Last Call – A prime-time read of what’s going down in Florida politics.

First Shot

The Senate has passed a deal on immigration enforcement, ending a stalemate within the GOP and rejecting complaints from Democrats.

Senate Republicans were unmoved by Democrats’ pleas to protect Dreamers, who would lose their in-state tuition starting next school year under the bill.

SB 2C, co-sponsored by Republican Sens. Joe Gruters and Randy Fine, primarily concerns law enforcement, the criminal justice system, and the state’s efforts to collaborate with the federal government to crack down on illegal immigration. 

Under the bill, DeSantis, Simpson, the Chief Financial Officer, the Attorney General and law enforcement officials would serve on an eight-member Immigration Enforcement Council to coordinate with the federal government on immigration. Deciding who would oversee immigration enforcement had been a source of contention between DeSantis and Simpson.

The bill would also award $250 million in grants to local enforcement agencies to work with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The funds would cover agencies’ expenses and give up to $1,000 bonuses for law enforcement officials who now have more duties handling immigration as they work with the federal government.

The bill also strengthens criminal penalties for undocumented immigrants convicted of committing crimes and requires them to be sentenced to the maximum penalty for felonies.

But for Democrats, what Senate Democratic Leader Jason Pizzo called “the poison pill” in the larger bill is a provision to eliminate in-state tuition waivers for roughly 6,500 undocumented students enrolled in Florida’s public universities and colleges.

A Pizzo-backed amendment to protect the in-state rates for current students was voted down Thursday, 22-14. Ultimately, the Senate passed the bill 27-10.

Read more on Florida Politics.

Evening Reads

—”Inflation helped Donald Trump get elected. Now it’s his problem.” via Greg Ip of The Wall Street Journal

—”Trump trashes totally normal spending … that his administration authorized” via Ryan Bort of Rolling Stone

—”Trumpflation” via Annie Lowrey of The Atlantic

—“RFK Jr. confirmed, elevating anti-vaccine activist to nation’s top health post” via Lauren Weber and Rachel Roubein of The Washington Post

—”Behind Kennedy’s vow to ‘follow the science’ on vaccines” via Sheryl Gay Stolberg and Christina Jewett of The New York Times

—”15 *very* weird facts about Robert F. Kennedy Jr.” via Chris Cillizza of So What

—”Trump’s new passport rules are trapping transgender Americans in bureaucratic limbo” via Rachel Cohen and Kelsey Piper of Vox

—”Twitter or Bluesky? How about neither.” via Nate Silver of the Silver Bulletin

—”Climate-fueled hurricanes make Florida’s rampant growth slow down” via Craig Pittman of the Florida Phoenix

—”Federal aid still flows to small businesses amid Trump overhaul, but Florida firms are wary of cloudy future” via David Lyons of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Quote of the Day

“It is indeed remarkable that the Secretary must be instructed on this elementary legal principle.”

— Justice Charles Canady, in his concurrence reversing Rep. Debbie Mayfield’s disqualification from the SD 19 ballot.

Put it on the Tab

Look to your left, then look to your right. If you see one of these people at your happy hour haunt, flag down the bartender and put one of these on your tab. Recipes included, just in case the Cocktail Codex fell into the well.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio could use a Дочь шахтёра … er, Coal Miner’s Daughter … as he tries to convince Ukraine to fork over mineral rights to defray U.S. war funding costs.

Order a Snow on the Beach for the Yankees, keeping Florida at the top of the winter destination list.

Sorry, Dreamers, in-state tuition wasn’t spared in the new immigration bill. Accept this Keeping Dreaming as your consolation prize.

Breakthrough Insights

Tune In

Daytona 500 on Sunday

The green flag drops on the first NASCAR Cup race of the season and the biggest race of the year on Sunday with the running of the Daytona 500 (2:30 p.m. ET, FOX).

“The Great American Race” will see Chase Briscoe starting from the pole position with 2022 winner Austin Cindric on the outside of the first row.

Last season, William Byron edged his teammate Alex Bowman to win the race. Byron finished third in the NASCAR Cup Series standings, which Joey Logano won. 

Briscoe won only one race last season and finished in the top five three times. 

“A great way to start our season,” Briscoe said after winning the pole. “Unbelievable way to start off the year. Unbelievable way to start off with Toyota. To be able to be the guy to deliver them the first anything when they’ve already accomplished so much is pretty cool.”

Two more drivers to watch are Martin Truex Jr. and Jimmie Johnson. They posted the two fastest qualifying times among nine drivers of unchartered cars. Johnson won the Daytona 500 in 2006 and 2013.

Truex, a former NASCAR Cup Series champion, has never won the Daytona 500. He finished second in 2016, his only top-five finish at the race.

The purse for the Daytona 500 last year was more than $28 million, the largest in history. Officials expect this year’s purse to break the record. Individual payouts are no longer made public, but typically, the winning team receives eight to 10% of the total purse. 

___

Last Call is published by Peter Schorsch, assembled and edited by Phil Ammann and Drew Wilson, with contributions from the staff of Florida Politics.

Post Views: 0

Gov. Ron DeSantis and GOP leaders, who were publicly at odds with each other just weeks ago, celebrated a package of newly signed immigration measures they say will help President Donald Trump fight illegal immigration and protect Florida.

The legislation marked the end of several turbulent weeks and three Special Sessions, with Republicans fighting internally as the Legislature made a rare rebuke of DeSantis.

Senate President Ben Albritton and House Speaker Daniel Perez joined DeSantis at the bill-signing press conference where the Governor praised what he called a team effort.

