Page 25 - Ryan Dailey News Today

Coffee is for closers. So is Sunburn, your morning rundown of Florida politics.

TALLAHASSEE — Lawmakers during this year’s legislative session eliminated grants that help students at some private colleges pay tuition and got rid of an annual textbook stipend for Bright Futures scholarship recipients — but stopped short of upending the way the $650 million Bright Futures program is funded. Sen. Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala, in February filed a proposal (SB 86) aimed at cutting Bright Futures aid for students in degree fields deemed by higher-education governing boards as u...

More than two dozen states, including Florida, introduced laws this year to impose restrictions on transgender athletes. Two Florida Republican lawmakers, Sen. Kelli Stargel and Rep. Kaylee Tuck, filed legislation in early March to bar transgender girls from playing on girls sports teams in elementary, secondary, and postsecondary schools. Supporters of the legislation say theyre trying to maintain the integrity of competitive, segregated sports and argue that transgender female athletes have a...

“With the summer of unrest after the George Floyd murder, we needed to do substantial criminal-justice reform. This is a good start. It gives us a foundation to build upon for next session,” said Sen. Darryl Rouson, a St. Petersburg Democrat who is Black. Bill aims to limit use of chokeholds New standards aimed at limiting officers’ use of chokeholds are included in the proposal. Chokeholds would be limited “to circumstances where the officer perceives an immediate threat of serious bod...

Passed By Florida Senate, Police Training Bill Touted As ‘Good Start’ CBS Miami 4/29/2021 Syndicated Local – CBS Miami TALLAHASSEE (CBSMiami/NSF) — With several Black lawmakers heralding what they described as a starting point to improve community interactions with police, the Florida Senate on Thursday gave final approval to a bill that includes new use-of-force training requirements for officers. The measure (HB 7051) moved swiftly through the Legislature after it wa...

TALLAHASSEE — Public and private colleges and universities could soon be protected from coronavirus-related lawsuits under a wide-ranging higher education bill that also includes tuition breaks for “non-traditional” students. The House on Wednesday night voted 102-11 to give final approval to the bill (HB 1261), which had passed the Senate earlier and now will go to Gov. Ron DeSantis. Under the proposal, colleges and universities would be shielded from lawsuits related to decisions to cl...

1 month ago Share Lawmakers agreed on spending more than $6.6 billion of the stimulus money headed to Florida from the American Rescue Plan, which President Joe Biden signed last month. by: Jim Saunders The News Service of Florida House and Senate leaders on April 26 finished nailing down details of a roughly $100 billion budget for the upcoming fiscal year, after agreeing that first responders statewide should get $1,000 bonuses for their work during the COVID-19 pandemi...

TALLAHASSEE — A measure that would have provided a public-records exemption for information about people applying to lead Florida colleges and universities died Tuesday in the Senate, as it failed to draw the required support of two-thirds of senators. The Senate voted 25-14 to support the bill, falling one vote short of the 26 needed to reach a legally required two-thirds threshold for passing public-records exemptions. All Senate Republicans backed the measure and picked up the vote of Se...

The proposal also would increase the maximum income eligibility to receive vouchers to 375% of the federal poverty level, meaning a family of four making almost $100,000 a year would qualify. Senate sponsor Manny Diaz Jr., R-Hialeah, suggested during floor debate Monday that school closures and other effects of the COVID-19 pandemic increased an appetite for educational options in the state. “The question we have here is a philosophical choice: Do we trust our families to make the right deci...

/ “We’re trying to focus on things that were one-time, infrastructure builds,” said Senate Appropriations Chairwoman Kelli Stargel (right), a Lakeland Republican who negotiated final details with House Appropriations Chairman Jay Trumbull (left), R-Panama City. Because of a legally required 72-hour “cooling off” period, the budget is required to be finalized and printed Tuesday for the annual legislative session to end on time Friday. House and Senate leaders Monday night finished na...