Latest news with #Ingoglia
Yahoo
16-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Lawmakers look to make prosecuting child predators easier
Sen. Blaise Ingoglia. (Photo by Christine Sexton/Florida Phoenix) End-to-end encryption has made crimes against minors significantly harder to prosecute, legal experts say. Florida lawmakers plan to make social media companies cooperate with those investigations. The Sen. Blaise Ingoglia-introduced SB 868 is headed to the Senate floor after passing the Rules Committee Wednesday. Social media companies offering encrypted messaging are in opposition to the bill while state attorneys came to Tallahassee hoping the Legislature would make their jobs easier. Encrypted messages, those designed only to be read by the sender and receiver, not the owners of the platform it was sent on, are designed to prevent hackers or others acting in bad faith from accessing personal messages. Since end-to-end encryption has become widely-used, Ingoglia said, social media companies have told prosecutors they have no records to provide toward convicting 'nefarious' actors in child pornography and drug trafficking cases. 'As you know, there are extremely bad actors online targeting minors with sexually explicit and sexually suggestive materials,' Ingoglia said. 'Encryption, used by social media companies, makes it more challenging if not impossible for law enforcement to retrieve the proof necessary to put these guys behind bars.' The bill would require social media companies to de-crypt messages if subpoenaed by a court and prohibit minors from using messages that are designed to disappear. Popular apps like Snapchat, Instagram, and Facebook Messenger offer end-to-end encryption. NetChoice, a tech association representing some of the largest social platforms, contest the bill, saying it is 'well intentioned' but 'fundamentally undermines the core purpose of encryption.' 'Creating an encryption backdoor is fraught with privacy and security risks,' NetChoice stated on its website. Rep. Michelle Salzman is sponsor of the House version, HB 743, which must pass the Commerce Committee before receiving a floor vote. 'I shared with all the social media companies that came to see me that we are going to put the safety of Floridians first and them second, and either they can get on board and look good or they can just stand there and fight and lose,' Salzman told reporters Wednesday afternoon. 'We're not going to stop here. This bill will pass this year and we're going to continue the momentum.' This bill is another in lawmakers' effort to protect minors online. Minors younger than 14-years-old will be prohibited from using social media if the state successfully defends its 2024 law that also requires parental consent for 14-and-15-year-olds to use social media platforms with addictive features. NetChoice filed suit against the state on that 2024 law, HB 3. 'So, just think if you were a parent, and you know that your child is being groomed by somebody online, and the child is now being pressured to give nude photos or create child pornography for the purpose of transmitting over,' Ingoglia said. 'And you went to a state's attorney or a prosecutor and they tried and they gave the subpoena or the warrant and the social media came back and they said, 'Hey we have nothing.'' Ingoglia said he does not think social media companies are behaving in good faith. 'Under any other section of law when it comes to prosecuting, somebody who destroys evidence will be put away,' Ingoglia said. 'But social media companies though their algorithms and through their coding are allowed to destroy evidence all the time.' State Attorney Amira Fox, prosecuting in Charlotte, Collier, Glades, Hendry, and Lee counties, stood beside Salzman and Ingoglia Wednesday in hopes the bill will pass. 'Social media platforms have made it very difficult for prosecutors,' Fox said, adding that end-to-end encryption has attracted people who want to use it for illegal purposes. Fox said compared to the beginning of her career, social media have boosted the number of cases involving child predators. 'We have spent years putting together task forces to tackle human trafficking and child abuse, and now we're met with, when we send our subpoenas and our search warrants to these social media companies … we get back 'no material exists,' because they've encrypted it,' Fox said during a news conference Wednseday afternoon at the Capitol. Fox said the lawmakers' bill is a 'great bill to stand up to this.' SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
10-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Businesses harmed by construction projects could get lifeline in Senate bill
