top priority.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “Whether the governor wants to be petulant and not shake the hand of a partner, that’s on him. It’s not going to change our direction.” — House Speaker Daniel Perez, R-Miami, on not receiving a handshake from Gov. Ron DeSantis on the House rostrum before the State of the State address.

TALLAHASSEE — Alligator Alcatraz. Guns. Social media.
Legal battles about those and myriad other Florida issues remain unresolved heading into 2026. Here are 10 big legal issues to watch in the coming year:

• ALLIGATOR ALCATRAZ: The immigrant-detention center in the Everglades dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz” has spawned a series of court battles since Florida opened the facility this summer. For example, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is scheduled to hear arguments in April in a case that alleges violations of a federal environmental law. Other cases involve issues such as detainees’ access to attorneys and whether the state has withheld public records.
• BOOK FIGHTS: Publishing companies, authors and parents are challenging state and local education officials in federal lawsuits after books were removed from school libraries because of alleged improper content. For instance, a case at the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals challenges a 2023 state law that led to books being removed. Two other pending lawsuits target Escambia County School Board decisions to remove or restrict access to books.
• GUNS: Nearly eight years after the measure passed following the mass shooting at Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, the U.S. Supreme Court is deciding whether to take up the National Rifle Association’s challenge to a law that prevents people under age 21 from buying rifles and other long guns. Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier has taken the unusual step of refusing to defend the law.
• IMMIGRATION: A panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments in October about a law that created state crimes for undocumented immigrants who enter or re-enter Florida. The state appealed after a U.S. district judge issued a preliminary injunction, ruling the 2025 law was likely preempted by federal immigration authority. It remains unclear when the appellate panel will issue a decision.
• MARIJUANA: After falling short in 2024 of passing a constitutional amendment to allow recreational marijuana, the political committee Smart & Safe Florida wants to take the issue back to voters in 2026. But first, it needs to submit enough signatures and get Florida Supreme Court approval of the proposed ballot wording. The court review could turn into a fight, as Gov. Ron DeSantis and Attorney General James Uthmeier oppose allowing recreational marijuana.

— SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS: A U.S. district judge in 2026 is expected to rule on the constitutionality of a 2021 Florida law that placed restrictions on social-media platforms, such as preventing the sites from banning political candidates. Tech industry groups challenged the law, which passed after Facebook and Twitter, now known as X, blocked President Donald Trump from their platforms after Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

• SOCIAL MEDIA RESTRICTIONS: Saying social media was harming children’s mental health, Florida lawmakers in 2024 passed a measure to prevent children under age 14 from opening accounts on certain platforms. Parents would have to give consent for 14- and 15-year-olds to have accounts on the platforms. Industry groups filed a First Amendment challenge and were backed by a district judge. The issue is pending at the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
• TRANSGENDER ISSUES: Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration and lawmakers in recent years have approved a series of measures aimed at transgender people, sparking legal battles. For example, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is weighing the constitutionality of a state law and regulations that restrict treatments for people with gender dysphoria. It also is considering a challenge to a ban on Medicaid coverage for hormone therapy and puberty blockers
• UTILITY RATES: The state’s Office of Public Counsel and two consumer groups have gone to the Florida Supreme Court to challenge a decision by utility regulators to approve Tampa Electric Co. base-rate increases that began to take effect in 2025. Meanwhile, the Office of Public Counsel and consumer groups have indicated they likely will also challenge a November decision by regulators to approve a Florida Power & Light base-rate settlement.
• WETLANDS: In a case closely watched by conservation and business groups, the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia is considering whether the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 2020 improperly shifted permitting authority to Florida for projects that affect wetlands. A U.S. district judge sided with conservation groups that challenged the shift. Florida and business groups have defended giving authority to the state.

By NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

State Rep. Jason Shoaf, R-Port St. Joe, joined the Florida House in 2019 after winning a special election and has been reelected three times. Shoaf’s sprawling district covers a largely rural region made up of Dixie, Franklin, Gulf, Hamilton, Lafayette, Liberty, Suwannee, Taylor, Wakulla and parts of Jefferson and Leon counties. Shoaf is chairman of the House Transportation & Economic Development Budget Subcommittee.

