In this episode: Florida’s Republican-controlled Legislature just wrapped up its first week of hearings ahead of the state’s annual 60-day lawmaking session, which will begin in March. The week offered a sneak preview of some big coming battles on issues like abortion and immigration. But it also revealed important fights ahead over insurance industry secrets, rock mining in the Everglades, and favors for banks.

Show notes:

How Florida could try to stop voters from ever again voting on abortion access

Politicians weakened state ethics laws. Investigators are now closing cases.

How home insurance companies in Florida sidestep rules meant to prevent excess profits

Banks lobbyists want to slash funding for legal support programs

Ron DeSantis' top aide punished bank lobbyists for being disloyal

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In this episode: Florida has become a national leader…at kicking kids off health insurance. Over the past year or so, politicians in Tallahassee have presided over a brutish purge of state insurance rolls, defied federal rules meant to keep kids covered, and slow-walked a bipartisan expansion plan that was supposed to ensure medical care for more children. Joan Alker, a professor at Georgetown University and national health-policy expert, has has been sounding the alarm about Florida’s actions. She joins the show to explain what’s happened.

Show notes:

A few helpful resources and articles:

Florida’s children’s healthcare report card

What is the impact of unwinding on Medicaid enrollment?

Child Medicaid Disenrollment Data Shows Wide Variation in State Performance as Continuous Coverage Pandemic Protections Lifted

State of Florida Files Legal Challenge to Weaken Continuous Coverage Protection for Children in CHIP Nationwide

A Deeper Dive into Florida’s Lawsuit Seeking to Undermine the New Requirement for 12-Months Continuous Eligibility for Children in Separate State CHIP Programs

Florida’s Governor Spends Taxpayer Money on Lawyers to Further Delay Covering Children

Biden administration OKs Florida KidCare waiver

Thanks but no thanks: State turns down Florida KidCare waiver approval

DeSantis health officials to delay KidCare expansion until after Trump takes office

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In this episode: Since taking total control of state government 25 years ago, Florida Republicans have systematically rolled back reforms that once kept state courts independent. It was a project launched by Jeb Bush, expanded by Rick Scott, and that has now culminated under Ron DeSantis with a Florida Supreme Court that is a rubber stamp for the governor and Legislature — and a roadblock for anyone who dares to challenge them. Learn more about how it happened from Martin Dyckman, a Florida journalist and historian whose investigative reporting once exposed Supreme Court corruption and spurred some of the very reforms that have been undone.

Show notes:

Read this Dyckman column in the Sun-Sentinel explaining some of the history and changes in more detail.

And if you want to do a truly deep dive into the subject, check out his book: A Most Disorderly Court: Scandal and Reform in the Florida Judiciary (and don’t forget his biographies of Govs. Reubin Askew and Leroy Collins, too).

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In this episode: Longtime Florida journalist and Bloomberg Opinion columnist Mary Ellen Klas dug through a trove of legislative and electoral data from around the country to understand what happens when one party commands total control of a state’s government. She joined the show to talk about what she found.

Show notes:

This Is Why You Don’t Recognize Your State Government (Bloomberg Opinion)

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In this episode: The new leaders of Florida’s Republican-controlled Legislature take the stage for the first time in Tallahassee. The good: The speaker of the Florida House of Representatives suggests he may try to stop private equity firms from squeezing individual homebuyers out of the housing market. The bad: The president of the Florida Senate signals he’ll turn a blind eye to Ron DeSantis’ decision to spend millions of dollars of taxpayer money on political ads.

Show notes:

Check out “Buying Up the Bay,” the Tampa Bay Times series mentioned on the show.

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In this episode: The first twins of Florida politics — Anna Eskamani, a state representative from Orlando, and Ida Eskamani, a long-time advocate in the Florida Legislature who now organizes in state legislatures across the country — join the podcast to talk about corporate influence in the Sunshine State and how to defeat it. Hint: It takes a lot of hard work. (Note: Ida Eskamani appeared on the show in her personal capacity.)

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In this episode: Thomas Kennedy, a progressive organizer in Miami and former Bernie Sanders campaign staffer, rejoins the pod to talk about how Democrats lost touch with the working class — and what needs to happen next.

Show notes:

A couple of items referenced on the show:

What It Took to Win: A History of the Democratic Party

Trump’s closing campaign ad in 2016

Thomas’ podcast

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In this episode: Orlando Sentinel columnist Scott Maxwell joins the podcast to talk about Florida’s 2024 elections — including some stunning local results in which voters in Orlando chose a pair of grassroots activists over tourism- and developer-backed alternatives who had outspent them by as much as 8-to-1. It’s the dawning of a new day in what has historically been one of the nation’s biggest company towns. And it further established Orlando as a blue island in a statewide sea of red.

Show notes:

For more about Florida’s elections — both in Orlando and across the state — make sure to read Scott’s most recent column in the Sentinel. And check out more of his work here.

To understand what made these Orlando races so important, and why they will have statewide repercussions, see these pieces from Seeking Rents:

Voters in Orlando have a chance to loosen the tourism industry's grip on taxpayer money

Candidates in Orlando split over new rules to save rural land from suburban sprawl

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In this episode: Thoughts on the 2024 election results in Florida.

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In this episode: Amid a growing consensus that overly restrictive housing rules are a major driver of high housing prices, the city of Gainesville just passed far-reaching reforms meant to make it much easier to build more homes. At the same time, Orange County is on the brink of passing changes meant to slow suburban sprawl and encourage denser urban development instead. A pair of leaders from both communities — Eric Grimmer of Orlando YIMBY and Gainesville City Commissioner Bryan Eastman — join the show to talk about their housing efforts, as well as a couple of fascinating local referendums on the ballot this fall.

Show notes

As promised in the show, here’s a link to Orlando YIMBY.

And for more details about Gainesville’s zoning reforms, check out this presentation.

Lastly, here are a few stories that we touched on during the discussions:

The Missing Middle: Supply vs. Aesthetics in the Drive for New Housing (Governing)

Florida Republicans Are Fighting Gainesville’s Zoning Reform, and Themselves (Bloomberg)

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' Administration Tells Gainesville To Abandon Zoning Reform (Reason Foundation)

Gainesville community rallies for amendment returning GRU leadership to city (The Independent Florida Alligator)

In five races, Orange County voters can choose sides in the fight over growth (Orlando Sentinel)

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