President Donald Trump is considering pressuring states to stop regulating artificial intelligence in a draft executive order obtained Thursday by The Associated Press, as some in Congress also consider whether to temporarily block states from regulating AI.
Trump and some Republicans argue that the limited regulations already enacted by states, and others that might follow, will dampen innovation and growth for the technology.
Critics from both political parties — as well as civil liberties and consumer rights groups — worry that banning state regulation would amount to a favor for big AI companies who enjoy little to no oversight.
While the draft executive order could change, here’s what to know about states’ AI regulations and what Trump is proposing.
What state-level regulations exist and why
Four states — Colorado, California, Utah and Texas — have passed laws that set some rules for AI across the private sector, according to the International Association of Privacy Professionals.
Those laws include limiting the collection of certain personal information and requiring more transparency from companies.
The laws are in response to AI that already pervades everyday life. The technology helps make consequential decisions for Americans, including who gets a job interview, an apartment lease, a home loan and even certain medical care. But research has shown that it can make mistakes in those decisions, including by prioritizing a particular gender or race.
“It’s not a matter of AI makes mistakes and humans never do,” said Calli Schroeder, director of the AI & Human Rights Program at the public interest group EPIC.
“With a human, I can say, ‘Hey, explain, how did you come to that conclusion, what factors did you consider?’” she continued. “With an AI, I can’t ask any of that, and I can’t find that out. And frankly, half the time the programmers of the AI couldn’t answer that question.”
States’ more ambitious AI regulation proposals require private companies to provide transparency and assess the possible risks of discrimination from their AI programs.
Beyond those more sweeping rules, many states have regulated parts of AI: barring the use of deepfakes in elections and to create nonconsensual porn, for example, or putting rules in place around the government’s own use of AI.
What Trump and some Republicans want to do
The draft executive order would direct federal agencies to identify burdensome state AI regulations and pressure states to not enact them, including by withholding federal funding or challenging the state laws in court.
It would also begin a process to develop a lighter-touch regulatory framework for the whole country that would override state AI laws.
Trump’s argument is that the patchwork of regulations across 50 states impedes AI companies’ growth, and allows China to catch up to the U.S. in the AI race. The president has also said state regulations are producing “Woke AI.”
The draft executive order that was leaked could change and should not be taken as final, said a senior Trump administration official who requested anonymity to describe internal White House discussions.
The official said the tentative plan is for Trump to sign the order Friday.
Separately, House Republican leadership is already discussing a proposal to temporarily block states from regulating AI, the chamber’s majority leader, Steve Scalise, told Punchbowl News this week.
It’s yet unclear what that proposal would look like, or which AI regulations it would override.
TechNet, which advocates for tech companies including Google and Amazon, has previously argued that pausing state regulations would benefit smaller AI companies still getting on their feet and allow time for lawmakers develop a country-wide regulatory framework that “balances innovation with accountability.”
Why attempts at federal regulation have failed
Some Republicans in Congress have previously tried and failed to ban states from regulating AI.
Part of the challenge is that opposition is coming from their party’s own ranks.
Florida’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, said a federal law barring state regulation of AI was “Not acceptable” in a post on X this week.
DeSantis argued that the move would be a “subsidy to Big Tech” and would stop states from protecting against a list of things, including “predatory applications that target children” and “online censorship of political speech.”
A federal ban on states regulating AI is also unpopular, said Cody Venzke, senior policy council at the ACLU’s National Political Advocacy Department.
“The American people do not want AI to be discriminatory, to be unsafe, to be hallucinatory,” he said. “So I don’t think anyone is interested in winning the AI race if it means AI that is not trustworthy.”
The declaration lists a series of principles such as parents being the primary educators of their children and public education money always following the children.
The principles also call for:
— Schools to be fully transparent with parents.
— Schools to prioritize proven teaching methods “rooted in foundational subjects over fads or experimental teaching methods.”
— Education to be “grounded in objective truth, free from ideological fads,” while also being focused on “America’s founding principles and roots in the broader Western and Judeo-Christian traditions.”
— Students to be prepared for challenges and responsibilities of adulthood and taught “the whole truth about America — its merits and failings — without obscuring that America is a great source of good in the world.”
Also Thursday, the board approved new standards tied to a 2024 law (SB 1264) that requires instruction on the history of communism.
Among other things, students will be asked to compare the Communist Manifesto and the Bill of Rights; communist and socialist thought; the effects of anti-communists on American communism between 1917 and 1956; the harm done by communist espionage; and the roles of anti-communist politicians, including the late President Harry Truman, the late President Richard Nixon, the U.S. House Un-American Activities Committee, and the late U.S. Sen. Joseph McCarthy.
While at the Freedom Tower in Miami last Friday to mark Victims of Communism Day, Gov. Ron DeSantis said that while America won the Cold War, the communist ideology hasn’t gone away.
“It comes back and it’s repackaged, and they try to do it under various different banners. And so you have to understand what’s at stake here,” DeSantis said.
“I think it’s important to talk about it in a very clear eyed way, the destruction, the lives of 100 million dead at the hands of Marxism, Leninism,” DeSantis said. “But I think it’s also important that we just recognize the whole absurdity of it all, of the whole idea of communism and Marxism, Leninism.”
Because of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ delay in announcing special election dates to fill two vacancies in the Florida Legislature, voters in parts of Palm Beach and Hillsborough counties will not have representation in Tallahassee when the regular legislative session begins in January.
That situation could not occur under a bill filed in the Florida Senate on Wednesday.
The proposal (SB 460) by Democratic Sen. Tina Polsky, who represents parts of Broward and Palm Beach counties, says that whenever there is a vacancy for which a special election is required, the governor would be required to fix the dates of a special primary and general election within 14 days after the vacancy occurs.
The bill also says that if a vacancy occurs in the office of a member of the Senate or House less than 126 days before the first day of the regular legislative session, the governor must within five days set those election dates. The dates set must provide for at least two weeks between the special primary election and special general election and “must ensure that both elections are held before the first day of the regular legislative session to prevent a lapse in representation.”
The measure says that if the governor fails to set those election dates in the time proscribed, “any qualified elector” living in the affected district may file a petition in circuit court to set those election dates.
DeSantis selected then-state Sen. Jay Collins from Florida’s Senate District 14 to become his lieutenant governor on Aug. 12. He did not announce the special election dates to choose his successor until Oct. 24, some 73 days later.
The governor selected Rep. Mike Caruso, R-Palm Beach, to serve as the Palm Beach Clerk of the County Court on Aug. 18. He did not announce the special election dates for Caruso’s House District 87 seat until Oct. 24, 67 days after the seat became vacant.
In both cases, the primary elections are set for Jan. 13, 2026, the day the 2026 regular legislative starts. The special elections in both districts are scheduled for March 24, 2026. That’s more than a week after the session is scheduled to conclude on March 13.
The ACLU of Florida filed a lawsuit in late September regarding the governor’s failure at that point to announce election dates for the Senate District 14 seat.
“I’m not sure why the governor proves himself repeatedly unwilling to call timely special elections,” said Nicholas Warren, staff attorney for the ACLU of Florida, in a press release issued on Sept. 30. “His predecessors like Jeb Bush and Rick Scott always acted swiftly to ensure citizens retained their voice in government. Governor DeSantis’ refusal to follow their example is not just concerning, it’s also against the law.”
The civil liberties group filed a lawsuit on behalf of Santa Rosa and Brevard county voters in January, after state Rep. Joel Rudman and state Sen. Randy Fine vacated their seats to run for Congress. The lawsuit noted that DeSantis had not set special election dates more than six weeks after the lawmakers announced their resignations.
A House companion to Polsky’s measure has not yet been introduced.
Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Contact Michael Moline for questions: info@floridaphoenix.com. Follow Florida Phoenix on Facebook and Twitter.
Florida’s multi-billion dollar hemp industry is in jeopardy of collapsing due to federal legislation approved by the U.S. Senate on Monday night, and both proponents and critics are only now grasping the significance of what is at stake.
As part of the “continuing resolution” to reopen the federal government, the Senate has passed a measure that, according to a Senate Appropriations Committee bill summary, “Prevents the unregulated sale of intoxicating hemp-based or hemp-derived products, including Delta-8, from being sold online, in gas stations, and corner stores, while preserving CBD and industrial hemp products.”
