With plenty of breathing room before a March 15 deadline set by Gov. Ron DeSantis, House and Senate leaders have neared completion of a measure that would do away with a state ban on smoking medical marijuana.

Sen. Jeff Brandes and Rep. Ray Rodrigues confirmed Wednesday they’ve reached an accord on a proposal that would allow patients to purchase up to 2.5 ounces of marijuana for smoking every 35 days, ban smoking of medical marijuana in public places and allow terminally ill children to smoke the treatment, but only if they have a second opinion from a pediatrician.

The 2019 legislative session hasn’t even begun, but the mea culpas are already rolling in.

House Speaker José Oliva sparked a firestorm in a discussion with South Florida TV journalist Jim DeFede that went viral Thursday.

Oliva, R-Miami Lakes, repeatedly referred to pregnant women as “host bodies” when asked about the perennially controversial topic of abortion.

The conservative lawmaker is a fierce small-government proponent who believes people should be able to make their own decisions, he told DeFede, a veteran Miami reporter who works for the station CBS4.

Gov. Ron DeSantis is accusing suspended Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel of being responsible for the deaths of 17 students and faculty members at a Parkland high school and five other victims of a mass shooting at an airport, according to documents filed this week with the Florida Senate.

The allegations against Israel, whose suspension was one of DeSantis’ first actions after the Republican governor took office in January, were included in what is known as a “bill of particulars” as Israel tries to get his job back.

(This is part of a series of stories advancing the 2019 legislative session)

Baby steps.

Florida policymakers readily admit that’s the approach they’ve taken when it comes to dealing with pot, both before and after voters overwhelmingly approved a constitutional amendment legalizing medical marijuana.

Even a new governor --- and with him, an administration that’s no longer hostile to the concept of cannabis as a cure --- might not change that, at least during the legislative session that begins March 5.

Hate crimes are real. Just ask state Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith.

Chicago’s police chief is accusing “Empire” star Jussie Smollett of using the “advantage of the pain and anger of racism to promote his career” by paying two men to stage an attack on him last month.

The allegations concerning Smollett, who is black and gay, sparked an international avalanche of commentary and ignited concerns that reports of the bogus attack could have a chilling effect on victims of hate-related violence.

He insists he wasn’t trying to get the parents of two victims of the Parkland school massacre booted out of a congressional committee this week.

But Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz, one of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ chief advisers, made international news after video of a confrontation between the Panhandle Republican and two dads went viral.

Florida House leaders have rolled out a proposal that would allow patients to smoke medical marijuana, but only after going through what one critic called a “bureaucratic mess of red tape.”

The House proposal, released Tuesday afternoon, would require doctors get the approval of a “case review panel” before they could order smokable marijuana for patients.

Under a Senate plan approved by a key committee Monday, patients would have to see two doctors before being allowed to smoke, adding to out-of-pocket costs.

In the first major demonstration of an ideological shift on the revamped Florida Supreme Court, justices Tuesday refused to consider an appeal in a Miami Beach minimum-wage lawsuit that a former liberal-leaning majority of the court had scheduled to hear next month.

The move by the now-conservative majority was a victory for business groups who have fought an ordinance that Miami Beach passed in 2016 to raise the minimum wage locally. The Supreme Court effectively let stand lower-court decisions that blocked the ordinance.

Siding with Florida’s largest cannabis operator, a circuit judge for the second time struck down a law capping the number of dispensaries medical marijuana businesses can run.

The limit on the number of retail storefronts was included in a 2017 law aimed at carrying out a constitutional amendment that broadly legalized medical marijuana.

But Quincy-based Trulieve challenged the provision, arguing the restriction “arbitrarily impairs product availability and safety” and “unfairly penalizes” pot providers.

Showing no signs of taming a ferocious debut as Florida’s chief of state, Gov. Ron DeSantis kicked off February with a $91.3 billion spending plan padded with a little something for everyone.

The governor’s budget proposal --- the largest in state history --- boosts funding for public schools, pumps money into water projects and trims taxes.

For those whose eyes glaze over when they encounter the words “budget,” DeSantis provided plenty of other fodder this week.