Jim Saunders/News Service of Florida
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The Senate voted 30-5 to approve the plan (HB 3), three days after Gov. Ron DeSantis vetoed an earlier version (HB 1). DeSantis and House Speaker Paul Renner, who has made a priority of the social-media issue, negotiated the revamped plan.Renner, R-Palm Coast, and other supporters of restrictions contend that social media harms children’s mental health and can lead to sexual predators communicating with minors. The bill seeks to prevent children under age 16 from opening social-media accounts — though a key change in the revised version would allow parents to give consent for 14- and 15-year-olds to have accounts.
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Pointing to permits in “regulatory limbo,” the Florida Department of Environmental Protection on Monday asked a judge for a partial stay of a ruling in a legal battle about a 2020 decision that shifted permitting authority from the federal government to the state for projects that affect wetlands.U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss on Feb. 15 ruled that federal officials did not follow required steps before transferring the authority to the state. Moss issued an order vacating the approval of the shift.
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After dozens of resignations and two lawsuits, a Florida House panel Wednesday supported providing reprieves from a 2023 law that requires local elected officials to disclose detailed information about their personal finances.The House State Affairs Committee approved revamping a bill to push back the effective date of the requirements to 2025 and to exempt mayors and members of local governing boards in communities with 500 people or fewer.
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Municipalities and dozens of local elected officials from across Florida filed state and federal lawsuits Thursday challenging the constitutionality of a new law that requires the officials to disclose detailed information about their personal finances.
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Controversial bills aimed at preventing local governments from removing historical monuments and restricting the types of flags flown at schools and other public buildings appear to be dead in the Florida Senate.Senate President Kathleen Passidomo, R-Naples, said she doesn’t expect the Senate to move forward on the monuments bill and that the flags bill is stuck in a committee that will not meet again.
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A coalition of groups Tuesday moved toward filing a lawsuit against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency over regulation of phosphate-industry waste that the groups say poses environmental and health dangers.The groups, such as the Center for Biological Diversity, the Sierra Club and Waterkeepers Florida, submitted a formal notice that they plan to file a lawsuit in 60 days if the EPA doesn’t act on a 2021 petition seeking regulations on phosphogypsum waste.
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Objecting to an attempt to speed up the case, attorneys for the state argued Friday “there is no reasonable likelihood” the Florida Supreme Court will rule in a congressional redistricting battle in time for the 2024 elections.The attorneys for Secretary of State Cord Byrd and the Legislature pushed back against a request by voting-rights groups and other plaintiffs for the Supreme Court to expedite the handling of a challenge to a ruling by the 1st District Court of Appeal. That ruling upheld a congressional redistricting plan that Gov. Ron DeSantis pushed through the Legislature in 2022.
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Florida’s annual 60-day legislative session reached its halfway point Wednesday. The top 10 big issues in the session range from the budget to education, insurance to health care.
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Senate and House panels this week approved bills that would revamp the state’s defamation laws, potentially exposing media organizations to increased liability and addressing the use of artificial intelligence to portray people in a false light.The Senate Judiciary Committee and the House Regulatory Reform & Economic Development Subcommittee approved similar bills (SB 1780 and HB 757) that are drawing opposition from many First Amendment advocates.