Florida's Latest News

Special Session to finalize budget set for May 12-29

The House and Senate have reached a deal on budget allocations, Senate President Ben Albritton announced in a memo to members.

With allocations reached, the House and Senate will convene May 12 for a Special Session, which is scheduled to end May 29. Conference Committees will meet through May 15, at which point members will be authorized to return to their districts before returning the week after Memorial Day to vote on the budget.

Legislative leaders note that about half the total budget is included in the allocations, which would put the budget in the ballpark of about $104 billion. And there will be restrictions a remaining funds not included in allocations, including that they will be split evenly, and may be spent on projects, PECO, and operational support for higher education. Other uses could be considered, but would require written agreement by both the House Speaker and Senate President to receive funding.

Conference Committees will remain the same as they were for the Regular Session. Sen. Ed Hooper will continue leading budget negotiations in the Senate, while Sen. Lawrence McClure will remain at the help of the Budget Committee in the House.

Jefferson County teachers re-establish union after turnaround

After helping carry out a major turnaround at Jefferson County K-12 School, the educators of that school district have now voted to reestablish their teacher union.

The Florida Education Association, an affiliate of hundreds of professional education unions across the state, announced the news in a press release April 23.

The reorganizing of the Jefferson County Education Association comes as public sector unions across the state face uncertainty as provisions for recertification come with higher stakes. More than half of a bargaining unit, including non-members, must vote to keep the union.

For some teacher and education support staff unions, the measure could lead to erasure.

A new St. Petersburg property tax could fund drainage, water projects

St. Petersburg leaders want to accelerate storm, waste and drinking water system upgrades in the face of more intense storms and rising sea levels.

So the city is readying a referendum for the November ballot to help make it happen. It would ask voters to approve issuing bonds to finance up to $600 million for those projects. The money would be repaid through a new annual property tax over 30 years.

Property owners would pay $96 for every $100,000 of taxable property value.

The city currently pays for water and sewer work with money collected through utility bills. If the city stuck with funding the projects through utility bill increases, it would cost customers an additional $486.12 annually.

Laurel Lee Introduces Bill to Cut Federal Court Backlog

Representative Laurel Lee (R-FL) has introduced legislation to reduce the federal court litigation backlog, allowing judges to focus on cases better handled by state courts.

Specifically, Rep. Lee's Federal Diversity Jurisdiction Modernization Act raises the amount-in-controversy threshold from $75,000 to $500,000.

What that means is, if a plaintiff from one state is filing a lawsuit against a defendant from another, for a federal court to hear the case under diversity jurisdiction, the amount of money being sought by the plaintiff in damages, compensation, or relief is raised from $75,000 (an amount decided in 1996) to $500,000.

The bill seeks to address a troubling trend: federal court filings have increased by 30% since 1990, while the number of authorized district judgeships has grown by only 4%, meaning the backlog has ballooned from 18,280 cases pending in 2004 to 81,617 pending cases in 2024, a 346% increase.