Category Florida Legislature
Zest of the Day: Mike Fasano not confident about Pasco tax collector appointment
From Adam Smith in the Tampa Bay Times.
Standing your ground on the issue instead of simply your party
Far too often we see Democrats and Republicans eating up the talking points of their party instead of the issues that affect everyday Floridians. A perfect example of this is the issue with stand your ground and gun control laws. For over a decade the Florida Legislature has led the way on gun laws ranging […]
Zest of the Day – Deutch: Voting Rights fix should consider ‘institutional racism’ of state stand-your-ground, drug laws
From George Bennett in the Palm Beach Post. Ted Deutch has emerged as one of the great liberal voices in the Florida Delegation and perhaps nationally since his 2010 special election victory. Video below of Deutch’s comments and full article at Post on Politics.
Snapshot of Florida Politics in 1989
As I wrote yesterday, I am an avid collector or Michael Barone’s Almanac of American Politics series. Today we will look at the 1990 Almanac of American Politics (published in 1989). The Florida narrative focuses on the migration patterns of northerners. As we discussed in the 1979 snapshot the first migration in the 1940s […]
The Voting Rights Act and Florida: Historical challenges in light of the Supreme Court decision
Tuesday’s ill-advised and unfortunate Supreme Court decision regarding the voting rights act recalls the shameful specter of potential voter purges and racially motivated disenfranchisement that characterized Florida and the American South prior to 1965. While much of the caricature of the south during that era has been drawn in hindsight by a guilty northern-dominated press […]
Zest of the Day: Have Floridians Become Straight Ticket Voters?
Interesting analysis from Dave Trotter at “How the World Votes.” He hits some important voting trends in the state but also seems to ignore some other mitigating factors. Still a highly recommended read. I have noted more and more straight ticket voting in Florida since let’s say since the 1988 Election where George Bush got […]
Freshman Democrats score higher in AIF ratings than rest of caucus
We’ve chronicled extensively how Freshman House Democrats have tacked further to the right on core progressive caucus and issues. Now Associated Industries of Florida (AIF) the most powerful (and reactionary) business lobby in the state has further confirmed this trend with the organization’s voting record release. Unlike last year when no Democrat in the House […]
Zest of the Day: Speaker Weatherford stood ground during session
From the Tampa Tribune, an excellent look at Speaker Weatherford’s session.
TFS Senate Scorecard – The Ratings
Vote descriptions here House ratings here The ideological splits which have characterized the Florida House since the early 2000s have largely been absent in the Senate. However, with several moderate Republicans term limited in 2012 the fear was that the Senate would shift sharply right. However, several Republicans voted a more moderate line in the […]
TFS Senate Scorecard – The Votes Scored
Full ratings can be found here SB 718 (Stargel) and HB 231 (Workman) were a pair of bills that would, essentially, reduce alimony benefits for divorcees. This legislation would have changed family law in Florida to include statutory time limits on how long alimony can be received to – in most cases – half the […]
The Florida Squeeze 