It was an off-election year, one you might have thought would be a sleeper for the political class in Florida. But 2015 turned out to be a noisy family food fight from beginning nearly to end, a year dominated by the courts and leaving a shortage of happy people in and around the Capitol. Here is our list of stories that topped the news in the Sunshine State this year.
No. 1. Dysfunction in the Legislature
After a spring consumed by a struggle over a privatized form of Medicaid expansion -- backed by the Florida Senate and opposed by the House and Gov. Rick Scott -- lawmakers ended the regular session when Speaker Steve Crisafulli adjourned the house, without passing a state budget. They were forced to return in June for a special session to get that job done.
Meanwhile, through most of the year, leaders of the House and Senate continued to clash publicly over redistricting.
Republicans tried to smooth over the mess. But Democrats worked to capitalize on the trysts of ruling Republicans, which included continuing tension from the continuing Senate fight over who is to succeed Andy Gardiner as Senate president, Joe Negron of Stuart or Jack Latvala of Clearwater. Finally, Latvala bowed out.
No. 2. Redistricting, the Chinese Torture
After a nearly four-year legal and political process that cost taxpayers millions of dollars and contentious special sessions, a sharply divided Florida Supreme Court ruled Dec. 2 that next year's congressional elections should go forward under a map proposed by voting-rights organizations.
Frustratingly, the 5-2 Supreme Court ruling allowing Democratic operatives' maps, followed an earlier rejection of Republican operatives' maps.
The effort to approve the anti-gerrymandering "Fair Districts" constitutional amendments passed in 2010 sucked much of the air out of the legislative process in 2015. When all was said and done, the court's more-liberal majority, led by Justice Barbara Pariente, sided with the voting-rights organizations against the Legislature's Republican majority.
No. 3. Landing Amendment 1
Lawmakers and environmentalists spent much of the year bickering over how the Legislature decided to spend money voters approved in 2014 for land buying and preservation.
The Florida Wildlife Federation, the St. Johns Riverkeeper, the Environmental Confederation of Southwest Florida and the Sierra Club filed a lawsuit contending the money was improperly diverted from conservation purposes -- particularly land buying -- to agency staffing and operational expenses.
In November Circuit Judge George Reynolds accepted a motion from the state to dismiss part of the lawsuit that sought a court order requiring state Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater to transfer $237 million from the general-revenue fund to the Land Acquisition Trust Fund.
By year's end, though, the Florida House had proposed that at least 25 percent of Amendment 1 dollars annually be used for Everglades restoration and other previously approved South Florida water projects. Without such an agreement, the House and Senate are likely to take a similar approach to allocating Amendment 1 dollars next year.
No. 4. New Deal for Gambling
In a deal that took several months of 2015 and was crafted largely behind closed doors, the Seminole Tribe of Florida agreed to pay Florida $3.1 billion over seven years in exchange for adding craps and roulette to its current casino operations.
It is believed to be the largest tribal revenue-sharing agreement in the country, and is triple the current $1 billion the Seminoles have paid to the state over the past five years for the exclusive rights to operate "banked" card games, including blackjack. The Legislature still must ratify it, some members don't like the deal and the matter is far from ended.
The agreement regarding the card games -- part of a larger, 20-year deal known as a "compact" -- expired in July, sending Scott and the tribe back to the negotiating table. The new deal requires legislative approval, and even before the ink was dry on the agreement, some legislators were questioning the possibility of its ultimate success.
Under the deal, the tribe would be allowed to have blackjack, craps and roulette at all of its existing seven facilities, but cannot expand its operations for 20 years. The tribe agreed to give up its monopoly on blackjack and is ceding its stronghold on slots. The new deal would allow the Miami-Dade and Broward racinos to add blackjack. And the agreement would allow up to 750 slot machines and 750 "instant racing" machines — which appear like slots but operate differently — to be phased in over three years at the Palm Beach Kennel Club and at a new facility in Miami.
What remains to be decided is decoupling -- allowing tracks to offer slots without live racing. Thoroughbred trainers in Florida oppose it, saying it would impact as many as 12,000 Florida jobs in all corners of the state.
No. 5. Ongoing Saga of Medical Marijuana
After delays and bickering between the Department of Health and nurseries angling for a contract, the DOH's Office of Compassionate Use picked five nurseries as the first dispensing organizations, offering hope to lawmakers and others that low-THC products would be available to eligible patients by next fall.
Under the 2014 law, health officials should have picked five applicants by the start of 2015 to grow, process and dispense the products. But legal challenges and a judge's rejection of the DOH's initial try to come up with a rule regulating the fledgling medical marijuana industry delayed its implementation.
