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.
A pair of reproductive-related bills have been filed in the Florida Legislature in advance of the 2026 legislative session that starts Jan. 13.
One proposal, filed by Vero Beach Republican Sen. Erin Grall, would let parents file wrongful-death lawsuits for the death of a fetus at any stage of development.
As of this publication, Grall’s bill, SB 164 lacked a House companion.
SB 164 would not allow civil suits to be brought against medical personnel providing assistive reproductive technology, or procedures that involve the handling of human eggs, sperm, and embryos to help achieve pregnancy.
Neither could lawsuits be filed against a patient seeking reproductive assistance.
Grall filed similar legislation last year but that bill faced opposition from powerful Sen. Kathleen Passidomo, the former Senate president and chair of the Rules Committee. Passidomo took issue with the bill’s definition of “unborn child” as a “member of the species Homo sapiens, at any stage of development, who is carried in the womb.”
The 2026 version of the bill uses the same definition of unborn child.
The second proposal, HB 6001, was filed by Boca Raton House Democrat Kelly Skidmore. That bill would eliminate from statute the “Florida Pregnancy Support Services Program,” established in 2005 as an initiative of then-Gov. Jeb Bush with the Legislature agreeing to appropriate $2 million for its operations.
In 2018, the Legislature codified the program into statute passing HB 41.
Now the program is housed in the Department of Health and legislators have agreed in the current year state budget to allocate $29.5 million to help it operate.
Skidmore argues that the program is no longer needed because of the state’s six-week abortion ban which, for the most part, bans terminations before many patients know they are pregnant.
“When we live in a state that has a six-week ban, how many crisis pregnancies do you think there are that we still need to fund $29.5 million for these centers?” Skidmore asked. “What crisis pregnancies are they helping with? There aren’t any, because there are no options for pregnant women. So, this is just false. All of it is false and a misuse of taxpayer dollars.”
HB 6001 doesn’t have a Senate companion because it is a “repealer bill.” Florida House Speaker Daniel Perez implemented a rule allowing representatives to file one repealer bill per session that does not count toward their seven-bill limit.
Skidmore said she took advantage of the opportunity.
“And what surprises me is that the emphasis on the new DOGE office has not raised this as a red flag of inappropriate spending of taxpayer dollars, particularly since there was a recent news story that the lawyer that represents many of these networks gave advice to not provide ultrasounds to pregnant women suspected of having an ectopic pregnancy because it was a high risk of being sued,” Skidmore said, referencing a Massachusetts lawsuit.
Meanwhile, the most recent available data show that during state fiscal year 2022-23, 21,372 women were provided 132,395 counseling services and 18,238 pregnancy tests were provided by the centers.
A Florida House Republican has again filed legislation that would reduce the minimum to buy a firearm in the state from 21 to 18 years of age.
The proposal (HB 133), sponsored by Rep. Tyler Sirois, a Brevard County Republican, has passed in the Florida House during the past three legislative sessions, but failed to advance in the Florida Senate. The existing law exempts law enforcement officers, correctional officers, or service members younger than 21.
The Florida Legislature and then-Gov. Rick Scott raised the age for purchasing a firearm in 2018 as part of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Public High School Safety Act, just weeks after the school shootings in Parkland that killed 17 people.
The effort to restore the legal age for purchasing a firearm to 18 has been supported by Gov. Ron DeSantis and gained momentum this spring when Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced that he would not defend the law after a federal appeals court again upheld its constitutionality after it was challenged in federal court by the NRA.
“If the NRA decides to seek further review at SCOTUS, I am directing my office not to defend this law,” Uthmeier said in March, not long after DeSantis appointed him to his office. “Men and women old enough to fight and die for our country should be able to purchase firearms to defend themselves and their families.”
Meanwhile, another federal appeals court — the Fifth Circuit — ruled in January that the federal law banning federal firearms licensees from selling handguns to individuals aged 18 to 20 is unconstitutional under the Second Amendment.
