LEGISLATURE 2008 | ANALYSIS
Faced with $5 billion in cuts to the state budget, Broward lawmakers spent most of their time in Tallahassee this year playing defense as they tried to block deep cuts to county schools, hospitals and courts.
LEGISLATURE
In a day of righting government injustice, a wrongfully convicted man was finally compensated for 24 years in prison Tuesday, just hours after Gov. Charlie Crist signed off on an $18 million payment plan for a brain-damaged girl whom the system failed.
FLORIDA LEGISLATURE
Florida lawmakers on Friday gave swift approval to a $66.2 billion state budget, sending a spending plan to Gov. Charlie Crist that cuts overall spending by a record $4 billion.
LEGISLATURE
Up to 3.8 million uninsured Floridians could soon buy inexpensive health-coverage packages, after legislators tentatively agreed Thursday to a two-step plan serving individuals as well as small businesses.
EDUCATION
Companies that tutor kids in low-performing Miami-Dade schools will get a special break under an amendment tucked into a bill to grade the effectiveness of federally financed tutoring.
CALLER ID
Score a point for untainted Caller ID: the Legislature approved a proposed law Thursday cracking down on tech-savvy pranksters and scammers known as spoofers.
ECONOMY
The Legislature's decision to cut $4 billion from the state budget in the midst of an economic slump will spread financial pain throughout the state and make Florida's economy worse, economists warned Thursday.
INSURANCE
The Florida Legislature on Thursday handed Citizens policyholders another 12-month rate-hike reprieve and regulators more power to police insurance companies.
LEGISLATURE
As ethanol-blended fuel begins pouring into Florida, the state's gas stations are making a last-ditch effort to ensure that consumers can still buy regular gas.
No sooner had several oil companies finished retrofitting their large gas storage facilities to hold only ethanol-blended fuel -- in anticipation of the state's new energy bill, which cleared the state Legislature on Wednesday -- Florida's gas stations pushed an amendment onto a pest-control bill Thursday requiring them to provide at least some regular fuel to customers.
Often before homeowners realize they are in foreclosure, pamphlets, letters and phone calls start streaming in from businesses offering to save their property from the clutches of the bank.
A broad insurance bill that freezes rates charged by the state-run insurer and increases regulators' power to police insurance companies passed the state Legislature Thursday afternoon.
LEGISLATURE
The Florida Senate gave final approval to an energy bill Wednesday, bringing new energy-efficient building codes, renewable fuel standards and several other initiatives to reduce greenhouse gases and reduce the state's dependence on foreign oil.
EDUCATION
Senate Republicans have a take-it-or-leave-it deal for the lawmakers who want to change the much-maligned FCAT exam: Give us more public money for private schools.
ELECTIONS
The state House voted unanimously Wednesday to tighten what kind of photo IDs can be used at the polls, coming just two days after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a much stricter photo ID law in Indiana.
Deep cuts to Florida's already struggling child welfare effort will ''sentence many children to a childhood in foster care'' and leave the state in violation of federal programs that pay for the bulk of state services, a coalition of children's advocates warns.
DEATH OF JAIME GOUGH
Four years after Jaime Gough, an honors student at Southwood Middle School, was stabbed to death in the school's bathroom by a classmate, state lawmakers approved a bill releasing $1 million in settlement money for the family.
LEGISLATURE
South Florida counties must eventually stop pumping hundreds of millions of gallons of sewage every day into the ocean, under a bill the Legislature passed Wednesday that also sticks the counties with the $3 billion cost.
FLORIDA LEGISLATURE
In a surprising rejection of conservative election-year politics, the Republican-controlled state Senate on Wednesday defeated a measure requiring women to get an ultrasound exam and view the results before proceeding with an abortion.
The Florida Senate gave final approval to a massive energy bill Wednesday, bringing new energy efficient building codes, renewable fuel standards and a host of other initiatives to reduce greenhouse gases and reduce the state's dependence on foreign oil.
LEGISLATURE | PRISONS
Florida lawmakers, who once kept two men wrongfully sent to Death Row waiting 22 years for compensation, voted Tuesday to make the process automatic.
UNIVERSITY BOARD OF GOVERNORS
A bill to dismantle the system governing state universities and make the education commissioner an elected job fizzled to near death Tuesday when the House failed to take it up.
