As expected, legislation was filed Monday in the Florida Senate to ban minors from getting married. The bill (SB 140) repeals language now in state law governing weddings of those under 18, replacing it with, “A license to marry may not be issued to any person under the age of 18.” It was filed by Rules Chair Lizbeth Benacquisto, a Fort Myers Republican.
When the history of the 2025-26 Legislative Sessions is written — undoubtedly Tallahassee Democrat reporter Bill Cottrell will be on his sixth retirement by then — what transpired July 25, 2017, may play a definitive role.
Rick Baker knew for months that Rick Kriseman was going to attack him as an out-of-step Republican in a Democratically friendly city, even before entering the mayoral campaign last month. During his campaign kickoff announcement, the former St. Petersburg Mayor warned supporters they’d be getting a dose of such rhetoric from the Kriseman camp: “Because that’s the only thing they have.” But last week, while filing papers for his official re-election run, Kriseman said that a review of who contributed to Seamless…
Florida Gov. Rick Scott on Monday defended his latest round of budget vetoes, which set a modern-day record for a governor but came from a long list of spending projects, including money intended for public universities and compensation for homeowners whose trees were torn down by the state. Scott late last week vetoed nearly $11.9 billion from the state budget as part of a private deal he worked out with legislative leaders. Legislators will return to the state Capitol for…
Wilton Simpson, the 50-year-old Trilby Republican, was named Senate Majority Leader for the 2016-2018 legislative term. “Wilton is a conservative leader whose tremendous success in the private sector serves as a foundation for his belief in limited government and the supremacy of the individual, values many Senators on both sides of the political aisle share,” Senate President Joe Negron said in the announcement. First elected to the Senate in 2012, Simpson was re-elected in 2016 after no one else filed for…
Innovate Florida, state Sen. Bill Galvano’s political committee, spent a quiet April on the fundraising front while the Legislative Session concluded. It collected exactly $0. This after amassing $494,200 during the first three months of the year and $6.2 million since 2013, according to state records. Sen. Wilton Simpson’s Jobs for Florida committee’s fundraising took a breather, too, but spent $45,203 on consultants. Legislators must cease fundraising during session, but the restriction doesn’t apply to their political committees, a Department…
Officials had high hopes for a bill to reconfigure Tampa Bay Area Regional Transportation Authority (TBARTA). Those same officials are now expressing some contentment following an amendment from the bill’s original sponsor, Clearwater Republican Jack Latvala. The legislation would change TBARTA’s name from the Tampa Bay Regional Transportation Authority to the Tampa Bay Regional Transit Authority, and reduce the number of counties involved in addressing the region’s traffic issues. It has been a top priority of the Tampa Bay area business establishment,…
