Latest news with #KathleenPassidomo
E&E News
4 days ago
- Business
- E&E News
Florida Legislature could claw back reservoir, wildlife corridor funds
TALLAHASSEE, Florida — State House and Senate budget negotiators agreed this week to revert $400 million in spending approved last year for a controversial Central Florida reservoir to appropriations for the coming year. The two sides also got closer on slashing funding from the 2023 state budget for the Florida Wildlife Corridor, a priority of then-Senate President Kathleen Passidomo (R-Naples). Details: Senate budget conferees agreed Tuesday to a House proposal to revert spending in this year's state budget for the Grove Land Reservoir southwest of Vero Beach to boost water flowing into the St. Johns River. Advertisement 'We had to make a whole bunch of movement as part of negotiations to make sure we are meeting our priorities however we can,' state Sen. Jason Brodeur (R-Sanford), chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee on Agriculture, Environment and General Government, told reporters Wednesday.
Miami Herald
08-05-2025
- Politics
- Miami Herald
These 4 proposals failed during legislative session, and Florida is better for it
Florida's 2025 legislative session isn't over yet — lawmakers announced an extension to pass a state budget — but they have run out of time to pass most bills, meaning many pieces of legislation died as of Friday, the last day of the regular 60-day session. The Legislature approved 230 bills this year, according to the Tampa Bay Times. But many proposed laws also failed to garner enough support to clear the House and Senate or became bogged down by political horse-trading. That was to Floridians' detriment in some cases, such as a bill to bring back transparency to state university presidential searches. In other cases, Floridians are better off that the following bills and proposals died: Parkland law repeal This was the third year the Florida House tried to repeal a 2018 post-Parkland-shooting law that raised the age to buy rifles and other long guns from 18 to 21. The House passed House Bill 759 — which would have returned the purchasing age to 18 — with a 78-34 vote, but a powerful Republican senator, Kathleen Passidomo of Naples, blocked the legislation from being heard in her committee. Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz, who killed 17 people, legally purchased an AR-15-style rifle from a licensed dealer when he was 18. After the April campus shooting at Florida State University, undoing gun-control measures would have made lawmakers look tone deaf. While some conservative say the law prevents people aged 18 to 20 from exercising their Second Amendment rights, federal courts have upheld Florida's age minimum. Asking prospective gun buyers to wait until the same age they can drink alcohol is not an extreme measure. Parkland law repeal (Part 2) Gov. Ron DeSantis wanted lawmakers to repeal another Parkland-era law that allows law enforcement to ask a judge for permission to confiscate weapons from people deemed a danger to themselves or others. DeSantis said the 'red flag' law could infringe on gun owners' rights, but it remains one of the resources that police can use to try to stop people from committing violence. Luckily, his calls for the repeal did not go anywhere during session, along with the idea of allowing the open carry of firearms in Florida. The shooting deaths of a woman, her father and a neighbor in Margate in February highlights the importance of this law when used properly. Based on the history of alleged abuse by the woman's estranged husband, who is the suspected shooter, Broward County Sheriff's deputies could have petitioned to seize his weapons but, unfortunately, they failed to do their due diligence. Yet cases like this explain why the red flag law exists, and why Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri, a Republican, has said law enforcement officers have 'unquestionably averted violence' thanks to the law. Child labor With Florida cracking down on undocumented migrants, DeSantis earlier this year defended legislation to relax child labor laws as a solution to replace 'dirt cheap' workers in the country illegally. That's despite the fact that, last year, Florida had already loosened child labor regulations. This year's proposal, crafted with help from the governor's office, would have allowed 16- and 17-year-olds to work more than eight hours per day or more than 30 hours a week when school is in session, during school hours and without a 30-minute meal break. The legislation also would have loosened some work restriction for minors aged 14 and 15. Current Florida law allows these teenagers to work up to 30 hours a week during school — or more if their parent or a school superintendent allows — and from 6:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. on a school day. These are sensible restrictions that allow young people to contribute to their household income without encroaching too much on their education. Hope Florida bill House lawmakers believe the Hope Florida Foundation was used to divert $10 million in state Medicaid settlement money into a political committee to support DeSantis' political agenda. Four former federal prosecutors told the Herald last week there's enough evidence for the U.S. Department of Justice to launch an investigation into what happened with that money. With so many questions surrounding Hope Florida — the program backed by First Lady Casey DeSantis to get people off welfare — it's obvious that this legislative session was not the time to pass a bill to codify the program into state law. Click here to send the letter.
