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.