If approved by the House of Representatives later this week and then signed by the president, the measure would go into effect in 365 days.
“Everyone in the hemp industry knew the government would eventually close or tighten the loophole, but I think many felt that there would be some form of working with the industry to effectively regulate,” says Zack Kobrin, a Fort Lauderdale attorney with the firm of Saul Ewing who works in the hemp and cannabis industry.
“The reaction from many is that they are surprised it was such a sudden and sweeping measure. I think for those that are cowboys, they will just maximize on making as much as they can until they can’t. I think for those hemp operators that were trying to work with regulators and trying to follow the rules, this will be a real blow.”
‘Big Cannabis’
Carlos Hermida, who runs two hemp shops in the Tampa Bay area, alleges that the alcohol and cannabis industries were successful in getting Congress to enact the legislation.
“It’s abundantly clear that the American Distilled Spirits Alliance, Beer Institute, Distilled Spirits Council of the U.S., Wine America, and Wine Institute — Big Alcohol combined with Big Cannabis, such as Trulieve & Curaleaf — have spent ridiculous amounts of money on lobbying to put tens of thousands of small business owners like myself out of the hemp industry for their own bottom line,” he said in a text message.
“The most un-American thing about all of this is the move towards total market control by a few rather than competition. Money in politics is destroying every aspect of commerce.”
Total sales from hemp businesses in Florida run in the billions of dollars, according to a 2023 analysis from Whitney Economics. That report said the industry employs approximately 104,000 workers earning in excess of $3.6 billion in annual wages.
That’s led in part to a growing rivalry between the hemp and cannabis industries in Florida that was exposed last year, after members of the hemp industry contributed financially to groups working to defeat a proposed constitutional amendment that would have legalized recreational cannabis in the state. A request for comment from Trulieve, the state’s biggest medical cannabis operator, was not returned.
When news of the proposal surfaced last month, Cornbread Hemp co-founder Jim Higdon urged Florida’s congressional delegation to defend Florida’s hemp economy.
“Florida’s hemp market supports thousands of jobs, from growers to beverage distributors,” he said in a press release on Oct. 6. “Banning hemp products would devastate that progress. We ask Florida’s congressional delegation to protect this legitimate, regulated industry that Floridians overwhelmingly support.”
Florida lawmakers passed a measure during the 2024 legislative session that would have banned the sale of Delta-8 and imposed regulations on other intoxicating hemp-derived products, a measure described by Kobrin at the time as “a massive blow to the industry.”
Anti-drug organizations in Florida are hailing the vote in the U.S. Senate.
“I’m extremely excited that they’re closing the loophole, because this has been going on since 2018 when the farm bill was first passed and left this gaping loophole where these products came in under the radar, and they’re proliferating in gas stations, smoke shops, convenience stores, and now I’m seeing in Circle K, specifically the THC beverages,” says Ellen Snelling with the Hillsborough County Anti-Drug Alliance.
“They’re everywhere, and I feel like they’re trying to normalize this hemp-THC, all because of a loophole.”
Snelling remains concerned, though, because if even the measure is signed into law by President Trump, it won’t take effect for another year.
“That’s a long time, because we’re still seeing children and adults going to the emergency room after ingesting these products, so I would like to see the state address it because even though they have some regulations in Florida, I don’t think they’re strong enough, because I’m still seeing very high-THC products in gas stations and convenience stores,” she said.
While Florida has not restricted hemp-derived THC products, Delta-8 THC has been banned in 17 states and severely restricted in seven more, according to the National Cannabis Industry Association.
The Legislature returned to Tallahassee earlier this year to once again tackle the issue. Speaker of the House Daniel Perez created a “combined workgroup” on hemp consisting of 24 members from two separate committees chaired by Rep. Michelle Salzman, R-Escambia County, that convened during the first week of the 2025 legislative session.
Members concluded after meeting three times that they did not want to pass any legislation that would kill what has become a billion-dollar-plus industry in the state, but they also agreed they needed to implement more regulations on the product.
However, unlike the 2024 session, they failed to produce any final bill for consideration, as there were significant differences between the House and Senate versions.
A state bill on hemp in 2026?
Salzman weighed in on the federal legislation Tuesday.
“I’m encouraged to see the Senate include hemp-related language as this bill moves to the U.S. House,” Salzman wrote on X. “My focus has always been on commonsense safeguards that protect Americans while supporting responsible industry. This is another step in that ongoing conversation, and I look forward to continued collaboration as the process moves forward.”
The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services has conducted inspections of hemp retailers and manufacturers across the state this year to ensure compliance with child-protection standards for hemp products. A spokesperson for the agency declined to comment on the pending federal legislation.
Last month, 38 attorneys general from both political parties sent a letter to the Senate and House appropriation chairs calling on Congress to clarify the 2018 U.S. farm bill’s definition of hemp “to ensure intoxicating THC products are taken off the market.”
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier was not among them.
Kentucky U.S. Republican Sen. Rand Paul filed an amendment Monday to the continuing resolution package that would have stripped the hemp language, but it failed on a 76-24 vote.
Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Contact Michael Moline for questions: info@floridaphoenix.com. Follow Florida Phoenix on Facebook and Twitter.
Credit: Orange County Mayor Jerry L. Demings/Facebook
Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings on Thursday formally announced his bid for governor, setting up a Democratic primary fight next year against former Congressman David Jolly.
Demings, a former Orlando police chief and former Orange County sheriff who opened a campaign account for the gubernatorial race last week, issued a statement early Thursday that focused on a need to make Florida more affordable.
“Our state has become more expensive and less fair for everyone, all while power is being stripped away from local communities that know their residents best,” Demings said. “Florida needs a change. We need a different type of governor who puts delivering results before grabbing headlines and petty political fights.”
Demings, who has been Orange County mayor since 2018, was expected to hold an event later Thursday in Orlando to further launch the campaign.
With Gov. Ron DeSantis unable to run in 2026 because of term limits, U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds and former state House Speaker Paul Renner are seeking the Republican nomination for governor.
Jolly, a former Republican who kicked off his campaign in June, welcomed Demings to the race Thursday.
“All of Florida — Democrats, Republicans, and independents alike — deserves a spirited Democratic Party primary that puts voters first, one rooted in real solutions for the affordability of housing and health care, the future of public education, protecting personal freedoms, and restoring trust and competence in government,” Jolly said in a prepared statement.
The tone Thursday was different from a memo that Jolly’s campaign sent earlier in the week outlining “the choice before Democrats.”
Touting Jolly, the memo asked who can unite the party, break nearly three decades of Republican control of the state and “has the credibility and message to defeat Republican extremism — not with partisan rhetoric, but with practical ideas that connect across political lines?”
The memo said that “for 30 years, Florida Democrats have repeated the same losing formula: Campaigns built around consultants instead of communities, focused on fundraisers and corporate boardrooms instead of front porches and town halls. We’ve ignored voters, chased special-interest money, and prioritized the political class over everyday Floridians.”
It also included former U.S. Rep. Val Demings, who is married to Jerry Demings, among “well intended, dedicated nominees” who “still came up short” in statewide contests. Val Demings, who served in Congress from 2017 to 2023, lost a bid for the U.S. Senate in 2022 to then-Sen. Marco Rubio, who is now U.S. Secretary of State.
Asked about the contest Wednesday, Florida Democratic Party Chairwoman Nikki Fried said having two prominent candidates will provide an “opportunity for the people of our state to hear from our statewide candidates, to share their vision, ask the tough questions.”
Fried said the party’s job is to build “the infrastructure that no matter who the Democrats in our primary decide to choose, we are going to be ready to build a coalition to again share the vision of what the next chapter of Florida looks like.”
Whoever emerges from the Democratic primary is expected to be the underdog in the general election, as Republicans have huge edges in fundraising and voter registration. The last Democrat to win a gubernatorial race was Lawton Chiles, who was re-elected in 1994.
The Republican Party of Florida greeted Demings’ entry into the contest with a news release saying his campaign is “destined to flop.”
“Under Republican leadership, Florida is booming, freedom is prevailing, and Republicans hold a record voter advantage,” GOP Chairman Evan Power said in the release.
