Florida

COMMENTARY

It took forever. But Democrats finally seem to have found an answer to President Trump’s claim – directed for years now at Latino voters in Florida – that the party is a sinister socialist cabal poised to nationalize auto factories, shutter churches and send your abuelita out to cut sugar cane to meet the Politburo’s Five-Year Plan. Like, you know, the way Fidel Castro and Hugo Chávez did.

TALLAHASSEE — Florida cannot, for now, bar felons who served their time from registering to vote simply because they have failed to pay all fines and fees stemming from their cases, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday.

A three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a Tallahassee federal judge's preliminary injunction that a state law implementing Amendment 4 amounted to an unfair poll tax that would disenfranchise many of the released felons.

The Trump administration is asking Congress for more than $25 billion to fund NASA next year. Florida stands to gain if the budget is passed by Congress. 

The budget is merely a request. Ultimately it’s up to Congress to appropriate the money.

The budget proposal for 2021 is a 12 percent increase from last year and fully funds NASA’s SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft — two programs with large footholds at Kennedy Space Center.

TALLAHASSEE — Two proposals moving forward in the Florida Legislature would make the process of selecting presidents at public colleges and universities more secretive.

The House State Affairs Committee on Thursday approved a leadership-backed bill (PCB SAC 20-04) that would create a public-records and public-meetings exemption for information related to presidential searches.

Members of Florida’s American Civil Liberties Union and NAACP on Tuesday appeared in federal appeals court in Atlanta, as they continue to challenge a Florida law they say infringes on voting rights of felons. 

Amendment 4 restored voting rights to people convicted of a felony once they completed their sentence. People convicted of murder or a sexual offense were excluded. 

TALLAHASSEE — A Tallahassee research group wants state lawmakers to temper a trend of tying the hands of city and county officials by “preempting” local regulations.

The non-profit group Integrity Florida issued a report Monday raising concerns that lawmakers, with the backing of powerful lobbying groups, are strategically attacking home-rule authority on issues ranging from sunscreen bans to regulating businesses.