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How Florida’s Amendment 2 could affect hunting and fishing

Florida voters will decide in November whether to enshrine fishing and hunting as a constitutional right. Backers of Amendment 2, including outdoors groups, say the proposal will protect Florida’s cultural heritage from “anti-hunting” threats.

Opponents say it could permit “objectionable” hunting practices and lead to unnecessary wildlife deaths. Groups like the Animal Law Section of the Florida Bar and Sierra Club Florida have come out against it.

Florida statutes already recognize the right to fish and hunt as a “valued part of the cultural heritage of Florida.” The amendment would “preserve forever fishing and hunting, including by the use of traditional methods, as a public right and preferred means of responsibly managing and controlling fish and wildlife.” It would not limit the authority of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

Lawmakers placed the initiative on the ballot last year. The measure passed unanimously in the Florida House and 38-1 in the Senate. Democratic Sen. Lauren Book cast the sole “no” vote

DeSantis signs law allowing Floridians to shoot and kill bears in self-defense

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday signed a controversial bill allowing people to shoot and kill bears in self-defense. The measure sailed through the Republican-led Senate in a 24-12 vote in February.

The law, which takes effect July 1, allows killing bears if a person “reasonably believed” it was necessary to avoid death or serious injury to themselves, other people or family pets, as well as substantial damage to homes, according to the bill language.

Black bears were once a threatened species in Florida, but they recently saw stiffened protections under DeSantis. In 2020, the governor signed a bill that increased penalties for illegal bear hunting to protect them from poachers.

Bear hunting has been illegal in Florida since 1994, except for a limited season in October 2015.

DeSantis signs bill compensating Dozier School victims who endured abuse

Roy Conerly says the Legislature’s decision was his birthday present.

For 15 years, Conerly traveled to Tallahassee for each legislative session to talk about physical and sexual abuse he and other survivors of the Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys experienced at the now-shuttered state-run institution in northwest Florida, and to ask the state to acknowledge how children had to suffer because of their failure.

This year in March, on his 78th birthday, the Florida Senate passed a bill that would provide $20 million to compensate victims of the Dozier School and another state reform school in Okeechobee County. Conerly said the pain he faced as a 15-year-old finally felt acknowledged.

“It’s the best present,” Conerly said. “When I did wrong, I had to pay a price. The state did wrong, and they have to pay a price. It’s only fair.”

Florida Medicaid spending on undocumented immigrants plummets after new law

The amount of money that Florida’s Medicaid program spends to provide emergency health care to undocumented migrants has dropped significantly after Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis launched a multi-pronged crackdown on illegal immigration amid his unsuccessful primary bid for president.

DeSantis signed a law last year directing hospitals that accept Medicaid to ask patients about their immigration status when they seek treatment. While the law does not force patients to provide hospitals with an answer, immigrant rights groups feared the mandate would scare migrants away from seeking urgent medical attention.

The DeSantis administration and other Florida Republicans say any marked decreases in spending are signs his immigration crackdown is working.

Florida’s Emergency Medical Assistance program for undocumented immigrants has seen a 54 percent drop in expenditures billed to Medicaid this year — with less than two months remaining in the fiscal year — since the state immigration law took effect, according to a POLITICO analysis.