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DeSantis celebrates wins at end of busy legislative session

On the day he took office, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis vowed to pursue an agenda that would heal the state’s political divisions.

In an op-ed, he pledged to prioritize environmental protection, the economy, education. He highlighted the “diverse, bipartisan group of qualified individuals” he hired for his administration.

“It is time for our state to come together,” he declared in the January 2019 piece.

On Friday, more than four years later, DeSantis concluded a legislative session that establishes him as perhaps the most aggressive and accomplished conservative governor in the nation’s bitter culture wars — just as he prepares to enter the 2024 presidential contest as a top rival to former President Donald Trump.

Intensifying his hard-right shift that began during the pandemic, the 44-year-old Republican governor in recent weeks has pushed the limits of divisive cultural battles over abortion, LGBTQ rights, sex education, guns, immigration and diversity. And in most cases, backed by Republican supermajorities in Florida’s Legislature, he won.

Ready for upload: Legislature approves data privacy bill

After three years of system crashes, the Legislature has passed a data privacy bill.

The House approved a bill (SB 262) hours after the Senate approved amendments negotiated over the final days of Session.

Rep. Fiona McFarland, a Sarasota Republican, cheered the legislative achievement she had worked on over three Sessions.

“Florida took a huge step today towards restoring the balance between our rights to digital privacy and tech companies’ ability to target ads,” she said.

She explained on the House floor that the final language would drop many data tracking restrictions that had tied negotiations in the past.

“It retains the protection of children in online spaces,” McFarland said.

Ultimately, the bill cleared the House on a 110-2 vote.

Sleep in: Legislature OK’s later school start times

A bill that would give middle and high school students a little more shut-eye during the school week cleared its final hurdle in the Legislature, but the change is still years away for most schools.

Senators voted 38-2 for the measure (HB 733) which would require school districts to begin middle school hours no earlier than 8 a.m. and high school classes at 8:30 a.m. or later.

The change won’t kick in until the 2026-27 school year.

That “glide path” will help districts prepare for the shift and report their needs to the Department of Education (DOE), which in the interim will run a six-school pilot program to see how the later times work, said Zephyrhills Republican Sen. Danny Burgess, who sponsored the bill’s Senate companion.

“We’re going to do our due diligence,” he said. “We’re not going to set anybody up for failure.”

Legislature OK’s study on possible dissolution of Hillsborough transit agency

The Legislature has now passed a bill requiring the Florida Department of Transportation “or its consultant” to study the potential dissolution of the Hillsborough Area Regional Transit (HART) authority.

Gov. Ron DeSantis must next decide whether to sign the legislation.

The Senate approved the House version (HB 1397) of the bill. Sen. Danny Burgess, who sponsored the Senate version (SB 1532), celebrated the passage on Twitter.

“With HART no longer meeting the needs of residents who rely on public transit, this will allow us to gather information on how best to move forward,” Burgess wrote, tagging Rep. Lawrence McClure, the House sponsor.

The bill comes after months of turmoil at HART, including serious management problems many believe are affecting operations and transit access for residents and visitors who rely on the agency’s bus service.