Latest news with #SB110
Yahoo
8 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Portland Diamond Project's stadium funding bill heads for House vote
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – A bill that would help bring a Major League Baseball stadium to Portland advanced in the Oregon legislature after passing out of the House Revenue Committee on Thursday. Under Senate Bill 110, lawmakers could allocate $800 million toward the construction of a new ballpark. The legislation builds on a pre-existing law from 2003, which set aside $150 million for a professional team. However, instead of public funds, SB 110's revenue source would be taxes charged to local and visiting baseball players and other organization employees. They would be expected to repay the bonds within 30 years. North Portland pizzeria is one of the nation's best, according to Food & Wine On Thursday, the bill was unanimously voted out of the Revenue Committee, bringing Portland one step closer to securing the park. In a statement on Thursday, Portland Diamond Project President and Founder Craig Cheek said, 'Portland Diamond Project is pleased to see SB 110 unanimously voted out of committee. We want to thank legislators for believing in this project. Next stop, the house floor for a vote!' Representative Daniel Nguyen (D-Lake Oswego & SW Portland) described the bill as an opportunity for economic development, stating, 'This session, we're walking and chewing Big League gum: investing in Oregon families' most immediate needs, and also in forward-thinking, once in a generation opportunities–like keeping Oregon competitive in the MLB's search for its newest world-class stadium and team. Being able to continue making investments in strong education for our kids, affordable, accessible health care, and critical infrastructure is dependent on bills like SB 110 that unlock economic development opportunities that will stimulate our economy, re-energize small business and tourism, and boost our resources for years to come.' Dutch Bros, beloved national coffee chain, to move headquarters out of Oregon The bill's passage out of the House committee comes after the bill passed the Senate in mid-April. SB 110 now heads to the House floor for a vote. The Portland Diamond Project has advocated for a local franchise since its founding in 2017. The organization has already proposed the South Waterfront's Zidell Yards as the team's potential stomping grounds. PDP Founder and President Cheek that the ballpark's first opening day wouldn't be until 2028 or 2029. MLB Commissioner he hopes to begin the process of expanding the league with two new teams before his retirement in 2029. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
03-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Florida Legislature's 2025 Session: wins and losses
These are the bills that died in this year's legislative session. (Photo illustration by Jackie Llanos/Florida Phoenix) A session that started under the lingering shadow of a bitter yet short-lived argument over immigration came sputtering to an end Friday with no agreement on a new state budget, the one bill the Legislature is constitutionally obliged to pass. Senate President Ben Albritton and House Speaker Daniel Perez on Friday announced an extended session with lawmakers slated to return to Tallahassee on May 12. Acrimony over Senate President Ben Albritton and House Speaker Daniel Perez's inability to reach an accord spilled over from fiscal to substantive policy, with snits breaking out in a number of areas. The Senate's proposed state fiscal year 2025-26 budget is $117.3 billion. The House's proposed FY 25-26 budget is $112.9 billion. In the past few days, legislators did pass some high-profile bills, including measures designed to mitigate a crisis for condominium owners and set up new guardrails against developments in state parks – that one a rebuff to Gov. Ron DeSantis. Last summer, his administration briefly considered a plan to establish golf courses and hotels at several state parks but retreated in a hail of public outrage. The Republican-controlled Florida Legislature also approved a bill that will make it more difficult for citizen-led constitutional amendments to make it on the ballot. 'This is the most important bill that we will be hearing in this chamber,' said Democratic Senate Leader Lori Berman on Wednesday. 'And as you've heard, it's going to greatly restrict the access of the citizens of the state of Florida to be able to address the system.' The Legislature agreed to eliminate a 35-year ban that prevented some people from pursuing wrongful-death lawsuits against physicians and hospitals, a top priority for Perez. Lawmakers, during the last week of session, agreed to roll back a law passed in 2023 that would've forced schools to push back their start times in 2026, leaving the decision up to schools. Legislators filed 1,951 bills for consideration during the 2025 session. As of Friday, just 243 had passed, a Senate bill report showed. Here's a list of some of the bills that didn't make it through the session. Rural Renaissance: SB 110 is a top priority for Albritton. It steers infrastructure investments to rural parts of the state. Despite unanimous support in the upper chamber, the House did not take it up during the 60 days lawmakers were in town. Instead, the $200 million bill will be a topic when lawmakers reconvene in the coming weeks. E-Verify: DeSantis has repeatedly lambasted the House this session, stating that the chamber opposed everything he supports. But the House passed one piece of legislation DeSantis has pushed for, to require all employers to use the E-Verify system to check that new hires can legally work in the country. However, the Senate never took up bills that would have brought thousands in penalties for employers who hire people unauthorized to work. Under existing law, only public agencies, their contractors, and companies with more than 25 employees have to use E-Verify. 