Rejected in Florida Senate
Again, the state Senate has consistently thwarted repeal — in 2023 and 2024 by then-President Kathleen Passidomo and earlier this year by sitting Senate President Ben Albritton.
Second Amendment groups have been critical of those efforts, and they are speaking out now with concerns about what Albritton might do when it comes to an implementing bill that would make the open carrying of firearms legal in Florida statute.
The state’s First District Court of Appeals ruled last month that the 1987 law banning open carry in Florida was unconstitutional, and Uthmeier declared five days later that, in light of that ruling, he was declaring that open carry is now the law of the state.
However, speaking during a press conference at the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office two weeks later, Uthmeier acknowledged that changing the law based on the court’s ruling was “not the cleanest situation and there’s likely cleanup that’s going to be needed by the Legislature.”
In Tallahassee this week, Albritton told reporters “there are some questions” about the new policy, and that he was seeking advice from Florida sheriffs, whose political organization, the Florida Sheriffs Association, historically had opposed open carry.
‘Questions’ about open carry
“There are some questions about the Capitol, specifically, about how well guns play in or would not play in, so the attorney general has given some guidance on this, so we’re contemplating all of that, and wanting to do what’s right for all Floridians. So, we’ll just continue to think it through. We’re again seeking input from various folks who have the expertise to help us understand and we’ll see how it goes,” he said.
Luis Valdes, Florida state director for Gun Owners of America (GOA), told the Phoenix that the right to open carry has come from the judicial system, “not the Republican supermajority in the Legislature.”
“GOA will fight tooth and nail to see this repeal passed,” Valdes said Friday. “But with the same leadership still in place, the battle against the RINOs in Tallahassee continues. We will continue with our simple message of NO COMPROMISE. We will fight to make sure all Floridians, 18 and up, can freely exercise their Second Amendment rights.”
The issue of open carry in Florida made headlines this week when Publix, the largest supermarket chain in the state, declared that the company would comply with state law.
“Treating customers with dignity and respect is a founding belief at Publix,” it said. “In any instance where a customer creates a threatening, erratic or dangerous shopping experience, whether they are openly carrying a firearm or not, we will engage local law enforcement to protect our customers and associates.”
The new law also came into play on Thursday night in Tampa, when a former candidate for Tampa city council allegedly brandished a gun after getting into an argument with another person following a candidate forum for an election taking place later this month. No charges were filed in that incident.
The Rev. Jack Martin insists politics won’t interfere with his volunteer school service
It’s the latest indication that DeSantis’ dubious war with Disney is in fact over
“At the end of this year, if Congress doesn’t do its job, we are going to see 25 million Americans have their healthcare costs go up anywhere from 50 to 300 percent,” the Democratic congressman said
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier received a big boost in his bid for a full four-year term next year when President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that he was endorsing him in 2026.
“James Uthmeier is a Strong Conservative Fighter and Prosecutor, and has my Complete and Total Endorsement — HE WILL NOT LET YOU DOWN!” Trump posted on his Truth Social page.
“James is an America First Warrior, who is a true champion for ‘MAGA,’” the president added. “He is THE MAN behind ALLIGATOR ALCATRAZ, and argued strongly at the United States Supreme Court in defense of my Executive Power to fire Deep State bureaucrats. Under James’ fearless leadership, over 1,000 CRIMINAL PEDOPHILES have been arrested, missing children have been SAVED, and our Great Members of Law Enforcement have been empowered to do their jobs and, KEEP FLORIDA SAFE. In his next term, James will continue to work tirelessly to Ensure Law and Order, Uphold our Constitutional Rights, and Protect our always under siege Second Amendment.”
The endorsement came a month after reports surfaced that the president was considering backing Florida Speaker of the House Daniel Perez for AG.
Uthemier, 37, is a close ally of Gov. Ron DeSantis.
The governor appointed him in February to serve as attorney general, after the office fell vacant when DeSantis appointed Ashley Moody to replace Marco Rubio in the U.S. Senate. Next year’s election will be the first time he has ever run for political office.
