Less than a month after the Legislature passed a sweeping anti-illegal immigration package named for President Donald Trump, Senate and House lawmakers will reconvene for another Special Session on Tuesday to modify the measure.

This time, they have the full support of Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has been sparring publicly with Senate President Ben Albritton and House Speaker Daniel Perez since they rejected bills he preferred in favor of their substitute, called the TRUMP Act.

The newly filed bills will address one of the Governor’s biggest concerns by removing a TRUMP Act provision designating Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson as the state’s new chief immigration officer.

Instead, Florida’s border enforcement oversight will be handled by a new State Board of Immigration Enforcement, consisting of the Governor, Agriculture Commissioner, Attorney General, and Chief Financial Officer. All members must agree on a decision for it to become policy.

In a memo to lawmakers, Albritton and Perez said there has been “a great deal of productive discussion” on how Florida can best complement Trump’s efforts to curtail illegal immigration. They credited “important feedback” from DeSantis and Simpson and “technical assistance from the White House” for informing their decision to call for another Special Session to build on the “very strong legislation” passed last month.

“We are proud that over the last few weeks, conversations and debate within the Legislature on these issues have been civil and respectful,” the memo said. “By working together with the Governor towards a shared goal, these proposals and appropriations ensure Florida continues to lead by example with the strongest crackdown on illegal immigration in the nation.”

The TRUMP Act (Tackling and Reforming Unlawful Migration Policy Act) passed along mostly party lines on Jan. 28. Among other things, it removed a 12-year-old provision granting in-state college tuition waivers to undocumented students and imposed stricter punishments for undocumented immigrants who commit crimes, including requiring mandatory death sentences for those convicted of murder or rape.

But DeSantis hasn’t signed the measure, deriding it as “grotesque” and “weak” and hinting shortly after its passage that he would veto the bill if the Legislature sent it to his desk. (It hasn’t.)

By last week, however, the Governor confirmed that he, Albritton, and Perez had enjoyed “great discussions” on how to make the legislation agreeable for everyone. The product of those talks will be released in bill form on Tuesday, he said in a press note, calling the new legislation “a big win for the people of Florida.”

“The bills to be considered this week in Special Session take ideas from the various proposals and bring them together to enact the strongest legislation to enhance interior enforcement and to combat illegal immigration amongst the fifty states,” he said.

“In working together on this bill, Senate President Ben Albritton and Speaker Danny Perez have been great partners, and we have produced an aggressive bill that we can stand fully behind. I thank the members of the Florida House and Senate for delivering on behalf of the people who sent us here. I also thank Agricultural Commissioner Wilton Simpson for his support of this revised product to help combat illegal immigration. With the enactment of these policies, Florida will help the Trump Administration to deliver on the President’s historic mandate to end illegal immigration.”

The Legislature will consider three sets of bills (SB 2C/HB 1C, SB 4C/HB 3C and SM 6C/HM 5C), all sponsored by Sarasota Republican Sen. Joe Gruters and Dover Republican Rep. Lawrence McClure.

Together, they would:

— Create a State Board of Immigration Enforcement made up of the Governor, Agriculture Commissioner, Attorney General and CFO, who must all agree on a decision for it to become policy. The Board will approve grants for local enforcement efforts to assist federal immigration laws.

— Appropriate $250 million to the grant program, which will reimburse eligible expenses or provide $1,000 bonuses to police involved in Homeland Security task force operations.

— Remove the concept of a single, statewide immigration officer.

— Provide “significant funding” to the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services to hire additional law enforcement and support positions and build a new North Florida station tasked with curbing illegal immigration within the I-10 corridor.

— Require pretrial detention for undocumented immigrants who commit forcible felonies such as murder, arson, rape, kidnapping, armed robbery, aggravated assault and carjacking.

— Replaces Florida’s Unauthorized Alien Transport Program, known commonly as DeSantis’ migrant flights program, with a new program where the transport of undocumented immigrants is handled only at the federal government’s direction, with state taxpayer costs fully reimbursed.

— Create state-level crimes for immigrants who illegally enter and re-enter Florida.

— Expands information-sharing to help U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to enforce immigration law and target transnational gangs.

Read the bill summaries, proclamation and Governor’s memo below.

