Florida's Latest News

DeSantis signs bills to add new judges, revise housing law

Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday signed 11 bills, including a measure that will increase the number of circuit-court and county judges and a bill that will revise a major housing law, known as the “Live Local Act,” that passed in 2023.

The bill adding judges (HB 5401) will create a circuit-judge position in the 1st Judicial Circuit, which is made up of Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa and Walton counties.

It also will create a circuit-judge position in the 20th Judicial Circuit, which is made up of Charlotte, Collier, Glades, Hendry and Lee counties.

The bill also will add three county judges in Orange County, two county judges in Hillsborough County and one county judge each in Columbia and Santa Rosa counties.

The bill exceeds the recommendations of the Florida Supreme Court, which in November called for a new judge in the 20th Judicial Circuit, three new county judges in Orange County and two new county judges in Hillsborough County.

Kathleen Passidomo hails ‘beginning of stabilization’ in beleaguered home insurance market

'Rate filings for 2024 show a slight trend downward for the first time in years.'

It’s unknown what impacts Florida ultimately will face during the upcoming hurricane season. Yet the Senate President is confident that the once-embattled property insurance market can rise to the challenge, with legislative work in recent years paying off.

Though conceding that rates still pose a “major affordability problem” for homeowners, Sen. Kathleen Passidomo said (perhaps contrary to public perception) that people are actually paying less year over year, with an average premium currently of $3,600.

The Naples Republican noted in a memo to Senate colleagues that “rate filings for 2024 show a slight trend downward for the first time in years, indicating the beginning of stabilization of the property insurance market. Ten companies have filed a zero percent increase and at least eight companies have filed a rate decrease to take effect in 2024.”

Florida Behavioral Health Association: Housing is an integral part of serious mental health treatment

The FY 2023-24 budget has $25.2M to address housing for people with serious mental health illness, a 308% increase from prior year spending.

Top Gov. Ron DeSantis administration officials appeared in St. Petersburg to tout the significant spending increases Florida has made for mental health funding

The administration also promoted its successes with housing programs meant to help people with a serious mental health condition successfully live, work and play in the community in which they live.

Department of Children and Families Secretary Shevaun Harris said the Legislature has in recent years increased the amount of recurring state dollars spent on housing for people with serious mental health illness.

Florida city populations swelled along with the rest of the South, Census Bureau says

Despite South Florida’s reputation as an increasingly expensive place to live, many of the region’s major cities showed gains in population between July 2022 and July 2023, according to data released Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau.

“Cities with populations of 50,000 or more grew by an average of 0.2% in the Northeast and 0.1% in the Midwest after declining an average of 0.3% and 0.2%, respectively, in 2022. Those in the West went up by an average of 0.2% from 2022 to 2023,” the Bureau said in a statement. “Cities in the South grew the fastest — by an average 1.0%.”

“The population growth across the South in 2023 was driven by significant numeric and percentage gains among its cities,” said Crystal Delbé, a statistician in the Census Bureau’s Population Division. “Thirteen of the 15 fastest-growing cities were in the South, with eight in Texas alone.”