Earlier, Uthmeier served for more than three years as chief of staff to DeSantis. He also served for several months as campaign manager in the governor’s unsuccessful candidacy for president in 2023-2024, replacing Generra Peck in August 2023.
While the Trump endorsement is big, it doesn’t mean it’s all clear sailing for Uthmeier. That’s because of his involvement in the controversy surrounding Hope Florida, the state program First Lady Casey DeSantis created to move Floridians off government services and into private charity.
That story revolves around a $10 million from a Medicaid over-billing settlement the DeSantis administration steered to the Hope Florida Foundation in 2024. That money was ultimately diverted to a political committee created to fight a proposed constitutional amendment legalizing marijuana that Uthmeier headed.
Florida Rep. Alex Andrade, R-Pensacola, chaired a committee in the Florida House during the 2025 legislative session that investigated the story. He has accused the attorney general of money laundering and wire fraud, and has called on him to resign.
Uthmeier has denied any wrongdoing.
The story resurfaced last week after the Tampa Bay Times and Miami Herald reported that the state’s attorney in Tallahassee has convened a grand jury relating to the Hope Florida Foundation.
‘America-first’
During his swearing-in ceremony in February, Uthmeier promised to champion an “America-first” agenda. “We will not stand idly by as the left tries to infiltrate our institutions and use the court system to indoctrinate our kids,” Uthmeier said. “We will fight the activists that try to weaken our duly enacted laws, that try to challenge the constitutional order, and that try to harm the unborn.”
Uthmeier has raised nearly $600,000 in his regular campaign account, and more than $2 million through his political committee, Friends of James Uthmeier.
Among the Democrats running for the nomination for attorney general next year, the best-known candidate is former South Florida state Sen. José Javier Rodríguez.
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.
Months after opening the search for the city’s third poet laureate in April, the city of Orlando on Monday confirmed its next literary voice.
Mayor Buddy Dyer and Orlando City Council named Camara Gaither to serve as a pillar in Orlando’s cultural and literary arts communities, tasked with promoting poetry and literature in the city.
The announcement comes amid a heightened focus on the position (as well as other arts and LGBTQ+ program funding) from Florida’s DOGE team and state CFO Blaise Ingoglia.
Buddy hired a poet — what a feat! While potholes open on every street. Taxpayers pay for rhymes and fluff, ’Cause protecting the taxpayer is just too tough.
You’re welcome. I’ll be here all week. Please make sure to tip your wait staff. pic.twitter.com/Eb08IanuqR
The state’s DOGE-focused have spoken out against the position and its $6,000-per-year salary.
Gaither’s annual salary representes a $2,000 increase from that of the city’s second poet laureate, her predecessor Shawn Welcome. She’ll also be reimbursed for approved expenses.
Gaither is a commissioned spoken word poet, a mental health therapist and a UCF alum with extensive poetry experience. She’s led several poetry groups and won competitions across the state, having also represented Orlando in a national team competition, the city says.
She’s also received multiple United Arts grants for her work “expanding access to poetry in underserved communities.”
Her new role will require she present original poems at city events and activities, as well as continue working to expand the “Words and Wonders” poetry contents, which was started by Orlando’s very first poet laureate, Susan Lilley.
“We are excited for Camara to use poetry and the literary arts to tell our community’s stories,” said Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer. “There is no doubt that Orlando is a better place to live and work because of our vibrant arts and cultural scene. Our Poet Laureate will help continue to add to our City’s unique sense of place.”
Gaither replaces Orlando’s second Poet Laureate, Shawn Welcome, a professor at Valencia College who was appointed in 2021. Welcome is the voice of the widely applauded Reason Why spoken-word ode to the City Beautiful.
Florida officials received a hefty lump sum of cash from the federal government Tuesday to cover the cost of the Everglades immigration detention center dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz.”
As reported first by WPLG, the Department of Homeland Security revealed two days after the fact that Florida had been awarded the full $608.4 million stockpile of funds within the Detention Support Grant Program, a new program housed under the Federal Emergency Management Agency designed to compensate states for detaining undocumented immigrants.