A construction zone in Tallahassee featuring a crane and soon-to-be-apartments across the street from the FSU campus on Dec. 31, 2024. (Photo by Jay Waagmeester/Florida Phoenix) Stories of businesses being hurt by local or state government construction projects have become common in Florida in recent years. Last year, the owners of a popular Tampa cafe went before the Tampa City Council to voice concern about how a long-term construction project in front of their business was 'hemorrhaging' its cash reserves, threatening their financial livelihood. That cafe ended up closing several months later. But that company might have been able to stay afloat if a proposal that advanced in a Florida Senate committee on Thursday had already been in place. The measure from Orange County Democrat Carlos Guillermo Smith (SB 324) would create a program within the Department of Commerce providing low-interest loans of up to $100,000 for small businesses harmed by prolonged state and local construction projects that directly block access to their establishments. The businesses must show proof of demonstrable loss, including a reduction in revenue from the start date of the construction to the week before they submit an application. That proof would have to include a comparison of the applicant's average weekly or monthly revenue the year before the construction began and their currently weekly or monthly revenue. They would also have to submit photo or video evidence of the obstruction to the business due to the construction zone. Smith said the impetus for filing the bill was the closing in January of the Hammered Lamb, a locally owned restaurant in Orlando. 'They directly attributed that closure to this sewage infrastructure project that was delayed for 18 months,' he said. 'As Florida continues to experience tremendous growth, we're going to hear more about these stories, more and more. We can't as a state or a local government throw up our hands and say, 'I'm sorry. Deal with our construction.' We have to be able to offer a lifeline for those who want to stay afloat.' Those problems continue. An estimated $65 million project to improve South Tampa's stormwater system bitterly divided that community last fall, with businesses fearful the plan could shut down a section of a major street in both directions for up to two months, potentially devastating their bottomlines. In the Senate Appropriations Committee on Transportation, Tourism, and Economic Development on Thursday, Hernando County Republican Sen. Blaise Ingoglia suggested Smith amend his bill to exclude the private business records from public disclosure. 'It seems to me that competitors would say, 'I want the P&Ls [profits and losses] of my competitor right across the street,'' Ingoglia said. The bill passed unanimously, athough Ingoglia expressed concern about giving taxpayer subsidized loans to businesses that might not be able to qualify for such a loan anywhere else. 'To get an unsecured loan for an established business is relatively easy to come by,' he said. 'Granted, you're gong to pay higher interest rates, but that loan is pretty east to come by.' The bill has one more stop before reaching the floor. However, its House companion (HB 215), sponsored by Orlando Democrat Anna Eskamani, has not received a hearing yet in any committee. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Politico
18-03-2025
- Business
- Politico
Ingoglia gets ‘politically incorrect' on CFO and more
Presented by FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — Rep. VERN BUCHANAN, co-chair of the Florida congressional delegation, is following President DONALD TRUMP's lead by endorsing his colleague, Rep. BYRON DONALDS, for governor of Florida. Buchanan's endorsement is the first to come out of the House. 'My friend, Byron Donalds, is a fearless Conservative and MAGA patriot,' Buchanan said in a statement. 'I have worked closely with him in Congress and know from personal experience his fight, tenacity, and effectiveness. He will be a great executive for our Sunshine State.' Read more. Good morning and welcome to Tuesday. State Sen. BLAISE INGOGLIA is letting everyone know he'd still like to be Florida's next chief financial officer. Speaking to a crowd at the Tiger Bay Club in Tallahassee on Monday, Ingoglia (R-Spring Hill) decided to dive right into CFO speculation, a huge topic of conversation among Tallahassee insiders. The current CFO, Republican JIMMY PATRONIS, is likely headed to Congress next month after getting Trump's endorsement for the April 1 special election. That means Gov. RON DESANTIS will pick Patronis' successor. 'I know my name is on the list to be considered for CFO, there is still a long way to go, especially months and months of butt kissing to Gov. DeSantis,' Ingoglia said. (Yes, that's verbatim.) 