A Leon County jury has found Republican state Rep. Fabian Basabe of Miami Beach liable for sexual harassment, battery and defamation in a rare and dramatic civil case that aired serious allegations against a sitting lawmaker up for re-election.
Tag: florida legislature
Posted inElections
What Florida’s tax rollback looks like through the eyes of one small town
When Floridians go to the polls in November to decide whether to cut themselves a break on property taxes, they may well be deciding to cut the lifeline of one of the state’s endangered species: its small towns.
Posted inState Government
Tallahassee on trial: Lawmaker faces sexual harassment claims in civil case
A civil trial unfolding in a courtroom across from the Florida Capitol complex offers a mix of serious allegations against a sitting lawmaker and reality TV buffoonery.
Posted inEnvironment
New law makes it easier to pave over Florida farmland
The bill’s sponsors say they’re defending Floridians’ property rights. Environmental activists say it’s the latest step the state legislature has taken to speed suburban sprawl and weaken local power to regulate zoning and environmental protections.
Posted inElections
Florida lawmakers cede redistricting authority to executive power
Florida lawmakers voted largely along party lines to rubber-stamp a new Congressional district map.
Posted inEducation
With anti-terror law, DeSantis has new tool to reshape higher-ed
Campus protesters, already targeted by Florida’s governor, face new legal peril
Posted inImmigration, State Government
Lawmakers curtail governor’s emergency powers after ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ spending spree
Less than two weeks after the Florida Trib reported that newly released documents showed the DeSantis administration had burned through more than a million dollars a day on the makeshift tents-and-trailers facility, both chambers of the GOP-controlled Legislature voted to add new limits on the fund.
Posted inElections
Florida lawmakers approve bill requiring proof of citizenship to vote
Critics say the change could wrongfully prevent thousands of eligible Floridians from voting over paperwork technicalities
Posted inFlorida
Medicaid work requirements didn’t work in other states. Florida considers trying it anyway
Work requirements in other states have cost taxpayers tens of millions of dollars, with little to show for it, and those who keep an eye on Florida’s lead family welfare agency question how the troubled bureaucracy can handle another regulatory hurdle.
Posted inFlorida
‘Constitutional trainwreck’: Florida lawmakers seek surveillance crackdown
The legislation, which has come under fierce criticism from civil-rights and free speech advocates, represents another expansion of Florida’s security apparatus under Gov. Ron DeSantis.