Looking at a potentially lucrative new industry, lawmakers are working on rules for farmers and businesses to grow and sell industrial hemp in Florida.

The Senate Agriculture Committee on Monday approved a bill (SB 1020) that would create a regulatory framework for the industry, which is emerging after a federal law last year legalized industrial hemp as an agricultural product. In doing so, Congress effectively separated industrial hemp, a type of cannabis, from marijuana that can get users high.

Sen. Kathleen Passidomo started off the 2019 legislative session by giving each of her Senate colleagues a copy of “A Land Remembered,” Patrick Smith’s intergenerational novel that’s also a cautionary tale about the Sunshine State’s history.

And the Naples Republican will finish out the session with another treat for her legislative pals: an Italian feast that’s become a much-loved annual tradition when tensions are at their highest and fuses at their shortest.

Sen. Rick Scott visited the Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve in Naples Monday to highlight his Fighting for Florida budget agenda, which includes a more than $200 million investment to protect Lake Okeechobee and the Florida Everglades.

With the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) looking to take down U.S. Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, D-Fla., next year, the GOP is looking to make the Mueller report an issue in her South Florida district. 

On Monday, the NRCC pointed to a tweet Mucarsel-Powell posted in 2017 in which she insists there was collusion between Russia and President Donald Trump and called for his impeachment. 

The war of words between a Florida congresswoman and a former aide to President Donald Trump continued in recent days as U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson, D-Fla., slammed retired Gen. John Kelly, a former White House chief of staff. 

Back in October 2017, Kelly weighed in on Wilson's account about what the president said to the widow and family of an American soldier killed in the line of duty in Niger. Kelly lost his son in the line of duty in Afghanistan in 2010. 

The House and Senate are currently working on a pair of matching bills involving the state lottery, and the results -- should they pass -- could see a drop in revenue funneled into the education system. Both bills contain two aspects that will impact the lottery, and while exact figures are not available, the results are essentially looked at as a drop in the net returns. The only real question is, by how much?

Florida lawmakers might want to rest up.

With about a third of the 60-day legislative session finished, the coming week is going to be filled with some of the highest-profile --- and noisiest --- issues of the year.

Felons’ voting rights. Canadian drug imports. Fracking. Armed teachers. The list goes on.

And in the middle of the week, House and Senate appropriations committees are expected to take up proposed state budgets that are in the neighborhood of $90 billion.

MONDAY, MARCH 25, 2019

Legislature:

Last week, a Florida congressman traveled to Puerto Rico to take part in a summit on Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) which he continues to champion in Congress. 

U.S. Rep. Ted Yoho, R-Fla., and U.S. Rep. Jenniffer Gonzalez-Colon, R-PR, hosted the second  American LNG Summit in Puerto Rico. Last year, Yoho hosted the first summit in Jacksonville. 

More than 80 groups, elected leaders and diplomats took part in the event as they examined  LNG infrastructure, gas imports and exports, regulations, the role LNG can play in national security and new technologies.