While the season is almost over, Florida citrus has bounced back after a rough showing last year but remains well below where it was before citrus greening devastated the Sunshine State.
In its latest look at citrus, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) slightly lowered its forecast for production in Florida on Tuesday.
This week, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., joined a push to crack down on foreign lobbyists.
While some members expressed concern about patients smoking medical marijuana, the Florida Board of Medicine has approved forms for doctors to use in ordering smokable pot.
The board Friday agreed to change its medical-marijuana rules so that physicians can certify that the benefits of smoking marijuana for medical use outweigh the risks. It also agreed to change mandatory informed-consent forms that physicians and patients must fill out together.
From his seat on the U.S. House Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Subcommittee, U.S. Rep. Charlie Crist, D-Fla., helped amend a funding bill to aid veterans who are using medical marijuana and to boost legal marijuana businesses' access to banks.
Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried announced Monday a new Medical Marijuana Advisory Committee, which she says will collaborate with the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services to help improve the state’s medical marijuana policies.
The Florida blind trust law that allowed multi-millionaire former Gov. Rick Scott – now U.S. Sen. Rick Scott – to place investments in blind trusts that aren't open to the public is no more.
Scott’s successor, Gov. Ron DeSantis, has signed a bill unanimously approved by both Florida chambers during the legislative session that prohibits public officials from placing assets in blind trusts while in office.
Nothing personal, DeSantis said.
House Bill HB 6041 “makes sense,” he said, adding his endorsement does not mean he believes Scott abused the blind trust law.
A congressman from Southwest Florida is happy to see the U.S. Department of Labor picking up a proposal he brought out last year adding more transparency in unions’ finances by bringing back rules ended by the Obama administration.
Early last year, U.S. Rep. Francis Rooney, R-Fla., introduced the House version of the “Union Transparency and Accountability Act,” a proposal championed by U.S. Sen. John Thune, R-SD, in recent years.
HB 7069.
In the state Capitol, you know legislation is big --- and usually controversial --- if it becomes known simply by the shorthand of its bill number. And when then-House Speaker Richard Corcoran pushed through HB 7069 during the 2017 legislative session, it was a bombshell for the education system.
Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday signed 38 bills, including a controversial measure that will make it harder for groups and citizens to put proposed constitutional amendments on the ballot.
Lawmakers passed the measure (HB 5) amid petition drives designed to place a series of issues on the November 2020 ballot, including proposed amendments to increase the minimum wage, expand Medicaid, overhaul the electric-utility industry, ban assault-style weapons and revamp primary elections.
U.S. Rep. Charlie Crist, D-Fla., has a new Republican opponent and it looks as if Crist can expect more of a fight to keep his seat in 2020 than he did last year.
Healthcare lobbyist Amanda Makki, a former aide to U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, last week launched her bid for the Republican nomination to challenge Crist .
“I am fighting to give Pinellas a voice in Washington and a stake in the future of our country. By working together, we can bring effective and principled leadership back to the 13th District,” the new candidate notes on her website.