'I'm sure he's gonna be pretty upset that the Senate isn't willing to move on E-Verify,' Perez told reporters on April 24. Employment: Florida voters went to the polls in 2020 to raise the minimum wage ultimately to $15 an hour by 2026, yet a proposal by Lee County Republican Sen. Jonathan Martin (SB 676) called for certain workers to 'voluntarily' agree to work for below the minimum wage in work-study, internship, or apprenticeship programs. The proposal passed through two committees in the Senate before being temporarily postponed on April 16, and it never came back — something Albritton was fine with. 'I don't love it, to tell you the truth,' Albritton told reporters last month. 'I think if someone works, whether they're being an apprentice or whatever, the minimum wage is in the [state] Constitution for a reason.' When asked at the time whether the measure was dead for the session, he said, 'I would expect so.' Lawmakers have bounced around reducing protections for young Floridians in the workforce, including allowing them to work overnight and full-time hours during school weeks. Orlando Weekly reported that the bill was pushed by the DeSantis administration. The Senate bill, SB 918, did not make it to a second committee, while the House passed a version of the bill, HB 1225, off the floor last week that would keep overnight hours during the school year off limits for young people. The bill died. Property insurance: The House inserted an amendment awarding attorney's fees to the winning party in insurance litigation into a Senate bill extending (SB 832) new legal protections to phosphate mining companies. Still, the Senate refused to move forward on the changes amid heavy pushback from DeSantis, insurance companies, and the state's insurance regulator. The bill died on Friday after the Senate took out from it the property insurance provisions. Albritton told reporters on Monday that he believed in the changes lawmakers enacted in 2022 and 2023 to discourage lawsuits that insurance companies blamed for high rates were working. 'It's only been a couple years, maybe. We're still wanting to make sure we're watching very closely what that is yielding,' Albritton said. 'You're right, there's lots of new capital coming into the state. There's new companies, rates are beginning to bend down pretty well, which is good news.' The Office of Insurance Regulation reported an 0.7% drop in insurance costs in the fourth quarter of 2024. Twelve insurance companies have entered the state's market, according to an announcement from the Office of Insurance Regulation on April 7. Baby Olivia: The chambers were at odds over mandated viewing of the 'Baby Olivia' video to teach embryologic development to public school students. That provision was included in HB 1255, one of the bills lawmakers battled on until the end of session. Seeking agreement from the Senate, the House removed the Baby Olivia language Friday night. What's left of the bill requires parental consent for schools that use corporal punishment. Various bills to put university presidential searches into the sunshine and remove Board of Governors involvement in those searches never made it to the finish line. Meanwhile, in his budget proposal, DeSantis proposed transferring the Ringling Museum from Florida State University to New College of Florida, his evolving 'Hillsdale College of the South.' That proposal has gone nowhere in the Legislature so far, with stakeholders from the museum organizing against such a transfer. Parental consent: Exceptions that protect minors' privacy with health care providers will remain in Florida statute. Senators didn't take a final vote on a bill (HB 1505) requiring minors to obtain parental consent before receiving treatment for sexually transmitted infections and diseases. The bill also would have removed a provision letting physicians prescribe birth control to a minor if their medical opinion is that the patient would suffer health hazards otherwise. In the proposal's last committee stop in the Senate, Stuart Republican Sen. Gayle Harrell teared up while she talked about her late husband's work as an OBGYN treating young women. 'He would roll over in his grave right now. I'm a no,' she said on April 21. THC products: One of the biggest fails of the session has to be the Legislature's inability to regulate hemp-derived THC products for the third year in a row. Perez assembled a 24-member workgroup that began meeting during the first week of session to 'gain knowledge and understanding of the subject matter.' They came up with two main conclusions – that they didn't want to do anything that might kill what has emerged as a billion-dollar industry in the state, but they also determined to change the status quo of how the product is being regulated – or not being regulated – in Florida. The bills in the Senate sponsored by Polk County Republican Sen. Colleen Burton and in the House by Panhandle Republican Michelle Salzman did have some significant differences, which apparently in the end were too great. That's despite the fact that those measures were approved unanimously in all committees that heard them. 'We will continue to debate how hemp affects public health and our economy,' Salzman told the Phoenix. 'There are legal gaps we need to address in the future and I look forward to working with my colleagues to ensure these products are safe and protect consumers, while still allowing Florida farmers to thrive.' Sovereign immunity: Rep. Fiona McFarland once again has fallen short in her efforts to increase sovereign immunity limits for people injured by the government or its political subdivisions. Her bill, HB 301, never saw movement in the Florida Senate, which stood firm against it. 