Because the Senate held a rare Saturday floor session, this issue of the Session Spotlight provides our report on bills that were considered on both Friday and Saturday. On Friday, both chambers postponed consideration of their respective public safety bills but legislators did consider several other bills of interest, including bills relating to local tax…
The Florida state Senate will hold an extraordinary Saturday session to try to forge a compromise on a school safety plan. Both the state House and the Senate delayed taking up the proposal Friday as they work toward a March 9 deadline to pass new safety laws in the wake of a high school massacre…
The Florida Senate advanced HB 7055 on Friday, but it wasn’t the same education package that had passed through a committee earlier in the week. A major amendment filed the evening before it went to the floor for a vote was the result of negotiations with House members, said sponsor Sen. Kathleen Passidomo, R-Naples. Those negotiations…
Broward County Public Schools will receive a $1 million federal grant to help cope with the aftermath of the mass shootings at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School last month, U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos announced Friday. The grant will be financed through the Project School Emergency Response to Violence, or SERV, which helps communities…
Today, was a fairly light day of committee meetings and floor sessions. The Senate Public Safety bills were expected to be debated on the Senate floor, but that debate has been postponed until tomorrow. Meanwhile, other bills of interest that were considered, including bills relating to local government ethics, impact fees, and early learning, Please…
Today, both chambers were engaged in floor sessions to move bills forward through the legislative process. The Senate did not consider any education related bills, but the House considered several, including bills relating to local government ethics, impact fees, and early learning, Please click on the first link below for our report on the outcome…
With two weeks left in Session, the Florida Legislature on Tuesday agreed to the outline of the 2018-19 state budget that will use roughly $32 billion in state funds. At 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Conference Chairs Sen. Rob Bradley and state Rep. Carlos Trujillo will hold an organization meeting in 212 Knott Building. Conference subcommittees have…
A Florida Senate committee has approved that chamber’s version of the school safety bill. The bill was approved on a 13-7 vote Tuesday evening. Sen. Bill Galvano, who is designated to become the next Senate president and is ushering through the bill, said the earliest it will be considered by the full Senate is Friday.…
Today marked the last day of regularly scheduled committee meetings during this Session. Although committee meetings may still be called, if needed, the bulk of each of the remaining days of the Session will be devoted to floor sessions where bills will be heard on 2nd and 3rd Reading and will be swapped in Messages…
Facing anguished relatives and classmates of shooting victims, a panel of Florida legislators took the unprecedented step Tuesday of creating a new statewide program to put armed teachers in classrooms — over the vocal opposition of Parkland residents. Voting along party lines, the House Appropriations Committee approved training teachers to carry guns in class under…