LEGISLATURE
TALLAHASSEE -- Not all small businesses owners use the Internet, keep offices, or have the time and staff to comply with state regulations, especially regulations that are designed for larger business.
LEGISLATURE
A major push to address climate change in Florida with a comprehensive energy overhaul -- encompassing everything from ethanol fuel standards to new, energy efficient building codes -- passed the House Tuesday.
LEGISLATURE
In the wake of Florida's real estate downturn and rapid rise in foreclosures, the state Senate passed a second bill in as many years Tuesday, increasing the penalties for those convicted of mortgage fraud.
The debate over whether to force pregnant women considering abortion to pay for ultrasounds turned to emotional ''what if'' scenarios Tuesday as the proposed law hinges on a tie-breaker.
HEALTHCARE
(AP) -- A proposal to expand a controversial experiment in making the state's Medicaid healthcare system work more like the private sector is dead for this year, the plan's chief legislative booster said.
BUDGET CUTS
In the waning days of the session, legislators are poised to pass a budget teeming with billions of dollars in cuts -- but also mandates that county and municipal officials say will shift the burden to local taxpayers.
TEACHER TRAINING
The Florida House of Representatives on Tuesday unanimously passed a compromise that preserves much of the special training for reading teachers of students learning English -- but the compromise so displeased the bill's Senate sponsor that he promised to let it die without a vote in his chamber.
TRANSPORTATION
State House leaders pulled out all the stops Tuesday -- including allowing the city of Miami to regulate mural-sized advertising -- and won the votes needed to bring commuter rail to Central Florida.
FLORIDA LEGISLATURE
Of the myriad losers in a state budget that cuts a record $4 billion in spending, public education will lose the most -- with Miami-Dade and Broward schools getting hit hardest of all.
LEGISLATURE
Pop a wheelie, pay a grand. The Legislature, in a crackdown on reckless driving, passed tough love Tuesday for daredevil motorcyclists.
A major push to address climate change in Florida with a comprehensive energy overhaul -- encompassing everything from ethanol fuel standards to new, energy efficient building codes -- passed the state House Tuesday 108-0, void of any complications that could bog down its swift passage in the Senate later this week and ultimately a signature from the governor.
FLORIDA LEGISLATURE
A health coverage plan for 3.8 million uninsured Floridians has stalled amid the down-to-the-wire politics of a state lawmaking session where there has been too little money and trust to ensure its swift passage.
SENATE
A bill mandating ultrasound scans for all women seeking an abortion faces an uncertain vote Tuesday in the Florida Senate, where moderate Republicans are banding with Democrats to defeat it -- thereby sparing Gov. Charlie Crist from tackling an issue on which he has shifted his stance.
REGISTERING VOTERS
Saying that a Florida law will shut down their efforts to register voters during a hotly contested presidential election, the League of Women Voters and two unions are asking a federal judge to strike it down.
EDUCATION
By the numbers, South Florida's school districts -- the two biggest in the state and among the largest in the country -- should be entitled to significant influence over state education policy and financing.
LEGISLATURE
Jeff Johnston would have been graduating from high school this year, making plans for college and contemplating a future full of possibilities.
FLORIDA LEGISLATURE
A health coverage plan for 3.8 million uninsured Floridians has stalled amid the down-to-the-wire politics of a state lawmaking session where there has been too little money and trust to ensure swift passage.
FLORIDA HOUSE
A bill that would ensure teachers are not punished for challenging evolution in the classroom was debated Friday in the Florida House but amended to include more stringent language that would mandate alternate views to evolution be taught.
MOTORCYCLING
State Rep. Carlos Lopez-Cantera wants motorcycle thrill-seekers to know: Pop a wheelie, face a fine. One motorcycle enthusiast wants Lopez-Cantera to know: You just might be on the lunch menu.
FLORIDA CONSTITUTION
The citizen panel empowered to put amendments before voters ended its first meeting in 20 years with a bang Friday, asking Floridians to defy the state Supreme Court by allowing tax money to pay for kids to go to private schools.
LEGISLATURE
Cleaner gasoline could be a reality for Florida drivers much sooner than most people think -- in some areas well before regular is likely to hit $4 a gallon.
Cleaner gasoline could be a reality for Florida drivers sooner than most people think, and, in some areas, well before regular is likely to hit $4 a gallon.