'I'm very disappointed,' McFarland told the Florida Phoenix Friday. She promised she'd sponsor the bill during the 2026 session. No fault repeal/PIP: The Florida House also championed legislation (HB 1181) to repeal the state's no-fault automobile insurance laws and replace them with a fault-based system. It was one of several pieces of legislation the House advanced this session that would allow for more litigation, prompting Insurance and Banking Committee member Rep. Mike Caruso to opine, 'Maybe we should call this the Insurance and Trial Attorneys Subcommittee because I feel like we're doing a lot just for the benefit of trial attorneys.' The Senate agreed and never advanced the bill. DeSantis had already vetoed a PIP repeal once and opposed this year's effort. The Senate companion (SB 1256) was never considered. Wrongful death of fetuses: For a second year in a row, a bill (HB 1517) creating a legal avenue for parents to claim damages in the wrongful death of a fetus at any stage of development didn't make it out of the session. This time around, the House approved the proposal, which reproductive rights advocates warned would establish fetal personhood. Guns: For the third year in a row, the Florida House voted to repeal the provision of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Public High School Act that raised the age to purchase a long gun in Florida from 18 to 21. And for the third year in a row, the Florida Senate opted not to move a companion measure. Just as disappointing for Second Amendment advocates is that another year went by without the Legislature allowing Floridians to openly carry firearms. Once dubbed the 'Gunshine State' for being at the forefront of such pro-gun laws as 'Stand Your Ground,' gun-rights groups and Gov. Ron DeSantis himself called earlier this year for Florida to join the other 45 states that allow for 'open carry.' But that legislation went nowhere in either chamber this year. Senate President Albritton made it known well before the session started that he was 'super consistent' in standing with law enforcement, which, in the case of the Florida Sheriffs Association, has consistently as an organization opposed that policy change. And a proposal that would have extended concealed-carry rights to Florida colleges and universities (SB 814), filed by now-former Brevard County GOP Sen. Randy Fine, failed in committee, with Miami-Dade Republican Ileana Garcia joining three Democrats to reject the measure. The shootings at Florida State University last month didn't help the cause. Hands-free driving: Florida was behind the curve when it finally voted in 2019 law banning texting while driving. With widespread complaints that the way that law was written makes it essentially unenforceable, there's been a push in the past few sessions for Florida to join the now 30 states with bans on handheld cellphones in autos, according to the Governors Highway Safety Association. Southeast Republican Sen. Erin Grall's proposal along these lines passed the full Senate on April 9. Its House companion, however, filed by Democrat Allison Tant, was never debated in either of the two committees it was assigned to this year. Finally, SB 110, dubbed the Rural Renaissance, a top priority for Albritton, would steer infrastructure investments to rural parts of the state. Despite unanimous would support in the upper chamber, the House did not take it up during the 60 days lawmakers were in town. Instead, the $200 million bill will be a topic when lawmakers reconvene in the coming weeks. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
18-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Portland Diamond Project's stadium funding bill passes Oregon Senate
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – Major League Baseball is one step closer to sliding home in Portland after the Oregon Senate passed a bill that would grant funding to build a stadium in the city. The Portland Diamond Project and several city leaders have thrown their weight behind , which would allow lawmakers to allocate $800 million in funding toward the construction of a new ballpark. Independent Portland bookstore sees ramifications of nationwide funding cuts SB 110 builds on a pre-existing law from 2003, which set aside $150 million in financial support for the professional team that fanatics have urged for several decades. Instead of public funds, the bill's revenue source would be taxes charged to local and visiting baseball players and other organization employees. They would be expected to repay the bonds within 30 years. At the first public hearing for the measure, supporters contended that investing in an MLB team would also serve as an investment for the city as a whole. The Oregon Senate Committee on Finance and Revenue then earlier this month. With the official approval of the Senate, it now moves to the Oregon House. Port of Portland to vote on revoking DEI policies The Portland Diamond Project has advocated for a local franchise since its founding in 2017. The organization has already proposed the South Waterfront's Zidell Yards as the team's potential stomping grounds. PDP Founder and President Craig Cheek that ballpark's first opening day wouldn't be until 2028 or 2029. MLB Commissioner he hopes to begin the process of expanding the league with two new teams before his retirement in 2029. Stay with KOIN 6 News as we continue to follow this bill. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
02-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Alabama Senate passes bill to ease log truck weighing delays
