Here's a list of hasty, ill-advised, just plain mean bills coming from Florida LegislatureHB 1/SB 202: The bill expanding eligibility for voucher scholarships to any public school student. The bill's a priority that has been fast-tracked to move through the Legislature and onto Gov. Ron DeSantis' desk.
HB 837/SB 236: Makes it more difficult to sue insurance companies and other businesses
HB 7/SB 300: The bill that bans abortions after six weeks to the list of high-priority bills that will likely become law.
HB 555/SB 450: Angered that the Parkland school shooter ended up with life in prison, lawmakers want to loosen the law that requires a unanimous jury decision to impose the death penalty. Under this bill a simple majority would be enough, a change that could have unforeseen and unwanted consequences.
HB 991/SB 1220: The First Amendment restrains Congress from curtailing the free speech and press rights, but this isn't stopping the Florida Legislature from doing so. This bill opens the door for litigation against journalists by weakening constitutional protections. This one's heading to the U.S. Supreme Court, which may be the intent.
HB 1011/SB 668: Bad enough this bill bans local governments from displaying gay pride and other flags that don't fit newly drawn criteria. But, the Senate sponsor offered an amendment that would have allowed local governments to fly the Confederate flag. That "mistake" was withdrawn after the media got wind of it.
HB 1191/SB 1258: Bill provides for a study to see if phosphogypsum, a by-product from manufacturing phosphate, can be used as material for road construction. The bill is moving through the House, even though the federal Environmental Protection Agency tried and later prohibited phosphogypsum's use for health and safety reasons.
HB 1223/SB 1320: Think "Don't Say Gay" through the 8th grade. That what this bill does, extending the prohibition on sexual orientation and gender identity discussion into middle school. It also requires school districts to publish its parental appeal process to help parents dispute any such classroom discussion.
HB 1265/SB 952, HB 1421/SB 254, HB 1521/SB 1674: A transgender trifecta. One bill requires employers providing coverage of gender dysphoria treatment to cover the costs of reversing that procedure. Another sets new prohibitions on sex-reassignment prescriptions and procedures. The last governs transgender bathroom use.
HB 1543: This bill drops the minimum age to buy a firearm from 21 to 18, just five years after Florida's big attempt at gun safety following the 2018 massacre at Parkland's Marjorie Stoneman Douglass High School. The bill has sailed through the House, but Senate President Kathleen Passidomo opposes it.
SB 932: This bill would make it illegal for dogs to have their heads hanging out the windows of moving vehicles. It drew ridicule from dog owners who saw the legislation as a massive government overreach. It won't be unleashed on the public.
SB 1316: Tucked inside this bill is a requirement that bloggers paid for writing about the Governor, the Florida Cabinet or legislators must register with the state. The bill was such a stinker that even former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich urged the sponsor to kill it. The bill isn't moving at the moment but hasn't been withdrawn.
LEE COUNTY, Fla. — As Florida’s insurance crisis worsens, thousands of people have less than two weeks to find a new insurance company after being dropped by UPC, which went bankrupt earlier this month.
Governor Ron DeSantis didn’t mention it when he stopped in Fort Myers Friday afternoon for a Hurricane Ian recovery update until he was asked about the thousands who have seen their insurance policies canceled. Many are unable to find a new policy, while others are waiting for payouts.
“The reports of people getting short-changed or getting unlawfully dropped because someone was making more money — the insurance regulation office is investigating that, but yes, they need to be held accountable,” DeSantis stated.
When asked what was being done during the current legislative session to fix some of the problems, the governor said he was open to doing whatever is necessary to continue to work on the problem, but offered no specifics.
I figured him maybe for Italian, although he appears to have no understanding of what it means to be Italian.Now if he said it like "That's some spicy meatball" then I would agree. Me, still amazed that I did not know Desantis was Italian decent, not Hispanic.
As long as they don't bark at me (on my bike or skates).I don't even own a dog anymore, and am not likely to ever have one again, but who's got beef with dogs hanging their heads out the window of a moving car? They always seem so happy.
