TALLAHASSEE - With Congress still wrestling over national health care reform, the Florida Senate advanced a proposed Constitutional amendment aimed at stopping the federal measure from taking full effect in Florida.
At issue is the mandate proposed in Congress that everyone carry health insurance. Such a mandate would expand the… [...]
TALLAHASSEE - A Senate panel voted today to approve Sen. Mike Fasano’s proposal to extend homicide charges to the killing of an “unborn child,” at any stage development.
Current law applies the charge to the killing of a viable fetus, which courts have generally interpreted as a development stage occurring… [...]
Former state Sen. President Lee, R-Brandon: "During my years in the Legislature, I served with Marco Rubio, Charlie Crist and Kendrick Meek. I know them very well, and I've seen the kind of leadership each one brings to the table. I endorse Marco Rubio because his record and vision for our [...]
Faith and Action for Strength Together has announced a 100-person strong protest at Thursday's 5:30 p.m. meeting on Pinellas County's budget at Gibbs High to protest money for affordable housing being cut.
But there's more politics behind the scenes. Last year, Commissioners Calvin Harris, John Morroni, Karen Seel and Ken Welch [...]
Some other curious charges on the party credit card of former Florida GOP executive director Delmar Johnson: an Oct. 21 $359.20 charge for an airline ticket for Andrea Saul.
Saul, communications director for the Crist campaign, said she did not know why the party paid for the ticket, and that the campaign paid [...]
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, facing heated criticism and pressure from the Florida Congressional delegation, is delaying a key component of its plan to clean up Florida's waterways.
U.S. Rep. Adam Putnam announced the decision Thursday that the EPA is withdrawing the downstream values protection -- the most debated and most [...]
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, facing heated criticism and pressure from the Florida Congressional delegation, is delaying a key component of its plan to clean up Florida's waterways.
U.S. Rep. Adam Putnam announced the decision Thursday that the EPA is withdrawing the downstream values protection -- the most debated [...]
After a bruising morning in the House, the trial lawyer lobby is seeing at least a ray of hope that this session isn't a complete disaster, as some predict.
The Senate Judiciary Committee agreed to a compromise measure that allows parents to sign liability waivers for their children. The bill' [...]
After a bruising morning in the House, the trial lawyer lobby is seeing at least a ray of hope that this session isn't a complete disaster, as some predict.
The Senate Judiciary Committee agreed to a compromise measure that allows parents to sign liability waivers for their children. The [...]
Mark K. Matthews, Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON — As Congress hurdles toward a final vote on health care, interest groups and even friends have cranked up the pressure on U.S. Rep. Suzanne Kosmas, a freshman Democrat from New Smyrna Beach who stands as one of the few undecided lawmakers in the U.S. [...]
State Sen. Carey Baker read a Tea Party manifesto, citing founding father Dr. Benjamin Rush, against national health care reform as he pitched a Florida Constitutional amendment that ensures that state residents are not compelled to participate in any health care system.
The rhetoric seemed pointless to Sen. Dan Gelber, a Miami Democrat. He said [...]
By William Gibson, Washington Bureau
While signing a jobs bill, President Obama on Thursday said the government will keep looking for ways to spur hiring by private companies to reduce unemployment.
Obama said private companies are the true engine of economic growth, acknowledging that the government can do only so much to [...]
State Sen. Carey Baker read a Tea Party manifesto, citing founding father Dr. Benjamin Rush, against national health care reform as he pitched a Florida Constitutional amendment that ensures that state residents are not compelled to participate in any health care system.
The rhetoric seemed pointless to Sen. Dan Gelber, a [...]
U.S. Rep. Connie Mack, R-Fort Myers, will headline the New Hampshire Republican State Committee annual fundraiser on April 17. In an announcement, former Gov. John Sununu calls Mack a "rising star in the Republican Party and a strong advocate for the fiscally responsible policies that Granite Staters value."
[...]Former state Senate President Tom Lee of Brandon announced today he’s backing Marco Rubio in the U.S. Senate primary, becoming one of the first prominent Hillsborough Republicans to side with Rubio against Gov. Charlie Crist.
Hillsborough has long been a stronghold for Crist along with his home county of Pinellas.… [...]
Rep. David Dreier, R-Calif.
Yesterday Rep. David Dreier, a Republican from Southern California, and the ranking member on the House Rules Committee, spoke with Matt Cover who writes for the Christian News Service (CNSNews.com) about the procedural issues involved in Democrats’ plans to pass health [...]
The House PreK-12 Policy Committee approved a measure Wednesday that would allow teachers to pray with public school students.
In a last-ditch effort to appease critics, the House committee stripped the words "prayer" and "invocation" from the bill Wednesday just before approving it in a 10-3 vote.
But that did little to [...]
By Robert Block, Space Editor
Space Florida’s agenda is getting good treatment at the hands of state lawmakers and that signs are the aerospace development agency could get most of the $32.6 million Gov. Charlie Crist requested to help the state’s languishing space business.
With NASA expected to shutdown the space shuttle [...]
