The controversial "Best and Brightest" bonus program for Florida teachers could be headed for changes in the upcoming legislative session, though the dimensions of those revisions are still murky.
In 2016, Donald Trump was elected to the White House. The Cubs won the World Series. And Bob Dylan was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.
In other words, it was the kind of year that seemed designed to make Florida news look normal.
But even if the relative weirdness of developments in the Sunshine State was down a notch, Florida residents still had plenty to keep them occupied, amused or in some cases terrified.
If the Florida legislative session were a television series --- one of the serial types that have taken over in the last several years --- this week would serve as the season premiere, where all of the plot lines were being put into motion.
The calendar turned this week to the last month of the year, but many in Florida seemed to be getting a jump on new beginnings.
A newly elected state senator has filed legislation that would undo a 2014 law allowing in-state tuition for some undocumented immigrant students, potentially reopening an emotionally charged debate in the wake of Donald Trump's presidential win.
As they gathered a couple of days before Thanksgiving to get organized for next year's legislative session, many of the lawmakers at the Capitol had more to be grateful for than some extra time off, a pending feast of turkey and trimmings, and some midweek football
House Speaker Richard Corcoran, R-Land O' Lakes, and Senate President Joe Negron, R-Stuart, could be thankful that they had finally finished their long paths to the leadership of their respective chambers. Whether they could offer gratitude for being lined up opposite each other was yet to be determined.
As he was formally nominated Monday by his Republican colleagues to be the next speaker of the Florida House, Rep. Richard Corcoran gave few new indications of where he will take the chamber over the next two years.
Elections have consequences, they say, and if the previous week featured the elections, then this week featured the consequences.
New Florida Senate rules released Tuesday do not include the broad-based restrictions on lobbying and budget measures that will be imposed by the House, instead settling for tweaks and smaller changes.
The rules for how the Senate will operate over the next two years, released by incoming President Joe Negron, are largely in line with those that have been used in the past. However, the draft slightly shores up some ethics standards for senators and people seeking to influence them.
The 2016 elections had already produced their share of surprises. The triumph of a reality-television star in the race for his party's presidential nomination. The premature end of a certain Republican front-runner's campaign that had raised well more than $100 million for the primary push. And the success of a septuagenarian Vermont socialist who nearly claimed the Democratic nomination for the White House.