As of Sept. 30, Florida had about 5.5 million “active” Republican registered voters and nearly 4.12 million Democrats. Another 3.38 million voters had no party affiliation.
The Republican Governors Association took a shot at Democrats, saying Demings opening a campaign account was a sign “Florida Democrats are clearly unimpressed with David Jolly’s Charlie Crist impersonation.”
Crist, a former congressman who won statewide races including the 2006 gubernatorial contest as a Republican, was the unsuccessful Democratic gubernatorial nominee in 2014 and 2022.
Equal Ground, a Black-led, nonprofit organization, noted that with Demings entering the campaign, Florida could have Black candidates topping the ticket for both major parties in 2026. Donalds, who has the backing of President Donald Trump, is Black.
“This moment represents a defining chapter for Florida … It stands as a powerful milestone in a state where Black voices, leadership, and civic power have for far too long faced systemic barriers towards progress,” Equal Ground said in an email.
Before Tuesday’s elections in other states, Gov. Ron DeSantis repeatedly said a win in the New York City mayor’s race by Democrat Zohran Mamdani would be a boon for Florida real-estate agents as New Yorkers would move.
After Mamdani’s dominant win Tuesday, DeSantis continued the trolling by posting a poll asking how Florida should respond: “Build a FL border wall” “Tariff all transplants” or “Recruit new transplants.”
The poll closed Thursday morning with 45,282 responses. The border-wall proposal got more than 48 percent. Tariffs were second.
When state Rep. Peggy Gossett-Seidman, R-Highland Beach, posted online that “Florida should tariff everyone fleeing NYC,” DeSantis replied, “Have you filed that bill?”
Meanwhile, Republican state Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia called Mamdani’s victory “a sad day for NYC.”
“The ‘Big Apple’ is now government issued and will be rationed accordingly,” Ingoglia posted on X.
But Florida Democrats offered a much different outlook after Tuesday night, combining Mamdani with Democrats winning gubernatorial races in New Jersey and Virginia and the results in the Miami mayor’s race where Miami-Dade County Commissioner Eileen Higgins will face former Miami City Manager Emilio González in a runoff.
“Last night was not an anomaly or a blip. It’s a rational call to restore order amidst chaos and a resolute reminder that hope is still on the ballot,” Florida Democratic Party Chairwoman Nikki Fried said Wednesday during a conference call with reporters.
“They (voters) want the government back open,” Fried said. “They want to make sure that their kids are fed. They want to make sure that they have access to affordable health care. They want prices to come down. They want the economy to grow, and they want to stop the chaos in Washington.”
Fried said national “momentum” could help Florida Democrats, who do not hold any statewide offices and are far outpaced in voter registration by Republicans.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do. I’m not overstating the amount of work that needs to get done,” Fried said. “But I do think that we are on the right course to start picking up some of these really important elections across the state.”
While delivering his victory speech on Tuesday night, New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani made a statement about the government’s role in citizens’ lives, sparking concern from critics online.
“We will prove that there is no problem too large for government to solve, and no concern too small for it to care about,” Mamdani declared during his remarks.
The comments by the self-described Democratic socialist caught some people’s attention.
New York City Mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani celebrates during an election night event at the Brooklyn Paramount Theater in Brooklyn, New York on Nov. 4, 2025.(ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images)
“‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help!’” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis wrote when reposting another user’s post about Mamdani’s comments.
DeSantis’ post appears to be a reference to President Ronald Reagan’s famous remark that he “felt the nine most terrifying words in the English language are, ‘I’m from the government, and I’m here to help.’”
Libby Emmons, editor-in-chief for The Post Millenial and Human Events, called Mamdani’s comments “terrifying words.”
President Ronald Reagan giving a speech in the Oval Office of the White House.(Diana Walker/Getty Images)
Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, also weighed in on Mamdani’s comments.
“Of all the terrifying words uttered by Zoram [sic] Mamdani, these might be the most startling,” Lee declared in a post on X. “This is now the Democratic Party.”
Mamdani, a New York state assemblymember who ran as the Democratic candidate for New York City mayor, defeated former Empire State Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa in the Big Apple’s mayoral contest.
Gov. Ron DeSantis is directing Florida’s top higher education board to prevent state universities from hiring foreign specialty workers, he announced Wednesday.
At a Tampa press conference, DeSantis said the Board of Governors should fully “pull the plug” on the visas that allow foreigners in a specialty occupation to temporarily work in the United States, called H1-B visas. This comes a month after President Donald Trump announced a $100,000 fee for future H1-B visa applications amid his administration’s broader efforts to stop illegal immigration and roadblock non-Americans from working in the U.S.
“I’m directing today the Florida Board of Governors to pull the plug on the use of these H1-B visas in our universities,” DeSantis said, likening their usage to “indentured servitude” and deriding how “troubling” it is that Florida universities are relying on cheaper labor — especially as workers nationwide are experiencing increased layoffs due to artificial intelligence, a DOGE-style of thinking, and federal furloughs.
“We can do it with our residents in Florida or with Americans, and if we can’t do it, then man—we need to really look deeply about what is going on with this situation,” he continued.
He then rattled off a list of assistant professors, coaches, data analysts, coordinators, marketers, and more university workers on H1-B visas from areas like the United Kingdom, China, Spain, Canada, Trinidad and Tobago, Russia, Poland, Albania, Argentina, and the West Bank, appearing increasingly incredulous at how these various positions were deemed specialty occupations.
The Phoenix was unable to independently verify the list of professors and their countries of origin.
“Why aren’t we producing math and engineering folks who can do this?” DeSantis questioned, after claiming one college had a power systems researcher from Wuhan, China. “[There’s] a clinical assistant professor from supposed Palestine. Why are they—is that just social justice that they’re doing?”
As of June 30, 2025, there were more than 1,900 Florida employers sponsoring over 7,200 H1-B visa holders, according to the USCIS. There were a total of 78 employers and 677 beneficiaries in the education sphere, with the University of Florida boasting the most H1-B beneficiaries at 156, followed by the University of Miami with 90, and the University of South Florida with 72.
These schools also have the three largest medical programs in the state. Thousands of H1-B visas nationwide are used by foreign physicians, although the majority of H1-B recipients are in the tech industry.
H1-B visas have become a flashpoint in Republican circles, as party leaders like Trump and DeSantis urge less reliance on foreign labor while others insist that businesses need workers, NOTUS reported.
The conversation erupted as an offshoot from the larger discussion on illegal immigration and America-first businesses, two of Trump’s top priorities during his 2024 presidential campaign and the subject of many of his day one executive orders. In the immigration sphere, Trump has ordered mass deportations, increased ICE presence, and allocated federal dollars to states assisting in detention efforts of migrants illegally in the country — led by Florida under DeSantis.
This comes after Trump — in the early days of his term — stood alongside Elon Musk as they touted the new Department of Governmental Efficiency to cut down on alleged excesses in spending. This led to thousands of firings across federal agencies.
Just as Florida reflected the national model on immigration onto the state level, DeSantis also created a state-level DOGE to audit state universities and local governments to search for waste, fraud, and abuse. That torch has been taken up by Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia, who’s unofficially renamed the task force the Florida Agency for Fiscal Oversight, or FAFO.
Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Contact Michael Moline for questions: info@floridaphoenix.com. Follow Florida Phoenix on Facebook and Twitter.
Environmental groups’ request that a federal court shutter the “Alligator Alcatraz” detention center was paused Wednesday because of the government shutdown.
Led by the non-profit Friends of the Everglades, a coalition of activists had asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit to reconsider its September decision to keep open the migrant detention center, located in the heart of the Everglades, despite environmental concerns.
But the court on Wednesday agreed with the Department of Homeland Security that the case should be paused until government attorneys can work again.
“The motion to stay the appeal is granted. The movant is directed to file a notice with the court when the purpose for the stay is obviated,” the two-sentence order reads.
Although this comes just weeks after the court expedited the appeal and scheduled oral arguments for January, the federal government’s shutdown on Sept. 30 set off a cascade of missed pay, furloughed workers, and in-limbo cases.
So, on Oct. 10, government attorneys, noting that many Justice Department lawyers are banned from working until the government comes online again, asked for a pause on the case until “DOJ attorneys are permitted to resume their usual civil litigation functions.”