'We don't know if it's going to happen. Hopeful. I do know this: Whoever the governor chooses to be the next CFO, I trust the governor's judgment to make sure that he's going to put people in places that are going to work hard, do a good job.' The selection is complicated for the governor. Trump has endorsed state Sen. JOE GRUTERS (R-Sarasota) for the job. While DeSantis has been mending his relationship with Trump, he won't give Gruters a leg up by appointing him to the seat; the two don't get along. That still leaves the question as to whether DeSantis appoints an ally like Ingoglia, who would likely run against Gruters in 2026, or whether he appoints more of a caretaker who merely stays in the role until the election. Ingoglia, a former chair of the Republican Party of Florida, talked up his business background during Monday's speech and separately to reporters. He also got candid, calling himself 'politically incorrect' and saying his 'four languages' were 'English, profanity, sarcasm and real shit.' 'Growing up, my mom said I could be anything I wanted,' he said. 'So I decided I wanted to be a problem for Democrats, and a lot of Republicans, too. I'm not afraid to take on the establishment, nor the status quo.' Here's what else he had to say: On conversations with the governor … Ingoglia revealed he has been talking to DeSantis about property tax relief. 'I started bending his ear six months ago about this stuff, and now we're finally talking about this stuff,' he said of the ongoing hearings on the matter. Ingoglia predicted that if the Legislature didn't pass property tax relief this session — whether by getting rid of it altogether or raising the homestead exemption — then it would happen next session. On a key way to reduce home insurance premiums … Ingoglia, who owns a home-building company, said an 'aspirational goal' would be for new Florida homes to be built with more resilience and elevated against storms, given that home losses are contributing to high costs. The government could play a role by creating incentives, he added. 'Twenty, 30, 40 years from now, we want to have the coastlines and the riverbeds so resilient that, when a storm comes through, we have minimal effect,' he said, defining that to be 'a couple hundred million dollars' or up to $1 billion worth of damage. On his immigration legislation … Ingoglia filed an immigration bill that would force all employers to run workers through E-Verify to check immigration status, restrict homeownership for undocumented immigrants and make it difficult for undocumented immigrants to send money abroad. But the bill has yet to be heard in committee. 'I don't have much hope that that bill is going to be heard,' Ingoglia said. 'I wish it was. My fear is that we are done with illegal immigration reform this session, ending with what we did in special session. I wish we were able to do more.' — Isa Domínguez and Kimberly Leonard Have a tip, story, suggestion, birthday, anniversary, new job, or any other nugget that Playbook should look at? Get in touch at: kleonard@ ... DATELINE TALLAHASSEE ... FOR YOUR RADAR — Two bills now moving through the Florida Senate would put in place a way for the eligibility of candidates to be challenged in court, after recent rulings placed limits on the ability to question whether someone belongs on the ballot. The Senate Ethics & Elections Committee on Monday unanimously advanced a bill — SB 982 — sponsored by state Sen. MACK BARNARD (D-West Palm Beach) that would give rival candidates up to 10 days to file a lawsuit questioning whether a candidate is qualified to run for office. Another bill — SB 280, sponsored by state Sen. KRISTEN ARRINGTON (D-Kissimmee) — would also make it clear that a political party or candidate could ask a court to remove someone from the ballot if the candidate was not a member of that party at least one year prior to qualifying. The First District Court of Appeals in 2022 ruled in a case involving congressional candidate REBEKAH JONES that the party qualification rule could not be enforced. MARK HERRON, a longtime elections lawyer, praised Barnard's bill and said it did several 'good things' needed to clean up election laws. Herron said Florida courts for decades had allowed candidate qualifications to be questioned until the recent rulings. — Gary Fineout TERM LIMITS — A Senate panel on Monday advanced two proposed constitutional amendments dealing with term limits, but there are already signs they may run into trouble gaining enough support to pass the full Florida Legislature. The Senate Ethics & Elections Committee advanced SJR 536, a measure that if approved by voters would say that legislators could serve no more than a total of 16 years — eight years in the state House, eight years in the state Senate. The idea is to stop legislators from 'ping-ponging' from one chamber to another. That same committee also advanced SJR 802, which would impose term limits on county commissioners and enshrine already existing term limits for school board members in the state constitution. Both measures are sponsored by Ingoglia, who has already spent some time this year feuding with Senate GOP leaders. During the committee meeting, some Republican legislators expressed discomfort at the idea of a 