The News Service of Florida has five questions for Jason Shoaf, with questions and answers edited for clarity and brevity.

Q: Officials recently decided to reopen harvesting of Apalachicola Bay oysters, which I have to say are my favorites from around the country. How important is the oystering industry for your district?

SHOAF: It’s the identity of a major part of my district. Apalachicola oysters were the heartbeat of the Gulf, Franklin, Wakulla, Liberty (counties) region forever and ever, and through many factors, we saw the population decimated. FWC (the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission) stepped in, has put millions and millions into it and loads of research. I’m excited that they’ve finally reopened it and I’m looking forward to seeing Apalachicola Bay oysters on menus across the country again soon.

Q: The Legislature this year passed a bill you sponsored aimed at preventing oil drilling near the Apalachicola River and Apalachicola Bay. Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the measure into law. What prompted you to file the bill and have you had any pushback from other Republican leaders for your position on oil drilling?

SHOAF: I think it’s important to lead off on this topic in saying that I’m a third-generation gas guy. My family is in the natural-gas utility business and I started a propane company in 2010, so we make a living off the oil and gas industry. Having said that, that doesn’t mean that we should be drilling (just) anywhere. Apalachicola Bay is not just a special place to me and my constituents. It is a critical place, so much so that the state has deemed it an area of critical state concern, and that’s for good reason. It is one of the highest-producing estuaries and marine habitats in North America. It’s where a large percentage of our fish, the ocean life, is born and born and raised, I guess you could say, before they go off into the gulf to live their lives. So anything that is done around that area has to be given an additional layer of scrutiny, and drilling for oil next to this treasure is something that was a bridge too far for me. So we filed the legislation, worked really hard to get it passed. No, there hasn’t been any notable pushback. In fact we have seen a lot of people that, traditionally, you would think would be more in favor of drilling anywhere, everywhere, all the time, when they hear my reasoning for the bill, they’ve agreed with it and been supportive of it. It’s been a very positive thing overall.

Q: Another bill you sponsored that went into effect this year is called the Second Chance Act, named after Chance Gainer. Can you tell us how you got involved in that and if you’re working on any follow-ups?

SHOAF: The Second Chance Act was the top priority of mine last session, and I was grateful to all of our colleagues who got behind this important legislation. Chance was a bright, talented young man. He had a bright future, both on and off the field, and unfortunately, his future was never fully realized because he suffered sudden cardiac arrest in the middle of a football game. Sudden cardiac arrest is the number one cause of death on school campuses. In 80 percent of the cases, there are no symptoms or signs indicating a condition or a problem. But with greater detection, we can prevent these tragedies. They’re happening all of the time. In fact, I read an article yesterday where it happened to a young kid at Disney recently, but they had an AED (automated external defibrillator) there and trained staff, and they were able to save that child. That’s not always the case. So this year, I plan on running an appropriation to establish a funding mechanism to be able to pay for these screenings for our high-school athletes that can’t afford the test. We want every child to be tested and we want every child that is flagged to be able to have the next level of testing and evaluations, and ultimately, if it leads to a procedure that needs to be done to save the child’s life, we want to see them back on the sports field and playing again and having a healthy life.

Q: There’s been a lot of talk about property taxes this year. Some local officials from rural counties are going bonkers over the possibility that property taxes will be eliminated altogether. What are your thoughts on the issue?

SHOAF: I think this is a topic that’s been discussed for decades in the Legislature. It’s come back up and, of course, I would like to see every tax removed. No one likes taxes but we have to have these critical services. Right now, the House under Speaker (Daniel) Perez has established a committee that traveled the state to get feedback from Floridians and we’re working on a finished product that we’ll be able to work through the committee process. Our goal is to have a great product that either reduces or eliminates property taxes while still being able to fund critical services. We have not gotten to a point where that product has been finalized, so until we get there, it’s difficult to speculate about the impact of it. We would just be speculating on hypotheticals at this point. And the governor hasn’t released his plan yet, so we are eager to see how he proposes to offset these cuts.