AFFORDABLE HOUSING
Last month's meeting went the way most do for the staff at Miami's Habitat for Humanity. Staffers watched as more than 225 Miami residents squeezed into the pews of the Hosana Community Baptist Church in Liberty City to learn about affordable-housing options.
TRANSPORTATION
Drivers who use Florida's Turnpike soon may have to fork over a lot more money in tolls. As part of a massive transportation bill, Florida lawmakers have tucked in a provision that would jack up rates on the turnpike by 25 percent starting July 1. The toll hike would also apply to the Sawgrass Expressway in Broward County.
TAX REFORM
A powerful citizens panel culminated a year of work on Thursday and put a plan to swap some property taxes for sales taxes on the November ballot, despite weeks of intense back-room lobbying by business groups that wanted to kill it.
Florida would have both a new state anthem and a revised state song -- one without the racially offensive lyrics that had brought it under fire -- with a plan approved Thursday by the state Senate.
HEALTHCARE
Comparison shopping for a colonoscopy? It could get a little easier under a bill being considered by the state Senate Thursday that would require pricing information from hospitals for 150 of the most commonly performed medical procedures to be posted on a state website.
LEGISLATURE
Court filing fees might rise. A program to help stranded motorists will stick around. And some of the poorest and sickest Floridians won't get their services cut -- for now.
People who have been unjustly imprisoned will have a streamlined way to receive compensation, under a proposal that overwhelmingly passed the Florida Senate Wednesday and would free those without prior felony convictions from the current bureaucratic maze.
LEGISLATURE
Fed up with high monthly bills and often inaccurate charges, Lourdes Delara thought she would just switch into a lower rate plan until her contract expired and she could look for a new cellphone provider.
TRANSPORTATION
South Florida's Tri-Rail came a step closer Tuesday to getting its long-sought revenue source to stave off service cuts when two bills moved in the House and Senate to use $2 a-day rental car fees to pay for the transit line.
HEALTHCARE
A major healthcare plan to help children with autism and other developmental disabilities cleared a key state House council Tuesday, bringing Florida a step closer to providing universal insurance for kids.
RESTAURANTS
He has danced alongside comedian Ellen DeGeneres on national television, testified in front of a state Senate committee and talked policy with Gov. Charlie Crist -- all at the ripe old age of 11.
TRANSPORTATION
Supporters of a controversial rail deal to allow the state to spend $650 million to buy 61 miles of track from CSX Railroad for an Orlando commuter line are trying to entice South Florida lawmakers to support it by offering long-sought financing to help Tri-Rail.
LEGISLATURE | CUBA
They called his measure political grandstanding. He called them business partners with the Castro regime. Monday there was no love lost between Rep. David Rivera, a Miami Republican, and a group of Miami-based travel agents specializing in trips to Cuba.
EDUCATION
The first substantive overhaul of Florida's high-stakes test in nine years was overwhelmingly approved by a House panel Monday, a move Democrats hailed as long overdue.
LEGISLATURE
Check-cashing stores provide valuable services to largely low-income consumers and recent immigrants who can have trouble opening a traditional bank account. Increasingly, though, drug traffickers, dirty contractors and Medicare con artists have found they also offer a valuable off-the-menu convenience -- money laundering.
LEGISLATURE
A successful incentive program offering cash rebates to film and entertainment companies that bring their production business to Florida is likely to hit the cutting room floor this year as lawmakers, facing revenue shortfalls, take an ax to the state budget.
They called his measure political grandstanding, he called them business partners with the Castro regime -- Monday afternoon there was no love lost between Rep. David Rivera, a Miami Republican, and a group of Miami-based travel agents specializing in trips to Cuba.
The Florida Retail Federation and the Florida Chamber of Commerce filed a lawsuit in federal court on Monday challenging the constitutionality of a new Florida law allowing employees and other citizens to conceal firearms in their parked vehicles on private property.
A toxic combination of partisan rancor and muscle-flexing by an empowered Democratic caucus erupted into an all-day and all-night feud of parliamentary one-upsmanship in the Florida House of Representatives that kept lawmakers in their seats well into the morning hours Saturday.
HEALTHCARE
Four years ago, Florida jumped on the bandwagon to create a nationwide health information network that would allow doctors and hospitals to share the electronic medical records of patients -- replacing an outdated paper-based system that still relies on fax machines and snail mail for the exchange of patient files.
