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

First Shot

Florida’s push to remove books from school libraries has made national headlines in recent years, and now Democrats fear a new bill could remove some of the defenses that School Boards have to fight back.

Rep. Doug Bankson’s bill (HB 1539) would prohibit School Boards from considering a book’s serious literary, artistic, political and scientific value when deciding if the material can remain on shelves.

If a parent or a county resident who doesn’t have kids at the school complains, the school must remove the books within five school days.

The state could threaten to withhold state money until school districts obeyed under the Apopka Republican’s bill.

Bankson’s legislation comes as Republicans and conservative advocates expressed outrage about the content appearing in school libraries.

Bankson’s bill was heard and approved by a vote of 13 to 4 in front of the House Education Administration Subcommittee. However, the Senate companion bill (SB 1692) has been temporarily postponed.

“The power of the state to control the conduct of children reaches beyond the scope of its authority over adults,” Senate staff analysis said, discussing recent court rulings on the issue.

But the staff report also added, “Despite the Court’s clear ruling that a state may regulate material harmful to minors, but not obscene for adults, some statutes have been found unconstitutionally overbroad and criminalized constitutionally protected speech.”

Democrats pounced and called Bankson’s and McClain’s bills unconstitutional. 

Read more on Florida Politics.

Evening Reads

—”Democrats show a pulse: Six takeaways from Tuesday’s elections” via Reid J. Epstein, Julie Bosman and Emily Cochrane of The New York Times

—”I’ve NEVER seen this in my 34 years in Florida politics!” via Dave Trotter of Voting Trend

—”Elon Musk setback in Wisconsin raises questions about his future role” via Naftali Bendavid and Patrick Marley of The Washington Post

—”Donald Trump and GOP confront Musk quandary after Wisconsin defeat” via John McCormick, Anthony DeBarros and Lindsay Wise of The Wall Street Journal

—”How ‘groceries’ explains Trump’s detachment from working Americans” via Ryan Bort of Rolling Stone

—”The Supreme Court struggles with whether to wound Medicaid to spite Planned Parenthood” via Ian Millhiser of Vox

—”Trump tries to limit GOP defections on tariff vote” via Siobhan Hughes, Gavin Bade and Lindsay Wise of The Wall Street Journal

—“Ron DeSantis says he tried to install Randy Fine at FAU because state lawmakers wanted to get rid of him” via Anthony Man of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel

—”How Florida troopers are getting around red tape limiting immigration enforcement” via Ana Ceballos of the Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times

—”Critic’s appreciation: Val Kilmer, an unclassifiable heartthrob who always had an edge” via Jordan Mintzer of The Hollywood Reporter

Quote of the Day

“We put a down payment on our future, and we’re going to make Republicans pay for it in the long run.”

— FDP Chair Nikki Fried, on Democrats’ overperformance in Tuesday’s congressional elections.

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.

Florida Democrats closed the gap in yesterday’s congressional elections, but they spent a lot of money doing it, earning them a Burnt Citrus.

Small-scale beer manufacturers can crack open one of their own brews to celebrate HB 499’s victory in the House State Administration Budget Subcommittee.

Democrats are worried that a new bill could remove some of the defenses that School Boards have to fight book bans. Help them chill out with a Fahrenheit 151.

Breakthrough Insights

Tune In

Heat in final playoff push

With seven games left in the regular season, the Heat travels to Boston to face the Celtics as Miami tries to climb the NBA’s Eastern Conference standings.

Miami (34-41) is ninth in the conference, half a game ahead of the Chicago Bulls, who hold the final postseason spot in the conference. The Heat have clinched a postseason spot, but how the playoff path will look remains to be determined.

Winners of five straight games, the Heat could finish as high as sixth, earning an automatic spot in the playoffs. However, the more likely scenario finds Miami in the four-team play-in tournament. Teams seeded seventh through 10th have the chance to play into the main playoff bracket. The ninth seed hosts the 10th seed in the first stage, while the seventh seed hosts the eighth seed to open the play-in tourney. Two of the four teams will advance. 

Boston (56-19) is second in the Eastern Conference standings, four games behind Cleveland. The Celtics have won nine straight games and mathematically have a chance to catch the Cavaliers for the top seed in the playoffs. 

Tyler Herro and Bam Adebayo have powered Miami’s recent hot streak. Herro averaged 28.4 points per game in the winning streak, while Adebayo added 18.8 points and 8.2 rebounds per game over the last five contests.

The Heat returns home on Thursday to face the Memphis Grizzlies, followed by home games against the Milwaukee Bucks and Philadelphia 76ers.

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

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The Senate Appropriations Committee has OK’d a bill that could give lawmakers new insight into how seniors feel at nursing homes in order to better protect them.

“This bill strengthens the voice of our nursing home residents and their family members to ensure they can age with the dignity and care they deserve,” said Senate President Ben Albritton in a statement.

