Florida Politics & News
Florida news featured in The Daily Signal with reporting, analysis, and commentary on conservative governance, education reform, and the Sunshine State’s leadership in policy innovation.
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news
Florida House Rejects Medicaid Expansion
During a special session in the Florida Legislature, the state’s House of Representatives voted down a proposal last week that would have expanded the state’s Medicaid program. The state Senate overwhelmingly passed the plan just days prior. The issue created a sharp divide between the chamber’s Democrats and Republicans. Republicans, rebuking the president’s health care… -
opinion
How Florida Is Trying to Push Back Against Federal Government Overreach
Federalism at the state level is more often preached than practiced. For all the invocations of the 10th Amendment, state officials tend to act as vassals of the federal government tasked with assisting in the implementation of federal policies. Federal encroachments on state powers are either eagerly embraced—46 states have adopted Common Core—or accepted with passive… -
news
Major Bank Won’t Do Business With a Florida Gun and Pawn Shop. Is Choke Point to Blame?
Earlier this month, a small gun and pawn shop owner in Florida appeared to have found himself in the middle of an Operation Choke Point controversy when SunTrust Bank, out of the blue, closed his bank account. Some, including Steve Champion, the owner of American Gun & Pawn in Brooksville, Fla., were quick to blame… -
opinion
Florida Taking the Lead on Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform
Florida is poised to become the new front in the civil asset forfeiture reform movement. State Sen. Jeff Brandes, a Republican from the Tampa area, has filed reform legislation, which the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Criminal and Civil Justice discussed in a hearing today. >>> The Heritage Foundation will co-host of an event next week… -
news
True or False? Jeb Bush’s Education Reforms Boosted Florida’s Schoolchildren
It's not every governor who can say the record shows his state's schoolchildren did better because he applied conservative principles of choice and accountability. Jeb Bush can and does. “The aggregate improvements we’ve seen in Florida really can’t be ignored,” Marcus Winters, an assistant professor at the University of Colorado’s College of Education who has studied what Bush… -
news
Florida Lawmaker: Obama’s Cuba Deal ‘Great’ for Castro Regime, ‘Bad’ for US
Rep. IIeana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., today criticized what she called President Obama’s “wrong-headed” move to normalize relations with Cuba. As landmark talks for the United States and Cuba to restore diplomatic ties wrapped up today in Havana, Ros-Lehtinen, who is Cuban-American, warned the Obama administration to proceed cautiously. “It’s a bad deal for the United States… -
news
Florida Governor Looks to Poach Jobs From Pennsylvania
Florida Gov. Rick Scott is planning a trip to Philadelphia in February, and he’s hoping to lure some Pennsylvania businesses back south with him. His pitch so far has focused on differences in the states’ existing business tax climates, as well as policies and business mandates from Pennsylvania Gov.-elect Tom Wolf that Scott said would… -
opinion
Union Lawsuit Against Florida School Choice Programs Dismissed, But the Battle Continues
Hundreds of Florida parents are able to celebrate the New Year with access to school choice thanks to a decision last Tuesday to dismiss the union lawsuit against the Sunshine State’s Personal Learning Scholarship Accounts and expansion of the tax credit scholarship program. For the second time, Leon County Circuit Court Judge Charles Francis found… -
news
Texas, Florida Republicans Step Forward as Alternatives to Boehner for Speaker
In daring moves just days before the next election for House speaker, two Republican congressman have offered themselves as alternatives to incumbent Speaker John Boehner, the party establishment’s choice. Reps. Ted Yoho, R-Fla., and Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, announced they would oppose Boehner this weekend. The Daily Signal has learned several Republicans also are weighing a… -
news
Taxpayers on Losing End of Government’s Lax Oversight of Florida Nonprofit
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Hilda Hall-Dennis was no stranger to nonprofit community work. Over the course of 11 years, she managed three nonprofits in South Florida. In February 2006, she launched her own nonprofit — the Business Technology Development Corp., a business incubator subsisting on government grants. The venture purportedly provided business development classes, technical assistance,… -
news
Florida Congresswoman: Other Nations’ Engagement Hasn’t Resulted in Free Cuba
Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., was interviewed on Wednesday by Greta van Susteren about President Obama’s decision to normalize relations with Cuba. Ros-Lehtinen said that the president “has broken the law.” When asked if our previous policy towards Cuba had been working, Ros-Lehtinen said: Has our foreign policy been working? Well, the policy of 190 other… -
news
Satanic Temple Display Approved for the Florida Capitol’s Holiday Decorations
Visitors to the Florida Capitol building this holiday season will be treated to a festive display of… a Satanic Temple. The Florida Department of Management Services recently approved an application for a holiday display from the Satanic Temple despite rejecting the same group’s “grossly offensive” display last year, according to the Florida Times-Union. The temple’s… -
news
How Much Will Obama’s Immigration Order Cost Florida Taxpayers?
