Florida News That Impacts You – May 5th, 2023
Bottom Line: Your daily recap of the biggest news from around the state that impacts you in South Florida.
- Florida’s 60-day state legislative session comes to a close today. Governor DeSantis said this legislative session has been the smoothest of the five he’s presided over as governor. Republicans gained a supermajority in the legislature and had new party leadership in the House and Senate.
- Recent movers in the state legislative session included the Interscholastic and Interscholastic Activities bill. On a largely party-line vote the legislation allows homeschooled children and those attending private schools to try out for sports at public schools, in addition to allowing students attending charter schools to play sports for private schools. It now advances to Governor DeSantis’ desk. On a nearly unanimous vote the Technology Transparency bill passed the legislature. The bill calls for a Florida Digital Bill of Rights whereby Floridians must be offered the option of having their online data collected. That includes audio from smart devices. The Legislature unanimously passed the Required African-American Instruction bill. The legislation requires all school districts to submit annual reports detailing African American studies within schools as required under law. Districts found in non-compliance would have 45 days to make course corrections to comply with state law. Another mover was the bill creating a pilot program for middle school starts after 8:00am. Under the bill, which passed nearly unanimously, middle schools would not be able to start sooner than 8:00am. If signed by Governor DeSantis, the change would be phased in starting with the 2026-2027 school year.
- The Legislature also approved a bill which authorizes the newly appointed tourism board, overseeing the Reedy Creek Improvement District, to invalidate decisions made by the previous board. The outgoing Disney-appointed board stripped the incoming board of authority for the next thirty years. This bill comes amid a related federal lawsuit against the state by Disney and a lawsuit by the state against Disney in the state court system.
- Gas prices dropped another penny Thursday. Statewide the average price for regular unleaded is currently $3.59 per gallon – eight cents lower than a week ago. In Palm Beach County the average price is $3.80 per gallon, which is the highest price in the state.