Q: You’re having a dinner party. What three people, living or dead, would you invite?

SHOAF: I would invite my grandfather, I would invite Teddy Roosevelt and I would invite Ronald Reagan. My grandfather served in the Legislature in the ‘50s and was a strong man that had strict principles and values, and he passed away when I was 10 so I would give anything to have another night to be able to sit with him and learn from him and get his perspective on my district through his eyes at that time. Teddy Roosevelt had a passion for the outdoors and protecting and preserving our natural resources, and I work really hard in my role to do that exact thing here, whether it’s the oil drilling ban or it’s the water quality institute that I’m working to start at FSU (Florida State University), or protecting Wakulla Springs, from a conservative perspective. I could learn a lot from him and some of the challenges he went through in his time, to be a leader in environmental protection while enjoying hunting and fishing and conservative principles. Reagan, just because I really think he had so much class and charisma and the ability to bring Republicans and Democrats together on important issues. I think those are skills and talents that we need more of today.

Editor’s Note: Rep. Shoaf’s district includes Wakulla County.

TALLAHASSEE — Florida grabbed national headlines this week as an appellate court injected new life into a controversial immigrant-detention center in the Everglades and the state’s top doctor vowed to end vaccine mandates for schoolkids.

POKING AT SHOTS

Drawing a rebuke from the Florida Medical Association and infusing a contentious topic into the 2026 legislative session, state Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo vowed Wednesday Florida would be the first state to end vaccine mandates, including those for school-aged children.
“The Florida Department of Health, in partnership with the governor, is going to be working to end all vaccine mandates in Florida. All of them. All of them. Every last one of them is wrong and drips with disdain and slavery,” Ladapo said during an appearance at Grace Christian School in Valrico.
Ladapo and DeSantis have garnered attention in recent years for their opposition to COVID-19 mandates, including vaccine mandates. But the proposal announced Wednesday would go much further and came as U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., long known as a vaccine skeptic, has made controversial changes nationally.
Ladapo said the Florida Department of Health will eliminate rules set by his predecessors and request that the Legislature “get rid of the rest of it.”
DeSantis said a “broad package” will go to state lawmakers for consideration during the 2026 legislative session, which begins in January.
Florida has immunization requirements for children entering daycare and preschool. Those requirements include vaccinations for such things as diphtheria-tetanus-acellular pertussis, polio, measles-mumps-rubella and chicken pox, according to the Florida Department of Health website. The requirements grow as students move from kindergarten through 12th grade.
The changes Ladapo proposes will go beyond long-established exemptions for religious and medical reasons, and will come with advice from the establishment of a “Make America Healthy Again” advisory committee overseen by First Lady Casey DeSantis and Lt. Gov. Jay Collins.
The Florida Medical Association voiced support for vaccines and immunizations for school-aged children “against diseases that decades ago proved life-threatening to our kids.”
Democrats quickly called the proposal “reckless” and “horrifying,” noting that parents already have options to keep their children from vaccines.

“If this happened, Florida would be welcoming back child-killers like polio and measles with open arms,” House Minority Leader Fentrice Driskell, D-Tampa, said in a statement.

EVERGLADES
DETENTION
REACTIVATED

Siding with the DeSantis and Trump administrations, a split panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday put on hold a judge’s ruling requiring the wind-down of operations at the remote detention center dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz” by state officials.
The 2-1 decision by a panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals blocked a preliminary injunction issued last month by U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams and allowed authorities to resume sending detainees to the remote complex that state officials dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz.”
Williams’ ruling also prevented additional construction and ordered the removal within 60 days of temporary fencing, detention-center lighting and such things as generators.
The majority opinion found that Williams erred in agreeing with environmental groups and the Miccosukee Tribe, which alleged that officials failed to comply with a federal law requiring that an environmental-impact study be conducted before the detention center was constructed.
Lawyers for the DeSantis and Trump administrations argued that the federal law, known as the National Environmental Policy Act, did not apply because the state — not the federal government — built the facility and operates it.
DeSantis quickly praised the ruling, which came in a lawsuit filed by Friends of the Everglades and the Center for Biological Diversity. The Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida joined the lawsuit.
“Alligator Alcatraz is, in fact, open for business. The mission continues and we’re going to continue leading the way when it comes to immigration enforcement,” the governor said in a video posted on X.
Elise Bennett, Florida and Caribbean director and a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, called Thursday’s ruling “a heartbreaking blow to America’s Everglades and every living creature there” but said the court fight is far from over. The groups and the tribe contend the facility, which is surrounded by Big Cypress National Preserve, poses a series of environmental threats.