REGULATION
In the wake of fatal crane accidents from New York City to Miami, it seemed this might be the year a proposal calling for state regulation of the crane industry would finally make it through the Legislature.
EDUCATION
A national program that rewards more than 11,000 of Florida's top teachers for continuing their education and going through a rigorous training program is about to be slashed by lawmakers despite warnings from Gov. Charlie Crist to leave it alone.
SCHOOL TAXES
A powerful state senator held a one-man tribunal Friday to point out the pitfalls of a proposed constitutional amendment to swap some school-district property taxes for higher sales taxes.
FLORIDA LEGISLATURE
Complaining that today's kids may not be learning what they need to know to get a job, the state House unanimously passed Friday an education bill that mandates a top-to-bottom revamping of the education children should get in public schools.
FLORIDA BUDGET
Gov. Charlie Crist said Friday that he is urging state lawmakers to reconsider their opposition to skimming state reserves to supplement the state's tapering revenues.
LEGISLATURE 2008 | EDUCATION
It's called the ''Academic Freedom'' bill and it's supposed to give teachers the freedom to teach the ''full range of scientific views'' about evolution.
MARCO RUBIO
Nine sessions as a legislator, two years as House speaker, ''100 ideas'' pursued, and it's all coming down to just two weeks for Marco Rubio to accomplish some of his final priorities in the Legislature.
LEGISLATURE 2008 | CONSTRUCTION
It was another rocky road Thursday for two bills attempting to undermine local regulation of the rock-mining industry. Two proposals seeking to limit a county or city's ability to approve or deny a rock mining permit were rejected, 4-2, by the Senate Environmental Preservation and Conservation Committee.
FLORIDA LEGISLATURE
Florida shoppers will get a weeklong sales-tax break on clothes and some school supplies later this year, but they won't get a similar tax holiday on hurricane supplies for the first time in years.
FLORIDA LEGISLATURE
A routine ceremonial resolution over a free-trade agreement with Colombia exploded into an angry political spat in the state House of Representatives Wednesday after both parties tried to exploit the issue for election-year gain.
HEALTHCARE
Florida has the third-highest percentage in the nation of residents without health insurance, and on Wednesday, the state Senate unanimously passed Gov. Charlie Crist's plan aimed at dramatically reducing those numbers.
INSURANCE
The Florida Senate passed a massive insurance bill with some consumer protections but no immediate steps to lower insurance rates.
LEGISLATION
At a time when Floridians are raging about unfairness of the property tax system, lawmakers attempted to root out one apparent and overlooked conflict of interest: county property appraisers appraising their own homes.
ENERGY
Echoing the calls for a national gas-tax holiday by Republican presidential candidate John McCain, Gov. Charlie Crist on Wednesday urged state legislators to eliminate the state gas tax temporarily this summer to give families a reprieve during tough economic times.
IMMIGRATION
Just listen and don't make any noise. Earlier in the year, before heading to Tallahassee, that was the approach Miami-Dade legislators decided to take on a series of proposed bills they oppose dealing with the issue of illegal immigration.
Drivers who want their trucks to have that virile look dodged a bullet in the Legislature Wednesday. State senators talked over the pressing issue of ''truck nutz'' after Sen. Carey Baker, a Eustis Republican, proposed a $60 fine for vehicles that have the popular anatomical figures on display. The proposal was an amendment to a larger bill dealing with transportation issues.
EDUCATION
Florida's progress in lowering class sizes in public schools could be frozen in place for the next two years, under a measure that has attracted bipartisan support and even won the blessing of the state teachers union.
TALLAHASSEE
It's all for Jaime -- the 6 a.m. boarding calls for flights from Miami to Tallahassee, the tireless walks in and out of legislators' offices, the sitting through hours of committee hearings.
FLORIDA'S HIGHWAYS
Armed with water, diesel fuel and kitty litter among other things, Cesar Cintron roams South Florida's highways, a roving, Mr. Fix-almost-anything looking for motorists in trouble.
TAXATION
A day after a state tax panel rejected a proposal to put a revenue cap on all governments in Florida, a House committee revived the idea and passed it out on a party-line vote.
CIGARETTE TAX
A bid to hike Florida's cigarette taxes by $1 a pack was approved by a Senate panel on Tuesday, but the measure appears all but certain to get snuffed out.
