Ballot Language: Grants mandatory payment of death benefits and waiver of certain educational expenses to qualifying survivors of certain first responders and military members who die performing official duties. Requires supermajority votes by university trustees and state university system board of governors to raise or impose all legislatively-authorized fees if law requires approval by those bodies. Establishes existing state college system as constitutional entity; provides governance structure.

Florida’s gubernatorial candidates might be able to catch Bill McCollum, but the amount of state matching funds Charlie Crist received in 2014 could remain out of reach.

Gov. Rick Scott on Monday called Hurricane Michael a “monstrous” and potentially “deadly” storm that is barreling toward the state’s Panhandle and Big Bend region.

Two members of the Florida congressional delegation are demanding answers of why the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) canceled hundreds of thousands of diagnostic medical tests.  Last week, USA Today reported that the VA had canceled more than 250,000 radiology tests. 

Last week, U.S. Rep. Carlos Curbelo, R-Fla., announced he was backing a proposal to reform the Transition Assistance Program (TAP) for members of the Armed Forces looking to move into the civilian workforce. 

Ballot Language: Creates constitutional rights for victims of crime; requires courts to facilitate victims’ rights; authorizes victims to enforce their rights throughout criminal and juvenile justice processes. Requires judges and hearing officers to independently interpret statutes and rules rather than deferring to a government agency’s interpretation. Raises mandatory retirement age of state justices and judges from seventy to seventy-five years; deletes authorization to complete judicial term if one-half of term has been served by retirement age.

Updates 2:30 p.m. Sunday version with emergency declared, new details: Gov. Rick Scott on Sunday declared a state of emergency in Northwest Florida as a looming hurricane threatens to hammer the region in the middle of the week.

Scott said during a 6 p.m. news conference that he declared an emergency in 26 counties in the Panhandle and the Big Bend -- generally areas surrounding Tallahassee -- because of a storm in the Gulf of Mexico that became Tropical Storm Michael on Sunday.

From his perches on the U.S. House Ways and Means and the Budget Committees, U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan scored a win as his proposal to offer employees of small businesses better retirement benefits cleared the U.S. House. 

Ballot Language: Prohibits the legislature from imposing, authorizing, or raising a state tax or fee except through legislation approved by a two-thirds vote of each house of the legislature in a bill containing no other subject. This proposal does not authorize a state tax or fee otherwise prohibited by the Constitution and does not apply to fees or taxes imposed or authorized to be imposed by a county, municipality, school board, or special district.

How The Amendment Reached The Ballot: Florida State Legislature

Siding with arguments of transportation-safety officials, a federal judge Friday blocked an attempt by the Miami Herald to get records related to a March bridge collapse at Florida International University that killed six people.

Senior U.S. District Judge William Stafford quashed a ruling by a state-court judge that would have required the Florida Department of Transportation to turn over records requested by the Herald. Stafford, who ruled in favor of the National Transportation Safety Board, also dismissed the case.