Miami Herald
24-04-2025
- Politics
- Miami Herald
For now, common sense speaks louder in debate to undo post-Parkland gun laws
We're not quite ready yet to say good riddance to an effort to undo historic, bipartisan gun-control regulation Florida passed after the 2018 Parkland school shooting. But it seems that a bill that aimed to lower the minimum age for purchasing rifles and other long guns from 21 to 18 is dead this year. That's good news, though anything could change before the legislative session wraps up in May. On Monday, Sen. Kathleen Passidomo, R-Naples, said she will not allow the bill to be heard in her powerful Senate Rules Committee, meaning the legislation likely will stall and die. The Florida House has already passed House Bill 759 with a 78-34 vote. This might be the third year in a row that the House has tried — only to be blocked by the Senate — to repeal the post-Parkland law that increased the minimum age for long-gun purchases to 21. Passidomo's timing couldn't be more opportune. Last Thursday, a suspected gunman killed two people at the Florida State University campus, not too far from where lawmakers are meeting in Tallahassee. Passidomo said the decision to block the bill was made before the shooting, CBS News reported. The optics of lawmakers undoing gun restrictions in the wake of another campus shooting would have been terrible. Some former students from Parkland's Marjory Stoneman Douglas High were on the FSU campus as the shooting took place last week. Luckily, this does not appear to be a case of the Florida Senate trying to avoid bad press. Passidomo has been steadfast in her support for the gun-control law she helped pass in the aftermath of the 2018 school massacre, which left people 17 dead. When she was the Senate president in 2023, she told reporters she would not support repealing that law and letting people aged 18 to 20 purchase a rifle. Federal law already sets a minimum age of 21 for handgun purchases. To be clear, it appears the state law would not have prevented FSU shooting suspect Phoenix Ikner, 20, from having access to a weapon. Ikner, a student at the university, is the stepson of a Leon County Sheriff's deputy. He used his stepmom's personal handgun, which she previously used for work, Tallahassee Police Chief Lawrence Revell said at a news conference last week, the Tallahassee Democrat reported. A shotgun was found at the scene but it is unclear if it was used. Arguments that a particular gun law would not have stopped a particular shooting miss the point because each of these horrific incidents is different. Parkland shooter Nikolas Cruz, for example, used an AR-15-style rifle he bought from a Broward County dealer when he was 18. He's the reason lawmakers and then-Gov. Rick Scott, a Republican, raised the purchase age minimum. The law makes exceptions for people aged 18 to 20 who serve in the military, corrections and law enforcement. The challenge with mass and campus shootings is that they involve multiple factors, from mental health issues to, yes, easy access to weapons. It's impossible to know how many incidents the post-Parkland law might have prevented, but we should be making it harder, not easier, for unstable young people to access guns. Asking them to wait until the same age they can drink alcohol is not an extreme measure. Instead of repealing sensible gun-control measures, lawmakers should be passing new, reasonable restrictions on the types of weapons and the amount of ammunition people are allowed to buy. They should be looking at closing loopholes that, for example, allow people to buy guns without a background check through private transactions. While the stalling of House Bill 759 is a good sign, lawmakers are still pushing to provide incentives for people to buy guns. The Senate has advanced another bill that would exempt the purchase of firearms and ammunition from sales taxes for about three and a half months in 2025. Lawmakers in 2023 passed a law that allows people to carry a concealed weapon without a permit. This is the history of Florida and gun control. A little progress always comes with big setbacks. Click here to send the letter.
CBS News
22-04-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
Florida Senate set to block proposal lowering long-gun purchase age
Days after a mass shooting at nearby Florida State University , the state Senate appears poised to scuttle a controversial proposal that would allow people under age 21 to buy rifles and other long guns. Senate Rules Chairwoman Kathleen Passidomo, R-Naples, said Monday her committee won't take up a House measure (HB 759) that would lower the minimum age to 18. Passidomo said the decision against taking up the House bill was made before the shooting Thursday at Florida State University that killed two people and injured six others. The alleged gunman, the stepson of a Leon County Sheriff's deputy, was also shot as police officers quickly responded to the scene. After a 2018 mass shooting at Parkland's Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that killed 17 people, the legislature and then-Gov. Rick Scott approved a number of changes, including increasing the minimum age for long-gun purchases to 21. Federal law has long set the minimum age at 21 for handgun purchases. "I haven't changed my position in how many years," Passidomo, a former Senate president, said. "I've been clear from day one that I'm not going to replace Parkland. I was there." The Rules Committee plays a key role in determining which bills make it to the Senate floor. The legislative session is scheduled to end May 2. The House on March 26 voted 78-34 to repeal the law that increased the minimum age for long-gun purchases to 21. If the Senate does not take up the bill, this would be the third year in a row that the House has approved such measures with the Senate not passing them. Passidomo was the Senate president during the 2023 and 2024 legislative sessions. Rep. Christine Hunschofsky, a Democrat who was the mayor of Parkland at the time of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas shooting, said she was cautiously optimistic that the repeal measure wouldn't advance. "I hope that it's done for this session," Hunschofsky told reporters on Monday. "But as we know, nothing is done until we sine die (an expression for adjourning the session)." Bills filed in the Senate as counterparts to the House measure have not been heard in committees. Senate President Ben Albritton, R-Wauchula, has not taken a clear public position when asked about whether he supports repealing the gun-age law. After the law passed in 2018, the National Rifle Association quickly launched a constitutional challenge. The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in March ruled 8-4 against the NRA. But the issue is likely to go to the U.S. Supreme Court, and Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, who took office in February, has said he would not defend the law.
Yahoo
18-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Bill to end privatization of beaches moving through state senate after roadblock
WALTON COUNTY, Fla. (WMBB) – A bill that will restore Customary Use on Walton County beaches is once again moving through the state senate. Senator Jay Trumbull introduced S-B 1622 in February to end the privatization of beaches in Walton County. The bill passed two Senate committees in March. Then hit a roadblock in the Senate Rules Committee. The committee chair is Kathleen Passidomo, who wrote the bill that ended customary use in 2018. Passidomo refused to put Trumbull's bill on the calendar. Then, on Wednesday, she added it to Monday's Rules Committee agenda. Walton County residents and officials have been advocating for the bill in Tallahassee for weeks. They say they'll be there again Monday to hopefully see the bill pass, then head to the full Senate floor. The House companion bill has already passed all three committees necessary to get to the House floor. News 13 will update this story on Monday. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
