State Rep. David Richardson, D-Miami Beach, has been selected as the Democratic Floor Leader by House Democratic leader Mark Pafford, D-West Palm Beach, and Democratic Leader pro tempore, Mia Jones, D-Jacksonville. Richardson will be the first openly gay representative in Florida history to serve in …
Jorge Labarga added another first to his resume Monday.
TALLAHASSEE — Florida environmentalists say they were forced to go to voters to get permanent funding for land and water protection because legislators neglected the need for too many years. But now — even though Amendment 1 passed with 75 percent of the vote — the Legislature will get the last …
The elections are over. The leadership is chosen.
TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Rick Scott's second inaugural celebration will be much more low-key than his first one and a lot less expensive, too.
TALLAHASSEE — The state representatives who lost their seats last week had more in common than their political party.
TALLAHASSEE — The news literally made Mary Kurnik jump with joy.
TALLAHASSEE — The governor's race on Thursday turned into a contest to see who would spend more on education.
![Gov. Rick Scott speaks at the Florida Polytechnic University's ribbon-cutting ceremony in Lakeland last week. [DEMETRIUS FREEMAN | Times]](https://web.archive.org/web/20141202025331im_/http://www.tampabay.com/resources/images/dti/2014/08/01WEB_ScottEdMoney082214_75_13709039.jpg)
TALLAHASSEE — Traveling on a yellow school bus, Democratic candidate for governor Charlie Crist toured the state last week to tell Floridians that public schools would fare better under his watch than that of Gov. Rick Scott.
TALLAHASSEE — The state teachers union filed a challenge to a controversial education law Wednesday, saying it violates a constitutional requirement that each law be limited to a single subject.
TALLAHASSEE — When the last cocktail had been poured and the last guests had floated away from the Florida Conference of Black State Legislators' annual Scholarship Gala last month, thousands of dollars had flowed into the nonprofit foundation, courtesy of five-figure checks from a variety of special interests …
TALLAHASSEE — To understand the influence of Florida's largest electric companies in Tallahassee, look no further than your monthly bill.
TALLAHASSEE — Nearly 200 schoolchildren greeted Senate President Don Gaetz last month when he visited a Catholic school in Pensacola to get a firsthand look at the impact of Florida's controversial school voucher program.
TALLAHASSEE — The race for campaign cash shifted into high gear Monday as dozens of state legislators sought contributions from lobbyists before today's start of the legislative session when such fundraising is banned for two months.
TALLAHASSEE — When Florida legislators open their annual 60-day session on Tuesday, many of the decisions about what issues make it onto the agenda have already been made — thanks in large part to the powerful special interest groups and a torrent of cash flowing into the coffers of legislative political …
PANAMA CITY — Gov. Rick Scott signed a $77 billion state budget Monday, the largest in Florida history, packed with hundreds of millions of dollars in popular election-year projects championed by his fellow Republicans in the Legislature.
![Florida Gov. Rick Scott, pictured giving his State of the State address to a joint session of the Florida Legislature in March, signed a $77 billion budget Monday, the largest in Florida history. [SCOTT KEELER | Times] ](https://web.archive.org/web/20141202025331im_/http://www.tampabay.com/resources/images/dti/2014/06/a4s_SCOTTBILLS060314_13232796.jpg)
Dale Gordon awoke Saturday to gray, drizzly skies and an immediate future for her industry just as depressing.
TALLAHASSEE
Florida lawmakers adjourned their 2014 election-year session late Friday, approving in-state tuition for undocumented immigrants, legalizing a strain of marijuana for limited medical use and expanding corporate tax credits that allow poor children to go to private schools.
TALLAHASSEE
The $77.1 billion budget that lawmakers will vote on tonight is studded with hometown projects, the first time this has happened in an election year since 2006.
TALLAHASSEE — Unlike previous years, when lawmakers struggled to plug deficits, this year's budget is awash in cash.
TALLAHASSEE — Compared with other states, Florida's health insurance plan for government employees is about average.
TALLAHASSEE — A bill that would make electronic cigarettes off limits to young people won unanimous support on Wednesday in the Florida House.
TALLAHASSEE — Investors in nursing homes in Florida would be shielded from lawsuits when residents are abused or neglected under broad new provisions authorized in a bill the Florida House sent to the governor on Wednesday.
TALLAHASSEE — A bill to extend subsidized health insurance to the state's youngest legal immigrants has stalled in the Florida Legislature, due largely to the initial $27.5 million price tag.
TALLAHASSEE — A proposal winding its way through the Florida Legislature seeks to raise the bar for nursing education programs.
TALLAHASSEE — It took Florida officials more than three months to decide to pay overdue jobless benefits to about 10,000 unemployed workers, many of whom went without checks since October because of a defective online registration system.
For the past three decades, Florida TaxWatch has been a self-appointed fiscal watchdog, blowing the whistle on what it considers wasteful pork-barrel spending by the Legislature.
TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Rick Scott will send the Legislature a $74 billion budget today that he says would boost spending in schools by $1.25 billion, but some of that money will never reach students.
TALLAHASSEE — What do violent video games, gory movies and high-powered assault weapons have in common? They have all been blamed for tragic mass shootings, including last month's at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. — and are all subsidized by Florida taxpayers. With Florida's tax code more …
TALLAHASSEE — Call it another unfortunate plot twist in an already upsetting script.
TALLAHASSEE — After months of defending the status quo, Florida Gov. Rick Scott drew praise and criticism Thursday as he endorsed early voting changes pushed by county election supervisors.
TALLAHASSEE — Florida's sputtering economy did not stop interest groups and donors from spending $306 million this election cycle on state political campaigns, according to final election year tallies released Friday.
TALLAHASSEE — When lawmakers passed the "warning shot" bill during the 2014 session, a key selling point was that it would prevent cases like that of Marissa Alexander, a Jacksonville woman sentenced to 20 years in prison after firing a shot to ward off her estranged husband.
TALLAHASSEE — It's not often that a bill backed by the National Rifle Association dies in the Florida Legislature.
TALLAHASSEE — The Florida House on Monday approved a bill that would let teachers pack heat at school.
TALLAHASSEE — Evacuations caused by hurricanes, toxic spills and riots could be grounds for people to conceal guns in public without a permit, according to a bill backed by the National Rifle Association that passed the Florida House 80-36 on Friday.
TALLAHASSEE — Under a bill backed by the National Rifle Association and other gun groups, riots could be the newest safe haven for those carrying firearms without a permit.