Sen. Jack Williams, R-Wilmer, speaks to colleagues on the floor of the Alabama Senate on March 4, 2025 at the Alabama Statehouse in Montgomery, Alabama. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector) The Alabama State Senate passed a bill Tuesday aimed at improving efficiency in weighing log trucks. SB 110, sponsored by Sen. Jack Williams, R-Wilmer, would limit the number of trucks that can be pulled over to five at roadside weigh stations. Previously, there was no limit, which caused long lines of trucks on the sides of highways and caused truckers to lose work hours. 'If you're taking a day off being in court, and then they may put it off then when it gets there. So we've got a win-win. We just didn't get the axle weight,' Williams said after the bill's passage. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX The bill passed 32-0 after senators removed a provision that would have increased weight limits for log truck drivers for each axle over concerns about damage to road infrastructure. Williams said that was a deal he accepted as early as Tuesday morning but that he'd try to address weight limits in the future. The amendment, proposed by Sen. Clyde Chambliss, R-Prattville, would try to ease delays experienced by truck drivers, particularly those hauling logs, pointing to the possible economic impact of these delays. 'If you're hung up on the side of the road for an hour, two hours, three hours, depending on how many trucks are backed up, well, you've lost money that day,' Chambliss said. The bill also provides an appeals process for truck drivers who receive overweight citations based on portable scale measurements, aimed at addressing the potential of inaccurate portable scale readings. While the bill aims to address efficiency and economic concerns, Williams said that weight limit issues, particularly concerning the hauling of 40-foot logs, require further attention. He said that logs cause more weights to be distributed unevenly between axles, causing drivers to haul fewer logs to comply with Alabama law. '40-foot logs – that rear axle is going to get overloaded when you've got logs sticking all the way out there … if you're hauling them legally, you're hauling half a load of logs,' Williams said. He said that weight limits were relaxed during the COVID pandemic, and he was not aware of any data that indicated roads were damaged during that time. 'That's what I'd like to have back,' he said. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
31-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Florida Senate seeking to boost citrus industry in new budget
As the Florida House and Senate prepare to negotiate a new state budget, among the big issues they will face is a push by Senate President Ben Albritton, a citrus grower, to help the state's struggling citrus industry. The Senate on Friday released a proposed $117.36 billion budget for the 2025-2026 fiscal year that includes $200 million directed toward the citrus industry. That would come on top of $200 million that the Senate has approved in a bill (SB 110) that Albritton has dubbed the 'rural renaissance' to bolster rural communities. The citrus-industry proposal includes $125 million for new tree plantings, an amount that Albritton isn't sure is enough for an industry facing its lowest seasonal production in a century because of deadly citrus greening disease, damaging hurricanes and encroaching development. 'If and when we get this proposal across the line, again, we have to work with our (House) partners, whatever the number is at the end, maybe $125 million, we'll see,' Albritton, R-Wauchula, told reporters on Thursday. 'But we'll know pretty quickly what the appetite (from growers) to participate in this … program will be. As I moved around the industry, and talked to friends of mine, there appears to be a pretty solid appetite for it.' The Senate proposal would far exceed the $47 million in citrus-related money included in the budget for the current fiscal year, which will end June 30. That spending plan included $29 million for technologies to research, treat and prevent citrus greening. Another $9 million went to citrus marketing. The House on Friday released a $112.95 billion budget proposal for the 2025-2026 year that includes $8 million for citrus research, with $3 million of that money directed to citrus disease, and $3 million for marketing. In his proposed 2025-2026 budget, Gov. Ron DeSantis included $20 million for citrus research and what is known as the Citrus Health Response Program, with $7 million of the total going to the Department of Citrus. The House and Senate are expected next week to approve their budget proposals, setting up negotiations on a final version in the final weeks of the legislative session, which is scheduled to end May 2. Asked Wednesday when the Florida Citrus Commission would have firm numbers from the Legislature to plan its next budget, Department of Citrus Executive Director Shannon Shepp replied, 'May 2.' 'It's going to come down to conference (negotiations between the House and Senate), as it always does for us,' Shepp said. The Senate proposal would require nearly one-third of the new trees to initially be offered to growers with between five acres and 2,500 acres. The Senate proposal also calls for field trials that combine grove management, therapeutic tools and disease-resistant varieties of fruit for new plantings and the rehabilitation of existing trees. 'There's a growing need to have large-scale research in Florida, especially with many of the new varieties, new root stocks, new therapies and things that we believe the industry believes can bend the curve,' Albritton told reporters. The proposal also would direct $10 million to the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services for a cost-sharing program with citrus packing houses on new equipment, repairs and new technologies. As the Senate announced the proposal last week, Albritton made clear he will push to revitalize the industry after years of dwindling production. 'Florida citrus is not going down on my watch,' Albritton said in a prepared statement. 'This heritage industry is not only vital to our state's economy, but it is truly a part of the DNA of Florida.' Click here to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.
