Florida Legislature

Following an extended Legislative session, Florida’s Senate and House agreed on a budget. Before it became official, Governor Ron DeSantis brought out his red veto pen and made some major changes.

Seeking to “restore confidence” in its mission, directors of an embattled foundation affiliated with First Lady Casey DeSantis’ signature Hope Florida welfare-assistance program on Thursday agreed to strengthen the nonprofit’s structure amid widening scrutiny by the Florida House.

At the halfway point of Florida’s 2025 Legislative Session, the state House and Senate are poised, this week to take up their budget proposals. We’ll check in with a panel of political scientists for a look at which legislative proposals are advancing, which are headed for defeat, and what it all means for Floridians going forward.

The Florida House will dive into issues about college athletes getting paid for use of their names, images and likenesses, or what is known as NIL.

Just ahead of Florida’s annual legislative session, which begins March 4, our panel of political scientists weighs in on key legislative proposals lawmakers will consider over the next two months including firearm regulations, relief for condo owners, property taxes, tax holidays, state election policy, and much more.

Florida’s Republican-controlled Legislature will revamp immigration laws this week but issued a sharp rebuke Monday to Gov. Ron DeSantis that included overriding a budget veto from last year.The House and Senate started and quickly ended a special legislative session that DeSantis called — and then immediately opened their own special session that will focus on immigration issues. The move came after DeSantis angered House Speaker Daniel Perez, R-Miami, and Senate President Ben Albritton, R-Wauchula, by calling a special session that they said was premature.

Tuesday’s election marks an historic red wave here in Florida from the Presidential race to constitutional amendment proposals, down to local political contests. WGCU Southwest Florida in Focus host Sandra Viktorova provides some post-election analysis in a conversation with FGCU political scientist Dr. Sandra Pavekla and WGCU host/reporter John Davis.

At Sunday Masses across Florida, Catholic priests have taken some time this election season to diverge from their typical homilies to try to convince parishioners to vote no on Amendment 4.

In at least eight House races and two Senate races statewide those Democratic candidates don't live in the legislative districts where they are running, according to recent voter registrations, candidate filings and other government records. In some cases, they live hundreds of miles away from the voters they are courting, and many have struggled to raise enough money to compete credibly against Republicans.