Florida’s first, true “water farm” exceeds all expectations, according to state officials. An expanded Caulkins Water Farm on 3,200 acres near Indiantown holds the promise of relief to the St. Lucie River and Indian River Lagoon estuaries from annual deluges of polluted water -- up to half of the water storage needed to reduce annual discharges by 90 percent.
State lawmakers continued to hammer out budget allocations this week, with Florida's education system standing to receive record funding for the 2015-2016 school year.
Large funding numbers for the state's school system were tossed around by Gov. Rick Scott, who has prioritized increased funding to improve Florida's schools and keep the state on the right track for academic success.
Gov. Rick Scott's call for more money to attract businesses to Florida put an unexpected halt Monday to budget talks on transportation, tourism and economic-development issues.
Senators claimed a "lack of respect" as they sought what they considered an adequate explanation about why the House wanted to boost funding for Enterprise Florida, the state's public-private economic development agency.
A second day of negotiations between House and Senate lawmakers over a spending plan for the budget year that begins July 1 seemed to highlight longstanding divisions between the two chambers even as legislators tried to come to agreement.
Now the Sunshine State can get on with finding a real solution to helping its locked-out citizens in need of health care. It can become a national model in melding innovation and compassion without -- please, God -- firing an order to Washington to print more money.
Let's look a little more closely at the nation's fiscal predicament.
The Florida House drove the stake through the heart of Medicaid expansion on Friday but Andy Gardiner and his crew in the Senate had to take their chances. Things will only get harder for them in the months to come.
Steve Crisafulli and Richard Corcoran held the line in the House. Even if Democrats pick up a few seats next year, Corcoran should preside over enough of a Republican majority to continue to ensure Medicaid expansion goes nowhere.
With the Florida House rejecting Medicaid expansion on Friday at the close of the first week of a special session, groups across the Sunshine State reacted to the vote.
In the wake of a near-four-hour debate and rejection of the Senate Medicaid expansion alternative, the House on Friday approved its scaled-back, 18-item tax-cut package. The vote was 97-10.
Lawmakers were forced to cut Finance and Tax Chair Matt Gaetz's work to cover health-care costs in the overall budget. The bill now offers a savings of $273.2 million for the fiscal year beginning July 1, increasing to $436 million the following year.
Gaetz rattled off reductions included in HB 33A:
In the likely final act of one of the most divisive legislative debates in years, the Florida House voted decisively Friday to reject a proposal that would have used federal Medicaid expansion money to help lower-income Floridians purchase private health insurance.
On a 72-41 vote nearly along party lines, the House defeated the bill (SB 2A) creating the Florida Health Insurance Affordability Exchange, or FHIX, after a grueling discussion that lasted almost seven hours. Four Republicans crossed party lines to vote with Democrats.
FHIX 3.0, the Senate's amended Medicaid expansion alternative, went nowhere fast Thursday, as one by one majority House members picked it apart.
Jacksonville's Mia Jones, House minority leader pro tempore, drew the short straw for the Democrats by having to present the Senate's case for FHIX, explaining it -- and trying to sell the package. She made it plain that she personally favored full Medicaid expansion as required under the Affordable Care Act.