How did we get here?
The state created the sprawling, 3,000-bed facility atop the seldom-used Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport in Big Cypress National Park, drawing scrutiny from Democrats, immigration groups, and environmental organizations since its July 1 opening.
Friends of the Everglades, the Center for Biodiversity, and the Miccosukee Tribe filed suit over the summer alleging the detention center violates federal environmental laws. A district judge agreed, ordering Florida to shut down the center by September’s end. But a federal three-judge panel on Sept. 4 reversed, noting that because the site had not received federal dollars, and was entirely state-run, federal environmental regulations don’t apply.
A week later, DHS and Florida Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie revealed that Florida had applied for federal reimbursement — though Friends of the Everglades believes the request was made earlier. On Sept. 30, the state received more than $608 million to pay for the construction, transportation, and equipment costs of the facility
The plaintiffs soon after appealed, asking the Eleventh Circuit to reconsider. When DHS pointed out that some government staff couldn’t work during the shutdown, Friends of the Everglades called the situation “regrettable” but argued it didn’t outweigh the environment “harms” caused by dragging out the case.
“An indefinite stay in this case … would cause Plaintiffs ongoing and irreversible harm where the federal action being challenged — the construction and operation of an immigration detention center in the Everglades that imperils sensitive wetlands, endangered Species, and communities in the area — would continue during the indefinite stay period,” the attorneys wrote.
When the Eleventh Circuit released its order against them, Eve Samples, executive director of the Friends of the Everglades, put out a statement calling the move a ruse to avoid accountability.
“There’s a growing mountain of evidence that Alligator Alcatraz was built in violation of the National Environmental Policy Act,” Samples said. “Meanwhile, the government is dragging its feet in court to dodge accountability — using the federal shutdown as an excuse to delay the appeal.
“We’re more resolved than ever to keep fighting to restore the lower court’s injunction to protect the Everglades.”
Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Contact Michael Moline for questions: info@floridaphoenix.com. Follow Florida Phoenix on Facebook and Twitter.
The court agreed with the Department of Homeland Security that the case should be paused until government attorneys can work again.
‘We must call it what it truly is: the documentation of the sexual abuse of children’
The judge issued a stay of the lawsuit until after the Supreme Court decides whether a law prohibiting drug users having guns violates the Second Amendment.
A bipartisan group of state lawmakers heard from nearly a dozen doctors on Tuesday who called on them to reject any proposed legislation that would remove vaccine mandates from Florida schools.
Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo and Gov. Ron DeSantis announced last month in Hillsborough County that they intend to drop all required vaccine mandates for children, including those required for school attendance such as polio, diphtheria, measles, mumps, and chickenpox.
Ladapo already holds authority to remove some vaccine requirements by simple rule changes. That means that starting in early December (taking effect 90 days after the Sept. 3 announcement), school vaccinations will no longer be required for hepatitis B, chickenpox, haemophilus type b (Hib), and pneumococcal conjugate virus. That’s according to a statement sent by the Florida Department of Health that was reported by ABC News.
Others, however, including poliomyelitis, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, measles, mumps, and rubella are still in place and won’t be removed unless the Legislature opts to do so when it convenes for its 2026 session in January.
But a group of doctors – many of them pediatricians from the Tampa Bay area – urged members of the Hillsborough County legislative delegation on Tuesday to oppose any such proposals if they come before them early next year.
“We as physicians took an oath to do no harm, and I do think that silence in the face of preventable harm is, in and of itself, a kind of harm,” said Brandon urologist Dr. Neil Manimala, who is also a Democratic candidate for county commission in 2026. “We are here because we do not want to be silent when politics is injected into our children’s healthcare.”
“Vaccine requirements are not about government overreach, they are about public responsibility,” said Dr. Lisa M. Rush, a pediatrician with Health Care Alliance.
“They’re protecting the vulnerable and ensuring that our schools, businesses, and healthcare systems remain strong and resilient in the face of infectious disease. The question before us is not whether we support vaccines. That debate is, frankly, settled science. The question is, do we have the courage to uphold policies that have kept our state safe even when it’s politically inconvenient? True freedom isn’t the absence of regulation. It’s the presence of safety, opportunity, and the ability to live without fear of preventable illness.”
Dr. Ed Homan served as a member of the Florida House as a Republican representing parts of Hillsborough and Pasco counties from 2002 to 2010. He noted how highly contagious a disease like measles is and feared what could happen if an unvaccinated child spent time at Disney World or Universal Florida.
“It wouldn’t be long before this measles outbreak starts popping up all over the country, and then it wouldn’t be long after that before we figured out where is the source of this epidemic [is] in Central Florida. So think about the economic impact of our tourism industry,” he said.
Dr. Marcy Solomon Baker, director of pediatrics at BayCare Medical Group, said that after practicing for 25 years she knows that vaccines are what’s best for children and for “our vulnerable children.”
“Children that are too young to be vaccinated; children who have cancer; children who have immune problems. They depend on herd immunity. So, if other people don’t vaccinate, it puts them at risk,” she said.
Both Ladapo and DeSantis acknowledged during their Sept. 3 press conference that they had yet to speak to any lawmaker before they went public. And although legislators are filing bills daily in advance of the regular legislative start date of Jan. 13, none has filed a bill to remove vaccine mandates.
A James Madison Institute survey released in late September of 1,200 registered Florida voters found 62% against elimination of all vaccine requirements, with just 29% in support. And a survey of 631 registered Florida voters conducted by Bendixen & Amandi International taken Sept. 7-9 found 60% opposed ending vaccine mandates and just 37% supporting it.
Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Contact Michael Moline for questions: info@floridaphoenix.com. Follow Florida Phoenix on Facebook and Twitter.
The organizers behind an amendment to legalize marijuana in Florida contend that the administration of Gov. Ron DeSantis is interfering with their efforts to make the 2026 ballot and they have asked a court to stop it.
Smart & Safe Florida, the political committee sponsoring the amendment and which is largely supported by Trulieve, a medical marijuana company, last week filed a lawsuit over an effort by state election officials to toss out as many as 200,000 signatures for the initiative. They call the actions by Secretary of State Cord Byrd, appointed by DeSantis, “unlawful” and unprecedented.
Smart & Safe needs to collect more than 880,000 signatures to make the ballot. The new lawsuit points out that Maria Matthews, head of the Division Elections, told local supervisors to throw out signed and validated signatures because Smart & Safe Florida did not provide the people it reached out to by mail with a copy of the entire amendment.
Matthew’s edict to toss the signatures came after Byrd in March advised Smart & Safe Florida that the petition it was mailing voters and asking them to return wasn’t valid because it didn’t contain the wording of the amendment.
The group began including the full language following Byrd’s correspondence and also provided Byrd with the names of all those who returned forms to it by mail.
Nevertheless, the suit calls Matthews’ actions unlawful.
“Smart & Safe filed this lawsuit to require the Secretary of State to follow Florida law and to prevent the state from denying the Florida voters who signed the petition to have their voices,” the group said through a spokesperson.
“We are asking the court to enforce Florida law, it’s really that simple. In this matter in an unprecedented directive the Secretary of State’s office ordered all local supervisors of elections to invalidate upwards of 200,000 lawfully gathered petitions that have already been reviewed and certified by the local supervisors. The state is wrongly attempting to change the rules after the fact and deny these registered voters their voice in the process.”
Under Florida law, those seeking to place an initiative on the ballot have until Feb. 1 to gather the signatures they need. The latest figures posted by the Department of State show that organizers have collected more than 662,000 already.
Smart & Safe Florida is the same group that tried unsuccessfully to get pot legalized in 2024 but the amendment fell short of the 60% threshold needed for approval.
The 200,000 tossed signatures may not be the only legal obstacle the new proposed amendment to legalize marijuana is facing.
Politico Florida reports that Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier has not sent the proposed amendment to the Florida Supreme Court for review, despite the organizers having collected enough signatures to trigger that action.
Meanwhile, the legal challenge over the second pot amendment coincides with a Leon County grand jury’s probe into a $10 million Medicaid payment made to the Hope Florida Foundation, an initiative spearheaded by First Lady Casey DeSantis designed to help transition people off Medicaid and other social service programs.
