‘Boater Freedom Act' will change laws on the water, starting in July
A law limiting vessel boardings was signed by the governor Monday.
DeSantis: Florida 'due for a break' this hurricane season
The 'Boater Freedom Act' will change up laws on the water and hopefully smooth tensions between boaters and law enforcement.
It's no secret boating is huge for Floridians and people who visit the state.
Governor Ron DeSantis said he wants to make sure Florida remains the boating capital.
'We are the top boating state; we consistently rank number one in marine expenditures and boat registrations. We have over 900,000 boat registrations as of 2023 and probably higher now,' he said.
As we see more boaters and tourists getting on the water, DeSantis signed a new law that will ease what he calls tension between boaters and law enforcement officers.
The 'Boat Freedom Act' states law enforcement will no longer be able to pull a boat over without probable cause or a suspected violation.
Currently, during these stops, officers are allowed to conduct inspections like personal property searches, which the governor said can lead to further law enforcement action beyond safety compliance.
In a presser, DeSantis used the example that if you are walking down the street, you cannot be stopped and searched without probable cause. So, he said, it should be the same on the water.
'If there's a basis to intervene, that's one thing and you may have probable cause to suspect something and it may turn out that things are fine, that's the way it goes,' Governor DeSantis said. 'But to just go in without any basis is not the way we want to do it in the state of Florida, and I think it has unnecessarily caused friction between the boating community and some folks in law enforcement.'
The bill also prevents local governments from banning the use or sale of gas-powered boats.
The act will take effect starting this July.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Politico
2 hours ago
- Politico
LG choice comes with cliffhangers
Good morning and welcome to Wednesday. Gov. RON DESANTIS didn't take questions from journalists Tuesday after JAY COLLINS got sworn in as Florida's next lieutenant governor. That left a big question mark about what's next. Sure, Collins is going to be Florida's new second in command, but what everyone really wants to know is whether DeSantis intends to back Collins as his successor in the governor's mansion after his term ends. DeSantis made it clear he would be backing BLAISE INGOGLIA to keep his seat as state chief financial officer, that he thought Florida Attorney General JAMES UTHMEIER could be in his role for 10 years (following two election cycles) and backed ASHLEY MOODY to keep her Senate seat. So it's notable that neither DeSantis nor Collins stated their intentions surrounding 2026 on Tuesday. As Playbook reported previously, DeSantis has been weighing several options and waiting to see how his own political career pans out. He doesn't have to decide who he'll back right away because he can see who else enters the race. Or he can just stay out of it and hope he lands in the Trump administration. He did, after all, say Tuesday that he thought Collins was 'capable of serving and leading as governor if that need were to ever arise.' Either way, there are a few questions that emerge from Tuesday's announcement: — How would DeSantis message for Collins? Rep. BYRON DONALDS, the candidate Trump endorsed and the only major Republican in the race, is considered the frontrunner in terms of polling and fundraising. But DeSantis has said he doesn't see Donalds as the best person to succeed him. He gave clues Tuesday about how he might back Collins, stressing his service in the military (something they share) and highlighting his conservative record in the Legislature. By Tuesday evening, DeSantis posted a campaign-style intro video about Collins on social media paid for by a Collins-linked political committee. 'He was not only an ally of mine,' DeSantis said Tuesday, 'he was standing up for you.' As for Collins, he panned Congress as focused on 'misguided priorities' and praised the governor for the state's accomplishments. He told Playbook recently that he would take the question of whether to run 'one step at a time' if he were to be picked. — How would DeSantis support a candidate? DeSantis is far from the prolific moneymaker he once was. Records show his federal political action committee, called Restore Our Nation, has $4.4 million cash on hand after raising under $261,000 in the first half of the year, despite sending numerous fundraising texts to supporters. The committee sent its most recent fundraising text Tuesday evening, highlighting Collins' time as a Green Beret. The Florida Freedom Fund, DeSantis' state political committee, netted just $1.3 million last quarter, with $5 million cash on hand. As a point of comparison: Donalds has raised $22 million since launching his campaign earlier this year. — What happens to CASEY DESANTIS? The first lady attended Collins' swearing in Tuesday, standing alongside her husband as the new LG took the oath of office and posed for photos. Does she still have ambitions for political office, even possibly governor? Playbook has been asking political insiders for months. Many say she was put off by the Republican state House's investigation into the Hope Florida program she spearheaded. But few were willing to rule her out completely, saying she has name recognition that could carry a candidate announcing late in the game. — Who else will get in? Both in text messages and during the Republican Party of Florida's 'Freedom Forum' a couple of weeks ago, several insiders