A bill directing the Florida Public Service Commission (PSC) to justify rate increases for investor-owned utilities and consider affordability advanced in its first committee stop Tuesday ahead of the 2026 Legislative Session.

The bill (SB 126) was introduced just weeks after the PSC approved a nearly $7 billion rate increase for Florida Power & Light’s (FPL) 12 million customers, the largest rate hike in history.

Sen. Don Gaetz, a Crestview Republican, introduced a “strike-all” amendment Tuesday before the Senate Regulated Industries Committee revising Florida law regarding the PSC, including:

— Expanding the number of PSC Commissioners from five to seven and requiring one Commissioner to be a certified public accountant and another a chartered financial analyst.

— Requiring the PSC, when issuing orders, to provide adequate support for its conclusions.

— Requiring the PSC to provide reasoned explanations when accepting or denying a settlement agreement.

— Requiring the PSC to submit an annual report on public utility rates that includes benchmarking and analysis on economics, costs, return on equity and executive compensation.

One provision that the amendment drops from Gaetz’s original bill would have capped a utility’s return on equity (ROE). That represents the utility’s allowed profit. FPL’s recently approved rate increase includes an ROE of 10.95%.

The removal of that provision upset two members of the public who spoke about the legislation during the hearing.

“The bill as amended has altered a critical tool — a cap that would limit shareholder profits, which is necessary to keep utilities from passing executive costs on to taxpayers,” said Brian Lee of Reclaiming Florida’s Future.

“The strike-all amendment weakens its ability to deliver real relief for Florida families,” added Taylor Brown. “Housing costs, insurance, and utility bills are pushing people to a breaking point.”

Florida law requires the rates of regulated utility companies to be “fair, just and reasonable.”

Gaetz’s bill says that the PSC should consider affordability in any proceeding before the agency that has the potential to affect rates.

“The reason affordability got into this bill is because when the latest case came before the PSC, associated with FPL, Commissioners were asked to consider affordability and they said, ‘We can’t because it wasn’t in the statute.’ We’re going to help them with that, I hope,” he told the committee.

Committee Chair Jennifer Bradley, A Fleming Island Republican, asked Mark Futrell, Deputy Executive Director with the PSC, whether the agency could define affordability.

“I think more certainty, more clarity as far as definitions from the intent of the Legislature is always helpful, but I think that we can work through that,” Futrell said. “Affordability is something that — we get the sentiment of it. I think we understand that part of it.”

Sen. Debbie Mayfield, a Melbourne Republican, said she had a number of concerns about the legislation, including the provisions about adding two new members to the PSC.

“If we have a problem with the PSC board, I don’t think increasing it would solve their problem,” she said. “We are the ones who do confirm them, so if we have a problem with the commission, it’s just as much our fault for confirming people that we don’t think are going to do a good job.”

Sen. Jason Pizzo, a Sunny Isles Beach independent, said he appreciated that Gaetz had removed the provision that would have capped a utility’s ROE.

“I am not for caps,” he said. “I think that’s socialism.”

Gaetz told the committee his intent was “not to tie the hands of the utility companies.”

“The intent of the bill is to direct the Commission to justify their decisions,” he said. “And to explain how they made their decisions and the effect that those decisions have on ratepayers.”

The bill was ultimately unanimously approved by the committee, 9-0, and moves to the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Environment, and General Government.

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Reporting by Mitch Perry. Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Michael Moline for questions: [email protected].

Attorney General James Uthmeier says his Office has filed a lawsuit against three organizations to stop “gender-affirming care” for minors.

Uthmeier filed the 75-page lawsuit in the 19th Judicial Circuit Court in St. Lucie County against the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, Endocrine Society and the American Academy of Pediatrics.

The lawsuit was not filed to stop treatment for any specific individual, but rather due to the three organizations’ general practices. The suit seeks declaratory and injunctive relief, along with civil penalties in violation of Florida’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act and the Florida RICO Act.

The lawsuit specifically targets the organizations for addressing “gender dysphoria,” which is a condition that causes anxiety about “one’s sexed body and/or associated social expectations.”

Uthmeier’s main complaint in the legal filing is that pediatric gender dysphoria was a rare condition as little as a decade ago. His complaint says diagnoses of gender dysphoria should not be equated with transgender procedures prescribed for minors because “it is natural for children and adolescents to feel anxious about their changing bodies, these feelings usually ‘disappear’ after they reach puberty.”

The suit said gender dysphoria is really a symptom of psychological needs, and that a “holistic psychosocial” approach would be better equipped to deal with the pediatric condition. The lawsuit added that family therapy and individual counseling would likely lead to a more balanced approach to dealing with the condition rather than more aggressive procedures.

“So, rather than attempting to resolve the underlying causes of psychological distress, defendants developed a treatment protocol that irreversibly alters children’s bodies to conform to their anxieties,” the lawsuit said.

In a recorded video statement published Tuesday, Uthmeier said the three organizations named as defendants in the lawsuit didn’t really exhaust other methods of dealing with gender dysphoria and, therefore, misled patients who were minors.

“We believe these organizations failed to disclose the risks, limits and evidence in promoting so-called ‘gender-affirming care for children.’ For years, these groups have insisted the recommendations are settled science. But behind closed doors, they knew the evidence was weak, the outcomes uncertain and the risks very real,” Uthmeier said.

U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds will support a stock trading ban for members of Congress, but still wants to keep his broker.

The Naples Republican, who is running for Governor, discussed the issue with the Fox News radio affiliate in his district, 92.5 FM WFSX. The topic came up as U.S. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, a St. Petersburg Republican, presses for a floor vote on a stock trading ban through a discharge petition.

“Luna and I talked about this, actually, yesterday on the (House) floor. But when it comes up for a vote, I’m voting for it,” Donalds said. “I have always been opposed to members trading positions.”

But notably, he put conditions that aren’t included in the legislation Luna favors right now. Donalds, a former private wealth manager before his election to Congress, said members should still be allowed to own stocks, just not to direct trades.

“Let me just get it out there because I know people say, ‘Well, Byron, you own stocks.’  I do, but my stocks are traded by my financial advisor, Tom Moran, in Naples. They’ve been my financial advisor since I got to Congress. I actually worked there before I got to Congress. I do not initiate trades. That is done by my broker, (and) he has third-party authorization to trade on my behalf. We have no contact about this stuff,” Donalds said.

“The only thing with what I told Anna was, I think you do have to make an allowance for members who give third-party authorization to a financial professional because then the financial professional is the one that’s doing the trading, not the member of Congress. I have always been opposed to members trading. I’ve never supported it because you do have access to information that could be manipulated.”

Donalds has regularly reported stock trades, most recently a series of trades done between Oct. 9 and Nov. 1, with all trades handled in a Moran Wealth IRA.

The website Quiver Quantitative, which flags reported congressional trading, pegs Donalds’ net worth at $4.38 million, with about $456,000 of that tied to stocks and $84,000 as cash in his IRA, with another $33,000 in pensions.

The majority of his worth comes from stake in OptimaEd, the online learning company run by his wife, Erika Donalds, not in stocks.