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‘Whiskey and Wheaties’ bill squeaks out of House panel

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House members served up a sour version of the “whiskey and Wheaties” bill Wednesday as it barely cleared its first committee. The Careers and Competition Subcommittee cleared the legislation (HB 81) by a vote of 8-7, with the panel’s chair, Monticello Republican Halsey Beshears, voting against it. This is the fourth year a version of the bill has been filed. It aims to repeal the Prohibition-era state law requiring businesses, such as grocery chains and big-box retailers, to have separate…

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House joins Joe Negron’s higher ed program

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The House is now on board with Senate President Joe Negron‘s higher education priorities. On Friday, state Rep. Bryan Avila filed companion bills (HB 3, HB 5) to Senate measures (SB 2, SB 4) filed by Bill Galvano. The bills touch on modifying performance-based incentives, boost funding to hire and keep top faculty, and create additional scholarship programs. The Stuart Republican had championed higher education in his December 2015 acceptance speech of the chamber’s presidency. A few months later, Negron began a…

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Anitere Flores: Gas stations will be carved out of ‘whiskey and Wheaties’ bill

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Even though the bill sailed through its first committee, state Sen. Anitere Flores Thursday said she would tweak her “whiskey and Wheaties” legislation to make sure it wouldn’t apply to gas station convenience stories. The Senate Regulated Industries committee cleared the bill (SB 106) to repeal the Prohibition-era state law requiring businesses, such as grocery chains and big-box retailers, to have separate stores to sell liquor. After critics and committee members raised concerns, Flores – the Senate President pro tempore – said she…

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Why I have second thoughts about tearing down the wall between the whiskey and the Wheaties

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For the fourth year in a row, lawmakers will try to tear down the wall that separates tequila from tangelos. Senate President pro tem Anitere Flores has a bill (SB 106) to repeal the Prohibition-era state law requiring businesses, such as grocery chains and big-box retailers, to have separate stores to sell liquor. State Rep. Bryan Avila, a Hialeah Republican, filed a companion bill in the House. However, for the first time in four years, I’m not so sure about this legislation. In Sessions past, I was…

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Legislative hopefuls file to run in 2018, 2020

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More lawmakers are gearing up for a re-election bid. State elections records show dozens of members of the state House and Senate have filed to run for re-election in 2018, and several more are looking ahead to 2020. Sen. Greg Steube is one of those lawmakers who is starting to think about his next race. The Sarasota Republican filed to run for re-election in Senate District 23 on Jan. 10. Steube replaced Sen. Nancy Detert, winning the seat after a…

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Tom Lee wants to eliminate agency designed to use taxpayers funds for constructing or improving sports facilities

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Less than three years after Gov. Rick Scott signed legislation providing for state revenues to go toward constructing or improving professional sports franchise facilities, state Sen. Tom Lee wants to eliminate the agency created to distribute those funds. “The Sports Development Program was ill-conceived and based on the false premise that these capital improvements are a boon for economic development,” the Brandon Republican said Tuesday. “Professional teams are vying for taxpayer funds to pay for largely superficial facility upgrades, many of which are already in progress or…

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Bryan Avila files stadiums funding bill

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A new House bill would prohibit sports teams in Florida from building or refurbishing stadiums on public land. State Rep. Bryan Avila, a Hialeah Republican, filed the bill (HB 77) Tuesday. The House website shows it does not yet have a Senate companion. The legislation says “sports franchise(s) may not construct, reconstruct, renovate, or improve a facility on public land leased from the state or a political subdivision thereof.” It also would require any “sale of public land by the…

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