'lifetime' cap for lawmakers and said it could prevent someone from serving in their late 20s and then deciding to do it decades later. State Sen. ERIN GRALL, a Vero Beach Republican, said she was troubled at having eight-year term limits. An amendment that would have changed the number to 12 was defeated. It takes a three-fifths vote of both houses of the Legislature to place an amendment on the ballot, so a combination of Republicans and Democrats voting against it could doom the measure for this session. — Gary Fineout MOVING TO TIGHTEN HEMP RESTRICTIONS — 'A renewed effort by the state Senate to tighten regulations for Florida's rapidly growing hemp industry was unanimously approved by its first committee Monday, amid concerns the measure would still hurt small businesses,' reports POLITICO's Arek Sarkissian. 'The bill, FL SB438 (25R), by state Sen. Colleen Burton (R-Lakeland), would limit hemp products to 5 milligrams of THC per serving, and 50 milligrams per package. The measure would also apply new restrictions to ensure product packaging does not appear attractive to children, and a block on street advertising that can be seen by the public.' FANNIE MAE HAS A CONDO BLACKLIST, MOST ARE IN FLORIDA — 'According to lenders and real-estate agents, Fannie Mae greatly expanded the list after the Surfside condo collapse in Florida in 2021 killed 98 people. Compounding the problem, a nationwide insurance crisis is making it more expensive for condo associations to afford adequate [property insurance] coverage,' reports Jean Eaglesham and Nicole Friedman of The Wall Street Journal. — 'What to know about Florida's gun buying age law and the push to undo it,' by Romy Ellenbogen of the Tampa Bay Times. MAKING THE GRADE — A bill making its way through the Legislature would undo requirements that students must pass certain language arts and math exams to graduate, reports Steven Walker of the Orlando Sentinel. The legislation was introduced by state Sen. COREY SIMON (R-Tallahassee) and 'comes as national test scores last year showed Florida students' academic achievement was declining.' LEGISLATION ROUNDUP — State Rep. OMAR BLANCO (R-Miami) and state Sen. ANA MARIA RODRIGUEZ (R-Miami) filed a bill to 'restore a 3 percent cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, to the Florida Retirement System, the pension system for more than 600,000 people who work for Florida cities, counties, school districts, and state government,' reports James Call of USA TODAY NETWORK — Florida. … A bipartisan team of lawmakers wants new state funding to increase security for Jewish students at the University of Florida, Florida State University, and the University of South Florida, reports Florida Politics' Peter Schorsch. … — '5 ways the COVID-19 pandemic changed Florida,' by Kathryn Varn, Yacob Reyes, Sommer Brugal and Martin Vassolo of Axios. PENINSULA AND BEYOND FLUORIDE QUESTION — 'County commissioners could pass legislation [today] instructing the Water and Sewer Department to discontinue adding fluoride to tap water within 30 days, a directive championed at a Miami hearing this week by Dr. Joseph Ladapo, Florida's surgeon general under DeSantis,' reports Douglas Hanks of the Miami Herald. CAMPAIGN MODE SCOTT GOV PREDICTIONS — Sen. RICK SCOTT (R-Fla.) didn't directly answer a question Monday about whether he would endorse Florida gubernatorial candidate BYRON DONALDS, but he did say he thought Donalds, who is his congressman, would win the race — even if Florida first lady CASEY DESANTIS were to get in. He talked up Donalds' record and said that he 'works his butt off.' 'I'm going to do everything I can to be helpful to him,' Scott said on Brian Kilmeade's Fox Radio program. 'I think he'll be a phenomenal governor. I think he's going to win. I'm glad that Trump endorsed him.' — 'Florida Democratic consultant takes down online ad after objection raised by AOC,' by Mitch Perry of the Florida Phoenix. DATELINE D.C. THE GAETZ QUESTION — 'Scandal-ridden former Rep. Matt Gaetz is gone from Congress, but the wounds he inflicted on the House Ethics Committee that investigated him remain fresh,' reports POLITICO's Hailey Fuchs. 'After the longest delay in recent history, the panel finally recruited enough members to perform its grim mandate of governing fellow lawmakers' conduct in the 119th Congress. And they'll have their work cut out for them: The committee is still regrouping from its crisis late last year over whether to break with recent precedent and release the results of an investigation into their former Florida GOP colleague, who was being considered for attorney general.' ODDS, ENDS AND FLORIDA MEN — 'Boeing Starliner astronauts to return home with SpaceX Crew-9 on Tuesday,' by Richard Tribou of the Orlando Sentinel. BIRTHDAYS: Mizell Stewart III, president and CEO of Emerging Leaders LLC … Step Up for Students' Ron Matus ... former Florida Education Association President Andy Ford.
