Florida Legislature

Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the state's fiscal year 2026-27 budget on June 29, and it took effect July 1. The budget allocated just over $63 million to Florida's state parks.

Florida's first post-Surfside collapse condo inspection report found dozens of unsafe or uninhabitable buildings. But reporting problems and disputes over some findings are complicating things.

The provision was part of HB 757, a package designed to prevent another tragedy such as the campus shootings at FSU in 2025, when two people were killed and more were injured. Most notably, that package arms trained college and university faculty.

As of July 1, public high school students are required to receive electrocardiogram tests to participate in school-sanctioned sports.

Said Chris Latvala about his father Jack, the longtime Pinellas County lawmaker who died last week at age 74: “He would be proud of what his friends said about him in death, and also his political rivals.”

Latvala, a voice of bipartisan political change, was a power broker in Pinellas County who retired in the wake of sexual misconduct allegations after announing a 2017 run for governor.

The longtime St. Petersburg Democrat will serve as a presidential scholar and professor of trial litigation at the conservative-leaning Sarasota school.

A hantavirus has captured the world’s attention, especially here in Florida, where the cruise industry has a big footprint. We’ll talk about how dangerous the disease really is and how cruise companies deal with outbreaks.

The new law was part of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ push to impose regulations on AI. The other plank of his plan, aimed at protecting consumers from AI harms, failed to draw full legislative support.

One grant for nearly $8 billion is for the directed payment program for hospitals providing care to Medicaid patients.

The Legislative Budget Commission authorizes a transfer of the money from the Medical Care Trust Fund to the Florida Rural Health Transformation Program, per a request from AHCA.

A bicameral budget panel, authorized to make spending decisions while the Legislature is not in session, voted to sweep $32 million from the program due to a drop in enrollment.