An annual day to remember fallen conservative icon Charlie Kirk is closer to becoming law after meetings of the Senate Education Postsecondary Committee and the House Governmental Operations Subcommittee.

The panels voted on party lines to devote Oct. 14 to remember the activist and commentator who spoke for a generation on the Right before he was gunned down while addressing a Utah university crowd.

Under bills from Sen. Jonathan Martin and Rep. Yvette Benarroch (SB 194, HB 125), the Governor would be compelled to issue a proclamation every Oct. 14  — Kirk’s birthday — for the “Charlie Kirk Day of Remembrance.”

“This bill would have this day be a day of remembrance and recognition of Charlie Kirk’s influence on civic engagement, youth leadership, and constitutional education. It does not create a state holiday or mandate closures,” Martin said Wednesday.

Martin extolled Kirk’s “alternative viewpoint” and willingness to debate, saying “what he was doing when he was assassinated goes to the very core of who we are as Americans.”

“The First Amendment does not exist to protect comfortable speech,” Benarroch said. “It exists to protect speech we disagree with. It exists to protect debate, House Bill 125 is not about asking anyone to agree with Charlie Kirk. It is not about endorsing every statement he ever made. It is not about elevating a personality. This bill is about what happens when violence replaces debate.”

Ahead of the Senate vote and after numerous members of the public cited various racially provocative things Kirk said into live microphones, an amendment from Sen. Shevrin Jones creating the gubernatorial option for a George Floyd day of remembrance was rejected, saying his killing, like Kirk’s, changed “public consciousness.”

Jones noted that when he was in the House, legislation like the main bill wouldn’t have advanced, which he framed as a measure of how far to the right discourse in the Capitol has moved in just the last few years.

“We’re passing days of remembrance of an individual who … probably wouldn’t spit on me if I was on fire,” Jones said, before his amendment was turfed.

These bills are part of several efforts to remember the founder of Turning Point USA.

A proposed road renaming in Miami-Dade, an honorary naming of the Florida Civics and Debate Initiative championship trophy, and Attorney General James Uthmeier’s Combat Violent Extremism Portal all exemplify state leaders’ effort to pay tribute to a leading advocate for the kind of unapologetic conservatism Florida Republicans embrace.

Educators from rural counties will host a breakfast at the Governor’s Club on Thursday morning. The event, scheduled in the midst of Rural County Days in Tallahassee, will touch on concerns for Florida’s small School Districts.

“In rural school districts, everybody knows each other. These are truly community schools,” said John Selover, Executive Director of the Panhandle Area Educational Consortium. That consortium is one of three such regional entities hosting the event, along with the Heartland Educational Consortium and North East Florida Educational Consortium.

Jim Norton, Gulf County Superintendent of Schools and Florida’s longest-serving Superintendent, noted that rural counties more often have long-serving, elected Superintendents who boast a particular understanding of families’ educational needs.

“Small county educators are convened to discuss things important to education,” he said. “One size does not fit all.”

Selover said the event created an opportunity for Superintendents and officials from Florida’s 37 small counties to come together in the state’s capital city during the Legislative Session.

Education consortiums are authorized by statute and allow smaller counties to share resources and services, such as risk management pools for property and casualty insurance, financial administration, professional development and cooperative purchasing.

The Panhandle consortium, for example, includes 13 county School Districts, along with a pair of schools run by Florida A&M University and Florida State University in the region. Those university-headed schools and other ones around Florida operate independent of School Districts and thus are able to participate in the consortiums.

The meeting also occurs as lawmakers tackle a number of issues surrounding education and policy in public schools, including the impact of universal school choice and the expansion of Schools of Hope charter school operations, matters that have financially impacted districts of all sizes.

Officials said the breakfast marks a chance for lawmakers to communicate directly with school leaders on policy, and many Superintendents plan to visit with lawmakers in the Capitol during the trip as well.

Tampa Bay Lightning fans, rejoice. Your home team will stay in Tampa until at least 2043 under a deal Hillsborough County Commissioners approved to extend by six years the team’s lease to play at Benchmark International Arena.

Under the agreement, the county is committing $250 million to pay for arena renovations, an amount that could increase and that will come from a portion of the county’s tourist development tax. The deal does not require any general fund revenue, Community Investment Tax proceeds or property tax revenue.

In return, the agreement calls for Lightning ownership to spend at least $75 million on renovations.

The agreement protects the county by requiring millions in repayment penalties should the team breach its contract by leaving early.

The deal increases the amount of county funds committed under the original agreement in 2008 for arena renovations from $108.5 million to $358.5 million, and the amount the Lightning spend on such renovations from $38.4 million to $113.4 million, which is where the $250 million and $75 million spend split comes from.

The Lightning, under the agreement, can spend its portion incrementally, but the expenditures must be made before the county’s portion of the split is required.

To date, the county has spent about $91 million under the original agreement.

Prior to this deal, the Lightning had been obligated to play hockey in Tampa at Benchmark International Arena (formerly Amalie Arena) until June 30, 2037. Now, they must remain in the arena until at least June 30, 2043.

The Tampa Sports Authority, which serves as the landlord for the arena, previously approved the deal on a 7-3 vote.

Commissioners made clear Wednesday that the new deal with the Lightning could set a tough precedent as the Tampa Bay Rays seek a new stadium at Hillsborough College’s Dale Mabry campus and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers work toward major upgrades to Raymond James Stadium directly across the street.

One Commissioner, Republican Chris Boles, said that would be “like comparing apples to rocks.”

Despite a failed amendment to the deal from Commissioner Joshua Wostal that would have increased the Lightning’s share of the cost split, which was seconded by Donna Cameron Cepeda, the new agreement cleared with unanimous support.