Put on the backburner a couple of years ago, the idea of swapping a sales tax increase for property tax cuts has emerged again in the Florida Legislature.

Bills filed in both chambers last week would boost the state sales tax by 2.5 cents to 8.5 percent, a 42 percent increase, while at the same time axing the states required property tax levy for education by more than $7 billion a year.

The time frame for collecting unemployment benefits would be shortened under legislation put forth in the state House, trying to address a yawning state budget deficit and a growing federal IOU.

Property tax breaks, unemployment compensation, corporate incentives and a revenue cap proposal favored by the Senate president will be among a handful of high-priority items to be addressed by the House Finance and Taxation Committee this session, its chairman said Thursday.

Automakers would be granted more protection from lawsuit losses in crash cases under a measure that got its first committee hearing Tuesday in a battle pitting business groups and the Republican-led Legislature against trial attorneys.

In what likely will become fodder for upcoming lawsuits, a stinging federal report scheduled for release next week shows that shortcuts, mistakes, questionable technology and overall poor management led to the worst oil spill in U.S. history.

Despite a sluggish economy and a potential $3 billion-plus budget gap, Florida should more than double the states tourism marketing budget under a proposal sent to Gov.-elect Rick Scott Wednesday by his transition team.

A massive 2009 legislative overhaul of the growth management laws thats been tied up in court may be rewritten in the coming year as separate pieces of legislation, a leading Senate critic of the states growth laws said Wednesday.

BP claims administrator Ken Feinberg last Wednesday released the set of protocols for final payment of damages following a deluge of last-minute emergency claims that came in prior to the Nov. 23 deadline.