After years of studies, there may finally be a path forward to ease traffic and mobility issues in downtown Maitland — an area drivers and pedestrians say feels chaotic and even dangerous.
Two key priorities of Gov. Ron DeSantis that failed to advance in the regular legislative session were discarded as the House opened a special session on Tuesday. House Speaker Daniel Perez, R-Miami, said the House remains “fairly clear on our position” against the proposals to expand vaccine exemptions for public K-12 students and to protect consumers’ interactions with artificial intelligence.
Florida lawmakers are back at work in Tallahassee to pass a map favored by Gov. Ron DeSantis to redraw Florida’s Congressional districts. The session was also supposed to address DeSantis’ AI Bill of Rights and an expansion on vaccine exemptions, but House Speaker Daniel Perez said no bills were filed on those issues.
Ron DeSantis is back in the national spotlight as he pushes for a new congressional map in Florida.
More than one month after ending the regular session without passing a budget, legislative leaders said Thursday they have a deal on top-line spending levels and plans for a May special session to pass the bill that funds the Florida government.
This week on “Politically Motivated‚” Christopher Heath and Lauren Melendez take a closer look at what is holding up state budget negotiations, along with what bills are still outstanding, and the results of the city elections in Orange County on Tuesday.
Florida House Speaker Daniel Perez won’t say whether Governor Ron DeSantis’ push for an “Artificial Intelligence Bill of Rights” will advance in his chamber this year. However, three weeks remain in the legislative session, and the bill has not been heard in a single House committee yet.
The House passed its $113.6 billion budget proposal Thursday, but House Speaker Daniel Perez warned negotiations with the Senate could be rocky, possibly leading to an extension of the legislative session.
President Donald Trump has called for Republican states to redraw their U.S. House districts ahead of next year's elections.
The Florida House on Thursday rolled out a series of proposed constitutional amendments to cut property taxes, while looking to shield funding for schools and law enforcement. One bill would get rid of most homesteaded residential property taxes.
Missouri has become the third state to embrace a mid-decade redesign of its U.S. House districts in a quest for partisan advantage.
After months of contentious debate, some in public, Florida lawmakers passed a budget Monday that included $1.3 billion in state and local tax cuts, but nothing as radical as leaders were proposing.
Florida lawmakers Thursday started moving forward with a proposed constitutional amendment that supporters say would bulk up financial reserves to help the state weather potential problems such as economic recessions.
When lawmakers begin budget conference talks Tuesday, a couple of priorities of Senate President Ben Albritton, R-Wauchula, and House Speaker Daniel Perez, R-Miami, likely will already be off the table, including a plan to bolster rural areas and cut the overall sales tax rate.
Nearly a month after leaving the Capitol without passing a budget, House and Senate leaders said Friday night they had reached an agreement that will clear the way for lawmakers to begin hammering out details of a spending plan Tuesday.
Florida lawmakers are no closer to releasing a budget proposal, and on Friday, state House leaders told representatives that they shouldn’t expect to be in Tallahassee next week.
Legislative leaders have not reached agreement on key initial budget details, as lawmakers prepare to return to the Capitol to hammer out a spending plan for the 2025-2026 fiscal year, which will begin July 1.
The 60-day legislative session was scheduled to end Friday, but lawmakers have blown past a budget deadline to make that happen. House Speaker Daniel Perez, R-Miami, and Senate President Ben Albritton, R-Wauchula, also advised their members Thursday that lawmakers won’t be in Tallahassee next week.
Scrutiny of a welfare program that is the signature initiative of Florida first lady Casey DeSantis is threatening to undermine a potential run to succeed her husband as governor, as well as his own presidential ambitions.
Lawmakers in Tallahassee will not be able to get a budget passed before the regularly planned end of the annual legislative session, with House and Senate leaders remaining at loggerheads over tax cuts. Gov. Ron DeSantis told News 6 he was concerned about one particular proposed tax change.
Student survivors of last week’s deadly shooting at Florida State University are urging legislators to block an effort to reverse a law passed in the wake of the 2018 Parkland shooting that raised the state’s gun-buying age from 18 to 21.
Students who experienced a shooting at both Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018 and Florida State University days ago have sent a letter to Gov. Ron DeSantis demanding he reject a law that would lower the firearm purchase age back to 18 years old.
Appearing before leaders of the state university system, House Speaker Daniel Perez on Wednesday defended a bill that would repeal a law shielding information about school presidential candidates from public disclosure.
Speaker Perez said that if the proposal is successful, it will make Florida the only state in the country's history to permanently reduce its sales tax.
A House panel on Tuesday unanimously signed off on a proposal that would make further changes to condominium safety laws requiring inspections of older buildings and adequate reserves for repairs.
With House Speaker Daniel Perez pointing to an “age of disruption,” Florida Republican legislative leaders opened the 2025 session on Tuesday by voicing support for digging into government spending.
The Florida Legislature is going back to Tallahassee starting Tuesday to make changes to recently-passed — and contentious — legislation to crack down on undocumented immigrants.
Special Florida House panels are teed up next week to scrutinize Gov. Ron DeSantis’ line-item budget vetoes, setting up possible overrides amid a dispute between the governor and Republican legislative leaders over immigration-enforcement plans.
The Republican-controlled Florida Legislature passed a bill Tuesday night aimed at curbing illegal immigration, sending the package to the desk of Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has derided the proposal for days.
Florida lawmakers have passed a sweeping immigration bill, setting aside half a billion dollars in public funds to help carry out President Donald Trump’s crackdown on people in the country illegally.
The Florida Legislature will hold a session this week after all, and tackle only one issue, immigration, with a bill of their own creation. That bill puts immigration collaboration and enforcement in the hands of Florida Commissioner of Agriculture Wilton Simpson, taking much of the power from Gov. DeSantis.
Gov. Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency as the Panhandle and other parts of North Florida get hit with frigid weather and face the possibility of snow and ice.
The Florida Senate president and House speaker rebuffed a call for a special session by Gov. DeSantis on immigration, hurricane recovery and more, calling it premature.
Fiscal belt-tightening is coming in Tallahassee, according to Florida’s new legislative leaders who took their oaths of office Tuesday.
Incoming House Speaker Daniel Perez on Thursday rolled out changes to House committees, while saying lawmakers have “spent taxpayer funds excessively and indiscriminately in the last few years.”
An attorney representing a Jewish firefighter showed a picture of his client’s colleague wearing a mustache and displaying a salute synonymous with Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany while wearing a Melbourne Fire Department polo during work.