Florida was the only applicant for the grant program, FEMA told the Florida Phoenix last month. That money will foot the construction, housing, feeding, and equipment costs spent on the Everglades center — on which the state has already spent at least $245 million — and the “Deportation Depot” facility in Baker County.
Gov. Ron DeSantis announced in August that Florida may build a “Panhandle Pokey” in northwest Florida, which the grant would also cover.
“Another bogus narrative bites the dust. I said all along that we would be reimbursed,” DeSantis posted on social media Thursday, hours after the news broke.
Although the governor had vowed for months that the federal government, not state taxpayers, would pay the bill, neither he nor his office could confirm to the Florida Phoenix as of Tuesday whether the state had been reimbursed.
FEMA had not responded to a request for comment at the time.
What is the Detention Support Grant Program?
The Detention Support Grant Program is an initiative by President Donald Trump’s administration to encourage states to assist with federal immigration efforts. It’s part of FEMA’s Shelter and Services Program, partially used by President Joe Biden to set up short-term shelters for migrants released by Border Patrol.
Florida officials applied for federal reimbursement in mid-September, just days after a three-judge panel tossed a lawsuit to shut down the Everglades center over environmental concerns. Of note, the court nixed the case on the theory that the center was not subject the federal environmental laws because it had not received any federal dollars.
More money for Florida’s anti-illegal immigration efforts first began to pour in last week. ICE announced last Friday that Florida’s state and local law enforcement would receive $38 million for equipment and transportation involved in detaining non-citizens.
On Tuesday, the first $14 million of a $250 million state grant was awarded to law enforcement by the State Board of Immigration Enforcement, a new task force headed by DeSantis and the Cabinet.
The reimbursement for the detention centers came on the final day for FEMA to award the DSGP grant. A day later, the federal government shut down — and is still inoperative — meaning FEMA will not process further grant requests until the government comes back online.
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.
Although the specifics of such a proposal are still unknown, a majority of Floridians say that, if given the chance, they would vote for some form of property tax reform. That’s according to a public opinion survey commissioned by the James Madison Institute (JMI) released on Monday.
If a constitutional amendment to significantly reduce or eliminate property taxes were on the ballot, 65% would support that. Only 15% oppose it, with 20% unsure.
Constitutional amendments in Florida must win 60% support to go into effect.
Gov. Ron DeSantis has been campaigning for months on the idea that Floridians want and need property tax relief, and has floated the idea that Florida could become the first state in the nation to completely eliminate them.
But property taxes pay for crucial local services like police, fire departments, and schools. A study by the Florida Policy Institute concluded that eliminating property taxes for homesteaded properties would cost $18.5 billion.
As a way to preempt those arguments by local government officials, Florida’s recently appointed chief financial officer, Blaise Ingoglia, has been making appearances around the state calling out local governments for alleged “wasteful spending” (without specifying what reaches that definition).
Florida Speaker of the House Daniel Perez formed a select committee to study the issue earlier this year, and that group met twice last week in Tallahassee to determine how such a proposal could be written. It’s expected that the Florida Legislature will approve a resolution for a constitutional amendment sometime during the 2026 legislative session, which begins in January, with the measure to appear on the November 2026 ballot.
On the philosophy of property taxes, 39% of those surveyed said they are a “valid” revenue source but should be limited. Another 33% said property taxes should be eliminated outright. Only 20% said they were critical for funding local government services and should be preserved. Another 8% weren’t sure.
Sixty-six percent of Floridians worry they may not be able to afford to continue living in their homes or communities due to rising property taxes or other housing costs.
There were plenty of other nuggets in the JMI survey, including that 62% of Florida voters oppose a DeSantis administration proposal to eliminate vaccine requirements.
Jolly competitive in one-on-one matchups with top Republicans
Nearly one in three registered voters (30%) describe themselves as “politically homeless,” feeling unrepresented by either the Democratic or Republican parties.
