Led by two Republican congressmen, members of the Florida delegation are calling on the Trump administration to base the proposed U.S. Space Command in the Sunshine State. 

On Tuesday, Florida Republican U.S. Reps. Bill Posey and Mike Waltz wrote a letter to acting U.S. Defense Sec. Patrick Shanahan on the matter. Waltz, the only freshman Republican serving on the U.S. House Armed Forces Committee, has been increasingly vocal about his support for the space industry’s role in Florida. 

With Florida facing an opioid crisis, one of the leading think tanks in Florida is calling for reforming mandatory minimum sentences. 

The James Madison Institute (JMI), a group based out of Tallahassee that supports free market solutions, unveiled a study on Tuesday which finds that mandatory minimum sentences are not working in the Sunshine State.

As lawmakers weigh changes to the state’s medical-marijuana laws, the Florida Department of Health has appealed a circuit judge’s ruling that struck down a limit on the number of dispensaries that marijuana businesses can operate.

Attorneys for the Department of Health filed a notice late Friday that said they were challenging a Feb. 1 ruling by Leon County Circuit Judge Karen Gievers. As is common, the notice of taking the case to the 1st District Court of Appeal did not detail the department’s arguments.

The Florida Vacation Rental Management Association (FLVRMA) released a Mason-Dixon poll Friday showing that Floridians overwhelmingly support short-term vacation rentals. Almost 90 percent of registered Florida voters believe Floridians should have the right to rent out a secondary home as a vacation rental. 

Florida lawmakers have one more week in the Capitol to get ready for the main event.

House and Senate members will bounce from committee meeting to committee meeting during the coming week, hearing presentations and voting on bills. Then they will go home, say hello to the family, return phone calls and prepare to return for the March 5 start of the 2019 session.

Legislative sessions follow a sort of rhythm. All kinds of ideas and bills get tossed around. Then a series of committee meetings are held to begin narrowing the issues in advance of the start of the session.

Gov. Ron DeSantis said Friday he wants to create a new “equal opportunity” voucher program to eliminate a waiting list of about 14,000 low-income students seeking to use state-backed scholarships to attend private schools.

The governor is asking lawmakers to create a “supplement” to the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship Program, the state’s largest voucher-type program, which serves nearly 100,000 students but has about 14,000 others stuck on a waiting list.

While he no longer chairs the U.S. House Transportation, Housing and Urban Development (THUD) Appropriations Subcommittee, U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fla., helped craft the THUD funding bill that cleared Congress this week as lawmakers looked to avoid another federal shutdown. 

Diaz-Balart weighed in on what the THUD Appropriations Subcommittee, now chaired by U.S. Rep. David Price, D-NC, put together. 

Two members of the Florida delegation--Republican U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio and Democrat U.S. Rep. Lois Frankel--are leading the charge on Capitol Hill to condemn the Saudi regime for arresting women’s activists. 

From his perch on the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Rubio paired up with U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., to introduce the resolution last week. 

Michael Minardi, the general counsel for Florida NORML, unloaded on a House committee this week over the state’s ban on smoking medical marijuana.

Minardi, whose website proclaims he’s “The Gold Standard of the Green Industry,” joined other medical-marijuana smoking proponents in urging the House Health & Human Services Committee to pass a bill that would eliminate the ban.

More intercollegiate  sports could be coming to the Sunshine State if state Sen. Debbie Mayfield, R-Melbourne, gets her way. 

Last week, Mayfield introduced the “Baccalaureate Degree Access” bill which will “allow four  year state colleges to participate in four year sports programs” and she showcased the legislation this week. 

“This bill will allow more student athletes an opportunity to attend college and participate in sports,” she said on Wednesday. 

Her office offered the rationale behind the proposal.