POTENTIALLY
INAUSPICIOUS

Former state House Speaker Paul Renner on Wednesday launched a 2026 campaign for governor but hit a bump right out of the gate.

“I’m not supporting Paul Renner, you know, I think it was an ill-advised decision to enter,” DeSantis said just hours after the former speaker’s announcement, when asked about Renner’s entry into the contest.
Renner is the first high-profile candidate to take on Congressman Byron Donalds — who has the backing of President Donald Trump – in the Republican primary. Renner touted his links to the governor in Wednesday’s rollout.
“As a legislator and speaker of the House, I stood with Ron DeSantis to brand our state the Free State of Florida,” Renner, an attorney and U.S. Navy veteran, said in the statement. “I’m running for governor so that when the DeSantis era comes to an end, we can defend our victories and solve the challenges that remain.”
Donalds’ campaign responded to Renner’s announcement by pointing to the Trump endorsement.
“Byron Donalds will be Florida’s next governor because he is the proven conservative fighter endorsed by President Trump,” Ryan Smith, Donalds’ chief strategist, said in a statement.
Meanwhile, questions have swirled about whether newly appointed Collins or the First Lady will enter the race.

DEMS HOLD SEATS

Rep. LaVon Bracy Davis, D-Ocoee, and Democrat RaShon Young each captured more than 70 percent of the vote Tuesday as they won special legislative elections in Orange County.
Bracy Davis will move into the Senate District 15 seat previously held by late Sen. Geraldine Thompson, a Democrat who died in February. Young lands in House District 40, which Bracy Davis previously held.

STORY OF THE WEEK: State Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo on Wednesday vowed to end vaccine mandates in Florida, putting the state in the middle of a growing national debate.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “Your body is a gift from God. What you put into your body, what you put into your body is because of your relationship with your body and your God. … I don’t have that right. Government does not have that right.” — Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo.

TALLAHASSEE – Florida heads into the Labor Day weekend amid swirling questions about the state’s immigrant-detention efforts.
Gov. Ron DeSantis said Wednesday that federal immigration officials are deporting detainees “very quickly” from a controversial Everglades facility dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz.” DeSantis made the comment when asked about reports that the Everglades facility would soon be empty.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is responsible for deciding “where they want to process and stage detainees, and it’s their decision about when they want to bring them out,” DeSantis told reporters.
“But I think they’ve been having rapid removals from Alligator Alcatraz and I think that’s caused the census to go down,” DeSantis added.
The Associated Press reported this week that state Division of Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie said in an email exchange with a South Florida rabbi that, “We are probably going to be down to 0 individuals within a few days” at the Everglades facility.
DeSantis and other Republican leaders touted the Everglades facility this summer as helping with President Donald Trump’s push to deport people in the country illegally. But three major legal challenges have been filed against the facility, and the state announced this month that it would start housing detainees at the shuttered Baker Correctional Institution in North Florida.
U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams issued a preliminary injunction last week ordering the state to wind down operations at the Everglades facility. That ruling came in a lawsuit filed by environmental groups and the Miccosukee Tribe of Florida concerned about potential ecological damage.
Williams this week rejected a state request to pause her order about the facility, which was built to house 2,000 people. Williams said about 300 were being held at the center.
Evidence “that the detainee population was dwindling at the site even before the preliminary injunction was entered and that ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) now has need for only 72-hour holds are signs that defendants’ immigration enforcement goals will not be thwarted by a pause in operations” at the Everglades site, the judge wrote.

