DeSantis blocks local COVID-19 orders
Gov. Ron DeSantis suspended all local-government coronavirus emergency orders on Monday as he signed a bill that makes permanent his ban on COVID-19 vaccine “passports” and limits the authority of cities and counties in future health-care crises.
“My message is that the vaccines protect you. Get vaccinated, and then live your life as if you are protected,” DeSantis said during an event at the Big Catch at Salt Creek, a St. Petersburg restaurant. “You don’t have to chafe under restrictions infinitum.”
10 dead issues as legislative session ends
Murder conviction upheld in ‘cold case’ discovery of mother’s body by son
Consumer data protection bill dies
Session ends with $101.5 billion budget
Florida lawmakers passed a $101.5 billion state budget Friday and ended a 60-day legislative session that gave Gov. Ron DeSantis many of his top priorities.
The House and Senate adjourned “sine die” — the traditional end of session — at 2:40 p.m. after a flurry of activity that included passing the budget and approving a repeal of the state’s no-fault auto insurance system and a revamp of the property-insurance system.
Lawmakers dodge delay on athlete pay
Legislature puts brakes on ‘no fault’ insurance system
Weekly roundup: Big changes in the eleventh hour
Lawmakers picked up the pace as the clock wound down on the 2021 legislative session, with Republicans calmly slipping in last-minute changes and Democrats frenziedly — and futilely — trying to stave them off.
Eleventh-hour amendments addressed some of this year’s most contentious issues, such as a proposal to ban transgender female athletes from competing on girls’ high-school and women’s college teams.
Republican lawmakers pass elections overhaul
With time running out before the end of this year’s legislative session, Florida lawmakers signed off Thursday night on a controversial elections bill that would make it harder for voters to cast ballots by mail.
Republican lawmakers backed away from more-stringent proposals contained in earlier versions of the elections overhaul. But the bill continued to draw fierce opposition from Democrats who said it would put up barriers to voting.