In this episode: In a single afternoon, Florida lawmakers advanced bills to roll back protections for rural land in Orlando, allow an ethanol plant in a historic city north of Jacksonville, and help hedge funds bind workers to years-long non-compete contracts. Those issues and more from Day 14 of the Florida Legislature’s 2025 session.

Show notes

The bills discussed in today’s show:

Senate Bill 420 — Official Actions of Local Governments

Senate Bill 1118 — Land Use and Development Regulations

Senate Bill 922 — Employment Regulations

Senate Bill 1776 — Employment Rights

Senate Bill 1822 — Regulation of Auxiliary Containers

Ron DeSantis took money from you and gave it to businesses. And you didn’t even notice.

A developer-backed bill would unravel rural protections in Orlando, allow an ethanol plant near Jacksonville

Ranchland to rooftops in central Florida

Florida beach town faces explosive fight over ethanol plant

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In this episode: There's a quiet effort afoot in the Florida Capitol to enable a charity funded by the duPont family fortune to shift spending from Delaware to Florida. Meanwhile, an ugly plan to cut funding for Legal Aid — so a few banks can make more money — has begun to move forward. Those bills and more from Day 9 of the Florida Legislature’s 2025 session.

Show notes

The bills discussed in today’s show:

Senate Bill 806 — Florida Trust Code 

Senate Bill 498 — Interest Rates Applicable to the Interest on Trust Accounts Program

Senate Bill 832 — Former Phosphate Mining Lands 

Senate Bill 752 — Defamation, False Light, and Unauthorized Publication of Name or Likenesses 

House Bill 541 — Minimum Wage Requirements 

House Bill 683 — Construction Regulations 

House Bill 429 — Motor Vehicle Manufacturers and Franchised Motor Vehicle Dealers 

Banks lobbyists want to slash funding for legal support programs

Florida lawmakers may help a mining giant fend off lawsuits

Car dealers try to keep a chokehold on new car sales in Florida

After taking money from Walmart heirs, Ron DeSantis and the Florida Legislature helped billionaires hide their family fortunes

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In this episode: Wealthy communities in Florida have hijacked a program that is supposed to help impoverished areas. Some Republican lawmakers want to put a stop to it. Unfortunately, they also want to help the dairy industry duck competition from plant-based rivals. An update from Day 8 of the Florida Legislature’s 60-day legislative session.

Show notes:

The bills discussed in today’s show:

Senate Bill 1242 — Community Redevelopment Agencies

Senate Bill 700 — Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services

House Bill 565 — Regulation of Auxiliary Containers

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In this episode: As the second week of Florida’s 2025 legislative session begins, Republican lawmakers roll out an intentionally unconstitutional plan meant to provoke a legal showdown over the state’s voter-approved minimum wage. But there’s also a budding bipartisan movement to make sure Ron DeSantis never again pays for political ads with taxpayer money.

Show notes:

The bills discussed in today’s show:

Senate Bill 676 — Minimum Wage Requirements

House Bill 541 — Minimum Wage Requirements

Senate Bill 7016 — Initiative Petitions Proposing an Amendment to the State Constitution

Senate Bill 1624 — Higher Education

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In this episode: With lobbyists for big corporations like Publix and Florida Power & Light cheering them on, Republican leaders in the Florida Legislature began advancing new plans this week that are meant to make it much harder — maybe even impossible — for everyday citizens in Florida to pass ballot measures through petition drives. Plus: An oversight fight that could have major implications for efforts to restore the Florida Everglades and an anti-abortion poison pill slipped inside a boat-safety bill.

Show notes:

Links to all the bills referenced in today’s show:

House Bill 1205 — Initiative Petitions for Constitutional Amendments

Senate Bill 7016 — Initiative Petitions Proposing an Amendment to the State Constitution

Senate Bill 7002 — Water Management Districts

House Bill 289 — Boating Safety

Senate Bill 628 — Boating Safety

Senate Bill 676 — Minimum Wage Requirements

Senate Bill 700 — Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services

Senate Bill 498 — Interest Rates Applicable to the Interest on Trust Accounts Program

Senate Bill 832 — Former Phosphate Mining Lands

Banks lobbyists want to slash funding for legal support programs

Florida lawmakers may help a mining giant fend off lawsuits

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In this episode: The Florida Legislature opened its 2025 session Tuesday — and Republican legislative leaders are already forcing Ron DeSantis onto some politically dangerous ground. Plus: Lawmakers move forward on a favor for one of the state’s biggest companies. And the most important battle of session is about to begin.

Show notes:

Secret study reveals insurance companies pocketed billions while crying poor in Florida

Florida lawmakers may help a mining giant fend off lawsuits

What to watch as Florida's 2025 session begins

HB 1205 — Initiative Petitions for Constitutional Amendments

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In this episode: Insurance companies in Florida have been quietly pocketing billions of dollars in profits while claiming to lose money, according to an explosive new report from the Tampa Bay Times and Miami Herald. The insurance industry used those “losses” as a pretense to lobby Florida politicians into passing a series of industry-written, anti-consumer laws that have left millions of Florida homeowners and business owners paying higher prices for poorer quality policies. And a taxpayer-funded study exposing it all was kept hidden from the public for two years. Tampa Bay Times reporter Lawrence Mower, the journalist who broke the story, joins the show to talk about it.

Show notes:

Florida insurance companies steered money to investors while claiming losses, study says

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In this episode: Ron DeSantis and Republicans in the Florida Legislature end a month of fighting over immigration by agreeing to a package of bills that crack down on college kids — but cower from big corporations. Florida’s new immigration legislation is most interesting for the way that Republican state lawmakers used the process to push back against DeSantis after years of playing a submissive second fiddle to the governor. And now the Republican-appointed Florida Supreme Court is kicking his butt, too.

Show notes:

Jim DeFede analysis: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis backs down on immigration

Debbie Mayfield vs. Secretary, Florida Department of State

Car dealers try to keep a chokehold on new car sales in Florida

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In this episode: Florida lawmakers are finding ways to reassert themselves after half a decade of cowering in a corner from Ron DeSantis. Meanwhile, Florida’s agriculture commissioner — a potential candidate for governor in 2026 — doesn’t think the state should use its power to protect farmworkers dying in 100-degree heat. But he does think the state should use its power to protect the dairy industry’s market share. An update from another week of hearings in Tallahassee as the Florida Legislature prepares for its 2025 session.

Show notes:

Senate Bill 108

Babies over bachelor’s degrees? DeSantis appointee says women should choose motherhood over higher ed

Why DeSantis vetoed a farmworker housing bill passed unanimously by state lawmakers

Milking the system: The dairy industry takes more of your money by erecting barriers to competition. Got rent-seeking?

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In this episode: One year ago, Ron DeSantis wiped out almost all state funding for arts and cultural programs across Florida because he claimed some of the shows getting to be funded were too “sexual.” Now, the Republican says he’s willing to restore arts funding in Florida — but only if he gets to deny money to any groups he doesn’t like. It’s part of a broader theme running through a new state budget DeSantis proposed this week, which could further empower the governor and his allies to block research grants, defund university programs, pull books from libraries, harass petition drives, and spread taxpayer-funded propaganda.

Show notes:

DeSantis said he cut Florida’s arts funding over ‘sexual’ festivals

Ron DeSantis wants lawmakers to sanction his election interference

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