Category Florida Legislature
TFS Radio #8 – Florida Senate Race, Presidential Polling, Adam Putnam, Legislative Session and Fracking
TFS’ Brook Hines and Katy Burnett discuss the new FAU poll which yielded some interesting numbers on both the Democratic and Republican side. The TFS gang also talk Adam Putnam’s Gubernatorial chances, Hillary Clinton’s continued fall in the polls and its similarity with 2008 as well the latest from Tallahassee and legislative session. Fracking is […]
Clearing up some reapportionment misconceptions
Florida’s Supreme Court rightly threw out several Congressional districts basically invalidating the entire state map on Thursday. Under the “Fair Districts” law, Florida’s Congressional map was a complete disgrace. Florida’s Republicans have arrogantly drawn maps that skirt the boundaries of the law. The long-standing arrogance and sense of entitlement that Florida’s Republican leadership has demonstrated […]
House Democrats and Medicaid – Can the issue stick?
Florida House Republicans do have egg on their face for the dogmatic opposition to any expansion of Medicaid. The Florida Democratic Party’s communications staff did an excellent job of fanning the flames of this last week on social media and in the press, while the party’s house campaign arm aggressively made robo-calls into the districts […]
State Rep Stark responds to the Speaker of the House
Portions of this op-ed appeared in the Sun Sentinel today. Rep. Stark (D-Weston) has generously allowed TFS to run his full response to Speaker Crisafulli As a member of the FL House of Representatives, I have a great deal of respect for our Speaker who had an op-ed in the Sun-Sentinel this week regarding Medicaid […]
SINE DIE not a completely crazy move by the House
The Florida House irresponsibly cut its session short on Tuesday afternoon at 1:15. Or did it? First off let me state that the House position on Medicaid expansion is irreconcilable with the responsibilities of a western industrialized nation. Were Florida to continue down this current path, our state’s health care system will more closely resemble […]
Florida’s Testing Era Ends & the Book Closes on Jeb’s Grand School Grading Experiment”
By Dr. Rachel Pienta In another year, Florida might be buzzing over a special session on schools. Concerns related to funding and testing continue to be hot button issues. This year, however, education has taken a back seat to health care and Medicaid expansion. That said, it does not mean that the executive or legislative […]
KILLING US SOFTLY: On abortion we’re one compromise away from third world status
This week I traveled to Tallahassee to “tell my abortion story” to the Senate Judiciary Committee. Along with two other women, we went to make women’s voices heard as the fate of the Mandatory Wait Bill (SB 724) was “considered.”I put “considered” in scare quotes because we all know that there’s no “consideration” in these matters. […]
The Florida Legislature, Marco Rubio, hypocrisy and the naked ideology of an Oligarchy
On a day when former State House Speaker Marco Rubio announced his intentions to run for President of the United States as a candidate of the right, no better time exists to look at the behavior of the Florida Legislature. Since the late 1990’s Florida’s Legislature has drifted further and further from the mainstream of […]
Monday Musings: Rubio, Iran & presidential politics, A new “iron lady”, Civil War anniversay, Legislative Session and Money, record soccer attendances in Florida
Marco Rubio is among the majority of US Senators skeptical of the Iran Nuclear Deal negotiated by Secretary of State John Kerry and the Obama Administration. Despite Florida’s Junior Senator making error after error in his understanding of foreign policy, this position might actually gain him some traction nationally. When the issue comes to the […]
Theatre of the Absurd: Rep. Michelle Rehwinkel-Vasilinda endorses Guns on Campus
UPDATED: Representative Rehwinkel-Vasilinda did vote for the guns on campus bill, along with Representative Katie Edwards. The guns on campus bill is one of the more contentious issues being debated this session. Although this issue has come up before, Senator Thrasher has always managed to defeat the bill. Now that he is gone to […]
The Florida Squeeze 