Politics

Legal pot popular, but still not enough to clear 60% hurdle

Published

6 hours ago

February 13, 2025

The Florida Chamber of Commerce’s latest statewide poll finds broad support for adult-use cannabis, but with the effort still falling short of the 60% threshold needed to pass in a statewide referendum.

Overall, the poll found 53% of Floridians support for legal pot in Florida. While that represents a clear majority, it’s less than the 56% support the issue got at the ballot box in the 2024 General Election last November after a massive opposition campaign led by Gov. Ron DeSantis.

It’s the sixth consecutive poll from the Florida Chamber showing the measure failing to reach the high level of support required for passage.

The Chamber notes that the missed mark comes despite more than $150 million being spent over the course of the 2024 campaign supporting the measure, which was Amendment 3 on the 2024 ballot. Of the total spending in favor, $145 million came from Florida’s largest medical marijuana provider, Trulieve.

The Chamber poll found that the push to legalize cannabis for adult recreational use, without medical need, has actually become less popular the more voters learn about the issue.

The poll comes less than a month after the group behind the Amendment 3 campaign, Smart & Safe Florida, launched a new campaign to put the issue back on the ballot for voters in 2026.

The proposal, entitled “Adult Personal Use of Marijuana,” is the first ballot petition filed in 2025. It includes a ballot summary making clear that it only seeks to legalize adult use.

Last year, the Vote No on 3 campaign made an aggressive push against the measure, casting it as an overly broad measure that would harm children by making cannabis smoking part of the public domain — imagery featuring kids on playgrounds surrounded by clouds of weed smoke.

The push against Amendment 3 was led by Keep Florida Clean Inc., a political committee chaired by James Uthmeier, DeSantis’ Chief of Staff and soon-to-be Attorney General. The committee just through Halloween, just days before the election, had spent nearly $24 million on its own campaigning against Amendment 3. While that’s a lot of cash, it’s a mere fraction of what proponents dumped into supporting the measure.

With the Florida Chamber’s latest polling, it looks in these early days like the measure may again face a tough road.

The poll was taken Feb. 2-8 by Cherry Communications among 600 respondents. It has a margin of error of 4 percentage points.

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Politics

Florida’s new unemployment claims go up for the first time in weeks

Published

51 minutes ago

February 13, 2025

May Greene

Florida cut against the grain of the national trend, which saw weekly unemployment claims decline.

Florida’s new unemployment claims have increased for the first time in about a month.

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) reports there were 6,486 new jobless filings for the week ending Feb. 8 in Florida. That’s up from the 5,962 claims for the week ending Feb. 1, or an increase of 524 claims.

The latest Florida report is reversed from a relatively upbeat January that mostly saw declines in first-time unemployment filings. The final three full weeks of January each saw new claims drop.

The newest Florida report was also not in line with the national trend. First-time jobless claims decreased last week across the country. There were 231,006 new filings nationwide for the week ending Feb. 8. That’s down by 10,095 from the previous week, or a 4.2% drop.

DOL officials said that decline was larger than expected. DOL officials had expected a drop in new claims of 1,761, or a 0.7% drop.

National unemployment claim filings also declined year-over-year. There were only 223,985 new jobless filings in the comparable week in 2024.

Florida’s unemployment picture remains relatively solid, despite the slight uptick in first-time claims in the past week. The latest general unemployment rate is 3.4%, just a small uptick from the 3.3% rate seen in Florida through the Spring and Summer months.

Florida’s general unemployment rate has remained under the national jobless figure for 50 straight months. As of January, the national jobless rate was 4%.

Florida, meanwhile, continues to add jobs to the workforce, according to FloridaCommerce. December saw 17,900 private-sector jobs added compared to November. The number of private-sector jobs compared to a year ago has increased by 122,800. That increase outpaced the national private-sector job growth rate of 1.3% in the same time span.

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Politics

Florida industry coalition sets sights on shaping AI public policy

Published

1 hour ago

February 13, 2025

May Greene

The Coalition for the Future Artificial Intelligence in Business moves toward more recommendations for dealing with AI in Florida.