privately raised the possibility that others might enter the primary, including DeSantis ally former House Speaker PAUL RENNER. Cornered by Playbook at the forum about his political future, Renner said he didn't have any announcements to make. But Donalds' early kickoff to the governor's race does underscore the ample time future candidates have to announce a run ahead of the June 2026 qualifying period. — Gary Fineout contributed WHERE'S RON? Gov. DeSantis is doing a press conference in Tampa at 10 a.m. with his new LG. Have a tip, story, suggestion, birthday, anniversary, new job, or any other nugget that Playbook should look at? Get in touch at: kleonard@ and @leonardkl. ... DATELINE TALLAHASSEE ... HEARING COMING TO A CLOSE — A federal judge on Tuesday heard testimony from a state witness as Florida aims to defend placing its 'Alligator Alcatraz' immigration detention center in the Everglades despite environmental concerns from advocacy and tribal groups. One of the state's main arguments is that the environmental law in question, the National Environmental Policy Act, doesn't apply, given that 'Alligator Alcatraz' was constructed and is run by the state, not federal, government. The only witness the state brought up Tuesday was David Kerner, executive director of the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. Kerner said 'Alligator Alcatraz' was 'absolutely' a state-run facility and that some undocumented immigrants who troopers apprehended were also accused of violent crimes. The only federal involvement he was aware of was deportation flights that took off on the airstrip. — Kimberly Leonard — ''Petri dish for disease': attorney raises alarm of possible Covid outbreak at 'Alligator Alcatraz,'' reports Richard Luscombe of The Guardian. — 'Endangered Florida panther kittens, born just months ago, hit and killed,' by Max Chesnes of the Tampa Bay Times. CHALLENGE TO EVERGLADES WATER PROJECT — An environmental group has filed a legal challenge to a proposed limestone rock mine and water storage reservoir that they say will threaten the Everglades Agricultural Area reservoir north of Lake Okeechobee. The Tropical Audubon Society and two individuals filed a request with DEP for a legal hearing on the proposed permit providing conceptual approval for the 8,632-acre Palm Beach County project. Phillips & Jordan, a national construction contractor, calls it the Southland Water Resource Project and says it can hold up to 40 billion gallons of needed Everglades water storage. But environmentalists say it's a rock mine that will upset the hydrology underpinning the nearby EAA reservoir. — Bruce Ritchie BALLOT INITIATIVE CHALLENGE — 'Attorneys for grassroots campaigners are again asking a federal judge to halt enforcement of parts of a new Florida law that restricts the state's process to get citizens' initiatives on the ballot,' reports Kate Payne of The Associated Press. 'Tuesday's arguments before U.S. District Judge Mark Walker in Tallahassee were the latest attempt by attorneys for voter advocacy groups and campaigns for Medicaid expansion and recreational marijuana to carve away at a law that they argue unconstitutionally hamstrings citizens' abilities to amend Florida's constitution.' TODAY — Associated Industries of Florida, the Florida Hospital Association, the Florida Association of Community Health Centers and the Florida Hispanic Chamber of Commerce are having a roundtable discussion at the Governor's Club in Tallahassee about tax credits for health insurance plans people buy on the Affordable Care Act exchanges, which are set to expire at the end of the year unless Congress extends them. Without more federal funding, the plans would become prohibitively expensive for some enrollees who would likely opt to go without coverage. The event kicks off at 10 a.m. PUSHBACK OVER DEVELOPMENT LAW — 'A new state law critics condemn as a gift to developers across Florida is drawing mounting opposition from cities and counties now looking to fight back against Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Republican-led Legislature,' reports John Kennedy of USA Today Network — Florida. 'The city of Deltona in Volusia County could be among the first to join a lawsuit looking to overturn the measure, which blocks local governments from making 'more restrictive or burdensome' changes to their comprehensive plans or land development codes.' — 'Florida surgeon general supports raw milk consumption despite 21 infections,' reports Christopher O'Donnell of the Tampa Bay Times. PENINSULA AND BEYOND REGISTRATION OPEN — The American Business Forum is set to begin its first US summit in Miami Nov. 5-6, and will host top athletes, investors and cultural figures. The theme is 'The World Meets in America' and will feature speakers including soccer star LIONEL MESSI, actor and producer WILL SMITH, FIFA President GIANNI INFANTINO and Citadel founder and CEO KEN GRIFFIN. (Click for tickets.) HEALTH CARE FIGHT — 'Managing healthcare bills for Miami-Dade's roughly 31,000 county employees is big business, and that's prompting a big fight at the County Commission,' reports Douglas Hanks of the Miami Herald. 'At issue is a proposal by Mayor Daniella Levine Cava to drop the county's longtime healthcare provider, AvMed, for a national competitor, Aetna — something the mayor claims would save the county about $40 million as it faces a major budget crunch. The fight to win the county's healthcare contract has gotten messy enough that commissioners are holding a special meeting Wednesday dedicated solely to picking a winner.' — 'Spirit Airlines warns of 'substantial doubt' about its survival,' reports David Lyons of the South Florida Sun Sentinel. — 'Monique Worrell asks court what records can be released from grand jury case,' by Gabrielle Russon of Florida Politics. CAMPAIGN MODE POLLING ON JACKSONVILLE — 'Could Democrat Donna Deegan be a one-term Mayor of Jacksonville? New polling from The Tyson Group suggests that Republicans have an opportunity to make that happen,' reports A.G. Gancarski of Florida Politics. 