LEGISLATURE
A top Republican senator is working behind the scenes with Democrats to defeat an abortion measure sponsored by the leader of his own party in the Senate.
TALLAHASSEE
A powerful citizens panel couldn't muster the votes Monday for a constitutional amendment to cap all government revenue, but quickly gave the go-ahead for an amendment to make it easier to collect sales taxes on Internet and catalog sales.
LEGISLATURE
On Tuesday, Darryl Rouson will become one of Florida's most politically powerful people. The St. Petersburg lawyer, who has never held public office, is expected to be elected to the Legislature in a special election as he simultaneously holds a post as one of the 25 members of the powerful Taxation and Budget Reform Commission -- even though the state Constitution bans the appointment of sitting lawmakers to that panel.
Honk if you love Jesus. It might become more than just a bumper sticker in Florida. The Florida Legislature may create a new license plate that features the words ''I Believe'' and the image of a cross in front of a church stained glass window. The measure is moving in both the House and Senate.
LEGISLATURE
As legislators scramble for cash in the worst budget crisis they've ever faced, tens of millions of dollars in treasure lies just within their reach outside the Capitol.
STATE BUDGET
About Face is a small 11-year-old mentoring program held in National Guard armories across the state in which teenagers are taught ''life skills'' in small groups and warned about drugs and smoking.
INSURANCE
An insurance bill making its way through the Senate now provides a small break for homeowners covered by the state-run insurer but ramps up regulation for private insurers operating in Florida.
CHILD WELFARE
In his long public career, Bob Butterworth has taken on Big Tobacco, Major League Baseball and a television psychic. As Broward County sheriff, he arrested crooks. As a judge, he sent them to jail. And as Florida attorney general for 16 years, he worked the Legislature to get the money to prosecute them.
FLORIDA LOTTERY
A bad bet by Florida Lottery officials -- to start a series of new games in the middle of a likely recession -- is turning into another round of cuts in the Legislature's schools budget.
ECONOMY
As the economy slides further toward recession, lawmakers in Tallahassee are busy crafting proposals to spur growth and draw new businesses to Florida, even as they face pressure to scale back incentives because of budget restraints.
VIDEO VOYEURISM
Adults who commit ''video voyeurism'' against children under 16 could be charged with a third-degree felony, under a new bill that passed through the Senate Criminal and Civil Justice Appropriations Committee Thursday.
TALLAHASSEE
In a battle cast as railroads vs. people, state legislators split along party and geographical lines Wednesday when the Florida Senate approved a penny-pinching $66 billion budget that keeps prisons, courts, road projects and social services limping along in the fourth most populous state.
LEGISLATURE
In the three-year fight over whether citizens should be allowed to conceal their firearms in locked vehicles at work, state lawmakers have decided Florida business owners will have to bite the bullet.
INSURANCE
Some lawmakers are inclined to give homeowners covered by the state-run insurer another break on rate increases next year. But Alex Sink, Florida's chief financial officer, said it's ''not wise to extend the rate freeze'' on Citizens Property Insurance any further. She would like to see Citizens have rates in place that give it a greater chance to amass enough reserves to pay claims in the future.
ENVIRONMENT
Looming budget cuts are threatening to affect two of Florida's greenest programs: Everglades restoration and land preservation. House lawmakers have proposed suspending money next year for the Everglades and for Florida Forever, a land-buying program that spends $300 million a year to protect the state's natural resources from developers' bulldozers.
State funding for a water park in Hialeah Gardens -- not likely. Money for North Miami to build a new water processing plant -- not looking good.
PROFESSIONAL SPORTS
House Democratic Leader Dan Gelber says he's a Miami Dolphins fan -- even after their 1-15 season -- but that isn't stopping him from suggesting that the Legislature free up some money by ending an annual subsidy for several Florida professional sports teams, including his Dolphins.
UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI
Upset about the University of Miami's decision to buy its own hospital, House Speaker Marco Rubio and other Miami-Dade Republicans are threatening to withhold state money that now goes to UM's medical school.
SENATE
A key Senate committee approved Tuesday a compromise bill to require all women seeking an abortion to pay for an ultrasound scan before going through the procedure.
INSURANCE
From the halls of the Legislature to home-town events across the state, Gov. Charlie Crist is hitting the campaign trail for his newest cause: A new plan to provide health insurance to up to 3.8 million Floridians who lack it.
