Today on Context Florida:
Everyone seems to be completely blowing off Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s candidacy and thinks her chances of winning a 2016 Senate race. At the risk commendation to outlier status for eternity, Peter Schorsch makes the case for her.
Benjamin Franklin delivered the line, “In this world, nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” Were he alive today, Steve Crisafulli believes Franklin would amend his short list of inevitabilities with a declaration that Florida Republicans can solidly count on negative editorials from the Tampa Bay Times. Such is the case with the Feb. 22 editorial, “Water plan is a step backward,” written with a lack of understanding of the complexities of Florida law. It paints the House with an anti-environmental brush that can only be held by the most uninformed and extreme.
For once, Florida legislators can vote for a gun bill that isn’t totally crazy. Adam Weinstein figures most of them probably won’t. Democratic Rep. Darryl Rouson of St. Petersburg has filed a bill for the upcoming spring session that would effectively limit “Gunshine Staters’” freedom to set up makeshift shooting ranges in their yards.
A bill filed recently seeks to change state review of proposed large development projects, but Bruce Ritchie wonders if it will pass the Senate and House. Sen. Wilton Simpson, chair of the Senate committee that oversees growth management, has filed SB 562, which would eliminate the existing state review process for projects such as shopping malls and developments with several hundred homes or more.
