Florida News That Impacts You – April 12th, 2023
Bottom Line: Your daily recap of the biggest news from around the state that impacts you in South Florida. Gas prices continued lower through the weekend.
- Recent movers in the state legislative session included the Dissolution of Marriage bill. The legislation which would end permanent alimony payments unanimously passed a final house committee vote and is ready for a full vote before both chambers in the Legislature. The Protection of Children bill, which would allow the state to suspend liquor licenses of establishments which admit minors to adult entertainment passed the full Senate on a party-line vote. The House version of the bill has cleared one of three committee votes thus far. All committees in both chambers have now advanced the Motor Vehicle Glass bill, which would ban the practice of auto insurance assignment of benefit claims, which have been exploited with auto glass repair fraud being a key issue. The Partisan Election of Members of District School Boards bill, which proposes making school board races partisan races, is ready for a full vote before the Senate. It’s already passed the House. If approved a proposed constitutional amendment would be placed on next year’s ballots.
- Gas prices remained flat Tuesday. Statewide the average price for regular unleaded is $3.58 per gallon – 12 cents higher than a week ago. In Palm Beach County the average price rose a penny to $3.75 per gallon, which is the highest price in the state.
- With a 95% success rate in prosecutions, Palm Beach County ranks 2nd in Florida for prosecuting accused felons and 5th in convicting misdemeanors. A decade ago, Palm Beach County had one of the lowest rates in the state with only half of charged criminals being convicted. The findings came from a report released by The Office of the State Courts Administrator.
- The state’s recently enacted Law Enforcement Recruitment Bonus Program, which awards bonuses of $5,000 for law enforcement professionals to relocate to Florida, has now exceeded 500 recruits. According to an update from Governor DeSantis, through March, a total of 530 LEOs had relocated to Florida under the program.