Florida Senate

A single Republican, Sen. Jeff Brandes of St. Petersburg, crossed party lines and joining Democrats in voting against the bill.

Florida’s Senate Rules Committee is preparing to scale down a proposal that would have done away with ballot drop boxes in the name of election reform. Lawmakers will continue to discuss the bill Friday or next week, after time ran out in the committee before a vote could be taken. The plan is still under fire from Democrats and voting rights groups who say the rest of the bill makes it harder for Floridians to vote.

Florida Senate President Wilton Simpson says negotiations with the Seminole Indian Tribe have been “productive”—hinting at the chance the state could hammer out a new gambling agreement with the tribe that would likely allow Seminole casinos to offer more kinds of gambling and would lead to the state getting to collect money from the tribe again.

The Senate sponsor of a sweeping elections package is backing down from an effort to do away with ballot drop boxes, but critics maintain the proposal still contains unnecessary provisions that would make it harder for Floridians to vote by mail.

The Florida Senate on Wednesday backed starting to pay for critical repairs of a reservoir at a troubled former phosphate plant in Manatee County and bumped up proposed spending on affordable housing. The Senate made the decisions as it approved an initial $95 billion budget plan for the fiscal year that will start July 1. But the plan is considered only a starting point for negotiations with the House, which has offered a $97 billion proposal.

The Senate Rules Committee on Tuesday approved the measure (SB 2006), which is focused on how the state should respond to future pandemics. The committee also added changes included in a separate bill (SB 1924), which in part would require local governing bodies to vote to extend emergency orders after 10 days and would give the governor or the Legislature the power to invalidate the orders.

The Senate would use funds received through the American Rescue Plan. Senate President Wilton Simpson said it is "a catastrophe waiting to happen for too long."

If the bill becomes law, Floridians would be able to open businesses inside their homes, including the kinds that bring customers and shoppers. It would also strip some powers from local governments.

A proposal that would allow state colleges and universities to authorize the creation of charter schools and sponsor the schools is advancing in the Florida Senate. The proposal would allow higher education institutions, upon approval by the state Department of Education, to solicit applications from charter schools.

Florida Democrats are demanding that a state senator resign and a special election be held after a prosecutor charged a former Republican legislator with fraud related to a razor-thin Miami-Dade County race last year.

Environmentalists are concerned over a series of bills aimed at promoting consumer choice by preempting local government control of energy-related issues. Senate Bill 1128 is one of them. It would stop local governments from being able to restrict or ban utilities from using certain fuel sources like natural gas.

A proposal meant to encourage the construction of more electric vehicle charging stations passed its first committee stop today. It would create a grant program that would allow state agencies, local governments, and more to apply and get funding to develop plans to install the stations. It would also cover the purchase of equipment and the cost of installation.