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My name is Kirby Wilson.
I'm a reporter for the Tampa Bay Times Miami herald bureau in Tallahassee.
This legislative session, I'm gonna be watching the health care budget,
which is always a huge talking point.
But this year it's going to be a little bit different because the state is flush
with cash.
We've got billions of dollars in federal funding coming our way and
our economy is roaring.
So lawmakers should be able to pass whatever priorities they decide are most
important to the state of Florida.
I'm also gonna be looking out for telehealth issues.
There is a bill that could expand access to telehealth for medical marijuana
patients, and also a bill that could expand access to it generally,
I'll be curious to see how that plays out.
And finally the abortion debate is going to be raging in Florida as always.
But this year there's a little extra added interest because of the two
Supreme Court cases that are working their way through the courts in Washington.
So it'll be interesting to see whether further restrictions get past, or
whether the state courts could block any potential laws that the republican led
legislature decides to pass.
>> Hi, I'm Lawrence Mauer with the Tampa Bay Times, and during the upcoming
legislative session, I'll be covering two big topics voting and pocketbook issues.
This was a voting was a big issue during the last legislative session.
Donald Trump had alleged widespread voter fraud and republicans,
including the Santis.
I wanted to do something about that to appease their base, and
they passed a number of laws this session, changing how you can vote by mail,
and where you can use ballot drop boxes and things like that.
And it looks like voting is going to be another fight this year.
The scientist wants to increase penalties on so
called ballot harvesting or the collection of vote by mail ballots.
And he also wants to create a new office of election crime and
security with 45 people to basically go after voter fraud or
whatever cases of voter fraud there might be in the state.
Another big issue, of course, will be pocketbook issues.
Florida is becoming a pretty expensive state to live in when you
factor in housing prices, rental costs.
Property insurance is going up big time.
Auto insurance has been high for a really long time in Florida.
And we're gonna see what are lawmakers gonna do about that this year.
>> I'm Ana Ceballos from the Miami Herald.
And during the legislative session, I'll be watching developments in education and
the hot button issue of immigration in education.
There's been a lot of focus on the issue of critical race theory,
mainly focus led by de Santis.
And he is trying to ask lawmakers to root out the legal academic
concept that holds that institutional racism impact society.
And the State Board of Education has already banned the concept in
K- 12 schools, but now he is trying to go into the state's education system.
And he's also trying to target diversity and equity training in the workplace.
This has some of his democratic opponents, and critics concerns saying that
it could be dangerous to start going into the higher education system where
there's where students are supposed to be exposed to a wide range of ideas.
Immigration has also been a main focus of governor Ron DeSantis as he
continues to attack President Joe Biden's immigration policies.
He has asked lawmakers to approve proposals that would allow the state to
contract with private companies and
transporting undocumented immigrants to other parts of the state.
He's also trying to create stricter requirements for
private providers to be able to house and care for
migrant children on behalf of the federal state government.
>> Hi, I'm Mary Ellen, Klas, Capital Bureau chief of the Miami herald.
In this legislative session, I will be covering redistricting, energy and
preemption issues among other things.
Now, redistricting is a task that legislators have over once
every 10 years and tensions are high.
I'll be watching to see how carefully they follow constitutional guidelines as they
move forward with maps that have received really very little public input or
scrutiny.
Every legislator is gonna have to run in a new district.
I'm also keeping an eye on issues are going to be promoted by industries that
contribute large donations to legislators, political campaigns.
One of those issues, for example,
is an anti metering bill being pushed by the utility industry.
It would essentially reduce incentives for
people to install rooftop solar on their homes and businesses.
Another issue I'm watching is what's gonna happen with condominium
regulation in the wake of the Champagne Tower collapsed in surfside.
These are all some of the issues, and many more that will be watching.
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