“There was a lot of twists and turns, but I like to tell people, ‘When you’re on an airplane, sometimes you have turbulence.’ … You think of the minute you land safely, you just kind of forget about it. You move on with your day,” DeSantis said.

“This is business. It’s not personal. … You get the job done and you move on.”

DeSantis vowed to continue working with the GOP leaders over the next two years.

“Sometimes, siblings squabble,” Albritton added.

The bills’ reforms include creating new state crimes for illegal entry or reentry into Florida, raising driving without a license to a felony for undocumented immigrants and automatically ordering a death sentence as punishment for an undocumented immigrant convicted of a capital felony, such as sexual battery on a child under 12.

The legislation also sets up DeSantis and Agriculture Wilton Simpson, who were political foes in recent weeks, to work together to coordinate with the federal government on a new state council on immigration with other officials.

Democrats had pushed back against some of the changes. The minority party argued the legislation stokes anti-immigrant sentiment and unnecessarily targets undocumented students, who will now lose their in-state tuition rate.

House Democratic Leader Fentrice Driskell called the immigration laws “tone deaf” when Floridians are dealing with high prices and economic issues. She also said mandatory death sentences have been struck down as unconstitutional by the courts.

Other Democrats said the immigration measures aren’t strong enough and don’t crack down on the root of illegal immigration by going after employers and businesses hiring undocumented workers.

Albritton told reporters Thursday he is open to new legislation restricting employers from hiring illegal immigrants during the upcoming Regular Session. He added that regulating the private sector didn’t fit in with the state government’s infrastructure and enforcement efforts in Special Session bills.

DeSantis also said he is supportive of expanding E-Verify for smaller employers when asked during his press conference.

“That’s something that’s appropriate, so I would absolutely support it,” DeSantis said. “And I would also support funding for that.”

Sen. Joe Gruters, whose close relationship with Trump led to Gruters co-sponsoring the bills, argued the legislation should have been saved for the upcoming Regular Session starting next month.

“I wish we would have done this in the Regular Session, had committees, been able to work out our differences, and that way we never would have had the public fight that we did,” the Republican from Sarasota said Thursday on the Senate floor.

“But even with the public fight that we did, what happens when you have disagreements is you end up with a better bill, and this bill is a good bill. This bill isn’t the end all, be all, but it will have maximum coordination and collaboration with President Trump, with ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement).” 

DeSantis had ordered the Legislature to return last month for a Special Session to support Trump’s call for mass deportations and other issues.

GOP leaders grudgingly returned to Tallahassee as DeSantis held press conferences accusing them of being soft on illegal immigration. Lawmakers gaveled in and out and then called their own second Special Session, passing the TRUMP Act that bestowed the power of state immigration enforcement to Simpson.

DeSantis complained that the Legislature was putting the “fox in the hen house” and threatened to veto the bill. 

The Legislature’s third Special Session, held this week, reached a compromise where DeSantis and Simpson, plus state and law enforcement officials, will sit together on a council to coordinate immigration with the federal government. The new legislation would also give $250 million in grants for local law enforcement agencies who are being asked to step up and help with illegal immigration.

Senate Democratic Leader Jason Pizzo used a moment on the Senate floor Thursday to chide Republicans for the drama. 

“By the way, if anyone needs instruction in the future on how to do a three-way call on a phone, just ask me, or ask any of your aides,” Pizzo said during the Senate floor debate Thursday. “You can get Trump, the Legislature and the executive on the same phone at the same time, and spare the vitriol and crap that’s been slung among our members back and forth nationally.”

Post Views: 0

In news that will surprise no one recently cut off by a driver with a Canadian or New York license plate, Florida dominates a new list of best places for snowbirds to stay during colder months of the year.

That’s according to an analysis by FinanceBuzz, a financial management website. When listing the top 25 warm locales where Americans and Canadians like to spend their Winter months, Florida has nine cities in that elite bunch and accounts for the entire top 5.

Sebring was ranked the top locale for snowbirds in the U.S. FinanceBuzz analysts looked at 180 different cities using about two dozen factors to compile their rankings. Some of those elements include livability, affordability, temperature and climate, and culture and recreation.

The analysts compiled a scoring system to weigh those elements. Sebring racked up a 74.7 score, tops in the country.

“Sebring earned the highest overall livability score of any snowbird city. A low violent crime rate and very high walkability are major contributing factors in that regard, along with the fact that 44.3% of the population is over the age of 60, the fourth-highest rate overall,” the FinanceBuzz report said.

Sebring was the most affordable snowbird city in Florida, with a cost of living 17% lower than the national average. Average mortgage costs are just under $1,300 per month, among the lowest in the top 25.

The remaining top 5 cities included Sebastian, The Villages, Homosassa Springs and Naples. Punta Gorda, located in Southwest Florida, came in 10th.

The Villages outside of Orlando has the highest concentration of senior snowbirds, the analysis found.

“The Villages has the highest percentage of people ages over 60 in the U.S. as well as the most golf courses per capita,” the FinanceBuzz report said.

“While Florida tends to be among the first places people think of when it comes to snowbirds, Sunshine State cities only make up a little more than 50% of the top 10, according to our analysis. Looking at the full top 25 reveals even more diversity of choice, as only four additional Florida cities crack that list.”

Georgia had the second-most cities in the top 25, with four towns making the list. Texas and Alabama had three cities each in the top 25.

Other Florida cities in the top 25 included Panama City at 15th, Cape Coral at 18th, Port St. Lucie at 21st and Sarasota at 25th.

Post Views: 0