Regarding the 2026 gubernatorial race, in a hypothetical matchup between Republican Byron Donalds, Democrat David Jolly, and independent candidate state Sen. Jason Pizzo, Donalds leads Jolly, 36%-32%, with Pizzo at 4%.
In a three-way race with former House Speaker Paul Renner as the GOP candidate, Renner leads Jolly, 34%-33%, with Pizzo at 5%.
In a GOP race between Donalds and Renner, Donalds leads, 29%-9%.
But when Republican voters were asked for whom they would vote among “announced and potential candidates,” it’s First Lady Casey DeSantis who gets the most support. She leads Donalds 26%-23%, with Renner at 7%, Lt. Gov. Jay Collins at 2%, and Agriculture Commission Wilton Simpson at 2%.
The survey’s questions did not refer to the fact that Donalds has been endorsed by Donald Trump for president.
The survey of 1,200 registered voters in Florida was conducted by Targoz Market Research for the James Madison Institute between Sept. 16 and Sept. 18, with a margin for error +/- 2.77%.
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.
State Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo said Florida isn’t ready to make recommendations on the use of acetaminophen by pregnant women.
But if one comes, Ladapo said it likely will follow Monday’s announcement from the White House that suggested a link between the common painkiller and autism.
“We’re still looking at it,” Ladapo said Wednesday during an appearance in Tampa. “So we may have some more guidance. But we would probably be very much in line with where the FDA (U.S. Food and Drug Administration) is.”
President Donald Trump, joined by U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services head Mehmet Oz, said Monday the Food and Drug Administration would update drug labeling to discourage the use of acetaminophen, commonly known as Tylenol, by pregnant women. At the same time, the FDA is set to enable the use of leucovorin, a form of vitamin B, as a treatment for autism.
Ladapo said the White House and the FDA are “at a place that is more honest.”
“They acknowledge that not all the studies show harms, but some of them do show relationships,” Ladapo said. “And it isn’t a total explanation for autism by any means, but it does appear to be that it’s reasonable to conclude that it may contribute anything to the prevalence of autism in children. So, you know, not all the studies find that, but some of the studies do. Some of those studies are very good. So I think that their recommendation is the right place to be in terms of discouraging its use.”
But in a statement responding to the White House announcement, Steven J. Fleischman, president of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, said it was “highly unsettling that our federal health agencies are willing to make an announcement that will affect the health and well-being of millions of people without the backing of reliable data.”
Tylenol-maker Kenvue disputed the claims.
“We believe independent, sound science clearly shows that taking acetaminophen does not cause autism,” Kenvue said in a statement.
Gov. Ron DeSantis and Attorney General James Uthmeier said Tuesday that a state board made up of the governor and the Florida Cabinet will vote to dedicate land at Miami Dade College next to the Freedom Tower to house the presidential library of Donald Trump.
Their announcement came shortly after the Miami Dade College’s Board of Trustees approved the transfer of property earlier on Tuesday, as reported by the Miami Herald.
The governor’s office said in a press release that he and the Cabinet, meeting as the Board of Trustees of the Internal Improvement Trust Fund, will propose an item to convey a 2.63 acre parcel for the Donald J. Trump Presidential Library. That board consists of the governor, the attorney general, the chief financial officer, and the commissioner of agriculture. It is responsible for the acquisition, management, protection, and disposition of state lands.
All are elected independently statewide and all are Republicans.
“President Trump has achieved results for the American people and made a lasting impact on our nation’s history,” DeSantis said in a press release. “No state has better delivered the President’s agenda than the Free State of Florida, and we would be honored to house his presidential library here in his home state.”
“I’ll be voting yes!” Uthmeier added in a video posted on X. “Surviving two assassination attempts, securing the border, and rebuilding our nation’s military are just a few stories this great library will tell.”
The video goes on to show Uthmeier walking near the Freedom Tower, located on Biscayne Boulevard in downtown Miami. The Freedom Tower was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 1979, and declared a U.S. National Historic Landmark in 2008 for its role in hosting people fleeing communist Cuba for Florida following the 1959 Cuban revolution.