It tempts the droolers to want to have sex with the dog . . . cross species miscegenation and all. Plus CARS! I mean, you can't spell transportation without "TRANS." I don't know about you, but I'm scared already. THANKS RON!I don't even own a dog anymore, and am not likely to ever have one again, but who's got beef with dogs hanging their heads out the window of a moving car? They always seem so happy.
Love that there small government, Ronnie does. Just big enough for him to punish people with.
DeSantis administration is revoking Hyatt Regency Miami alcohol license after it hosted 'A Drag Queen Christmas'
The facility admitted people under the age of 18 as long as they were accompanied by an adult, but Florida regulators said that wasn't allowed.www.businessinsider.com
The state's business department accused the Miami venue of several violations, including a prohibition of "lascivious exhibition" before people younger than 16, though it's not clear to what extent this law is generally enforced.
I haven't seen many drag queens in my life (and the majority I have seen have been in Miami), but I've never see them at "lascivious." It's a dude in a ball gown or similar, generally. Last week I was on a cruise out of Galveston, TX and the cruise director and DJ wore drag for one of the shows, it's funny not sexual.
Drag isn't sexual. I've been to zero sexy drag shows. Republicans are lying that it is because they just (still) hate gay people.
Or, they're secretly tempted by them and this is how they take away the temptation.
Just find a group on the margins and unite your yabbering base by demonizing them. She turned me into a newt!I would believe the Republican appetite for intercourse with trans people is far stronger than they would like to admit. But really it's mostly just a rebranded satanic panic aimed at the gays, literally nothing new here and pushed by the same garbage people and those with ruthless ambition.
Yeah, I'm more on the scrooge side of dogs in public, but how can you have a problem with a dog sticking it's head out of a car? I could see this from some PETA type for animal safety, but I seriously doubt the Florida GOP gives a shit about that.I don't even own a dog anymore, and am not likely to ever have one again, but who's got beef with dogs hanging their heads out the window of a moving car? They always seem so happy.
I don't even own a dog anymore, and am not likely to ever have one again, but who's got beef with dogs hanging their heads out the window of a moving car? They always seem so happy.
Over the weekend, the Florida State NAACP unanimously voted to ask the NAACP National Board to issue a travel advisory. The advisory would ask people to forego visiting and moving to the sunshine state.
"Saying you don't want AP African American Studies here because they have certain topics in it, certain categories, certain words in it. You don't want companies to have the word diversity, equity and inclusion because it has institutional racism in their policy. You know, it takes us back. And we've been fighting so hard," Lewis said.
Luckily for him, very few evangelical churches actually support charity to the poor and needy. That's mostly catholic, protestants, and Mormons.Uh-oh, Ronald Dion is pissing off the Evangelicals.
Evangelicals say Ron DeSantis is threatening religious liberty with his support for a bill that criminalizes aid for immigrants
A group of Florida evangelicals on Thursday spoke out against a bill that would make it a crime to transport an undocumented immigrant.www.businessinsider.com
While public opposition has largely come from left-leaning and nonpartisan free-speech groups, forces traditionally aligned with DeSantis have in recent weeks begun raising alarm. They are warning that the governor and his GOP allies did not take into account how the bills would affect right-wing reporters and commentators, not just the mainstream outlets that have become punching bags for Republican politicians.
“The sword cuts both ways,” Trey Radel, a radio talk show host and former Republican congressman, said late last month as he railed against the legislation on his evening drive-time show.
Radel argued that the two proposed bills could prompt a torrent of costly libel suits against conservative websites and talk and news stations such as the one that broadcasts his program, a Fox News affiliate in Fort Myers. Such litigation could put stations like his out of business, he added, “and here is who’s going to pay the biggest price politically: Ron DeSantis.”
Does that bill include flying undocumented immigrants to Martha's Vineyard?Uh-oh, Ronald Dion is pissing off the Evangelicals.
Evangelicals say Ron DeSantis is threatening religious liberty with his support for a bill that criminalizes aid for immigrants
A group of Florida evangelicals on Thursday spoke out against a bill that would make it a crime to transport an undocumented immigrant.www.businessinsider.com
Does that bill include flying undocumented immigrants to Martha's Vineyard?