Post Views: 0

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

First Shot

The Florida Chamber of Commerce released its annual Florida Jobs and Competitiveness Agenda, Where We Stand 2025, outlining the business lobby’s legislative priorities for the 2025 Legislative Session.

Released during the 2025 Florida Chamber Legislative Fly-In, the agenda reflects input from local businesses across the state and underscores the Chamber’s commitment to securing Florida’s future.

“Florida is outpacing the nation, and the Florida Chamber of Commerce is leading the charge in uniting Florida leaders to ensure Florida remains a launchpad of economic opportunity, growth, and prosperity for all. Together, we are proving that a competitive economy, strong leadership, and a unified vision can transform lives, grow opportunity, and keep Florida, Florida,” said Keith Koenig, Chair of CITY Furniture and Chair of the Florida Chamber of Commerce.

Where We Stand 2025 uses the Florida 2030 Blueprint and its Six Pillars Framework as its guide, incorporating input from Florida Chamber members across all industries and regions of Florida, including input from local chambers of commerce, economic development leaders and trade associations. This agenda, focused on the Florida 2030 Blueprint mission of making Florida the 10th largest global economy by 2030, provides a roadmap to make Florida more competitive.

Mark Wilson, President & CEO of the Florida Chamber, added, “Free enterprise isn’t free. The Florida Chamber fights every day to make Florida even more competitive and our legislative priorities address issues impacting local businesses and communities the most.”

Where We Stand 2025 outlines the following priorities:

— Mental health leadership: Leveraging recommendations in the Florida Chamber Leadership Cabinet’s 2024 business-led Mental Health report to make Florida a national model for mental health outcomes.

— Reducing costs that drive up insurance prices: Addressing manmade cost drivers of property, auto, liability, and workers’ compensation insurance.

— Affordable workforce housing: Continuing to implement solutions to housing challenges affecting workers in all industries statewide.

— Easing tax and regulatory burdens: Advocating for the elimination of the Florida-only Business Rent Tax and further reducing tax and regulatory barriers to economic growth.

— Further lawsuit abuse reform: Continuing efforts to improve Florida’s legal climate by reducing frivolous litigation and increasing stability for consumers and businesses.

— Rural economic development: Advancing policies and investments that will unlock the potential of Florida’s rural economies and see rural share of GDP double by 2030.

— Investing in infrastructure: Preparing for Florida’s growing population and tourism demands with forward-thinking infrastructure policies and investments.

— Enhancing education and workforce readiness: Strengthening Florida’s talent pipeline from early learning through lifelong education to meet future workforce demands.

— Protecting Florida’s constitution: Ensuring Florida’s constitution is not for sale to out-of-state and special interest groups by strengthening ballot initiative integrity and returning the citizens’ initiative process to the citizens of Florida.

Evening Reads

—”How progressives froze the American dream” via Yoni Appelbaum of The Atlantic

—”Donald Trump’s Guantánamo plan is an old idea — with an ugly history” via Nicole Narea of Vox

—“Farmers on the hook for millions after Trump freezes USDA funds” via Daniel Wu, Gaya Gupta and Anumita Kaur of The Washington Post

—”Trump has a ‘list’ of National Archives staff to fire as revenge for docs scandal” via Ryan Bort and Asawin Suebsaeng of Rolling Stone

—”Trump’s next round of tariffs — 25% on steel and aluminum — won’t be so easily averted” via  Gavin Bade, Lingling Wei, Vipal Monga and Annie Linskey of The Wall Street Journal

—”Marco Rubio challenges other countries to top Trump Gaza plan” via A.G. Gancarski of Florida Politics

—”The Elon Musk deputy running DOGE’s huge cost-cutting drive” via Ken Thomas, Brian Schwartz and Becky Peterson of The Wall Street Journal

—”GOP lawmakers propose banning AI gun detection” via Jesse Scheckner of Florida Politics

—”Florida Atlantic University selects Adam Hasner as new President” via Abigail Hasebroock of  the South Florida Sun-Sentinel

—”The Super Bowl ads, ranked” via Mike Hale of The New York Times

Quote of the Day

“If they’ve got a better idea, then now is the time.”

— Secretary of State Marco Rubio, challenging other countries to propose an alternative to Trump’s Gaza plan.

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.