“I can think of no better location to tell the story of Donald Trump,” Uthmeier says in the video. “A story of strength. One of redemption, one of victory, and one of sacrifice for the American people. It is the greatest political comeback story in history.”
Uthmeier is running unopposed for the Republican nomination of attorney general but has not been endorsed by the president ahead of the 2026 election. There has been speculation that “people close to Trump” have been courting Florida House Speaker Daniel Perez to challenge Uthmeier next year.
It’s not a surprise that Trump’s library will be located in South Florida. Officials close to the president, including Eric Trump and Steve Witkoff, the U.S. special envoy to the United Nations, had been discussing possible sites in the region for months, NBC News reported earlier this year. The story reported that officials at Florida Atlantic University and Florida International University were lobbying to land the site.
The Florida Legislature earlier this year passed legislation (SB 118) that banned local governments in the state from interfering with any plans to construct a presidential library in Florida. The bill passed 36-3 in the GOP-controlled Senate and 89-20 in the GOP-controlled House.
‘Irony’
One of the Democrats who opposed the measure, Rep. Angie Nixon (D-Jacksonville), at the time found “irony” in what the House was doing.
“If we are going to support bringing this library here, we should support returning citizens all across the board, and not attack returning citizens, especially when they want to do things like vote, because we have one of the biggest returning citizens a/k/a felons in the administration right now,” she said, referring to Trump being found guilty in May 2024 in a New York courtroom on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to cover up hush money.
She referred to the 2018 constitutional amendment that legalized felons in Florida who had completed their sentence to be able to vote. However, an implementing bill in the following legislative session significantly narrowed the number of felons who can actually vote.
The president ultimately received an unconditional discharge. That meant that while the conviction stands, he will face no additional penalties, such as prison time, fines, or probation.
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.
Next week, the Florida Cabinet will vote to dedicate land at Miami Dade College to house the Presidential Library of Donald J. Trump. I’ll be voting yes!
Surviving two assassination attempts, securing the border, and rebuilding our nation’s military are just a few stories this… pic.twitter.com/sr16G6aOaO
Blaise Ingoglia, appointed to serve as Florida’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO) in July, held a campaign event in Tampa on Monday night to kickoff his candidacy for 2026.
“My name is Blaise Ingoglia and I’m your current CFO from the great state of Florida and I am unapologetically conservative,” he said to several hundred people who crowded into the second floor of the Tampa Firefighters Museum.
Ingoglia, a homebuilder from Hernando County, was serving in the Florida Senate when Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed him to succeed Jimmy Patronis as CFO on July 21. He announced that he was running for a four-year term on Sept. 2, but that was a via a video release and written statement. On Monday night, his campaign opted for a splashy event, replete with food, alcohol, and a steady stream of ’70s and ’80s pop tunes playing to the attendees in advance of his speech.
Ingolgia declined to take questions from reporters following the event.
The chief financial officer of Florida is one of three Cabinet-level positions in state government, along with the attorney general and agriculture commissioner, and goes up for election every four years. Together, they help the governor administer a number of state agencies. The CFO is the statutory head of the Department of Financial Services, which oversees more than a dozen agencies, including the State Fire Marshal, Consumer Services, and Inspector General. The position pays $140,000 a year.
The fight to reduce property taxes
Ingoglia has been in the news headlines constantly since his appointment by DeSantis earlier this summer. The two Republicans have been on an unofficial campaign to boost a still-to-be written constitutional amendment next year that will ask voters whether they want to substantially reduce their property taxes.
Ingoglia has utilized two new state government agencies in that effort: DOGE (“Department of Governmental Efficiency”) and FAFO (the Florida Agency for Fiscal Oversight) to scrutinize spending by local governments throughout the state. That’s been controversial, as Ingoglia has accused several local governments — many (but not all) controlled by Democrats — of excessive and “wasteful” spending.
That strategy was called out in an editorial in the Orlando Sentinel over the weekend.