The House PreK-12 Policy Committee approved a measure Wednesday that would allow teachers to pray with public school students.
In a last-ditch effort to appease critics, the House committee stripped the words "prayer" and "invocation" from the bill just before approving it in a 10-3 vote.
But that did little to quell [...]
You can’t accuse the Marco Rubio campaign of being too subtle in this piece of direct-mail fund raising.
With the double-underlined, Please help me!, the envelope actually looks a little like some of the colorful mail — sometimes from inmates — that comes into the newsroom. And the “EMERGENCY REPLY” stripped [...]
According to a new poll, former Gov. Jeb Bush is Florida’s most favorite recent governor—and also its least favorite recent governor.
That conclusion comes from a survey by Public Policy Polling, a North Carolina-based polling firm whose conclusions have sometimes been challenged by Republicans because the firm is Democratic oriented.
… [...]Hint: They're not in the Final Four.
"The colleges and universities competing in this year's NCAA men's basketball tournament aren't simply hardwood powerhouses. Most are also significant players in the Washington, D.C., lobbying arena, according to a Center for Responsive Politics analysis.
"Schools competing in the tournament spent more than $12 million on [...]
"Major rewrite of election laws"
"The House voted 73-42 on Thursday for a major rewrite of" [...]
TALLAHASSEE — The House Republican leadership just used a gimmicky rules move to get around the fact that Democrats had blocked them from immediately “certifying” an elections bill for its trip across the rotunda to the Senate.
The move means that the Senate can immediately take it up and send it [...]
Or so he hopes.
U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson has launched another "money bomb" and is using Sarah Palin as the bait.
"Last week, Sarah Palin came to Orlando to help defeat me. Palin gave a speech in which she said that the Republicans needed (to) 'take me out.' Like she [...]
Debbie Wasserman Schultz says a new report by congressional budget number crunchers that says President Barack Obama's health care bill could reduce the federal deficit by $138 billion over 10 years should be good news to wavering Democrats like Allen Boyd and Suzanne Kosmas -- two Floridians that both parties are targeting in the health' [...]
Sen. Charlie Dean, R-Inverness, just wanted to make sure that Florida tomatoes are disease free. So he sponsoredthis legislation that requires minimum food safety standards for producing, harvesting, packing, and repacking tomatoes.
But Tallahassee Sen. Al Lawson, a Democrat, wanted to exempt North Florida growers from [...]
TALLAHASSEE — A bill the Florida House passed Thursday that would reinstitute some regulations on election-year political ads is being touted as a move to make the state’s high-octane political fundraising circuit more transparent.
The bill, HB 1207, would place requirements that stealthy groups buying television, radio and direct-mail ads in [...]
Another no shocker vote: The gun-loving Legislature just passed a ban on an adoption agency from asking prospective parents about whether they own firearms. The vote: 38-2 in the Senate, where Democrats Frederica Wilson and Ted Deutch dissented. The bill rocketed out of the House by a 112-0 [...]
Another no shocker vote: The gun-loving Legislature just passed a ban on an adoption agency from asking prospective parents about whether they own firearms. The vote: 38-2 in the Senate, where Democrats Frederica Wilson and Ted Deutch dissented. The bill rocketed out of the House by a 112-0 vote earlier [...]
By Josh Hafenbrack, Tallahassee Bureau
TALLAHASSEE — Senate Republicans pushed through on a strictly party-line vote a ballot measure that will ask Florida voters in November whether they support a balanced-budget amendment for the federal government.
The ballot amendment, which still needs approval from the Florida House, uses extremely slanted wording, citing [...]
Howard Troxler: In the way that a detective admires a master criminal, I whistle in amazement at our state House and its new bill that "reforms" the Florida Public Service Commission.
Bluntly put, this is one of the most wicked bills ever filed. The Legislature's past favors for Florida's electric [...]
No shock here: The Republican-led Senate just passed Senate President Jeff Atwater's proposal asking voters in November if the federal government should have a balanced budget amendment. Party-line vote: 26-13.
But Democrats didn't like the idea of using the ballot to ask "nonbinding public opinion polls," in the words of [...]
No shock here: The Republican-led Senate just passed Senate President Jeff Atwater's proposal asking voters in November if the federal government should have a balanced budget amendment. Party-line vote: 26-13.
But Democrats didn't like the idea of using the ballot to ask "nonbinding public opinion polls," in the words of Sen. Chris' [...]
Read Ann Coulter's one-page, common sense plan to drastically reduce America's health care insurance costs:
[...]The problem: how to pay for it. [...]
House Republicans just voted down an amendment to a campaign finance bill that would have required leadership funds to file reports showing each credit card purchase. The language -- which is the source of much recent controversy -- was tucked at the end of an amendment, offered by Rep. Keith [...]
House Republicans just voted down an amendment to a campaign finance bill that would have required leadership funds to file reports showing each credit card purchase. The language -- which is the source of much recent controversy -- was tucked at the end of an amendment, offered by Rep. [...]
The problem: how to pay for it. [...]