TALLAHASSEE, Fla.—Florida hasd the highest increase in illegal immigration of any state from 2009 to 2012, according to the Pew Research Center. By nature of avoiding detection, exact figures are hard to come by. But using community survey data, Pew’s Hispanic Trends Project estimates about 925,000 unauthorized immigrants now live in the Sunshine State, or… -
news
In Florida, You Can’t Buy 64 Ounces of Beer
In Florida, you can buy beer that comes in cans. You can buy beer that comes in bottles. You can even buy beer that comes in kegs, in cases, in six-packs and in fancy bottles with cork-stoppers. You can buy beer that is poured from a tap at a bar. But if you buy beer… -
news
Billionaire Steyer Spends $15M Pushing Low-Priority Climate Change Message in Florida
In an effort to oust Gov. Rick Scott, billionaire activist Tom Steyer has underwritten a nearly $15 million campaign focusing on climate change, an issue one poll says few Florida voters care about. Steyer’s advocacy group, NextGen Climate Action, set up shop in Miami this year, targeting Scott as oblivious to global warming disasters, a… -
opinion
Teachers Union Trying to Block School Choice Loses in Florida Court
Florida children won in court Wednesday. In a hearing that lasted approximately 19-minutes, Leon County circuit court judge Charles Francis dismissed the Florida Education Association’s lawsuit to block the state’s innovative Personal Learning Scholarship Account school choice option, finding that the FEA did not have standing to challenge the law. Although the FEA has 15… -
news
How an Anti-Religion Group Convinced a Florida School District to Ban Team Chaplains
TALLAHASSEE, Fla.—Florida’s fourth-largest public school district is cracking down on religious expression at sporting events. Orange County Public Schools in Orlando has banned team chaplains, signs with Bible references and religious-oriented phrases from appearing on student-athlete clothing. It also prohibited religious music on game tapes. The new policies aren’t a response to complaints from parents… -
news
Government’s ‘Secret’ Land-Use Restriction Threatens Florida Couple’s Seafood Restaurant
TALLAHASSEE, Fla.—For Robert and Anita Breinig, the Flash Beach Grille is more than a building. To them, the seafood restaurant and catering business in Hobe Sound, Fla., is the culmination of years of hard work and represents their slice of the American dream. “We started as a mobile caterer. We used garages as kitchens for… -
opinion
No Joke: Florida City Makes It Illegal to Wear Your Pants Too Low
Do we really need to make this illegal? A city in Florida passed an ordinance “prohibiting pants more than two inches below the waistline,” according to Fox News’ Orlando affiliate. Those who keep their pants slung a little too low face a “penalty of up to a $500 fine or up to 60 days in… -
news
Florida Police Department to Begin Using Body-Mounted Cameras
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Sarasota police officers will begin wearing body-mounted cameras later this year in an effort to increase police transparency. That’s a topic of heightened national interest in the wake of the Ferguson, Mo., police shooting of Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager. But rather than resist the accountability measure, the Sarasota Police Department…