“The motives are painfully obvious: State leaders are trying to amass proof that local governments are routinely overspending on ridiculous priorities,” says the editorial. “The next step, obviously, is to take away their ability to set property tax rates. That’s been the obvious destination from the start, and it is a straight path to disaster for Florida’s communities.”
Ingoglia said Monday that he has three big priorities: 1) Property tax relief, 2) Holding local governments accountable, and 3) Pushing down property insurance rates.
He said he “cut his teeth” two decades ago claiming that local governments had “gone wild” in their spending and it is funny that “what we are seeing right now is seeing government gone wild and run amok with a lot of our property tax dollars.”
Property Insurance
Another responsibility for the CFO is overseeing insurance regulation.
“We need to hold the insurance companies accountable to do what they say that they are going to do, what they are contractually obligated to pay, because if they don’t they’re going to get fined,” he said, drawing cheers. “I am not here to protect the profits of insurance companies. I am not here to protect the profits of trial attorneys. What I am here to do is protect you, the policyholders, and I will continue do that.”
Democrats question whether Ingoglia will do that.
“Floridians deserve a CFO who will stand up to the insurance companies and help make property insurance more affordable,” Democratic House Leader Fentrice Driskell said upon his appointment to succeed Patronis in July.
“Instead, Ron DeSantis is appointing a Tallahassee politician more loyal to him than to the people. I believe Blaise Ingoglia will talk tough but continue the tradition of giving the insurance companies everything they ask for while Florida’s working families and seniors pay the price.”
Ingoglia is native New Yorker and homebuilder who moved to Spring Hill in Hernando County (about 50 miles north of Tampa) in the mid-1990s. He was elected to the Florida House in 2014 and simultaneously served as Republican Party of Florida chairman from 2015 to 2019. He had served in the Senate since 2022.
The potential competition
He’s a close political ally of Gov. DeSantis, who will be pushing for his election over the next year. The governor snubbed another Republican lawmaker who had previously announced his candidacy for CFO, Sarasota County’s Joe Gruters, who had already been endorsed by President Donald Trump. Early polls showed Gruters crushing Ingoglia in a presumptive Republican CFO primary in August 2026.
But that likely heavyweight matchup was averted after Trump elevated Gruters to lead the Republican National Committee. However, another Republican that Ingoglia may face next year is Rep. Kevin Steele, R-Dade City, former CEO of a health care technology company who announced on his 2022 financial disclosure form that he is worth more than $400 million.
Steele last week announced creation of a political committee called “Friends of Kevin Steele.” Earlier this month, Florida Politics reported that Steele was being “encouraged” to run by Trump — which could prove a headache for Ingoglia.
Ingoglia boasted to the crowd that he was the RPOF’s chair when Trump narrowly defeated Hillary Clinton in Florida in 2016.
“I helped Donald Trump get elected in this state,” he said. “I was a campaign spokesman for him. An official surrogate in 2020. And that man is doing amazing things at the federal level right now.”
Two other Republicans have filed to run for CFO: Frank William Collige and Benjamin Horbowy. No Democrat has filed for the seat, according to the state’s Division of Elections website.
Ingoglia is a fiercely partisan Republican. He joked that when he growing up, his mother said that he could be anything he wanted, “So, I decided to become a problem for Democrats,” he said, generating laughs from the crowd. “And some Republicans, also,” he added.
In 2023, he filed a bill that, if enacted, would have eliminated the Florida Democratic Party. Dubbed “The Ultimate Cancel Act,” it was intended to “cancel” the filings of any party that previously advocated for slavery, which Southern Democrats did in the 19th Century. He later described the bill as a direct response to “leftist activists and their attempts to cancel people and companies.” (The bill never received a committee hearing).
He takes pride in being politically incorrect. He joked during his speech, “I’m a very big fan of DEI — and by that I mean deport every illegal.” In his video announcing his candidacy earlier this month, Ingoglia said that he spoke four languages: English, profanity, sarcasm and “real s—.”