'The survey shows that on a ballot with just party identification and no candidate names, voters prefer a generic Republican to a generic Democrat, 42 percent to 37 percent.' POTENTIAL APPOINTMENT COMING — 'State House Rep. Mike Caruso, R-Delray Beach, is under consideration to fill the soon-to-be-vacant position of Palm Beach County clerk and comptroller. He confirmed on Aug. 12 that he has had several discussions with Gov. Ron DeSantis and his staff about being appointed to the post,' reports Mike Diamond of the Palm Beach Post. DATELINE D.C. TODAY — US Education Secretary LINDA MCMAHON will visit Broward County for a beta testing event of the new Free Application for Federal Student Aid. She'll be joined by Florida Commissioner of Education ANASTASIOS KAMOUTSAS and Broward County Public Schools Superintendent HOWARD HEPBURN, and nearly a thousand students and families to test the form. The event kicks off at 6:30 p.m. and the FAFSA form will launch in the fall. TRANSITION TIME — KEVIN GERSON, a senior vice president at the public affairs and political consulting firm SKDK, is expanding the firm's presence to South Florida. Gerson is a former press secretary to Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz and a Florida communications alum of the Hillary for America campaign. At SKDK, he advises a wide variety of litigation clients, advocacy groups and Fortune 500 companies. ODDS, ENDS AND FLORIDA MEN — ''We couldn't believe it': Giant python wrangled, caught by 3 hunters in Everglades,' per the Palm Beach Post.
Miami Herald
4 hours ago
- Miami Herald
Florida ‘Dreamers' lose in-state tuition — but not their college dreams
This past spring, Faten was on the brink of achieving her lifelong dreams: graduating from college. Then a junior at Florida Atlantic University, she was on track to graduate in December and was just 10 credits away from a bachelor's degree. She was also exploring her longtime passion for writing as a reporter for University Press, her school's student-run magazine, where she had also been offered an editorial position for the fall semester. Then, Faten became ensnared in Florida's crackdown on illegal immigration. But it was not the threat of deportation that thwarted her graduation plans at FAU. It was the GOP-dominated Florida Legislature's decision in January to repeal a decade-old state law allowing 'Dreamers,' non-citizen students who have lived in the United States since they were very young, the ability to pay in-state tuition rates. The change has derailed many of those students' graduation plans and, for some, made higher education completely inaccessible. The now-repealed 2014 state law allowed undocumented students to seek a waiver to pay in-state tuition rates if they had gone to high school in Florida for at least three consecutive years and enrolled in college within two years of graduating from high school. Faten, a Palestinian immigrant whose family arrived in Florida from Rafah when she was five, is one of an estimated 6,500 students at Florida's public universities and colleges who lost access to in-state tuition July 1. Faten asked that her last name be withheld for fear of retaliation. The repeal was part of a sweeping immigration reform package pushed by the DeSantis administration for the purpose of preemptively supporting President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown. Those efforts have been accompanied by controversial formal agreements between state school police departments and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which effectively deputize campus police officers to act as immigration agents, allowing them to question, detain and transport suspected undocumented immigrants to ICE facilities. Read more: FIU police sign on to help DeSantis and Trump with immigration enforcement Undocumented students now must pay out-of-state tuition rates, which can be triple that of in-state rates and are now slated to be raised by up to 10% at some schools. At FIU, for instance, in-state students pay $205.57 per credit hour, or $3,084 per semester; out-of-state rates now sit at $618.87 per credit hour, or more than $9,283 per semester. Supporters of the repeal argued that taxpayers shouldn't foot the bill for students who aren't U.S. citizens and that universities were losing out on millions of dollars by not charging out-of-state rates. But critics counter that it's unlikely undocumented students can afford out-of-state tuition fees and emphasize that these are students who came to the U.S. as children, brought here by their parents and raised in Florida, where they went to school, graduated and worked hard to pursue a degree. Dreamers and undocumented students cannot receive state or federal financial aid — including money from the Bright Futures Scholarship Program, a Florida Lottery-funded program providing full rides to high-achieving students — and must pay out of pocket or secure private scholarships or loans. For Faten, navigating the changes was confusing. Because of her immigration status, Faten is not eligible for any state or federal financial aid. That left her with few options. At first, she planned on taking out student loans and working a summer job in order to afford her last semester at FAU. But in mid-April, she discovered it would cost her family $21,000 to complete her degree at FAU. They couldn't afford it. With just one semester left, she had to drop out of FAU. 