THE PRESIDENT PIPELINE

State Rep. John Temple, a veteran educator and political ally of DeSantis, was selected Thursday to become president of Lake-Sumter State College by the school’s Board of Trustees.
Trustees Chairman Bret Jones, in a prepared statement, said Temple “understands the crucial role that the college plays in developing and enhancing the workforce of our area, and we know that he will bring his expertise and experience to this role.”
Temple was among a small group of Republican lawmakers who early this year were allied with DeSantis as the governor battled with House and Senate leaders over immigration-enforcement legislation.
The Wildwood Republican, who entered the House in 2022, joins a roster of recent GOP lawmakers and insiders who have become presidents of Northwest Florida State College; State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota; South Florida State College; Pasco-Hernando State College; Broward College; Florida International University; Florida Atlantic University; and New College of Florida.
Also, state university system Chancellor Ray Rodrigues is a former state lawmaker. Another former lawmaker and state education commissioner, Manny Diaz Jr., was recently named interim president of the University of West Florida.

FROM COLUMBIA TO FLORIDA

With little comment, the University of Florida Board of Trustees on Monday approved hiring Donald Landry, former chairman of the Department of Medicine at Columbia University, to serve as UF’s interim president.
Landry, who must still be approved by the state university system’s Board of Governors, will replace Kent Fuchs in the interim role as the Gainesville school prepares to restart a presidential search early next year. Fuchs, a former UF president, became the school’s interim leader last year after Ben Sasse abruptly stepped down as president.
DeSantis and other Republican leaders frequently target Columbia for what they say is “woke” ideology. But Mori Hosseini, chairman of the UF Board of Trustees, characterized Landry as having “shown exceptional leadership in academia and beyond, building programs with innovation, energy and integrity.”
Landry, who attended Monday’s meeting, made comments that could appease political conservatives who derailed the trustees’ first choice of former University of Michigan President Santa Ono to become president.
“We can support a wide range of speech on topics we dislike. Yet, we would like to maintain civility. At a minimum, we will not allow disruption,” Landry told the trustees.
Asked about pro-Palestine protests at Columbia, Landry replied, “I saw things at Columbia that suggested an alignment between some faculty and students that, I think, encouraged the students to do things that were more reckless.”

SHRINKING CITIZENS

Florida regulators have approved proposals by five private insurers to assume up to 87,925 policies from the state’s Citizens Property Insurance Corp. late this year.
That came after the state last month approved proposals by nine companies to assume up to 428,947 policies in October, November and December.
The exact number of policies that will exit Citizens is unknown, as the totals approved are maximums. The orders are part of what is known as a “depopulation” program that is designed to shrink Citizens, which was created as an insurer of last resort but became the state’s largest carrier in recent years amid financial problems in the private market.
A potential downside: Some homeowners who leave Citizens could see higher rates. State law makes customers ineligible to remain with Citizens if they receive offers of coverage from insurers that are within 20 percent of the cost of Citizens premiums.
As of Aug. 22, Citizens had 770,729 policies.

STORY OF THE WEEK: The number of detainees at the facility known as “Alligator Alcatraz” has decreased.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “I think Orange County has something to hide.” – Florida Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia in announcing issuance of subpoenas based on “tips” that county workers were, in part, directed to relabel grant files involving diversity, equity and inclusion. \Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings vehemently denied the allegation.

TALLAHASSEE – Florida leaders made a show this week of bringing back from California an immigrant involved in a deadly traffic crash and removing locally approved artwork — including gay pride rainbow colors — from crosswalks.
But Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration found itself late Thursday rushing to appeal a federal judge’s ruling that targeted the controversial immigrant-detention center in the Everglades dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz.”

Siding with environmental groups and the Miccosukee Tribe, U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams issued a preliminary injunction that prevents additional construction and bringing additional detainees to the facility. Williams also ordered the removal within 60 days of temporary fencing, detention-center lighting and such things as generators.
Eve Samples, executive director of Friends of the Everglades, called the ruling a “significant win.”
“The order from the judge means no new detainees can be brought on site,” she told The News Service of Florida on Friday.

