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Ashley Moody rallies Florida Sheriffs, touts legislative wins on fentanyl, immigration

Opening the 2025 Florida Sheriffs Association Summer Conference, U.S. Sen. Ashley Moody addressed the state’s top law enforcement officials on Monday, highlighting recent legislative achievements and presenting a robust policy agenda focused on supporting law enforcement.

In her new role as Senator, after serving two terms as the state’s Attorney General, Moody expressed her gratitude to the Sheriffs for their service and reaffirmed her commitment to ensuring Florida remains the “most pro-law-enforcement state in the nation.”

A key highlight of Moody’s address was the success of the HALT Fentanyl Act, a bill she co-sponsored that was recently signed into law by President Donald Trump.

She explained that this law permanently classifies fentanyl-related substances as Schedule I drugs, equipping law enforcement with enhanced tools to prosecute traffickers and address the deadly opioid crisis.

Moody celebrated the bill’s passage as a significant victory for public safety, crediting the advocacy of law enforcement leaders.

DCF promotes mobile response interventions that drive down involuntary mental health admissions

Programs to divert patients who have been recommended for detention under Florida’s Baker Act, a mental health designation, from being involuntarily confined have saved the state millions in costs.

The Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF) found that there was about $12.2 million annually that has been saved since so-called Mobile Response Teams (MRTs) have intervened before or as law enforcement is confronted with someone undergoing a mental health crisis. Often, law enforcement responding to those incidents will detain a person under the Baker Act and will refer them involuntarily to psychiatric hospitalization.

DCF officials say the MRTs have diverted 80% of those individuals from going through that forced hospitalization. MRTs are meant to intervene in crises, alleviate trauma, and de-escalate incidents. Those responses from MRTs, which are on call 24 hours a day, instead of law enforcement interventions, have saved Floridians millions in fiscal year 2023-24.

MRTs contract with Florida Behavioral Health Managing Entities in seven areas of the state to work with local providers.

Plan to limit speed of large trucks comes to stop. Florida gets grant to increase rig parking

Some more changes are ahead when it comes to sharing the highway and parking lots with drivers of big trucks.

The Trump administration said it is putting a stop to a 2016 Obama-era plan to set a de facto national speed limit as low as 60 mph for big rigs and buses traveling American highways.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy announced June 27 his department will deliver more than $275 million in grants to expand parking access for truck drivers nationwide, including $180 million for Florida.

"Truckers keep America running. While the country sleeps, truckers grind through the night to help keep shelves stocked, families fed, and businesses humming," Duffy said.

"It’s a job that requires grit and dedication. But for too long Washington, D.C., has made work harder for truckers. That ends today."

DeSantis readies AI policies, worries technology could disrupt Florida jobs

Gov. Ron DeSantis is readying new policies to address the influence of artificial intelligence, worried the rapidly evolving technology could harm Floridians.

DeSantis has outlined a variety of AI critiques at recent events — from its potential to disrupt the job market to its lack of knowledge about Florida Gators athletics.

“I’m not one to say that we should just turn over our humanity to artificial intelligence,” he said Monday in Panama City. “I think it’s very dangerous, potentially.”

He hasn’t listed specific policy ideas, but he said Monday he plans to roll out an AI framework within the next few months. He added the approach may require legislative action.

“I don’t want our experience, our ability to live and pursue happiness, which is what the Founding Fathers intended, to be subordinated to the whims of these Big Tech guys,” he said.

DeSantis has lamented that students are using AI to write term papers and that Grok, X’s AI feature, didn’t know how many national championships the University of Florida had won in basketball and football. He said he fears the technology could be manipulated to create “false narratives,” adding that he is concerned about turning over society to “tech overlords.”