'My family was consoling me, because I was just crying the whole day,' Faten said. 'It's not fair. I don't want to leave.' an immigrant advocacy organization that provides scholarships to undocumented students, ended its scholarship program with eight of Florida's public universities in April, citing the in-state tuition revocation as well as the alarming number of schools with police forces that have enrolled in the 287(g) program with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Read more: A scholarship program for undocumented students will end at eight Florida universities 'People are completely devastated, and the questions that we're getting mostly are just 'why?'' said Gaby Pacheco, the CEO of 'These are young people that are trying to understand the world and trying to accomplish their dreams and are being told by the leaders that are supposed to be protecting them and helping them that, 'No, sorry, because you are not born in this country, your dreams are not worthy.' Losing the students has financial consequences for Florida schools. has channeled nearly $27 million in scholarship funds to its eight partner schools in Florida. The nonprofit was FIU's largest private scholarship provider, according to Pacheco, giving $9.5 million since the partnership began. But it's not just pulling funding from Florida schools. Mike Fernandez, a Cuban-born businessman who lobbied hard to pass the 2014 waiver law, has suspended a combined $11 million in pledges toward FIU and Miami-Dade College, and is channeling some of those funds toward scholarships. 'The state is shooting themselves in the foot,' Pacheco said. Now, is partnering with private and online universities to provide replacement scholarships. Pacheco said her organization is in the process of transferring scholars to private schools like Lynn University and Barry University, which are now supporting scholarships for undocumented students. In early April, Pacheco, along with a handful of Dreamers, met with state lawmakers in hopes of passing an amendment that grandfathered in students currently using the waiver. It didn't work. 'What we're asking is not big,' Pacheco said in an interview at the State Capitol building that day. 'What we're asking is fair, and it's within the hands of the body that is here. It is just to allow for the young people who are in college right now to have the opportunity to finish their education.' One of those students at the Capitol that day was Carlie, then a University of Central Florida student who was two semesters away from graduation. 'What I gathered from the conversation is that they know that what they're doing is not okay, they know how it's affecting us, but no one is willing to take a stand and do something about it,' she said. 'They're all saying, 'Oh, I understand where you're coming from. I sympathize with you, but there's nothing I can do.'' Carlie, a Haitian-born student whose asylum application is still pending, had worked 20 to 36 hours per week at Publix to pay for basic living expenses, while covered her tuition. Carlie is not eligible for financial aid and does not receive support from her family. She also requested to withold her last name for fear of retribution. Now, she is on track to resume her studies online with the Indiana-based Purdue University, which accepts scholarships from Carlie, who lives in Orlando, said she did not feel safe transferring to another Florida school because of the school police's agreements with ICE. She said the transfer wouldn't impact her financial situation, but it has the potential to delay her expected graduation date by up to three semesters. Carlie had 32 credits left in UCF's 120-credit bachelor's program; Purdue's program requires 180 credits, and not all of Carlie's UCF credits are accepted. At first, the tuition turmoil left Carlie 'overwhelmed and depressed.' 'Because of the fact that this even happened, I kind of lost faith in this country, because it kind of feels like what I'm doing doesn't matter, because everything might be taken away from me, and there's nothing I can do about it,' she said. 'I'm still feeling powerless, but I'm trying to just push through, because I got this far on my own.' Carlie is not alone in the turmoil. She started volunteering with Florida Student Power, a statewide network of student activists supporting undocumented immigrants, among other causes. Carlie also runs her own advocacy platform on her Instagram page, 'dreamersuccess2026,' where she shares her experiences with other undocumented students, as well as job and scholarship opportunities. 'What happened to me wasn't fair, and if I can help other people get through their challenges, that's something I want to do,' she said Like Carlie, Faten has found a way to finish her studies despite the roadblocks. With the support of a scholarship from she is now enrolled at Lynn University, a private school in Boca Raton. Her first semester starts Aug. 17, and she expects to graduate by the end of next semester. 'I always had to pick myself back up on my own and remember that inner child dream that I had, which was 'I'm gonna graduate, I'm gonna walk the stage, I'm going to achieve what I want,' Faten said. 'I'm still going for that end goal, and nothing and no one can ever stop me.'
Fox News
10 hours ago
- Fox News
There is a basis to redistrict in Florida, says Ron DeSantis
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Florida lieutenant governor Jay Collins discuss the gerrymandering issue many states are facing on 'Hannity.'
