Lawmakers return to Tallahassee to address Florida issues, DeSantis’ Israel agenda [Miami Herald]
At the urging of Gov.
Against the backdrop of the war between
“Following the horrific atrocities committed by Iranian-backed terrorist group
DeSantis’ decision to only mention elements of the special season dealing with
This week’s special session will be the seventh under DeSantis, who has faced criticism for calling lawmakers back to
This week, with lawmakers expected to wrap up their business in
Rep.
But she noted it could have been taken up last month, while lawmakers were meeting in committees in advance of the annual legislative session, in January.
“He is trying to leverage his position as a governor to get more headlines for his presidential campaign,” Driskell said. “Why the urgency now? The urgency is the governor’s performance on the debate stage.”
With a rise in antisemitism since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, lawmakers this week plan to set more than
The
State Rep.
In addition to more security funds, lawmakers are also considering a proposal that aims to discourage businesses in the state from dealing with
It remains unclear how many
The broad language of the bill could cause more harm than good to
Lawmakers are also passing a resolution supporting
“Words matter,” Berman said.
Homeowners program on the agenda
Lawmakers are set to assign another
The program, intended to reduce Floridians’ homeowners insurance premiums, has been popular
As of September, 10 months after the program launched, 38,751 homeowners had applied for grant funding,with 19,052 approved, according to the
Lawmakers have already spent
The special session marks the third time in a year that DeSantis has called lawmakers back to address issues that touch on the state’s homeowners insurance crisis. Last year, lawmakers passed laws designed to curb lawsuits against insurance companies.
Insurers have blamed lawsuits for driving up rates, which are now the highest in the country, but state lawmakers have never proved that lawsuits were the cause of the crisis, and premiums continue to rise.
Following complaints, lawmakers address voucher issues
Lawmakers will also consider lifting this year’s cap on the number of students with special needs who can receive school vouchers to help them pay for private school tuition and a wide variety of school-related expenses.
For the 2023-2024 school year, state law limits the number of scholarships for students with disabilities to 40,913 under the “Family Empowerment Scholarship” program. Students without special needs do not have a similar cap on enrollment under the program, though they receive fewer dollars.
Lawmakers plan to revisit the issue this week after parents of children with disabilities complained that they had not received the scholarships or faced funding delays.
But after parents complained that their children had been placed on a waiting list after being told they were eligible to receive vouchers, lawmakers have filed legislation to address the discrepancy.
Lawmakers have not said how much it will cost to lift the cap of the scholarship program — or how many additional vouchers will be accommodated. The proposed measures only say that the number of students participating in the program would be the number “determined eligible” by the
The staff analyses of the proposals note that the change would have an “indeterminate fiscal impact,” and that the costs would be covered by money already in the current year’s state budget.
Specifically, staff point to a
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Lawmakers return to Tallahassee to address Florida issues, DeSantis’ Israel agenda [Miami Herald]
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