Florida's Latest News

DeSantis gets 20 new Florida bills on his desk. Here’s the full list

With nearly 40 new laws already approved so far this year, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is now looking at another 20 that were sent to his desk.

In addition, DeSantis signed off on two other bills on Tuesday, meaning they will both go into effect on July 1. Those new laws are as follows:

SB 182 — Teacher Mentors

Senate Bill 182 establishes the School Teacher Training and Mentoring Program, aimed at improving teacher effectiveness in public schools.

Under this program, qualified teachers can be placed as mentors in schools that have a “D” or “F” grade, thereby improving the performance of these schools.

Florida’s ‘AI Bill of Rights’: What happened, what’s in it, and what’s next?

For the second time in two months, Gov. Ron DeSantis is trying to drive his “AI Bill of Rights” through the Florida Legislature.

He’s one of few Republicans carving out an anti-artificial intelligence path, one that bucks President Donald Trump and his tech titan allies. The governor’s push comes after the state House, staunchly opposed to most DeSantis ideas under the leadership of Speaker Danny Perez, refused to touch the “AI Bill of Rights” even after the Senate approved the measure during the regular session.

But as lawmakers head into next week’s four-day special session, scheduled for April 28 to May 1, will the “AI Bill of Rights” — a sweeping state-level measure to lay guardrails for the power of artificial intelligence in Florida — pass?

A Miami Republican, Speaker Perez isn’t so sure. He thinks AI regulation should be left to the federal government, in alignment with a Trump executive order and federal legislation that would limit states’ abilities to pass AI-restrictive legislation.

Ashley Moody co-sponsors Senate measure to limit college athlete transfers

Debate has been raging about the frequency of college athletes changing schools. U.S. Sen. Ashley Moody is co-sponsoring a bill that she hopes will get the issue under control.

The Student Athlete Act of 2026 would institute rules governing transfers by athletes, as well as update and standardize other regulations for college sports.

Moody said college sports has become a wild west as athletes run amok with little loyalty to institutions that pay for their education.

“We cannot sit back while college sports become unregulated professional free agency in a university jersey. Seventeen-year-olds are being asked to compete against 25-year-olds, and players are hopping from school to school each year, chasing money instead of excellence,” Moody said in a news release.

A look at Florida's largest active wildfires

More than 100 significant wildfires are burning across the state, reducing air quality readings, limiting visibility and, in some cases, causing evacuations.

Many of the more impactful fires are located across North and North-Central Florida, where dry vegetation, occasionally gusty winds and a significant lack of rainfall have combined to create dangerous fire conditions.

“This is not just an isolated area,” said Wilton Simpson, Florida's commissioner of agriculture. “We’ve got fires all over the state today.”

Emergency officials warn that the situation could worsen in the coming weeks, with little to no rainfall expected in long-range forecasts.