Yahoo
12-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Residents' gun rights couldn't be blocked by local officials under new state legislation
New legislation this year that would prohibit local governments from declaring a local emergency that suspends the sale of guns and ammunition cleared its first committee Tuesday. Sen. Blaise Ingoglia, R-Spring Hill, easily persuaded the Senate's Criminal Justice Committee to support repeal of a Florida statute that empowers a county sheriff, city police chief or other official to proclaim an emergency whenever an imminent threat to the public peace occurs. Ingoglia said his bill (SB 952) simply clears up confusion created by having separate state laws empowering both the governor and local officials to declare emergencies. Florida does not restrict gun rights when the governor proclaims a statewide emergency. But it does ban firearm sales and displays when a local government declares one. Current law says when there is a local state of emergency a person may not: Sell or offer to sell firearms or ammunition Display firearms for the purpose of selling Intentionally possess a firearm in a public place Jed Carroll, Florida deputy state director of Gun Owners of America, told the committee current law places unconstitutional prohibitions on gun rights 'at the very time when people need to be able to protect themselves.' Other Second Amendment advocates followed him to the lectern to tell lawmakers that local governments had used the statute to ban firearms sales and rights during the COVID pandemic, civil rights protests, and last September when Hurricane Helene struck. Gun advocates have sought the right to carry firearms during a declared emergency at least since 2014, when former Sen. Jeff Brandes, R-St. Petersburg, filed a bill (SB 296). 'We should be getting rid of the statute (because) it's confusing' – and probably unconstitutional, Ingoglia told the committee. The panel approved the repeal with a unanimous vote. The measure has one more committee before it can get a hearing by the full Senate. An identical bill in the House was scheduled for its own hearing later Wednesday. James Call is a member of the USA TODAY NETWORK-Florida Capital Bureau. He can be reached at jcall@ and is on X as @CallTallahassee. This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Effort to end local gun bans during emergencies moves in Legislature
Yahoo
12-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Residents' gun rights couldn't be blocked by local officials under new state legislation
New legislation this year that would prohibit local governments from declaring a local emergency that suspends the sale of guns and ammunition cleared its first committee Tuesday. Sen. Blaise Ingoglia, R-Spring Hill, easily persuaded the Senate's Criminal Justice Committee to support repeal of a Florida statute that empowers a county sheriff, city police chief or other official to proclaim an emergency whenever an imminent threat to the public peace occurs. Ingoglia said his bill (SB 952) simply clears up confusion created by having separate state laws empowering both the governor and local officials to declare emergencies. Florida does not restrict gun rights when the governor proclaims a statewide emergency. But it does ban firearm sales and displays when a local government declares one. Current law says when there is a local state of emergency a person may not: Sell or offer to sell firearms or ammunition Display firearms for the purpose of selling Intentionally possess a firearm in a public place Jed Carroll, Florida deputy state director of Gun Owners of America, told the committee current law places unconstitutional prohibitions on gun rights 'at the very time when people need to be able to protect themselves.' Other Second Amendment advocates followed him to the lectern to tell lawmakers that local governments had used the statute to ban firearms sales and rights during the COVID pandemic, civil rights protests, and last September when Hurricane Helene struck. Gun advocates have sought the right to carry firearms during a declared emergency at least since 2014, when former Sen. Jeff Brandes, R-St. Petersburg, filed a bill (SB 296). 'We should be getting rid of the statute (because) it's confusing' – and probably unconstitutional, Ingoglia told the committee. The panel approved the repeal with a unanimous vote. The measure has one more committee before it can get a hearing by the full Senate. An identical bill in the House was scheduled for its own hearing later Wednesday. James Call is a member of the USA TODAY NETWORK-Florida Capital Bureau. He can be reached at jcall@ and is on X as @CallTallahassee. This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Effort to end local gun bans during emergencies moves in Legislature