Hope Florida subsequently directed the money to two groups that donated millions to the campaign to defeat the 2024 amendment to legalize recreational pot for adults.
Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Contact Michael Moline for questions: info@floridaphoenix.com. Follow Florida Phoenix on Facebook and Twitter.
Zeyad Kadur, uncle of Mohammed Ibrahim, spoke in Tampa on Aug. 26, 2025. Credit: by Mitch Perry/Florida Phoenix
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) called on the Trump administration Wednesday to force the Israeli government to free Mohammed Ibrahim, a 16-year-old dual Palestinian-American citizen from Brevard County, who has been held in an Israeli prison for more than eight months.
Ibrahim was arrested in February from his family’s home in the West Bank over allegations of rock throwing.
During a press conference in Tampa in August, an attorney for his family said that Ibrahim was being held in Israel’s Megiddo Prison, where they said he had contracted scabies but been denied medical treatment. Family members said he had lost more than 25 pounds since his detention began 10 months ago.
Tampa Bay-area Democratic U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor released a statement that same day as that press conference, urging the Trump administration “to do everything in its power” to obtain the release of Ibrahim. Massachusetts Democratic U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley said on X Sunday that the U.S. “must use every avenue available to secure the release of this Palestinian-American child.”
Ibrahim’s family lives in Palm Bay in Brevard County, where they are represented in Congress by Republican Mike Haridopolos. A spokesperson told the Phoenix in August that his office had been in contact with the Ibrahim family.
The Guardian reported last month that the U.S. State Department had appointed a dedicated official to handle Ibrahim’s case.
Following the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas earlier this month, the Israeli government released nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners. Ibrahim’s uncle, Zeyad Kadur, told WBUR radio in Boston last week that the family has hoped that Ibrahim would be part of that deal, “but it didn’t happen.”
Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Contact Michael Moline for questions: info@floridaphoenix.com. Follow Florida Phoenix on Facebook and Twitter.
Heading into his final year as Florida governor with no immediate campaign on the horizon, Ron DeSantis has begun to show a more personal, reflective side to himself on social media.
From new posts on his preferences in music (Metallica), coffee (Dunkin), and sports (Stone Cold Steve Austin), DeSantis in the past 10 months has started to use his personal X account to give his fans a peek behind the curtain into his hobbies — a stark change to his past, sparsely personal use of his account.
Some hope it’s a sign of his next career.
“Governor, can you please start a call-in radio show?” one user asked.
Others are confused at the change:
“What are these tweets? You are the greatest governor of all time, but what is going on with this stream of consciousness. I get it 2028 and Vance is good with speaking from the heart. But you are a sledgehammer that’s good enough. Peace and love,” another wrote.
DeSantis has long enjoyed a distinct popularity in right-wing circles on social media. Many fans name their X accounts after him, use his face as their profile pictures, or even AI-generate images of him to represent themselves. Accounts like “DeSantis Appreciation Society,” “Cryptid Politics,” and “Frog Capital” have a combined following of more than 50,000 people, including members of the governor’s staff.
Despite this, DeSantis has largely built a reticent, insulated reputation. He’s run a more private operation, offering few tidbits about himself and the inner-workings of his administration. And while the political machinations haven’t appeared to change, his online presence has begun to shift into the sunshine.
Molly Best, DeSantis’ press secretary, told the Florida Phoenix there is “no underlying reason” for the change in pace “other than his normal interest in tweeting from his personal account.”
On DeSantis’ personal X account, the Phoenix searched from the years 2018 to the present for terms he’s expressed interest in. These includes “baseball,” “golf,” “football,” “Metallica,” “Master of Puppets,” “coffee,” “wrestling,” “Waffle House,” and “AI.”
Here’s what we found:
On music:
In 2025 alone, DeSantis has used his personal account, @RonDeSantis, to post the key word “Metallica” four times; “Nirvana,” twice; and “Master of Puppets,” four times. This compares to zero mentions in the past.
“If you compare the music/bands from the last 30 years (1995-2025) to the previous 30 years (1965-1995) it isn’t even close: From 1965-1995 you have the Beatles/Stones/Zepplin/Hendrix era; Elvis was still in the building; the rise of southern rock including Skynrd; epic country from Johnny Cash to Waylon; pop icons like Michael Jackson; mainstream rock bands like U2; metal legends including Metallica/GnR; the start of alternative rock … and so much more. Music from that era has stood — and will continue to stand — the test of time,” one deep-dive DeSantis thought from Aug. 16 reads.
On the same day, he mused, “Epic year — and it signaled the evolution from metal/hair rock towards grunge/alternative rock. I’d take Appetite for Destruction and Master of Puppets if I had to choose between albums from the mid-to-late 80s vs the early 90s.”
Also on Aug. 16, he shared, “November Rain by GnR and One by Metallica are two of my favorite music videos of all time.”
On food and drink:
DeSantis on Monday showed a preference for Dunkin’ Donuts over Starbucks, and black coffee over sugary, cream-filled lattes. He posted three times about coffee on his personal account, compared to once in 2018.
“Demand for coffee in America = inelastic,” he wrote. “People will pony up before changing their habits when it comes to that cup of Joe.”
On food, he revealed three times this year that he likes Waffle House (and prefers it to Cracker Barrel). “We haven’t been in a few months — the last time we tried there was a line of (hungover?) college students and it’s hard to wait long with three young kids so we bailed,” he wrote.
He had not posted anything about Waffle House on his personal account before this year.
On sports:
Sports are one of the governor’s most prevalent interests on social media and in press conferences. From football to baseball to golf to wrestling, he likes it all.
This year, he posted with the key word “baseball” 10 times — nine of which were in October. This compares to just one post in 2024 and two in 2018.
Many of these posts center on a perceived growing uninterest in the sport, which DeSantis played at Yale University. A star player and captain of the team, the now-47-year-old posted various analyses about why the sport may have fallen by the wayside, including a 1994 MLB strike and a slower drafting process.
“Golf” made it into 11 posts this year, 10 of them in September, compared to just two in 2024. Many weighed the governor’s favorite golf courses. DeSantis is prolific golfer, and has posted video of his young son golfing. DeSantis and First Lady Casey DeSantis met at a University of North Florida golf course in 2006.
Wrestling, meanwhile, earned three mentions compared to zero in previous years, while “Stone Cold Steve Austin” had two.
“Maybe Stone Cold Steve Austin can be the referee and then drop a stunner on Tampon Tim at the opportune time,” he posted in March. The reference is to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
Football also saw spikes in interest from DeSantis in 2025, along with “championship,” “undefeated,” and “ranked.”
Not all of his new subject areas are apolitical, however. This year alone, he’s used his personal account to deride artificial intelligence 13 times. He hadn’t mentioned it before then.
Gov. Ron DeSantis and state Transportation Secretary Jared Perdue hope to land the next generation of air transport companies at a testing facility in Central Florida.
Perdue for years has championed advanced air mobility, which would involve establishing “vertiports” in urban areas that could serve as hubs for short aerial commutes by battery-powered aircraft that have characteristics of airplanes and helicopters.
DeSantis recently saying he was “mildly excited” about the effort to reduce congestion along the I-4 corridor, Florida will first try to attract the growing technology to Polk County.
While few details were released, DeSantis and Perdue on Thursday announced plans for an aerial test bed at the department’s SunTrax facility in Polk County.
The test facility will include two vertiports, which are take-off and landing sites for primarily electric vertical take-off and landing, “VTOL,” aircraft.
“The idea would be, if they could do this to scale, if they can make it economical, it would take some traffic off the roads, because people, they could cycle through with travelers on doing that. So we’re just trying to have as many options as possible,” DeSantis said during an announcement that was focused on new express lanes on I-4 in Hillsborough County and a truck parking facility along I-4 in Polk County.
Once green-lighted from the federal government, the VTOLs would be expected to provide short air transport “like an Uber” and potentially draw investments from deep-pocketed “Wall Street guys,” according to the governor.
“It’s not going to go from Miami to Jacksonville or Miami to Pensacola,” DeSantis said “It’s really within that 60 miles. And in areas where there is traffic, where you want to get from maybe one urban center to the next, it makes a lot of sense.”