If SB 170 passes this Session, the Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) would create biennial customer satisfaction surveys for residents and their families at nursing homes. The survey would be available at all facilities, including ones operated by nonprofits and for-profit companies, for short-term and long-term residents.

Nursing home employees would be prohibited from trying to influence the responses, although seniors’ families could help them complete the surveys, the bill outlines.

“The beauty of this survey is we will be able to use it in a multitude of ways,” said Sen. Colleen Burton, a Lakeland Republican, during Wednesday’s hearing.

Lawmakers would be able to understand if the state’s programs are improving seniors’ quality of care and plan to study how Florida compares to other states, Burton said.

The survey results will also be available to the public in the AHCA Nursing Home Guide website.

“Following the survey results, nursing homes must develop and submit an internal action plan for improvement to AHCA. This feedback is essential to help Florida families make a clear and informed decision when selecting a nursing home,” the Senate press release said.

Staff analysis of the bill warned about costs ahead. “AHCA estimates a cost of $356,500 to implement the Nursing Home Patient Satisfaction Survey and the Nursing Home Patient Safety Culture Survey required in this bill,” the staff report said.

“The agency will also require $140,500 annually to maintain, enhance, and secure endorsements for these surveys. The comprehensive study of nursing home quality incentive plans will require an estimated $1.5 million to complete.”

What could help lower the state’s cost are new $10,000 fines the bill is proposing on nursing homes that refuse to submit audited financial information to the state as required by law.

The bill also includes a provision to require nursing home medical directors to obtain an American Medical Directors Association certification or hold a similar credential approved by AHCA.

“Floridians should feel confident when selecting a nursing home for themselves or a loved one. This legislation will elevate the quality of care and safety standards of nursing home facilities statewide,” Burton said in a statement.

“Enhanced transparency and feedback from nursing home residents and their family members will better inform Floridians and safeguard the quality of care for seniors and individuals with disabilities.”

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Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried says overperformance by candidates in two congressional districts could bring Democrats long-term benefits.

“We put a down payment on our future,” Fried said, “and we’re going to make Republicans pay for it in the long run.”

Democratic candidates spent upward of $17 million in Special Elections in Florida’s 1st and 6th Congressional Districts. In the Panhandle, Gay Valimont lost to Republican Jimmy Patronis, while in Northeast Florida, Josh Weil fell to Republican Randy Fine.

In both cases, the Republicans won by about 14 percentage points in districts where President Donald Trump in November won by more than 30 points.

In that sense, Fried didn’t consider either campaign a loss. Fried the next day participated in a Democratic National Committee (DNC) press call with DNC Chair Ken Martin to tout the overperformance.

Seeing President Donald Trump hold telerallies for both candidates showed Florida Democrats can still get national Republicans’ attention, she said.

“These races should have never been competitive, but we outworked them, we outraised them, and we slashed their margins by more than half, and they panicked,” Fried said. “They had to call daddy, hosting emergency town halls, slashing last minute cash and even sacrificing (New York U.S. Rep. Elise) Stefanik’s nomination to protect their very slim majority.”

Martin, while touting the victory of a Liberal Wisconsin Supreme Court justice over a conservative publicly championed by billionaire Elon Musk, also saw good things from the election results in Florida.

“Last night’s Special Elections in Florida showed Trump, Musk and Republicans that they’re in trouble in even the reddest of districts,” Martin said.

“Democrat Gay Valimont claimed the best performance from a Democrat in Florida’s 1st Congressional District this century, and became the first Democrat in almost two decades to flip Pensacola. In Florida’s 6th, Democrat Josh Weil secured a massive overperformance in this Trump plus-30 district and validated Republicans’ widely covered concerns about Republican candidate Randy Fine.”

Fried also said the Democratic campaigns spent their money wisely, focusing on ground game over flashy marketing.

“These races came down to the wire because we invested in them, put money into strong ground game and organized in red counties like never before,” Fried said. “Investment on the ground matters. Money spent in Specials was largely on the ground, not TV, and campaigns left behind cash to local county parties to continue that work. So don’t tell me, ‘Florida, it’s too expensive.’ We have proven that we can raise the money and spend it wisely.”

Fried also said Democrats in off-year and unscheduled races can make an important difference in providing balance in state elections.

“Here in Florida Special Elections, we flipped a really important House seat last year in the beginning part of ’24. It allowed us to take back School Board races in the August Primaries, to re-elect our Mayor down in Miami-Dade County. These elections are important for infrastructure and build our momentum.”

That 2024 Special Election was a win by Democrat Tom Keen in House District 35, but Keen lost the seat in November to Republican Erika Booth.

Fried said this year’s Special Elections will lay the groundwork for strong performance in the Midterms next year.

“People are coming out of their homes, wanting to be part of this revival of the Democratic Party and this retaking back of our state,” she said. “These important elections are a message test. It is an opportunity to organize, to galvanize our base, but also to make sure that we are creating this momentum going into the ‘26 actual elections year,” she said.

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