In this episode: One of the world’s largest mining firms wrote a bill in the Florida Legislature that would help the company dodge lawsuits related to radiation on former mines — and make it easier to develop some of its vast land holdings across the southern interior of the state.

Editor’s note: A written version of this story first appeared in the Seeking Rents newsletter: Lobbyists for a mining company wrote a bill to block lawsuits over radiation on former mines

Show notes

The bill discussed in today’s show:

House Bill 167 — Former Phosphate Mining Lands (first committee vote, second committee vote)

To contact for Florida legislators:

Find Your Elected Officials in Florida

Florida House of Representatives full list of members

Florida Senate full list of senators

Questions or comments? Send ‘em to [email protected]

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In this episode: Florida Power & Light recently won permission to raise electricity rates by at least $7 billion over the next four years. It appears to be the largest electric rate hike in American history. In this episode, we explain why this increase is so big, how FPL pulled it off, and who should be held accountable.

Editor’s note: A written version of this story first appeared in the Seeking Rents newsletter: Florida just approved the largest electric rate increase in history. Here’s how it happened.

Show notes

Check out some of Seeking Rents’ previous coverage of Florida Power & Light and utility regulation in Florida:

Inside the $5 billion deal that Gov. Ron DeSantis’ political appointees gave to Florida Power & Light (August 2022)

Florida Power & Light pocketed $1 billion in tax cuts for itself. But now it can pass tax increases on to its customers (August 2022)

How Ron DeSantis helped Florida Power & Light raise electricity rates by $5 billion (September 2022)

A power company wants to take $1 billion from Florida customers. It just gave $3 million to Florida politicians. (November 2022)

Customers took Florida’s biggest power company to court. Ron DeSantis and lawmakers stepped up to help...the power company. (July 2023)

As his campaign runs low on cash, DeSantis turns to big Florida businesses for help (October 2023)

Ron DeSantis just re-stacked the deck on the board that sets electricity rates in Florida (October 2025)

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In this episode: Florida lawmakers have begun working on a new bill that would let giant landowners lock in real-estate development rights regardless of the underlying zoning — and without having to go through a vote before the local county commission or city council. It’s already looking like one of the big lobbying blitzes of Florida’s 2026 legislative session, which begins next month. Plus: Ron DeSantis doubles down on the state’s “Schools of Hope” privatization program and wants more money to continue New College of Florida’s transformation from quirky liberal arts college to right-wing academic and employment hub.

Show notes:

The bill’s discussed in today’s show:

House Bill 299 — Blue Ribbon Projects (see votes)

Senate Bill 354 — Blue Ribbon Projects

Senate Bill 208 — Land Use and Development Regulations (see votes)

Ron DeSantis’ proposed FY2025-26 budget and his budget-related bills

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In this episode: Pushed by a potential future candidate for governor, Florida lawmakers are working on a bill that would make it easier for the agriculture industry to sue people who criticize its production practices. It could help Florida’s politically influential Big Sugar companies attack environmental groups who say the sugar industry has polluted the Everglades. Plus: More bills on the move as Florida’s Republican-controlled Legislature gears up for a new legislative session that begins in January.

Show notes

The bill’s discussed in today’s show:

Senate Bill 290 — Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (first committee vote)

House Bill 167 — Former Phosphate Mining Lands (first committee vote, second committee vote)

House Bill 191 — Verification of Reemployment Assistance Benefit Eligibility (first committee vote)

House Bill 289 — Civil Liability for the Wrongful Death of an Unborn Child (first committee vote, second committee vote)

House Bill 37 — Removal, Storage, and Cleanup of Electric Vehicles (first committee vote, second committee vote)

Senate Bill 88 (2021) — Farming Operations (Senate final vote, House final vote)

For further reading:

Lobbyists for a mining company wrote a bill to block lawsuits over radiation on former mines (Seeking Rents)

In Support of Free Speech on Food (article from Penn State Law Review)

Publix sought to block electric vehicle rules, records show (Seeking Rents)

Prodded by business lobbyists, lawmakers may cut more Floridians off from unemployment insurance (Seeking Rents)

Questions or comments? Send ‘em to [email protected]

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In this episode: In mid-June, just a few hours before Florida’s Republican-controlled Legislature finalized this year’s state budget, GOP leaders in Tallahassee slipped a sentence into the spending plan authorizing state officials to acquire a piece of property in the Panhandle through a popular land-preservation program. Three months later, the administration of Gov. Ron DeSantis used that little line in the budget to spend $83.3 million in taxpayer money on a tiny spit of vacant land owned by a prominent real-estate developer and Republican Party donor. Here’s the story of how Florida politicians pulled off a land deal that one longtime conservation leader called “a sham.”

Editor’s note: A written version of this story first appeared in the Seeking Rents newsletter: Florida lawmakers took instructions from a landowner’s lobbyist. Now Florida taxpayers will pay $83 million for four acres.

Show notes

For further reading:

Lobbyist wrote proposal directing Florida to buy pricey 4 acres in Destin (Tampa Bay Times)

‘A sham’: Florida’s longtime conservation experts question pricey 4-acre Destin purchase (Tampa Bay Times)

State senator promotes Destin waterfront land purchase added late in budget talks (Politico Florida)

$83 million for sandy Florida lot: Did GOP donations pay off for seller? (Orlando Sentinel)

In this episode: With the start of the Florida Legislature’s 2026 session approaching, lawmakers just revived two big bills they failed to pass during their last session. One would give fetuses some of the same legal rights as living children — and further cement into law a legal theory known as “fetal personhood” that conservative legal groups want to use to cut off all access to abortion. Another would help fertilizer giant Mosaic Co. fend off lawsuits related to radioactive contamination left behind in the company’s former phosphate mines.