INSURANCE
A bill will hit the floor of the state House of Representatives Wednesday that proposes to use $250 million from the state-run insurer's reserves to fund a capital-buildup program for young or start-up insurance companies.
INSURANCE
After years of defying court orders and racking up fines, Allstate has released about 150,000 pages of documents it had staunchly protected as proprietary.
BUDGET BILL
Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio quietly slipped tough-to-spot language in a state budget plan last week that helps a friend and political money-man bid on a major fuel contract in a $265 million turnpike overhaul proposal.
TAX AMENDMENTS
Supporters of private-school vouchers were dealt another defeat Friday, as the powerful citizen panel that can put constitutional amendments directly before voters couldn't muster the votes for a proposal to restore vouchers for students in low-performing schools.
LEGISLATURE
Applying to be a mortgage broker in Florida may soon become cheaper if a bill moving through the state House gets the approval of the full Legislature.
WEAPONS
The state Senate is cocked and ready to vote next week on a guns-at-work bill that would allow people with concealed-weapons permits to leave their guns locked in their cars at workplace parking lots.
LIBERTY CITY
The Liberty City that some Miami-Dade legislators envision would be a place where no child goes to school without eating breakfast and high school graduation rates rise as crime statistics drop.
JUSTICE SYSTEM
As a tear rolled down his right cheek, Alan Crotzer, an innocent man, thanked lawmakers and Floridians on Thursday for righting a wrong they inflicted on him more than two decades ago.
EDUCATION
The number of state-paid vouchers available for low-income students to attend private schools would triple in five years under a bill passed by a key Senate committee Wednesday despite warnings from critics that it creates a ''shadow school system'' in violation of the state Constitution.
LEGISLATURE
A woman seeking an abortion in Florida would first have to get an ultrasound and review or turn down seeing the picture of the fetus, under a bill that passed the state House Wednesday, largely along party lines.
LOCAL BUDGETS
Against the opposition of several vocal critics from Broward County, the Senate Finance and Tax Committee approved legislation Wednesday that would force the state and all local governments to post on their websites all contracts over $5,000.
LEGISLATURE
Saying it is time to end ''welfare for politicians,'' the Florida House wants voters this fall to end the state's public financing of campaigns.
SOUTH FLORIDA | THE ENVIRONMENT
South Florida's everyday practice of pumping about 300 million gallons of sewage into the ocean would be phased out under a plan unanimously approved Wednesday by a state Senate committee.
MIAMI-DADE SCHOOLS
A claims bill that would allow the family of 14-year-old Jaime Gough, stabbed to death in the bathroom of Southwood Middle School in 2004, to collect on a $1.7 million settlement is headed to the state Senate floor.
LEGISLATURE
From the courthouse to the college lecture hall to the driver's-license office, Floridians could pay higher fees as part of legislative plans to pump up the state's withering budget.
GAMBLING
Poker rooms could stay open later and dormant jai-alai frontons could become greyhound racetracks under two bills that won approval from a Senate committee Tuesday.
CELLPHONES
Floridians under the age of 18 could be banned from using a cellphone while driving under a bill that would also ban everyone from sending text messages while driving.
CRANE INDUSTRY
Gaining momentum from last week's fatal crane accident in downtown Miami, a measure calling for state regulation of the crane industry inched closer Tuesday to a final vote in the state House.
BIOTECHNOLOGY
A bill before a Florida Senate committee would reduce by half the amount of money the Innovation Incentive grant program invests in biotechnology companies and research centers.
DOG RACING
On his first visit to the greyhound kennel, the investigator reported an ''outrageous stench'' of urine so strong it sent a track judge reeling from the building. A second inspection, about two weeks later, found no improvement in the ''noxious'' stink.
SCHOOLS
If Florida voters decide in November to do away with most of the local property taxes used to fund public schools, most South Florida educators simply don't believe legislators will make up for the lost revenue.
LEGISLATURE | TAXES
The property-tax swap proposed for the November ballot remains unchanged as the committee assigned to write the final draft of the controversial plan to amend the state Constitution postponed its work until next week.
INSURANCE
Money earmarked to pay future insurance claims could end up funding a program to provide additional capital for start-up and newer insurance firms.
