Last Call for 3.9.26 – A prime-time read of what’s going down in Florida

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

First Shot

House Speaker Daniel Perez is acknowledging what most of Tallahassee already assumed: the budget isn’t getting done this week.

Opening the final week of Session, Perez told members the Legislature will keep grinding through its remaining business even as the 2026-27 spending plan slips past the scheduled Friday finish.

“Despite wild rumors to the contrary, I intend for us to continue working until both the House and Senate agree that we have disposed of all pending matters before the Legislature,” Perez said.

Perez said Monday through Wednesday will be devoted to Senate bills that either have a House counterpart on the calendar or are substantially similar to a House bill that has already passed. Those measures will either be approved outright or amended and kicked back to the Senate.

So far this Session, the House has passed 253 bills and the Senate 149, with 53 clearing both chambers.

Thursday and Friday will bring the familiar late-Session ritual of “returning messages” — bills that passed both chambers but in different forms and now need one more round of votes to iron out the differences.

That process tends to produce floor sessions full of stops, starts and procedural detours as leadership works through the message lists.

Evening Reads

—“A wartime presidency defined by Donald Trump’s unique political style” via Michael Birnbaum of The Washington Post

—”U.S. and Israeli military campaign tests limits of air power” via Michael R. Gordon and Jared Malsin of The Wall Street Journal

—“Nine days in, the most basic question about the Iran War remains unanswered” via Judd Legum of Popular Information

—“Gas prices are set to go vertical” via Nate Silver of the Silver Bulletin

—“How ICE plans to put 8,500 immigrants in this warehouse“ via Allison McCann, Helmuth Rosales and Eric Rabinowitz of The New York Times

—”The Pete Hegseth exception” via Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic

—”America’s vaccine skepticism is starting to show up in health data” via Pratick Pawar of Vox

—”House Democrats blast James Uthmeier’s pay at UF Law — but overlook half his workload” via Jacob Ogles of Florida Politics

—”Tough challenges confront electric air taxi firms as they maneuver to take flight in South Florida” via David Lyons of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel

—”Can AI kill the venture capitalist?” via Arielle Pardes of WIRED

Quote of the Day

“As it is abundantly clear to all of you, we will not complete the 2026-2027 state budget by the end of the week.”

— House Speaker Daniel Perez, confirming an overtime Session.

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.

Grab a Fibonacci cocktail, because Senate budget writers are taking a creative new approach to the way Exceptional Student Education funding is calculated.

House Democrats get A Swing and A Miss for failing to parse the spreadsheet before taking a shot at Attorney General James Uthmeier.

Send a Shark Attack to U.S. Sen. Ashley Moody, who’s backing a bill that addresses a ‘reel problem’ in the fishing industry.

Breakthrough Insights

Tune In

JU Dolphins try for rare NCAA women’s hoops spot

Jacksonville University aims for the program’s first berth in the NCAA women’s basketball tournament when they face Austin Peay in the ASUN tournament finals this evening (5 p.m., ESPNU).

The tournament is being played in Jacksonville, but the game will tip off at the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena, not on JU’s home court, Swisher Gymnasium. The Dolphins were the second-seeded team in the tournament and have avoided the upset bug, beating West Georgia and Central Arkansas to advance to the finals.

Austin Peay had a tougher road. As the eighth seed, the Governors beat ninth-seeded Lipscomb, top-seeded Eastern Kentucky, and fourth-seeded Stetson to reach the finals. 

JU has one NCAA appearance in program history. That came in 2016, when the Dolphins won the conference tournament after finishing second in the regular season, just as they did this season. JU is led by Priscilla Wiliams, who averages 15. 4 points per game, with Tatum Brown adding 10.1 points per game. They are the only Dolphins scoring in double figures. 

Austin Peay has three double-digit scorers: Anovia Sheals (14.2 points per game, Jim’Miyah Branton (10.6), and Veronaye Charton (10.5). During the regular season, Austin Peay beat JU in Jacksonville on New Year’s Day, 71-65, and lost to the Dolphins in Clarksville, Tennessee, on Jan. 31, 70-68.

___

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