The test facility will help the private sector quickly advance into the “age of flying cars” in Florida, Perdue added.
Perdue and DeSantis saw prototypes of the VTOLs in June at the Paris Air Show, an international aerospace trade fair and air show. Perdue said that some of the prototypes are expected to get federal approval in 2026 for supervised trials.
“How can we support the private sector being successful? Speed to market,” Perdue said. “You cut through the red tape. You give them the ability to start operating and operating quickly and become profitable. And this will be a new opportunity for Florida residents. So this is our goal.”
Perdue earlier this year encouraged lawmakers to support the establishment of vertiports in urban areas that could serve as hubs for short aerial commutes by battery-powered aircraft that have characteristics of airplanes and helicopters.
“So, you can think about movies that you’ve seen that are science fiction. The Jetsons, yeah, is one of those … that’s a classic. This is actually becoming a reality,” Perdue told members of the House Economic Infrastructure Subcommittee in February.
The Paris Air Show elevated DeSantis’ support in the high-tech transport from “mildly interested” to “mildly excited,” the governor said Thursday.
“I mean, I do have questions too. But I think what we’re doing makes a lot of sense, because, to the extent the industry has the ability to innovate, they’re going to want to do that in conjunction with SunTrax,” DeSantis said.
While attending the air show, DeSantis signed a wide-ranging transportation package (SB 1662) that in part required the transportation department to develop a plan for advanced air mobility with the Department of Commerce. The law also required advances in aviation technology to be included into the annual transportation work program.
The joint department plan also is aimed at identifying “corridors of need and opportunities for industry growth.”
In September, the Federal Aviation Administration launched a pilot program to advance the approval of air taxis that will involve at least five public-private partnerships with state and local governments to promote safe usage of VTOL aircraft.
Facing industry pressure, the FAA in January updated guidelines for the design of vertiport facilities, in part putting them in the existing category of heliports. A year ago, the FAA issued a final rule for qualifications and training of advanced air mobility instructors and pilots.
Attempts to establish regulations and oversight of the industry have struggled to gain traction in the Florida Legislature over the past few years. Lawmakers in 2024 allowed the state Department of Commerce to consider applications for money under a new Supply Chain Innovation Grant Program for efforts to develop vertiports.
Do public votes on cannabis matter currently? State lawmakers are rewriting rules despite public support.
In what increasingly feels like a democratic disconnect, some publican-led state legislatures are quietly rewriting or trimming cannabis laws voters overwhelmingly backed. The question now looms: when citizen ballots say one thing—but elected lawmakers say another. Do public votes about cannabis matter currently? It seems the voting public doesn’t matter much anymore.
Take Ohio. Voters in 2023 went to the polls and approved adult-use cannabis legalization, signalling a clear public mandate. Yet earlier this year, the state’s Senate—under GOP leadership—passed legislation would shrink the home-grow allowance and cap THC content in products, arguing voters “didn’t know what they were voting on.” It is not just a tweaking of policy—it is a direct pushback against the will of the electorate.
Meanwhile, in Nebraska, citizens voted to legalize medical cannabis in 2024. Yet Republican officials have floated rolling back key access provisions and delaying licensing—an outcome labelled by critics as “targeting voter-approved medical marijuana.” In both states, the message is clear: when public votes favor more liberal cannabis policy, legislative majorities with opposing views are ready to push them aside.
Photo by Xvision/Getty Image
This trend raises a larger question for millennials and voters nationwide: Are ballots just theatrical props in the policy theatre? When elected officials override or rewrite voter-backed initiatives, the very idea of representative democracy starts to feel hollow. For younger generations used to digital petitions and civic engagement, it’s a bitter pill to swallow.
Ironically, this political tug-of-war is happening while medical studies continue to show meaningful benefits of cannabis for patient communities. For instance, a study at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine followed nearly 400 medical-cannabis patients and found significant gains in physical functioning, social life and emotional well-being after three months. Similarly, researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine found medical users reported less pain, better sleep, reduced anxiety—and fewer hospital or ER visits. And the Center for Medical Cannabis Research at the University of Utah is now leading rigorous trials on therapeutic use and safety. If doctors and scientists are increasingly seeing a medical case, why are some legislators throttling access?
It comes down to control. Many GOP-led legislatures argue that while voters perhaps intended change, they didn’t foresee the consequences—or “the devil in the details,” like THC caps, home grows, advertising, youth access. Ohio’s Senate, for example, claimed voters “didn’t know what they were voting on.” And in Nebraska, the medical-cannabis law’s licensing deadlines were missed and regulatory power handed to a commission criticised for obstructing the popular will.
or millennials who’ve come of age during legalized cannabis expansion and who expect transparency and inclusion, this feels like a let-down. Yes, your state might vote in favour—but if lawmakers can simply override or dilute the legal decision, the vote becomes symbolic, not consequential.
So yes: public votes still matter—they show where the people stand. But what matters more is whether lawmakers respect the vote and implement policy accordingly. Otherwise, ballot boxes become placeholders, and legislative bodies the real gatekeepers. Until the law catches up with popular sentiment, many voters will feel they’re speaking into a void.
Will this dynamic spark a backlash, forcing legislatures to honour public ballots—or will it deepen cynicism among a generation already sceptical of politics? Time, and the next set of votes, will tell.
Florida’s Republican-controlled House, undeterred by Gov. Ron DeSantis’s veto earlier this year of identical legislation, is pushing ahead again with an effort to broaden the class of people who can bring wrongful death lawsuits against physicians.
“If you’re feeling a little déjà vu today it’s because you should be feeling a little déjà vu. We heard this exact bill in this committee,” Fort Pierce Republican and HB 6003 bill sponsor Rep. Dana Trabulsy said Wednesday.
The GOP legislator made her comments before a House panel voted overwhelmingly for the bill that allows parents of single, childless, adult children to sue for noneconomic damages such as pain and suffering arising from alleged medical malpractice.
Florida also bans adults (defined as 25 and older) from pursuing wrongful death claims for single parents who die from medical malpractice, and the bill would remove that ban, too. The Legislature adopted the bans during the 1990s as the state wrestled with rising malpractice premiums but Florida remains one of the few states to have such restrictions in place.
HB 6003 cleared the House Civil Justice & Claims Subcommittee with two dissenting votes, although some representatives hinted that their continued support would hinge on changes, including caps on noneconomic damages that could be recovered in all medical malpractice lawsuits.
“While I vote up on this bill today, I am hopeful that in the future, either in this chamber or the next, that reasonable limits will somehow find their way into this bill, thereby achieving the balance and allowing us to achieve justice without inadvertently creating another injustice to replace that one,” said Jacksonville Republican Rep. Dean Black.
HB 6003 reignites a long-standing fight between trial attorneys, organized medicine, and insurance companies over Florida’s medical malpractice laws and the amount of noneconomic damages plaintiffs can recover.
Florida has not had caps on pain and suffering awards in medical malpractice lawsuits since 2014, when the Florida Supreme Court ruled that they are unconstitutional. But the makeup of the court has changed since then, with the majority of the justices having been appointed by DeSantis.
The insurance and business communities see HB 6003 as a vehicle to reinstate the caps, hopeful that a reconfigured DeSantis-appointed court will uphold them.
Representatives of families who’ve been barred under the law from filing lawsuits have repeatedly traveled to Tallahassee to share their stories of heartbreak and testify against what they call the “free kill” law as well as a regulatory system they say allows bad doctors to continue to practice medicine.
Opponents have dubbed the efforts to alter the law as “jackpot justice.”
Both sides squared off at the first stop of the bill.
allahassee orthopedic surgeon Andy Borom said he was “offended” by the “free kill” title.
“As if there’s a bunch of physicians who spent their entire adult lives training and taking care of patients who are sitting around salivating at the opportunity to kill people for free. That’s just gross,” he said.
Borom, 58, has been practicing medicine for 25 years. He said he’d consider expediting his retirement if the Legislature were to allow more lawsuits to be filed without capping noneconomic damages.
“There’s enough things that are punishing about the practice of medicine,” said Borom. “Right now, Medicare is cutting rates, the cost of medical practice goes up well in excess of the costs of reimbursement, and then you throw on the hazard of medical liability, which oftentimes doesn’t always comport with actual malpractice, sometimes it’s just somebody looking for a buck.”
