WFSU News
This black, armored police truck is one of several parked behind City Hall in downtown Tallahassee on Saturday, September 5, 2020 ahead of planned protests following a grand jury report on the use of force in three officer-involved shootings.
The Senate Appropriations Committee has cleared a bill targeted at protests that turn violent. The measure is a priority of Gov. Ron DeSantis who announced it in the middle of social justice protests during the Summer.
The Florida House has already approved its version of the bill, but the senate version stalled for more than a month after Democrat and Criminal Justice Committee Chairman, Sen. Jason Pizzo refused to hear it. Senate President Wilton Simpson used a procedural move to break the log-jam, sending the House version bill to the chamber’s appropriation committee, where Democrats presented more than a dozen amendments in an effort to defang the bill.
Funds will help businesses with rent taxes
“The intention of the bill at the very beginning was to help those that need it the most,” Senate sponsor Joe Gruters, R-Sarasota, said. “We re the only state that has this business rent tax. And it s going to help our retailers when they need it. Anybody that owns a business.”
The Senate voted 30-10 to approve the bill last month without the commercial-rent provision. That required the Senate to vote again on the bill Thursday after the House added the provision.
Senate President Wilton Simpson, R-Trilby, and House Speaker Chris Sprowls, R-Palm Harbor, had agreed to reduce the commercial rent tax from 5.5 percent to 2 percent.
Florida Senate bill seeks to close state pension plan to most new hires
Florida Senate bill seeks to close state pension plan to most new hires
Exterior state capitol building in Florida.
Florida s Senate approved a bill that would close the $183.1 billion Florida Retirement System Pension Plan to most new hires.
The bill, approved Thursday 24-16, would close the defined benefit plan to most new hires starting June 30, 2022 and automatically enroll them in the Florida Retirement System Investment Plan, the state s $15.3 billion 401(a) plan.
New hires currently have the option of joining either plan when they become state employees. Special risk employees in areas such as criminal detention, emergency medical care, firefighting and law enforcement would still have that option under the terms of the bill.
Senate backs Florida retirement system revamp - Tampa Bay Business Journal bizjournals.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from bizjournals.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Florida college students choice of educational institutions may be severely limited next fall if certain members of the Florida House of Representatives have their way. A pair of bills, HB 5601 and HB 1286, would limit students’ ability to access state funding when they choose to attend one of 30 Independent Colleges and Universities of Florida (ICUF) which are private, not-for-profit SACS accredited institutions.
Under the House education bills 16 of the 30 ICUF institutions would be ineligible to use the Effective Access to Student Education (EASE) Grant, formerly FRAG, to help pay for their college education. The Senate, led by President Wilton Simpson, conversely sees the value of EASE and has proposed to return it to a funding level of $3,500 per student. Passing this House legislation would affect students ability to finish their education, which could mean one less nurse or IT professional on the front lines of the next pandemic.