Show notes

The bill’s discussed in today’s show:

Senate Bill 164 — Civil Liability for the Wrongful Death of an Unborn Child

House Bill 167 — Former Phosphate Mining Lands

For further reading (and listening) about fetal personhood and Mosaic’s proposed legal shield:

Florida AG made sweeping claims in confidential abortion case

Florida politicians will go further to interfere with abortion – unless Florida voters stop them

Florida lawmakers may help a mining giant fend off lawsuits

Mosaic’s Next Chapter (Florida Trend - July 2018)

And the the story mentioned at the very end of the show:

Florida lawmakers took instructions from a landowner’s lobbyist. Now Florida taxpayers will pay $83 million for four acres.

In this episode: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis spent between $35 million and $40 million of taxpayer money last fall during an unprecedented advertising campaign against citizen-led amendments that would have enshrined abortion rights and marijuana freedom in the state constitution. The estimate is based on hundreds of pages of emails, invoices, transaction logs and other documents obtained by Seeking Rents through a series of public records requests. The records also reveal ways in which the governor and his aides bent rules and blurred lines during their publicly funded campaign against a pair of ballot measures supported by millions of Floridians — from paying political strategists on hidden subcontracts to making rushed payments under misleading pretenses.

Show notes

Hidden consultants and hurried payments: Records reveal details of DeSantis’ campaign against abortion and marijuana amendments

Questions or comments? Send ‘em to [email protected]

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In this episode: A new state law that was supposed to be about helping Floridians rebuild their homes after hurricanes is now being weaponized by Gov. Ron DeSantis and some politically influential real-estate developers to strip local governments of all power to manage growth. As a result, communities across the state have suddenly lost their ability to protect wetlands, save rural land from suburban sprawl, or make homebuilders harden subdivisions against flooding. Some places are even now having trouble regulating roosters in residential neighborhoods. But more than two dozen cities and counties just decided to do something about it.

Show notes

Senate Bill 180 — Emergencies

Ron DeSantis is helping real estate developers exploit a hurricane relief law

Neal Bundles Checks to DeSantis at Manatee Press Conference

Your town, their rules

How the ‘Free State of Florida’ works with business lobbyists to keep wages low

Questions or comments? Send ‘em to [email protected]

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In this episode: A billionaire hedge fund manager and a New York City charter network lobbied to expand a school privatization program in Florida, according to records obtained by Seeking Rents.

Editor’s note: A written version of this story first appeared in the Seeking Rents newsletter: Lobbyists for a billionaire and a charter network pushed Florida lawmakers to expand a school privatization program, records show

Show notes

Senate Bill 2510 — Prekindergarten Through Grade 12 Education

A few examples of key Florida lawmakers who have had personal and financial ties to the charter school industry:

Firms belonging to wife of Rep. Donalds grabbed millions in charter school contracts

New disclosures only deepen mystery of Rep. Donalds’s wife’s charter school companies

A South Florida charter school network now runs a small district 500 miles away. Legislators with close financial ties to charters helped make that happen.

Incoming speaker Corcoran says bill that would benefit his wife’s charter school is part of broader reform

A few stories about the failure of Florida’s first ‘School of Hope’:

Federal grand jury investigates bid-rigging in DeSantis’ education department

Florida officials tried to steer education contract to former lawmaker’s company

Jefferson gets its schools back following bid shenanigans and efforts to keep it with a charter operator

And some of the stories and resources referenced in the pod:

Commentary: Florida doubles down on failed Schools of Hope experiment

This link will download an spreadsheet from Florida Department of Education with 2025 list of public schools that are now classified as “persistently low-performing.”

A billionaire is showering cash on Florida politicians

Lobbyist for a billionaire-run hedge fund wrote a bill allowing longer non-competes, records show

The Secret to Success Academy’s Top-Notch Test Scores

At a Success Academy Charter School, Singling Out Pupils Who Have ‘Got to Go’

At Success Academy School, a Stumble in Math and a Teacher’s Anger on Video

Filing Alleges Bias at Success Academy Network Against Students With Disabilities

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In this episode: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and the state Legislature just approved an odd new law that tries to choke off funding for fact-checking organizations and media-monitoring firms that rate news outlets based on their accuracy and ethics. The unusual measure had a hidden backer: Newsmax, the right-wing cable news network that rose to prominence by promoting phony election-fraud claims after the 2020 presidential election.

Editor’s note: A written version of this story first appeared in the Seeking Rents newsletter: A right-wing news network lobbied Florida lawmakers to defund fact-checkers, records show

Show notes

Senate Bill 2502 — Implementing the 2025-2026 General Appropriations Act

House Bill 1449 — Agency Contracting with Media Reliability and Bias Monitors

Newsmax Will Pay $67 Million to Settle Dominion Defamation Lawsuit

Newsmax paid $40 million to settle defamation suit over US 2020 election claims

Newsmax Analyst Lauds DeSantis for New Anti-Censorship Law

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