Category: Legislature
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As Republicans move to scrap blind trusts, Democrat agriculture chief Nikki Fried launches one
By Dan Christensen
FloridaBulldog.org
After years of embarrassing news about mega-wealthy former Gov. Rick Scott’s financial conflicts of interest, state Republicans in the House and Senate are pushing bills to repeal Florida’s controversial qualified blind trust statute. But that won’t affect the new blind trust quietly set up by new Florida Commissioner of Agriculture and Consumer Services Nikki Fried. -
As Florida jails more kids than any other state, criminal justice reform is again on the table in Tallahassee
By Deirdra Funcheon
Thanks to decades of tough-on-crime policies, Florida now has the third-largest prison population in the United States — nearly 100,000 people, including more minors than any other state. Florida requires people to serve at least 85 percent of their sentences and has abolished parole. All this costs taxpayers $2.4 billion per year. -
Has developer-dominated Fort Lauderdale DDA taxing district outlived its usefulness?
By Noreen Marcus
FloridaBulldog.org
Republican State Rep. Chip LaMarca, wants to extend the life of the Fort Lauderdale Downtown Development Authority until 2050. DDA critics are not happy. -
Broward’s elections chief misled ethics commission about Scott’s sham blind trust
By Dan Christensen
FloridaBulldog.org
Gov. Rick Scott’s newly appointed Broward elections boss was a staunch defender for Scott’s sham blind trust, and falsely told the Florida’s ethics commission five years ago that it was “modeled on” a federal blind trust. -
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SFWMD’s last minute move to extend sugarcane lease triggers hearing demand
By Katherine Lewin
FloridaBulldog.org
Nineteen years ago, the South Florida Water Management District bought 16,158 rural acres south of Lake Okeechobee leased for sugar cane farming as part of the massive Everglades restoration project. But one night last month, just hours before the district’s morning meeting, a resolution was quietly added to the governing board’s agenda that would extend the lease to a subsidiary of Florida Crystals, delaying restoration for as long as eight years. -
Assignment of benefits scams rip off tens of millions of dollars a year
By Joseph A. Mann Jr.
FloridaBulldog.org
Over the last several years, the assignment of benefits by consumers has become a major source of fraud, abuse and overpricing. Insurance companies estimate that AOB abuse costs Florida property owners and insurance companies tens of millions of dollars a year.
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