What's worse: Dusk ruining a late-afternoon round of golf, or figuring out how to change the microwave clock twice a year? A state senator is sure it's the latter, so he's pushing a bill to abolish daylight saving time in Florida.
EDUCATION | CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT
The Florida Senate on Thursday passed a proposed constitutional amendment that would strip the Board of Governors of many of its powers, including setting tuition rates at state universities, and would once again make the state's education commissioner an elected post.
TAXES
The property-tax swap put on Florida's November ballot last week by the Taxation and Budget Commission faces its first test Friday -- over words.
FLORIDA CONSTITUTION
Wading into a church-state fight, a powerful Florida tax commission decided Wednesday to ask voters if the state should become the first in the nation to remove constitutional language that clearly prohibits spending public money on religious institutions.
EDUCATION
A bill to ensure teachers can scientifically criticize evolution was made less controversial Wednesday when it was rewritten to all but bar the controversial theory of intelligent design in science classrooms.
FLORIDA CONSTITUTION
The sponsor of a plan to put a strict cap on all governments' tax revenues into the state Constitution struggled to keep the issue alive Wednesday and postponed a vote on whether to put it on the November ballot.
LEGISLATURE
The Legislature issued an apology Wednesday for the state's ''shameful'' history in enslaving black people and passing laws that called for savage lashings and even the nailing of their ears to posts for crimes like burglary.
FLORIDA HOUSE
The Florida House unanimously voted Wednesday to award $1.25 million to a man who spent more than 24 years in prison for two rapes he didn't commit.
The crowd was large and the passion intense as the 530 people, mostly from Miami-Dade County, traveled to Tallahassee Tuesday to tell legislators to stay focused on giving them property tax relief.
STATE BUDGET
Steep tuition hikes for college students, a one-year delay in the opening of the Florida International University medical school, thousands of prison jobs eliminated.
INTERNET SAFETY
Might that online romantic match for you be a registered sex offender -- and should there be a law that lets you know? Or is such a legal requirement just a virtual ''food fight'' that one Internet dating service has launched against rivals for a competitive advantage?
LEGISLATION
A proposal to ask voters to impose a yearly cap on the money collected by governments in Florida, from tiny towns all the way to the state Legislature, will come to a vote Wednesday before the powerful state tax commission.
LEGISLATURE 2008
When it comes to eliminating unnecessary sales-tax exemptions -- among proposals the Florida Legislature likely will consider to offset proposed property-tax cuts -- exemption critics often talk about ostrich feed.
TALLAHASSEE
The wife of a top aide to Gov. Charlie Crist resigned her new state job on Friday, just two days after the hiring was first reported by The Miami Herald.
PROPERTY TAXES
The loudest opponents of the property-tax swap going before voters in November are lobbyists for major corporations and future legislative leaders who would be stuck with the plan's heavy lifting: $9.6 billion in sales tax increases, budget cuts and other revenue hikes.
FLORIDA SUPREME COURT
In unusually alarming terms, the Florida Supreme Court's chief justice told state lawmakers Thursday that a nearly 10 percent budget cut to the state court system would be tantamount to ''murder,'' ''suicide'' or a ``spear to the heart.''
LEGISLATURE
Caller ID, meet your match: a growing breed of tech-savvy prank callers and scam artists known as spoofers. Using simple Internet technology, these callers are able to change the name and number that appears on a caller ID system, resulting in all types of deception.
HIGHWAYS
Desperate to generate more money for road projects across the state, Florida transportation authorities are moving ahead with a plan to lease Alligator Alley to a company that would have the power to set the tolls it charges.
All women seeking abortions would first have to have ultrasounds and then the opportunity to view the results under a measure debated by a Florida House committee Thursday.
The tax cut that voters will be asked to approve in November will do more than save property owners money. It will force lawmakers to do what they have refused to do for nearly 70 years: modernize sales-tax rules to raise revenue from products and services that have never been taxed.
CONCERT TICKETS
Here's some bad news for teary-eyed tweens and frustrated parents: Scoring hard-to-get concert tickets for shows like Hannah Montana might still cost you loads of money and hours of hitting the redial button to get through to ticket sellers.
SENATE | ALIMONY
With a simple title of ''alimony/supportive relationships,'' a bill to add just 31 words to Florida law quickly turned into a complex divorce-court battle of the sexes Wednesday in a Senate committee.
