Florida's recap – Highlights from around the state – November 19th
Bottom Line: Your daily recap of the some of the biggest news from around the state that impacts you in South Florida.
- Governor DeSantis proposed his budget for the 2019-2020 year which featured significant increases in spending for teachers and education generally while cutting transportation, Department of Economic Opportunity, and projects and positions within state government he appears to perceive as wasteful.
- Donald and Melania Trump are officially Floridians as their records have now posted with the state of Florida, including voter registration. As expected Mar-A-Lago is the Trump’s new permanent home address.
- A new solar initiative has been entered into for a dozen of Florida’s smaller utility providers - Alachua, Bartow, Beaches Energy Services, Fort Pierce Utilities Authority, Homestead, Keys Energy Services, Kissimmee Utility Authority, Lake Worth Beach, Ocala, Orlando Utilities Commission, Wauchula, and Winter Park. The plan includes a 900,000 solar panel project which will be constructed in Orange and Osceola counties to begin a solar energy conversation plan to their communities in a similar way to what FPL has introduced. The plan is enough to power the equivalent of 37,250 homes.
- A sting operation into human trafficking in Tampa has resulted in 104 arrests. According to the National Human Trafficking Hotline, over the past year Florida has had 306 businesses involved in trafficking, 506 traffickers arrested and 1,771 identified victims – all record highs for the state.