As the rapid development of artificial intelligence continues to raise questions about its impact, one leading business organization is looking to help formulate policies to deal with upcoming challenges.

The Associated Industries of Florida (AIF) says it is progressing with recommendations it produced in the past year that outline concerns about artificial intelligence and the technology’s effect on business.

AIF held a meeting of the “Coalition for the Future Artificial Intelligence in Business” in Tallahassee this week as part of its ongoing analysis called “Artificial Intelligence in Business.” That’s an advisory document and advocacy outline with recommendations on how the business community in Florida can incorporate AI.

The coalition addresses AI policy with several elements on their agenda. Some of those elements include definitions of AI, transparency, and enforcement in Florida. It raises many concerns about how AI will impact businesses and adds recommendations for public policymakers as government comes to grips with the technology.

The coalition is also formulating guidelines on how to fold AI into the commercial landscape.

“As AI use continues to rapidly expand, Florida stands at a critical juncture,” said AIF President and CEO Brewster Bevis. “Recognizing the enormous impact this technology will have on all sectors of the business community, AIF launched the Coalition for the Future of AI in Business last year to ensure we were at the front of this important issue.”

“The thoughtful policy recommendations outlined in this report are the culmination of the Coalition’s hard work and will assist the state in responsibly embracing AI opportunities, educate policymakers on the concerns of employers, and help develop guidelines for accountable and innovative AI policies,” Bevis added.

The coalition held updated discussions this week about the report that was produced in the past year. The latest coalition meeting is one of many that has taken place throughout the past since the analytical report was published about a year ago. That report addresses recommendations for state and federal government actions on AI and challenges for employers.

Some of the coalition members include Elizabeth Chernow, executive director of public policy at Comcast; Chris Hein, head of engineering for Google Public Sector; and Diya Wynn, lead of AI at Amazon.

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Dept. of Corrections head says OT costs are becoming a serious problem

Published

2 hours ago

February 13, 2025

May Greene

Florida’s prison population has increased by about 8,000 inmates since 2021 with no corresponding increase in staff, meaning that correctional officers are working more overtime hours than ever before.

And that’s a problem, says Department of Corrections Secretary Ricky Dixon.

“What that caused us to have to do is open up 53 housing units across our state that we did not get FTE (full-time employees) for or funding for, so the only way to manage those additional 53 housing units required over 800 officers. (That places the burden) on the backs of the existing officers, in addition to overtime,” Dixon told the Senate Appropriations Committee on Criminal and Civil Justice on Wednesday.

While the number of overtime hours has dropped in the past two fiscal years, Dixon showed in his slide presentation, the actual costs to the Department have increased, because the base salary for correctional officers has increased from $33,520 in 2020 to over $47,000 currently.

There are approximately 88,000 inmates in Florida’s prisons, but Dixon expects another 3,000 inmates within the next two years, who will require 18 more housing units and 461 more staff positions. “So, this overtime issue is not going away. It’s just going to continue to escalate.”

In addition to increasing the salaries of correction officers in recent years, the Legislature has paid for 275 new education jobs in state prisons, which Dixon said has been somewhat of a mixed bag.

“The immediate benefit is it’s reducing violence in our prisons, because we’re reducing inmate idleness, but the negative is that we didn’t get any security positions to secure the education building,” he said. He’s had to pull security positions from housing units to education facilities, adding to the staffing burden and increasing overtime costs.

The corrections secretary said that many of the officers in Florida prisons lack tenure, with 58% having less than two years’ experience and 70% less than three. “That’s the prison system that we’re running right now. The inmates have more experience than the officers,” he said.

More violent offenders

He cautioned lawmakers that the prison system is “getting a much more violent and volatile offender in our system.”

“The inmates are getting more violent,” he said. “That requires a more intense higher level of staffing. That impacts overtime in the prisons.”

Dixon said the solution is ultimately to more staff.

“If we have a funded position for all of the housing units, all the dorms, even if we have vacancies, the dollars associated with those positions generate enough funds to pay for overtime.”

Currently, the department is running a $189 million deficit, which Dixon says he hopes the Legislature addresses in the state budget later this year.

___

Mitch Perry reporting. 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].

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