Order a round of Core Values for the admin office at Florida Poly, which was ranked in the top 10 in the U.S. for educational value.

Sen. Joe Gruters gets a Crypto Nugget for his bill to allow Florida to invest in Bitcoin more easily.

Small-business owners get a Bad Day at Work for weeding through a thin stack of job applications.

Breakthrough Insights

Tune In

New look Heat host Celtics

The Miami Heat begin a new chapter as new additions Andrew Wiggins, Davion Mitchell and Kyle Anderson will play in Miami for the first time tonight when the Heat host the Boston Celtics (7:30 p.m. ET, Fanduel Sports Network-Sun).

Miami (25-25) traded away disgruntled forward Jimmy Butler to the Golden State Warriors last week in a five-team deal that brought Wiggins, Mitchell, Anderson, and a 2025 first-round pick to Miami. The new additions will integrate into Miami’s system tonight against the Celtics (37-16), the second-place team in the Eastern Conference.

Wiggins averaged 17.6 points in 43 games for Golden State. That number is slightly lower than his career average of 18.5. Once considered the top high school player in North America, Wiggins was drafted first overall in the 2014 draft by the Cleveland Cavaliers and then traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves, where he spent six seasons. This was his sixth season with the Warriors. Wiggins will turn 30 on Feb. 23.

Mitchell was the ninth pick in the 2021 draft. He has played professionally with Sacramento and Toronto and averages 7.3 points per game.

Anderson, drafted the same year as Wiggins, has averaged 6.8 points per game for San Antonio, Memphis, Minnesota, and Golden State. 

___

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

A state lawmaker is taking action to reduce the chance of a person being attacked or severely injured by a dangerous dog.

The “Pam Rock Act” (SB 572), filed by Tampa Republican Sen. Jay Collins, was named after U.S. Postal Service carrier Pam Rock, who was severely mauled in Putnam County in 2022 by five dogs. The injuries Rock sustained from the attack ultimately resulted in her death.

The bill aims to address the growing issue of dangerous dogs and would ensure public safety through stricter regulations and better tracking of dangerous dogs within Florida.

Owners of dogs who are known to have dangerous and aggressive natures would be required to securely confine their dogs in a proper enclosure, and would be further required to obtain liability insurance coverage for dogs that are classified as dangerous.

The bill’s text states that the Legislature has found that there has been an increase in serious threats posed to the safety and welfare of the public because of unprovoked attacks by dangerous dogs, which can cause injury to persons and domestic animals.

The Legislature also found that such attacks can be partly attributed to the failure of dog owners to properly confine, train and control their dogs. The bill notes that existing laws do not address the growing issue, so additional uniform requirements are necessary for dog owners.

A dangerous dog is classified as any dog that, according to the records of the appropriate authority, has aggressively attacked, bitten, endangered or inflicted severe injury on a human being on public or private property. This applies to a dog known to have severely injured or killed a domestic animal while off the owner’s property on more than one occasion.

The classification further extends to a dog who has chased or approached a person in a public setting in a menacing fashion unprovoked, and has had a formal, sworn statement lodged by one or more people to the appropriate authority. The bill does not contain a specific list of dog breeds considered dangerous.

Reported incidents would be required to be thoroughly investigated by an animal control authority. An interview with the dog’s owner must be conducted and there must be a sworn affidavit from any person, including an animal control officer, desiring to have the dog classified as dangerous.

A dog that is being investigated for aggressive behavior or because they have severely injured a human being may be immediately confiscated, placed in quarantine or impounded until the investigation is completed. If a dog was ordered to be destroyed, it cannot happen while an owner is appealing the decision. Owners would be responsible for all boarding costs and other fees associated with keeping the animal safe.

A dog would not be classified as dangerous, however, if it is found to have been defending a human being unjustly attacked by another person, or if the threat, damage or injury was sustained by a person unlawfully present on the property, or if the person was found to have been abusing, assaulting, or tormenting the dog, its owner or a family member.

The bill would create a statewide Dangerous Dog Registry, created and maintained by the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Owners of dangerous dogs would be liable for damages caused by their dogs. If a dog previously classified as a dangerous dog, attacks, severely injures or kills a person, the owner could be charged with a third-degree felony and face a potential prison sentence of up to five years.

If passed, the act would come into effect July 1.

Post Views: 0