Florida's Latest News

Five of seven state legislators representing Brevard get committee leadership positions

The seven state legislators representing Brevard County have received their committee assignments for the coming legislative session, including five getting leadership roles on committees. All seven are Republicans.

Both state senators representing parts of Brevard received committee chairmanships.

Sen. Tom Wright will continue to chair the Senate Military and Veterans Affairs, Space, and Domestic Security Committee. Wright represents north Brevard County and most of Volusia County.

Sen. Randy Fine — who joined the Senate in November after eight years in the Florida House of Representatives — will chair the Senate Governmental Oversight and Accountability Committee. Fine also will be vice chair of the Community Affairs Committee and alternating chair of the Joint Select Committee on Collective Bargaining. Fine represents central and south Brevard County.

Fine, however, will be resigning from his Senate seat on March 31, as he runs in a special election for Congress in Florida District 6, a six-county district in the Daytona Beach area, seeking to fill a vacancy.

Danny Burgess pushes for better notification from property insurers on rate changes, cancellations

Sen. Danny Burgess has filed legislation that would require homeowners policy insurers to give ratepayers better notification of policy cancellation, nonrenewal or rate changes.

The bill (SB 128) would require 45 days’ written notice, mailed to the policyholder’s last known address. The bill would also require email notification if the policyholder provided an email address.

The bill would require at least 10 days written notice, including the reason for any cancellation due to nonpayment. The bill exempts homeowners policies that require monthly payments from the 10-day notification requirement.

The new provision would be added to Florida state statute 627.7011 as a seventh section. The existing statute includes provisions on insurer requirements prior to issuing a policy, including information on what is and is not covered and is intended to “encourage policyholders to purchase sufficient coverage to protect them in case events excluded from the standard homeowners policy” cause damage or loss to the insured property.

Cammack Introduces Two Bills Right After Swearing-In

The House of Representatives has returned to session, and its new and incumbent members have sworn in and are voting to retain Representative Mike Johnson (R-LA) as Speaker of the House. On top of the vote, Representative Kat Cammack (R-FL) has already introduced two bills to hit the ground running ahead of President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration, saying, "I'm looking forward to reinvigorating our economy, securing our southern border, and making our communities safe again."

Rep. Cammack's first piece of legislation reintroduced is the Regulations from the Executive In Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act, which she had originally introduced in January 2023 and passed the House in June 2023. The REINS Act would require Congressional approval of federal agencies implementing or enforcing "major" rulings with any of the following effects: cost or price increases for consumers, "significant" adverse effects on American industry, or an economic impact totaling $100 million or more.

In September, Rep. Cammack introduced new REINS Act provisions, including the right to sue a federal agency for implementing or enforcing a rule without Congressional approval. Individuals can defend themselves by saying that "the average person would not have known their actions violated federal law if the statute did not clearly state it" and allowing for the withdrawal of costly or burdensome rules without Congressional approval.

FDEP holds hearing on its proposal to protect Florida springs

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection is holding a public hearing in the state capitol Monday morning about the agency’s recently-proposed rules to better protect the state’s freshwater springs.

But springs advocates say FDEP’s proposal still needs more work, because as currently written, it wouldn’t effectively change anything about how the state currently regulates pumping groundwater from vulnerable Florida springs. Although a 2016 state law directed FDEP to develop new rules to better protect those springs, the agency only proposed new rules last month, after the Florida Springs Council filed a lawsuit demanding that it do so.

That lawsuit filed in November was later voluntarily dismissed by both parties without prejudice, meaning the complaint could potentially be brought again at a later time, according to FSC. In the meantime, FSC Executive Director Ryan Smart said he’s hoping FDEP will “fix the rule” before submitting it to the state for adoption.

“They can still modify it at this point: that’s what we’ll be asking them to do on [January 6],” Smart said. “If FDEP insists on going forward with an invalid rule, we’re prepared to take legal action.”