He said the legislation could expedite his retirement by 10 years.
“That’s about 40,000 patients that won’t be seen, about 5,000 surgeries that won’t get done,” he said.
Jacksonville resident Cindy Jenkins shared the story of how her 25-year- old daughter, Taylor Jenkins, died in a Florida hospital after waiting for emergency surgery. Devastated, she said she paid for a private autopsy, the results of which, she said, caused the medical examiner to change the cause of death on her death certificate.
She told the committee that following the experience she “set out on a mission to hold the hospital and doctors accountable and, with all due respect to those in favor of this law, I learned that the doctors got a free pass because my daughter had been 25 for two and a half months.”
Jenkins said she filed a complaint against the physician with the Florida Department of Health but that it was dismissed.
As she concluded her testimony, Jenkins countered the claims DeSantis made at a press conference announcing his veto, when he criticized the legislation because it did not reinstate caps on noneconomic damages. She also addressed opponents’ assertions that as many as 1,500 additional lawsuits could be filed if the law was changed.
“I do not want the grave of my dead child danced on nor 1,500 people per year to be able to have access to the courts in return for hurting the masses. I will wear the badge ‘free kill mom’ like honor,” she said, adding, “I will never agree to trade off opening courts to a small percentage of the people to hurt everybody.”
Shaking up Florida’s authoritarian image, Florida’s courts make a sort of stand for marijuana.
Florida has long carried a reputation for being uniquely authoritarian, a place where bold laws collide with bold personalities. It’s home to the infamous #FloridaMan headlines, often chronicling wild and unpredictable stunts, and also the mecca of spring break chaos, where rowdy college crowds flock each year. Against this backdrop of quirky notoriety and strict law enforcement, Florida’courts make a sort of stand for marijuana. And it marks a striking departure from its “tough on crime” image.
In a landmark ruling on October 1, 2025, the Florida Second District Court of Appeal declared the mere odor of marijuana no longer constitutes probable cause for police to search a vehicle. This decision marks a significant shift in Florida’s approach to cannabis law enforcement, reflecting evolving legal standards and public attitudes toward marijuana.
For decades, Florida law enforcement relied on the “plain smell” doctrine, which permitted officers to search a vehicle if they detected the odor of marijuana. This practice was grounded in the assumption the smell of marijuana was indicative of illegal activity. However, with the legalization of medical marijuana and hemp, the legal landscape has changed, rendering the smell of cannabis insufficient to establish probable cause.
The case of Darrielle Ortiz Williams highlighted the limitations of the plain smell doctrine. Officers detected the odor of cannabis during a traffic stop and proceeded to search the vehicle, finding both marijuana and a small bag of white powder. Williams contended the search was unlawful, as the odor alone did not provide probable cause. The appellate court agreed, emphasizing the legalization of medical marijuana and hemp had altered the legal context, making the odor of cannabis unreliable as sole evidence of illegal activity.
This ruling necessitates a paradigm shift for Florida law enforcement agencies. Officers can no longer rely solely on the smell of marijuana to justify a search. Instead, they must consider the totality of circumstances, including other indicators of illegal activity, to establish probable cause. This change aims to protect citizens’ rights while ensuring searches are based on concrete evidence rather than assumptions.
Florida’s journey toward cannabis reform has been marked by significant milestones. The state legalized medical marijuana in 2016, allowing patients with qualifying conditions to access cannabis for therapeutic use. However, efforts to legalize recreational marijuana have faced challenges. In November 2024, a proposed constitutional amendment to legalize recreational cannabis garnered 55.9% of the vote but fell short of the 60% threshold required for passage.
Governor Ron DeSantis played a pivotal role in opposing the amendment, arguing legalization would lead to increased crime and negatively impact communities. Despite public support for legalization, the governor’s campaign efforts were instrumental in the amendment’s defeat.
Despite setbacks in the legislative arena, public support for cannabis reform remains robust. Polls indicate a majority of Floridians favor the legalization of recreational marijuana. Legal challenges, such as the recent appellate court ruling, reflect a growing recognition of the need to adapt laws to contemporary realities. As the legal landscape continues to evolve, it is likely future reforms will align more closely with public opinion, paving the way for comprehensive cannabis legislation in Florida.
In conclusion, the repeal of the plain smell doctrine represents a significant step forward in Florida’s cannabis law reform. While challenges remain, the state’s legal system is increasingly aligning with public sentiment, indicating a potential shift toward broader cannabis legalization in the future.
Florida has more to lose than any other state if Congress doesn’t extend enhanced premium tax credits for so-called Obamacare coverage.
That was the message a trio of Democratic members of Congress delivered Tuesday on Day 14 of the government shutdown. At the center of the shutdown is a partisan battle over extending the tax credits to lower the costs of health care coverage.
The credits expire at the end of the year. Democrats are holding up government funding to pressure Republicans into extending them. While Republicans have said they are open to talks, they insist Democrats vote to continue government operations until late November.
“If Trump and Republicans continue to refuse to negotiate our way out of this health care coverage crisis, it’s going to be absolutely brutal, disproportionately for Florida,” said U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a Democrat from Weston.
Florida leads the nation in the number of people who purchase insurance through the federal exchange (healthcare.gov), which was established under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), sometimes called Obamacare.
U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services data from March show that of the 4.7 million Florida residents with an Obamacare plan in 2025, 4.6 million receive the tax credits.
Obamacare enrollment for 2026, meanwhile, is set to begin next month.
“If these credits expire, millions of people will — and thousands of people that we represent, really, hundreds of thousands — will face double, triple, or quadruple price hikes in their [health insurance] premiums. That’s not exaggeration or hyperbole. We’ve seen the notices,” said Wasserman Schultz, whose district includes 209,000 Obamacare enrollees, 203,000 of whom receive the tax credits.
“We’ve talked to insurance companies and we know that that’s what’s coming,” she added. “And you all know what that really means. Families will be forced to drop coverage, chronic diseases will go undiagnosed, ERs will be flooded.”
Joining Wasserman Schultz in a Zoom meeting were U.S. Reps. Darren Soto and Maxwell Frost, who said the loss of the enhanced premiums plus Florida’s decision to not expand Medicaid to low-income childless adults will prove devastating.
Soto said his congressional district has the second highest Obamacare enrollment (271,000) in the nation.
“And there’s a good reason for that. We have a lot of folks working for small businesses. We have a lot of folks who are independent contractors, and they don’t have access to affordable, employer-based health care, so they’ve gone on the exchange, and the fact that Florida didn’t expand Medicaid only made it more desperate for folks to have to use the ACA exchange,” Soto said.
He added: “Remember when Donald Trump ran on lowering costs? Well, now he’s running away from lowering costs with this key negotiation.”
Advanced premium tax credits have been available since passage of the Affordable Care Act. During COVID, Congress agreed to make the premium tax credits more generous. Those enhanced credits lower out-of-pocket costs for the coverage and allow people who earn more money to qualify for the subsidies.
Only Alabama, Mississippi, and Texas (all of which have lower Obamacare enrollment) have lower average monthly premiums.
While the battle over the tax credits has been partisan, conservatives including Associated Industries of Florida President and CEO Brewster Bevis, Florida Hospital Association President and CEO Mary Mayhew, President and CEO of Florida Association of Community Health Centers Jonathan Chapman, and President and CEO of the Florida Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Julio Fuentes aligned under the Florida Conservatives for Affordable Health Care moniker and came out in support of their continuation over the summer.
“I have been around this debate over health care coverage for decades and, while the politics of the ACA have been heated over the years, there should be a unified political voice in support of the federal marketplace and the premiums assistance in Florida,” Mayhew said during a press conference this summer.
U.S. Sens. Rick Scott and Ashley Moody both oppose extending the tax credits. Moody’s position could hurt her election bid next year, a public opinion survey conducted by the Tyson Group shows.
Scott, the multimillionaire former health care executive who launched his political career opposing Obamacare, doubled down on his opposition to the longstanding federal health care law last week on Fox News’ The Sunday Briefing.
‘Heartbreaking’
For his part, Frost said the argument is an extension of the battle this summer over the GOP’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” and that he was “proud” that Democrats are “standing strong” on the issue.
