florida law

Local governments would be severely restricted from implementing measures to reduce the effects of climate change under a bill approved Thursday by a Florida House committee. The measure (HB 1217) comes nearly two years Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation declaring that the state would no longer be required to consider climate change when crafting energy policy.

Anti-abortion conservatives have long sought to force Planned Parenthood’s clinics to close their doors and to make it harder, if not impossible, to get abortion pills as part of a two-pronged approach to limit access to abortion.

Florida lawmakers moved ahead Thursday with a proposal to get cyclists on e-bikes to slow down around pedestrians and make other safety improvements, although many suggested the effort should cover people using electric scooters as well.

Senate Bill 216 would disqualify recipients who fail to contact five -- or in small counties three -- new employers each week, miss three interviews without notifying the employer, or fail to return to work if called back.

Now, the Florida Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles says that all Florida driver’s license written and oral exams will be administered only in English — without the option of an interpreter or translator — starting Feb. 6. The change applies to all driver license classifications.

A pair of AI bills aimed at environmental protection and business growth surrounding AI data centers advanced.

147K able-bodied, childless adults would be required to work or lose their health care benefits under Senate proposal.

Florida physicians can treat minors for sexually transmitted infections, substance abuse, and mental health problems without first obtaining parental consent. Those rights, scattered throughout Florida statues, would be eliminated, and the Parents’ Bill of Rights expanded, under HB 173.

Former detainees are set to testify about conditions at a Florida immigration detention center known as "Alligator Alcatraz." A federal judge is considering whether they have sufficient access to the legal system. Civil rights attorneys are seeking a temporary injunction to ensure detainees at the state-run Everglades facility have the same access to attorneys as those in federally-run centers.

What will happen to Florida’s ban on TikTok now that there’s a U.S.-China deal? Nobody is saying, but it might be too soon for students and government workers to expect to be able to open their “FYP” on the social media platform in classrooms or on state-owned phones or tablets.

While Florida’s top GOP leaders now all say they expect to put just one constitutional amendment on the ballot this fall on cutting property taxes, a joint resolution approved by a House committee Thursday is now set to go to the full House — the second such joint resolution to pass all of its assigned committees in the chamber this session.

Called the “AI Bill of Rights,” the 23-page legislation bans companion chatbots — AI systems that mimic emotional connection — from speaking to minors without parental consent and requires bots to remind users that they are not human.