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After culture clashes, Florida Legislature's last act is a state budget. What's in it?
A two-month session marked by a rat-tat-tat of culture war clashes is ready for a calmer, more familiar finale, with lawmakers teeing up a state budget for approval. A state spending plan is the only bill that the Florida Constitution requires lawmakers to pass. So, for all the session’s focus on enacting a new six-week abortion law, easing gun access, and unleashing the power of the state to push down on transgender residents and migrants, the session’s scheduled end Friday will come down to simple dollars and cents – lots of them.More from the Tallahassee Democrat and Yahoo News.
Business Beat - Week of May 5th
Get top news-to-know with Florida Trend's headline-focused video newsbrief, hosted by digital content specialist Aimée Alexander.
Column: On Florida home insurance, here is the true cost of resiliency
The Florida peninsula could experience a 30% increase in hurricane impacts by the end of the century, according to a recent study in Science Advances. On the heels of Hurricane Ian — the costliest and among the deadliest storms in U.S. history at $112 billion — this news does not bode well for insurance premiums in Florida. [Source: Tampa Bay Times]
Mysterious family photos discovered in Hurricane Ian debris set off search in Florida
A stack of weathered photos pulled from Hurricane Ian debris has taken on special meaning as one Florida community searches for the owners. The images were discovered in Lee County, where the Category 4 storm killed 72 people and destroyed more than 5,300 structures in late September. Identifying the owners has become a hot topic since the photos were shared on Facebook by the Lee County Sheriff’s Office. [Source: Miami Herald]
Libel bill appears to fail in Florida Legislature
Gov. Ron DeSantis’ push to make it easier for prominent people to sue media outlets for defamation appears to have failed in the Legislature this year, one of the few things lawmakers didn’t deliver for him as they finish their session Friday. The measure would have made sweeping changes to Florida’s libel and defamation laws, taking aim at the 1964 New York Times v. Sullivan Supreme Court decision. First Amendment advocates hail that landmark case as a cornerstone in protections for freedom of the press. [Source: Orlando Sentinel]
ALSO AROUND FLORIDA:
› 1,000 new homes on West Boca farmland: County Commission backs controversial land swap
A controversial land swap that would enable the development of 1,000 luxury homes in Palm Beach County’s Agricultural Reserve received initial support from the Board of Commissioners on Wednesday night. The 5-2 vote was a major victory for GL Homes, one of the leading residential developers in Palm Beach County. It also signals a major change to the Ag Reserve, which county voters overwhelmingly agreed in 1999 to keep mostly rural. The approval now goes to the state for review and will come back to the commission Aug. 30 for final adoption.
› By the numbers: Orlando SBA loan volume on upswing after pandemic stall
The volume of Small Business Administration loans taken out by Central Florida companies is on an upswing now, after stalling during the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 — but some factors may temper that growth. SBA 7(a) loans — which help small businesses with special requirements — returned to 2019 pre-pandemic levels after declining in 2020 and then experienced considerable growth in 2021, all due to several pandemic-related variables.
› Clearwater, after failure, wants everyone to know it’s recycling again
Clearwater officials say the city’s four-year-long recycling failure has been corrected, and they want to prove it to residents. The city this week unveiled an online dashboard where the public can track how many tons are being recycled each month. Following the discovery of the recycling breach in January, the city as of April is sending 100% of the recycling it picks up from residents to the processor, according to solid waste assistant director Kervin St Aimie.
› FIS sees benefits from banking turmoil
As Fidelity National Information Services Inc. refocuses on its core banking technology business, CEO Stephanie Ferris said she isn’t concerned about the impact of recent high-profile bank failures. “While recent developments have driven volatility in markets and across the banking sector, we do not expect this activity to impact us significantly in the near term, and believe FIS is well positioned to be a beneficiary of the recent disruption in the long term,” Ferris said in an April 27 conference call after FIS reported better-than-expected first-quarter earnings.
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