Florida, once considered the largest swing state in the country, firmly cemented its status as a solid red state Tuesday night. Voter turnout hit a 24 year high with 78.76% of Florida’s 13,949,168 voters casting ballots. Republican turnout beat expectations with R’s carrying a +11% turnout advantage at the ballot box. Political operatives within the state attribute the “red wave” in Florida and throughout the country to voter dissatisfaction with the economy and continued inflation.

From Crystal Stickle

After 60 grueling days, it is finally over. The 2023 Florida Legislative Session ended at 11:00 am Friday, May 5. While This session was one of the highest-yielding sessions in state memory with 356 of the1,873 bills filed this session making it to Governor DeSantis’s desk.

There are 15 days of session until the May 5th Sine Die. Most committees have stopped meeting with much of the day spent in Session on the floor voting out bills. The legislature will now turn their attention to negotiating and passing the state budget. The state budget is the only piece of legislation that the legislature is constitutionally required to pass.

Today marks day 30 of the legislative session, with 30 more days to go.

As the Legislature starts the second half the session, lawmakers have passed 19 bills out of the 1,814 bills filed this legislative session. Of those 19 several were major initiatives, including a $711 million affordable housing bill (SB 102) that was a priority for the Senate president, and an expansion of the state's school voucher system that makes it universally accessible to all 2.9 million Florida school-age children (HB 1) that was a priority for the House speaker.

This week closes out the third week of session. Budget conversations began this week with initial Chair proposals rolling out this week. One item of interest for FlaSEIA members included in the budget related to energy is spending authority for the state to utilize the dollars included for Florida in the Inflation Reduction Act and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. This will allow for the Office of Energy to begin planning for the implementation and distribution of the funding.