Florida News Archive

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.

With minutes left in the 2021 legislative session, lawmakers on Friday reversed course on delaying the implementation of a law allowing student athletes at Florida colleges and universities to profit from their names and images — with a controversial addition.

Florida motorists are one step closer to no longer having “no fault” auto insurance, after lawmakers Friday approved ditching the decades-old system and its requirement of carrying personal-injury protection coverage.

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.

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.

A $196.3 million tax package is headed to Gov. Ron DeSantis’ desk, after lawmakers Friday signed off on a series of proposals, including sales-tax “holidays” for back-to-school shopping, hurricane-season preparations and encouraging people to get out for some entertainment and recreation.

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.

Public and private colleges and universities could soon be protected from coronavirus-related lawsuits under a wide-ranging higher education bill that also includes tuition breaks for “non-traditional” students.

With homeowners facing increasing premiums and insurers dropping policies, the Florida House on Wednesday approved a plan aimed at shoring up the state’s property-insurance system.

With Democrats decrying the “eleventh-hour” move, the Florida House and Senate on Wednesday revived and passed a controversial plan that would ban transgender female athletes from competing on high-school girls’ and college women’s sports teams.