The clearest aspects of Florida's biggest tax overhaul effort on November's ballot: billions in savings all but guaranteed for property owners and a just-as-likely sales-tax increase.
STATE GOVERNMENT
Gov. Charlie Crist has appointed the wife of one of his top aides to a nearly $100,000-a-year state job, a move that is drawing charges of favoritism.
INDUSTRIAL SAFETY
Before news spread of Saturday's deadly New York City crane accident, state legislators and the Miami-Dade County Commission already had proposals for crane safety standards on the horizon. The main question at stake was who would get their regulations up first.
LEGISLATURE 2008 | SUNSHINE LAWS
For several weeks, First Amendment Foundation President Barbara Petersen and her Tallahassee staff have been scouring through proposed state legislation, stamping cloud-covered frown faces on proposals that could hinder open access to government, and placing smiling suns on those that would help.
LEGISLATURE | REAL ESTATE MARKET
Proposed property tax relief could give a boost to South Florida's beleaguered real estate industry, pushing skittish home buyers off the fence and easing the burden on commercial property owners, industry leaders said Tuesday.
For the second time in a year, Florida voters will go to the polls with an opportunity to trim their own property taxes. But the tax measure has Florida school districts queasy about the prospect of shrinking revenues and bulging class sizes.
One of the biggest tax cuts in state history is headed for the November ballot, after a powerful state commission voted Monday to put an amendment before voters that would scrap most of the portion of local property taxes that goes to schools.
LEGISLATURE | AMENDMENTS
Florida's best chance of voting on another property-tax revision this year happens Monday, when the state tax panel that has the ability to put constitutional amendments directly on the November ballot votes on three proposals.
MIAMI-DADE COUNTY
At a Tuesday appearance before the Florida Association of Mortgage Brokers, House Speaker Marco Rubio didn't rule out running for Miami-Dade County Mayor -- unless he's offered the NFL commissioner post.
LEGISLATURE 2008
Florida lawmakers will start to tackle the steepest budget cuts in state history Monday, the result of a chaotic economy and grim financial forecasts.
look at state programs to cut Leg Florida lawmakers will start to tackle the steepest budget cuts in state history Monday, the result of a chaotic economy and grim financial forecasts.
TALLAHASSEE | AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT
The state has agreed to pay $2 million to settle a 12-year-old lawsuit that contended it was illegal to charge disabled drivers a fee for parking permits.
FLORIDA LEGISLATURE
Though he has admitted to smoking marijuana, Gov. Charlie Crist said he still favors Florida's tough drug laws and doesn't support legislative plans to review whether to lessen penalties for some crimes such as non-violent drug possession.
The state has agreed to pay $2 million to settle a 12-year-old lawsuit that contended it was illegal to charge disabled drivers a fee for parking permits.
LEGISLATURE
This will teach a lesson to those kids with droopy drawers: State lawmakers want to crack down on butt cracks. A bill to punish students who wear sagging pants that expose their back ends or sexual organs passed the Senate Thursday 28-11 after the two sponsors said it was needed to send kids a signal that they need to dress for success.
STATE BUDGET
The easy part is over. Florida lawmakers on Wednesday gave swift approval to $512 million worth of cuts to the current year's budget, despite complaints from Democrats that the GOP-controlled Legislature did not consider tapping into reserves as a way to ease the impact of the trims.
FLORIDA LEGISLATURE
More than a year after Jeb Bush left the governor's office, Florida lawmakers are moving ahead with some of the most significant changes to his education reforms since they were passed nine years ago.
EDUCATION
The religiously tinged evolution-questioning theory of Intelligent Design could more easily be brought up in public-school science classrooms under a proposed ''academic freedom'' legislation being pushed by conservative lawmakers.
LEGISLATURE
Florida's sagging economy has slowed down more dramatically than even the most pessimistic state forecasters had predicted, leaving lawmakers Tuesday with $2.9 billion less than they expected and guaranteeing painful cuts will affect everything from classrooms to hospitals and prisons.
In the latest evolution battle, pop-culture figure Ben Stein will show his new documentary challenging mainstream science to Florida lawmakers Wednesday as they consider legislation that makes it easier for teachers to question Darwin's theory in science classes.
MIAMI-DADE | DEMOCRATIC PARTY
Miami-Dade Democrats are slated to elect a new leader Monday to replace party chairman Joe Garcia, who resigned last month to run for Congress.
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