Friends of the Everglades and the Center for Biological Diversity filed the lawsuit challenging the facility and were later joined by the Miccosukee Tribe.
The state quickly responded to Williams’ ruling by filing a notice that is a first step in an appeal to the Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
“This is not going to deter us. We’re going to continue working on the deportations, advancing that mission,” DeSantis said Friday during an appearance in Panama City.
The lawsuit, filed in the federal Southern District of Florida, alleges violations of the National Environmental Policy Act, a federal law that requires evaluating potential environmental impacts before such a project can move forward.
“Plaintiffs have provided extensive evidence supporting their claims of significant ongoing and likely future environmental harms from the project,” Williams’ 82-page ruling said. “By contrast, while the defendants repeatedly espouse the importance of immigration enforcement, they offered little to no evidence why this detention camp, in this particular location, is uniquely suited and critical to that mission.”
The state opened the detention facility last month at the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport, which is used for flight training. State officials touted it as part of an effort to support President Donald Trump’s fight against illegal immigration.

OH, CANADA

Visit Florida on Tuesday estimated 34.4 million people traveled to the state during the second quarter of this year and said it was a new record for the April-through-June period.
But the number of Canadians coming to Florida is down, amid controversies about issues such as the U.S. imposing tariffs and President Donald Trump floating the idea of annexing Canada.
U.S. travelers accounted for 91.5 percent of the visitors to Florida during the quarter, while overseas travelers were up 11.4 percent from the second quarter of 2024. But only an estimated 640,000 Canadians made their way to Florida during the quarter, a 20 percent drop from the same period in 2024.
“I know the nation is seeing some Canadian visitors not traveling at the moment, but Florida actually is seeing an increase in visitors from other places, including Brazil, which I think it’s part of that overseas visitation increase, and it’s something that we’re really monitoring and looking to see if we can shift some efforts there to continue that good trend,” Visit Florida President and CEO Bryan Griffin told members of the agency’s Executive Committee on Monday.

IMMIGRANT ESCORT

Adding fuel to a political rivalry with California Gov. Gavin Newsom, DeSantis and Lt. Gov. Jay Collins made a show of bringing back immigrant Harjinder Singh from California, where he went after being accused of making an illegal U-turn on Florida’s Turnpike near Fort Pierce that resulted in a crash killing three people.
After Singh signed extradition papers, Collins traveled to California to help escort back Singh, a native of India who faces three counts of vehicular homicide and immigration violations, according to the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles.
“(Collins) is going to take possession of this illegal alien, extradite him back to the state of Florida,” DeSantis said Wednesday during an appearance in Palm Beach County. “We’re going to throw the book at him when he gets back here for what he did.”
Rep. Alex Andrade, a Pensacola Republican who has clashed with DeSantis on numerous occasions this year, questioned Collins’ trip.
“Why are we wasting taxpayer resources on political stunts?” Andrade posted on X. “Why was this guy (Singh) allowed to leave Florida in the first place? Why is a politician acting like a keystone cop after Singh and a California judge already agreed for him to be extradited?”

COVERING
CREATIONS

Cities from the Panhandle to Key West received letters this week from the Florida Department of Transportation saying that crosswalk art must be removed or they could have road money held up.
Meanwhile, the state on Wednesday night painted over a rainbow crosswalk in Orlando that was part of the city’s memorial for victims of the 2016 Pulse nightclub massacre.
“We will not allow our state roads to be commandeered for political purposes,” DeSantis posted on X.
Sen. Carlos Guillermo Smith, D-Orlando, responded to DeSantis that the rainbow crosswalk was approved by the Department of Transportation to honor the 49 people killed at Pulse and to enhance pedestrian safety.
“You looked survivors in the eye (and) promised they would never be forgotten – then betrayed them for political ambition,” Smith posted on X.

STORY OF THE WEEK: U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams issued a preliminary injunction that required winding down operations at a controversial immigrant-detention facility in the Everglades.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “We now live in a world where owning the other side through social media and going on cable news is the way that you measure your sense of accomplishment. Well, I thank God I got to work with John Thrasher in an era of getting stuff done.” – Former Gov. Jeb Bush during an event honoring Thrasher, a former House speaker and Florida State University president who died May 30 at age 81.