During his tenure in the Legislature, Ingoglia sponsored some of DeSantis’ biggest priorities. In 2023, he led the way on SB 1718, a comprehensive crackdown on illegal immigration in Florida. That measure mandated the use of E-Verify for employers, banned the use of legally issued driver’s licenses from states that issue them regardless of immigration status, and provided $12 million in taxpayer dollars to fund a program that transported immigrants away from Florida.
Among those in attendance for the event were Pinellas County Sen. Nick DiCeglie (emcee of the event), Rep. Danny Alvarez (R-Hillsborough), Rep. Jeff Holcomb (R-Spring Hill), and former Lakeland area Republican lawmaker Kelli Stargell.
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 37-member property tax committee is co-chaired by Republican Reps. Vicki Lopez and Toby Overdorf. Credit: via Florida House of Representatives
A Florida House committee met Monday to continue a search the best way to slash property taxes while educating lawmakers on how these levies both function and support key state institutions.
The 37-member property tax committee, co-chaired by Republican Reps. Vicki Lopez and Toby Overdorf, spent four hours listening to lengthy presentations by top financial leaders on property taxes’ effect on public schools, homesteads, and fiscally constrained counties. It was their third meeting since the committee’s creation during the 2025 session.
“We’re educating, obviously right now, committee members, but hopefully the public is listening to what that would mean in terms of production of any kind of revenue in their businesses,” Lopez, from Miami, told reporters following the meeting. She noted how “complex” it is to determine how to cut property taxes while still keeping public institutions afloat.
Public schools are one state establishment heavily reliant on property taxes paid by homeowners to local governments. According to Jim Zingale, executive director of the Florida Department of Revenue, property taxes make up roughly 47% of the funding that supports public schools. The state foots the other 53%.
Lopez called this “very telling,” while Overdorf, representing Palm City, promised the Legislature would be “crafting” multiple avenues to slashing what some have dubbed the “most hated tax.” But it remains to be seen what that legislation would look like.
Monday’s meeting was largely the informative portion of the property tax committee’s two-day meeting schedule this week. On Tuesday, a more contentious slate includes representatives of local governments explaining how they collect property taxes, and Gov. Ron DeSantis’ office, which will present information on his new “DOGE” task force that’s largely blamed local governments for wasteful spending fueled by high property taxes.
Why haven’t property taxes already been cut?
The crux of the dilemma is that property taxes provide a massive source of revenue for large counties like Miami-Dade and funds schools, firefighters, and police stations. Cutting them without providing an additional source of revenue, like raising the sales tax, would result in as much as a $50 billion loss to Florida counties, according to the Florida Policy Institute.
In 2008, then-Speaker of the House Marco Rubio proposed “the swap,” switching sales tax hikes for the property tax. It failed.
Property taxes statewide have risen by more than 45% since 2019, sparking public demands for financial relief. Although DeSantis has been chief among politicos pressuring for the tax to be either decimated or fully eliminated, he has yet to produce a plan beyond suggesting a $1,000 rebate for homesteaders.
DeSantis has eyed local governments as the largest cause for skyrocketed rates, noting that property taxes are collected by municipalities, cities, and counties — not the state. Editing the property tax rate would require an amendment to the Florida Constitution.
Rep. Ryan Chamberlin, a Belleview Republican, told reporters last week that he wants to impose new transaction fees and a slightly raised school sales tax to compensate for lost property tax revenue. His is the first comprehensive plan to be suggested ahead of the 2026 legislative session. However, convincing other conservatives to agree to raising taxes may prove a difficult sell.
Other speakers on Monday included Amy Baker, coordinator for the Legislature’s Office of Economic and Demographic Research, and Lizette Kelly, who works in research and analytics in property tax oversight. They provided extensive information into the demographics of homesteaders (who tend to be older) and definitions of property tax terms including millage rates.
Millage rates are tax rates that local governments use to calculate property tax. It is the dollar amount assessed for each $1,000 of taxable value. This means that a homestead with $300,000 of taxable value at a millage rate of 3 mills for the city would be assessed at $900 for city taxes, Baker explained.
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.
