A new bill could impose requirements on Gov. Ron DeSantis to call Special Elections in a more timely fashion.

Sen. Tracie Davis, a Jacksonville Democrat, filed legislation (SB 1556) that would give the Governor just five days after an elected office becomes vacant to call a Special Election. It would also require any vacancies prompted by officials resigning to run for a Special Election to be filled in elections held concurrently.

That follows years of criticism over DeSantis’ apparent reluctance to call Special Elections, including recent dustups about both Republican- and Democrat-held seats.

“We have watched seats just remain open, and if we are statutorily wanting to move ahead, we cannot let these seats just sit vacant,” Davis said.

Davis began working on the legislation, she said, after DeSantis dragged his feet on calling a Special Election to fill state Sen. Randy Fine’s Senate seat when the Palm Bay Republican resigned to run for Congress. It was only after the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) sued that DeSantis called Special Elections there and in House District 3, which also opened because of a resignation related to a congressional Special Election.

DeSantis did immediately call a Special Election when state Rep. Debbie Mayfield resigned her House District 32 seat to run for Fine’s Senate seat — though his administration tried unsuccessfully to bar the Melbourne Republican from running.

The whole episode showed that the Governor had too much discretion in handling Special Election schedules, and revealed a need to set clear guidelines in state law, Davis said.

But there remains additional urgency over the Democratic-leaning Senate District 15, which sits vacant after the unexpected death of state Sen. Geraldine Thompson earlier this month.

Davis, who choked up when talking about Thompson, said the Orlando Democrat would have wanted colleagues to grieve for her, but for her seat to be filled as quickly as possible.

“She was an election warrior who would have wanted this election process to move in a timely manner to ensure her constituents are represented with the best, qualified person,” Davis said.

In this case, she said Thompson had already expressed a desire for state Rep. LaVon Bracy Davis to run for her seat when her time in office was over.

But Davis expects DeSantis to wait until after the Legislative Session to call a Special Election. Democrats have some reason for concern after watching the Governor leave former U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings’ congressional district unrepresented for more than a year following the Fort Lauderdale Democrat’s 2021 death.

The ACLU also sued DeSantis over that vacancy before the Governor acted. Nicholas Warren, an ACLU lawyer involved in the recent Special Election lawsuits, praised Davis’ bill.

“I think this bill would fix a lot of the issues we’ve seen with delayed Specials, and multiple overlapping Specials caused by resign-to-run,” he said. “This would also allow a shorter time period between a Primary and Special General.”

David hopes the recent controversy over Mayfield’s candidacy shows the bipartisan nature of leaving Special Election scheduling to the Governor’s discretion.

“It would be encouraging if there is bipartisan support,” Davis said. “But I still feel like the Governor is calling the shots and ruling with a very heavy hand in Tallahassee.”

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Florida is not losing any popularity among retirees. In fact, it’s tops in the U.S. for annual migration among the Baby Boomer generation and near the top for several other generations.

A new study using 2023 data by StorageCafe, a self-storage company, shows the Sunshine State’s “silver tsunami” net migration among Baby Boomers amounted to 50,615.

The StorageCafe analysis looked at the number of people moving to different states, ranking states based on net migration, both overall and relative to each state’s population. The study also factored in the reasons people are moving, as well as age, income, education level, employment status and home prices, among other factors.

Florida was not only first among migration for Baby Boomers, it had more than double the amount of relocations over North Carolina, which came in second. North Carolina’s net migration among Baby Boomers sat at 20,349 in 2023. That was followed by South Carolina in third, Arizona in fourth and Georgia in fifth.

Florida was plus-136,700 in net migration in 2023. That’s the 10th straight year Florida has seen a net of at least 100,000, amounting to a net gain of 1.5 million people in that time.

While Baby Boomers account for the largest portion of retirees moving to Florida, the next generation in line for retirement, Generation X, appears warm to Florida as well. But the Sunshine state is not at the top of the list for Gen Xers, though it’s close. Florida finished second, only behind Texas. Florida saw a net migration of 23,261 Gen Xers two years ago.

Millennials nearly matched that number, with a net migration of 25,189. That put Florida third behind Texas at No. 1 and North Carolina at No. 2.

But even for a generation that isn’t considering retirement yet, Florida did well. Among Generation Z, Florida saw a net migration of 14,098 in 2023. That was fifth in the nation behind South Carolina, Arizona, North Carolina and the District of Columbia.

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Less than 24 hours after Attorney General Pam Bondi announced the imminent release of documents related to the late Jeffrey Epstein, she says there is more information that her Office hasn’t seen.

And she wants it by Friday morning with no exceptions or omissions.

“I repeatedly questioned whether this was the full set of documents responsive to my request and was repeatedly assured by the FBI that we had received the full set of documents,” Bondi wrote FBI head Kash Patel, as reported by Fox News. “Late yesterday, I learned from a source that the FBI Field Office in New York was in possession of thousands of pages of documents related to the investigation and indictment of Epstein.”

On Wednesday, Bondi promised Jesse Watters “a lot of flight logs, a lot of names, a lot of information” about the activities that expect to ensnare and implicate some of the most powerful and prominent people in the U.S.

She attributed delays to the need to redact identifying information about more than 250 victims during that prime-time interview.

Now she’s giving Patel a short window to release all relevant materials about the dead sex trafficker.

“By 8:00 a.m. tomorrow, February 28, the FBI will deliver the full and complete Epstein files to my office, including all records, documents, audio and video recordings, and materials related to Jeffrey Epstein and his clients, regardless of how such information was obtained,” Bondi wrote. “There will be no withholdings or limitations to my or your access.”

The report surfaced after U.S. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna blasted the incomplete release based on a story by New York Post reporter Steven Nelson that said Epstein’s personal address book, a 100-page document, would be published without context.

“I nor the task force were given or reviewed the Epstein documents being released today,” Luna posted on X. “A NY Post story just revealed that the documents will simply be Epstein’s phonebook. THIS IS NOT WHAT WE OR THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ASKED FOR. GET US THE INFORMATION WE ASKED FOR instead of leaking old info to press.”

Epstein ultimately pleaded guilty in 2008 to charges of soliciting and trafficking underage girls, serving just 13 months on work release in a private wing of a Palm Beach jail.

New reporting on Epstein’s case in 2018 helped authorities reopen it.

Epstein died of an apparent suicide in his jail cell while awaiting trial in 2019. His accomplice and sometimes girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, a British socialite, was later charged and convicted of sex trafficking in 2020.

The state of Florida unsealed records from his 2008 state investigation and case against Epstein.

The transcripts have long been shielded from public perusal due to state limitations on exposing grand jury evidence. Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation in February that created a narrow exemption to those limits to unseal Epstein’s records on July 1.

The transcripts can be viewed here.

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A.G. Gancarski, Jacob Ogles and Jesse Scheckner of Florida Politics contributed to this report.

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