“We are the party of the working class, we’re the party of working people, and we don’t want people’s health care costs to go up anywhere from 50% to 300%. We don’t want millions of people in this country losing their health care, because we believe health care is a human right for every single person in this country, and that’s what we’re fighting for,” he said.
Frost said his office has asked constituents to share videos of themselves talking about the looming health insurance premium increases they face. His office, he said, has been posting them online.
One “heartbreaking” story he described involved a woman who said her monthly premiums were about to double.
“She’s having to cut from her grocery trips. She had to cancel a trip to go see her parents that she hasn’t seen in a long, long time. And a lot of people are considering having to change their housing situation because the rent is too damn high,” Frost said.
“We have to remember that Donald Trump is throwing us into this healthcare crisis while he’s also thrown us into a grocery store crisis, while he’s also thrown us into a housing crisis, even worse than it ever was before. Everything is so much more expensive.”
With wages stagnant and costs of living increasing, Frost said, “working people just need a break, and taking away their health care — it’s one of the most inhumane things a person can do.”
Silence
Meanwhile, state political leaders to date have been silent on the issue.
The three Democrats were critical of Insurance Commissioner Michael Yaworski and Gov. Ron DeSantis for not warning state residents about the increases.
“Absolutely,” Soto said when asked whether the governor and insurance commissioner should be making people aware.
“They can’t hide these numbers. Obviously, people want to know, and they should know, and there’s a duty to tell them ahead of time.”
Frost said DeSantis and Yaworski are motivated by political considerations.
“The governor knows that in about a year, he’s going to become pretty irrelevant on the national stage, and he’s trying to find relevancy. He doesn’t want to rub Trump the wrong way. And so instead of looking out for Floridians and what’s best for the people he’s supposed to lead and represent, he’s going to keep his mouth shut and continue to play partisan games,” Frost said.
OIR presentation
Meanwhile, OIR Deputy Commissioner for Life and Health Alexis Bakofsy updated the House Health Health Care Facilities & Systems Subcommittee Tuesday afternoon, including news that a statewide average 34% increase in premiums will take effect Jan. 1.
An OIR slide presentation shows the state expects Obamacare enrollment to “drop significantly during 2026 Open Enrollment with the expiration of enhanced subsidies & Federal Rule implementation.” OIR has a demographic breakout but Bakofsy said she didn’t have the information available with her.
She did tell committee members that 95% of Obamacare enrollees live in a county with at least four carriers. Monroe County is the only area in the state with only one health insurer offering a Obamacare plan through the exchange, the result of Aetna exiting the market (in Florida and nationally.)
Bakofsy repeatedly said Florida consumers should shop, given the changes that are occurring.
“When I say ‘shop’ I mean understand how you’re going to be impacted both on the exchange but also what are your options off exchange. Every consumer is going to be different to the extent that we can provide you with resources so that they can go. I would hate for someone to come to Dec. 15 and realize that the plan that they had, the plan they want to keep, is no longer available.”
Bakofsy also told members that the OIR plans to collect data on enrollment and claims starting next year to ensure the office can effectively track participation in the market.
The OIR had not publicized the steep rate increases, a fact that Bakofsy acknowledged and which irked committee member and state Rep. Robin Bartleman, a Democrat from Weston.
Bartleman said many residents haven’t even received notice from insurance companies warning them of the rate increases (Florida law requires the notice to go out 45 day in advance. Bakofsy said that gives the carriers until mid-November to send the notices).
“So, what? What is your plan? Because everyone this committee, we’re going to be left holding that ball, and we had nothing to do with this. But you work for the state. You work for the governor. What are you going to do, because it’s not just low-income people or minority people. I can give you the numbers of every person in this community and how many people in your district aren’t going to be able to afford health care insurance. What can you do to help us, help Floridians get this information out?”
A Florida judge on Tuesday temporarily blocked the planned transfer of prime downtown Miami land for Donald Trump’s future presidential library.
Ruling emphasizes non-political nature
The move by Circuit Judge Mavel Ruiz came after a Miami activist alleged that officials at Miami Dade College violated Florida’s open government law when they gifted the sizable plot of real estate to the state, which then voted to transfer it to the foundation for President Trump’s planned library.
“This is not an easy decision,” Ruiz said Tuesday when explaining her ruling from the bench.
“This is not a case, at least for this court, rooted in politics,” she added.
Valuable property at the heart of dispute
The nearly 3-acre (1.2-hectare) property is a developer’s dream and is valued at more than $67 million, according to a 2025 assessment by the Miami-Dade County property appraiser.
One real estate expert wagered that the parcel—one of the last undeveloped lots on an iconic stretch of palm tree-lined Biscayne Boulevard—could sell for hundreds of millions of dollars more.
Lawsuit alleges violations of open government laws
Marvin Dunn, an activist and chronicler of local Black history, filed a lawsuit this month in a Miami-Dade County court against the Board of Trustees for Miami Dade College, a state-run school that owned the property.
He alleges that the board violated Florida’s Government in the Sunshine law by not providing sufficient notice for its special meeting on Sept. 23, when it voted to give up the land.
A week later, Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Florida Cabinet voted to transfer the land again, effectively putting the property under the control of the Trump family when they deeded it to the foundation for Trump’s library.
The foundation is led by three trustees: Eric Trump, Tiffany Trump’s husband, Michael Boulos, and the president’s attorney James Kiley.
Attorney stresses public’s right to transparency
Richard Brodsky, an attorney for Dunn, said the issue before the court was not a question of politics, but whether the public board followed the open government law.
“The people have a right to know what they’re going to decide to do when the transaction is so significant, so unusual and deprives the students and the college of this land,” Brodsky said.
Legal cannabis is booming for fun, medicine, and anxiety relief—yet some elected officials let their moral code override public opinion
Despite a national surge in support for cannabis legalization, a minority of elected officials cling to personal moral codes despite public opinion. This disconnect between public opinion and political action raises questions about representation and the role of personal beliefs in shaping public policy.
Recent polls indicate overwhelming public support for cannabis legalization. A Quinnipiac University poll found that 93% of Americans aged 50-64 and 91% of Americans aged 65 and older support medical cannabis, with support reaching 99% among those aged 18-34. Similarly, a University of North Florida poll revealed that 66% of voters supported Florida’s Amendment 3, which aimed to legalize recreational marijuana.
Despite this overwhelming public support, some lawmakers persist in blocking reform efforts. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, for instance, acknowledged that “more people probably agreed” with a marijuana legalization ballot initiative he helped defeat last year. However, he argued that it was the “morally right” choice to prevent the sale of what he termed “dangerous stuff” in the state. Other elected officials, including a handful of state legislators in Oklahoma and Alabama, have cited similar moral objections to block legalization measures, framing their opposition in terms of protecting community values and public health.
Photo by Xvision/Getty Image
DeSantis’s stance underscores a broader issue: the influence of personal morality on public policy. While elected officials are entrusted to represent their constituents, some prioritize their own ethical beliefs over the will of the people. This approach can lead to policies that do not align with public opinion, potentially eroding trust in democratic institutions.
The refusal to legalize cannabis also has economic and social repercussions. Legalization could generate significant revenue through taxation, create jobs, and reduce law enforcement costs associated with cannabis-related offenses. Moreover, regulated cannabis markets have been linked to reductions in alcohol consumption, offering a safer alternative for some adults. Medical research also highlights cannabis’s therapeutic benefits, from pain management to treating certain neurological conditions. Younger generations, particularly Gen Z, are increasingly embracing cannabis to help manage anxiety and stress, signaling a shift in both social norms and wellness trends.
The persistent opposition to cannabis reform by a minority of lawmakers highlights the need for a more representative approach to governance. Elected officials should consider the overwhelming public support for cannabis legalization and weigh it against their personal beliefs. While moral considerations are important, they should not override the collective will of the people.
As public opinion continues to favor cannabis reform, it is imperative that lawmakers reflect the values and desires of their constituents, ensuring that policies are both representative and progressive. If lawmakers continue to allow personal morality to outweigh public support, they risk further eroding trust in the democratic process while denying citizens the economic, social, and medical benefits that responsible cannabis legalization could bring.
