By Livia Caputo, Florida Phoenix A Florida Republican on Thursday re-filed a bill from last year requiring all private employers to use a federal database verifying whether new hires are legally in the country. Rep. Berny Jacques, a Seminole Republican, issued HB 197 to mandate all private businesses use E-Verify, a federally operated system allowing employers to […]
By Mitch Perry, Florida Phoenix Sounding as desperate as he ever has since being appointed four years ago, Florida Department of Corrections (FDC) Secretary Ricky Dixon asked a panel of state lawmakers Wednesday for more than $512 million for next fiscal year to maintain the prison system. “It is a staggering amount of money that […]
The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis recently released new quarterly statistics on gross domestic product and personal income for all 50 states and the District of Columbia for the second quarter of 2025 (April, May, and June). The Florida GDP was up 3.3%, ranking 30th while the Florida personal income was up 6.7%, ranking 11th. […]
By Jim Turner, The News Service of Florida TALLAHASSEE — Jim Boyd, a veteran lawmaker who heads an insurance and investment firm in Bradenton, was formally selected Tuesday by Senate Republicans to become the next Senate president. Boyd, who is the Senate majority leader, will succeed President Ben Albritton, R-Wauchula, after the November 2026 elections. […]
By The News Service of Florida With Citizens Property Insurance Corp. leaders expecting tens of thousands of policies to move to the private market later this year, the state insurer’s policy count remained almost unchanged last week. Citizens had 769,059 policies as of Friday, compared to 769,017 policies a week earlier and 769,294 policies two […]
A bill filed Monday by state Rep. Tom Fabricio would require teachers to take an oath to the Constitution and nonpartisanship. Fabricio, R-Miami Lakes, is an attorney and has been in office since 2020. The bill, HB 147, would require teachers to, “before entering upon the duties of a classroom teacher,” take the oath. The language […]
The Institute for Governance and Civics (IGC) at Florida State University recently published their findings after surveying 1,234 Florida voters before the 2024 general election about trust in public schools. They found that an “alarming” number of Floridians do not trust K-12 schools, and that their distrust primarily comes from the concerns that schools have […]
By Mitch Perry, Florida Phoenix As the Florida Democratic Party continues to consider opening its primary elections to independent voters, a survey backed by proponents finds strong support for the idea. Florida Open Primaries, an advocacy group working to open Florida’s closed primary voting system, along with the group Open Primaries and its Let Us Vote campaign, […]
By The News Service of Florida The Republican Party of Florida in September added to its voter-registration edge over the Florida Democratic Party and moved closer to a margin of 1.4 million voters. The GOP had 5,505,326 “active” registered voters as of Sept. 30, while the Democratic Party had 4,117,871, according to newly posted data […]
By Christine Sexton, Florida Phoenix Rep. Sam Garrison, selected Thursday to become the next speaker of the Florida House, is playing down estimates that the state could lose billions of dollars over the next few years for Medicaid. Instead, Garrison touted Florida’s decision to not expand Medicaid access to low-income adults as a wise choice […]