It's not over yet. More challenges to the DOH nursery selections are expected.
Meanwhile, rounding out December, the Florida Supreme Court unanimously approved People United for Medical Marijuana's proposed constitutional amendment for more robust pharmacological pot that would go on the November 2016 ballot. It is lawyer John Morgan's 2014 amendment, tweaked for 2016.
No. 6. Jeb Bush and the Year of Political Revolution
Based largely on the $100 million in his Right to Rise super PAC, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush entered 2015 far-and-away the Republican frontrunner in the 2016 presidential race. But something happened along the way: an anti-establishment revolt among Americans, particularly Republicans. Along came the Donald Trump Phenomenon.
Bush only cracked double figures in the polls once from June forward. He did poorly in polls of early states, too: not just bad in Iowa, where Republicans are ... well ... different, but even in New Hampshire, a state he spent an extraordinary amount of time in and where he has been advertising. For most of 2015 he failed to lead in Florida, his natural firewall, or South Carolina, the GOP establishment’s traditional firewall for their chosen representative. In October he was forced to cut his campaign's payroll by 40 percent.
Bush's never-say-die supporters still believe when the chips are down, if their man can keep money coming in, voters will realize Trump is no statesman and elect the estblishment candidate with the real experience in the GOP race.
No. 7. Open Carry 'R' Us
Some of the hottest debate in the Capitol at year's end swirled around gun issues.
Floridians came closer to being able to openly carry handguns, though they might be limited to doing so in places where they are welcome. In November the House Justice Appropriations Subcommittee narrowly backed a controversial measure (HB 163) that would allow the 1.45 million people in Florida with concealed-weapons licenses to openly carry.
The vote in the House Judiciary Committee gave the NRA two potential victories. If that bill and the campus-carry bill both become law, Florida could become the ninth state in which concealed-carry permit holders can openly carry on college and university campuses.
No. 8: The Governor's Budget
Following Rick Scott's claim in 2014 that he cut taxes for Floridians 40 times, the governor released a $79 billion budget recommendation in November that some in the Legislature -- particularly in the Senate -- have said they cannot entirely support.
Chief bone of contention is the $250 million Enterprise Florida request, which triples the $85 million he asked for in 2015. Lawmakers sliced it in half and the Scott administration spent much of the year lobbying to beef it up.
The budget unveiled in November calls for the elimination 1,368 state jobs, no pay raises for state employees but $1 billion in tax cuts for businesses. Besides promoting a cut in the commercial lease tax, the governor called for ending the income tax on manufacturing and retailers and ending the tax on manufacturing machinery and equipment -- a move to save businesses almost $77 million a year.
No. 9. Blaise Ingoglia's New Direction for RPOF
In January, the Republican Party of Florida elected state Rep. Blaise Ingoglia, R-Spring Hill, its new chairman. Ingoglia defeated Rick Scott's selection, incumbent Leslie Dougher, on the second ballot. Even though the Senate and governor pulled out their financial support, Ingoglia spent most of 2015 working to set the state party on a winning course for 2016.
“We ran on a platform of reform, of changing the ways that we engage with the state committee, changing the way that we engage in our communities. Getting back to the basics,” he told Republicans. Part of those reforms include changing the way that the party chooses its House speakers so far in advance, signing up more than 1,000 volunteers for the 2016 campaign by mid-year, hiring a bilingual spokesperson (Wadi Gaitan) and launching the “largest ground game on data acquistion this state has ever seen.”
In November, despite intense criticism, he pulled off a Presidency 6-to-Sunshine Summit switcheroo, making GOP candidates who never had to before qualify to be on the primary ballot in Florida by gathering petitions, paying up or showing up. It worked. Thirteen of the then-field of 15 presidential candidates, including every one of the top contenders, chose to show up in Orlando at the Summit and engage with Republican voters.
No. 10. David Beckham's Miami Field of Dreams
Orlando sealed a Major League Soccer presence two years ago, but in 2015 English soccer legend David Beckham persisted to finally ink a deal in December for a Miami stadium site. The soccer superstar and his partners -- Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure, producer Simon Fuller and sports executive Tim Leiweke -- have about 9 acres under contract in the Overtown neighborhood. Major League Soccer endorsed the location and announced the expansion of the Miami Beckham United franchise as part of an increase to 24 teams by 2020.
"Construction of our venue will be privately financed, and we will work with Miami-Dade County Public Schools to establish our club as an educational resource for the community," Beckham United announced. "We will also engage nearby businesses and residents as we develop our stadium design and take steps to enhance the neighborhood."
Reach Nancy Smith at nsmith@sushinestatenews.com or at 228-282-2423. Twitter: @NancyLBSmith
