Tallahassee Archives - The Florida Daily Post https://floridadailypost.com/florida-news/tallahassee/ Read first, then decide! Thu, 16 May 2024 12:57:12 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://i0.wp.com/floridadailypost.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/New-favicon-Florida-Daily-post-1.jpg?fit=32%2C32&ssl=1 Tallahassee Archives - The Florida Daily Post https://floridadailypost.com/florida-news/tallahassee/ 32 32 168275103 DeSantis, amid criticism, signs Florida bill making climate change a lesser state priority https://floridadailypost.com/desantis-amid-criticism-signs-florida-bill-making-climate-change-a-lesser-state-priority/ https://floridadailypost.com/desantis-amid-criticism-signs-florida-bill-making-climate-change-a-lesser-state-priority/#respond Thu, 16 May 2024 12:57:12 +0000 https://floridadailypost.com/?p=62945 Climate change will be a lesser priority in Florida and largely disappear from state statutes under legislation signed Wednesday by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis that also bans power-generating wind turbines offshore or near the state’s lengthy coastline. Critics said the measure made law by the former Republican presidential hopeful ignores the reality of climate change threats in […]

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Climate change will be a lesser priority in Florida and largely disappear from state statutes under legislation signed Wednesday by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis that also bans power-generating wind turbines offshore or near the state’s lengthy coastline.

Critics said the measure made law by the former Republican presidential hopeful ignores the reality of climate change threats in Florida, including projections of rising seas, extreme heat and flooding and increasingly severe storms.

It takes effect July 1 and would also boost expansion of natural gas, reduce regulation on gas pipelines in the state and increase protections against bans on gas appliances such as stoves, according to a news release from the governor’s office.

DeSantis, who suspended his presidential campaign in January and later endorsed his bitter rival Donald Trump, called the bill a common-sense approach to energy policy.

“We’re restoring sanity in our approach to energy and rejecting the agenda of the radical green zealots,” DeSantis said in a post on the X social media platform.

Florida is already about 74% reliant on natural gas to power electric generation, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Opponents of the bill DeSantis signed say it removes the word “climate’ in nine different places, moves the state’s energy goals away from efficiency and the reduction of greenhouse gases blamed for a warming planet.

“This purposeful act of cognitive dissonance is proof that the governor and state Legislature are not acting in the best interests of Floridians, but rather to protect profits for the fossil fuel industry,” said Yoca Arditi-Rocha, executive director of the nonprofit Cleo Institute, which advocates for climate change education and engagement.

The legislation also eliminates requirements that government agencies hold conferences and meetings in hotels certified by the state’s environmental agency as “green lodging” and that government agencies make fuel efficiency the top priority in buying new vehicles. It also ends a requirement that Florida state agencies look at a list of “climate-friendly” products before making purchases.

In 2008, a bill to address climate change and promote renewable energy passed unanimously in both legislative chambers and was signed into law by then-Gov. Charlie Crist, at the time a Republican. Former Gov. Rick Scott, now a Republican U.S. senator, took steps after taking the governor’s office in 2011 to undo some of that measure and this latest bill takes it even further.

The measure signed by DeSantis would also launch a study of small nuclear reactor technology, expand the use of vehicles powered by hydrogen and enhance electric grid security, according to the governor’s office.

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It’s not a matter of if a hurricane will hit Florida, but when https://floridadailypost.com/its-not-a-matter-of-if-a-hurricane-will-hit-florida-but-when/ https://floridadailypost.com/its-not-a-matter-of-if-a-hurricane-will-hit-florida-but-when/#respond Mon, 13 May 2024 03:43:48 +0000 https://floridadailypost.com/?p=62883 With the start of hurricane season less than a month away, U.S. officials who predict, prepare for and respond to natural disasters had a message for Floridians on Friday: It’s not a matter of if a hurricane will hit, but when. The 2024 hurricane season is expected to be busier than average. To ensure that people everywhere […]

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With the start of hurricane season less than a month away, U.S. officials who predict, prepare for and respond to natural disasters had a message for Floridians on Friday: It’s not a matter of if a hurricane will hit, but when.

The 2024 hurricane season is expected to be busier than average. To ensure that people everywhere are prepared, officials visited residents in Sanford, a landlocked city in the middle of the Sunshine State.

Even if they don’t live on the coast, the officials told residents, they need to know the potential danger hurricanes pose to their property, such as flooding; and put together an emergency plan that includes a supply kit.

“Everybody in Florida is at risk,” said Michael Brennan, director of the National Hurricane Center.

As if to punctuate Florida’s vulnerability to damaging weather, wind gusts of 71 mph (114 kph), just shy of hurricane force, were recorded early Friday in Tallahassee, where mangled metal and other debris from damaged buildings littered parts of the state’s capital city.

The officials in Sanford brought along two “hurricane hunter” planes used in the daredevil business of flying into the middle of storms to gather data about their intensity and direction.

The WP-3D, operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the WC-130J, flown by the U.S. Air Force Reserve, fly straight into the storms’ eyewall, usually three times during a flight. The aim of the hair-raising trips is to gather information that can help officials on the ground make decisions such as when to order people to evacuate.

NOAA’s propeller plane typically has 11 to 17 people on board during flights through hurricanes, including the crew and scientists. Since flights usually last eight hours, the crew members bring plenty of snack food, and there is a microwave, refrigerator and a hot plate for cooking more elaborate meals.

Although the rides can be very bumpy, sometimes they aren’t as turbulent as expected and crew members don’t realize that they already are in the eye of a hurricane, said William Wysinger, a NOAA flight engineer who has flown on a dozen missions through hurricanes.

“I liken it to riding an old wooden roller coaster during the worst of times,” Wysinger said.

The National Hurricane Center is predicting that the upcoming Atlantic and Gulf season, which runs from June 1 to Nov. 30, will exceed the yearly average of seven tropical storms and seven hurricanes, and that three of the storms will be major. Not all hurricanes make landfall.

Floridians would be wise to remember 20 years ago when four hurricanes made landfall consecutively in just a matter of weeks, crisscrossing the state and carving paths of disaster, said David Sharp, meteorologist-in-charge at the National Weather Service in Melbourne, Florida.

“Many remember the ravages of the Hurricanes Charley, Frances, Ivan and Jeanne — blue tarps and pink insulation everywhere, along with displaced lives,” Sharp said. “Scars upon the land but also scars upon the psyche of our people.”

Hundreds of thousands of new residents have arrived in Florida since the last hurricane season, and it’s important that they know what to expect and how to prepare, said Robbie Berg, warning coordination meteorologist at the National Hurricane Center.

“Talk to your neighbors,” Berg said. “A lot of people in Florida have experienced these storms and they can help you through a storm if you’ve never been through one before.”

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Florida’s 6-week abortion ban takes effect as doctors worry women will lose access to health care https://floridadailypost.com/floridas-6-week-abortion-ban-takes-effect-as-doctors-worry-women-will-lose-access-to-health-care/ https://floridadailypost.com/floridas-6-week-abortion-ban-takes-effect-as-doctors-worry-women-will-lose-access-to-health-care/#respond Wed, 01 May 2024 15:37:57 +0000 https://floridadailypost.com/?p=62740 Florida’s ban on most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, before many women even know they are pregnant, went into effect Wednesday, and some doctors are concerned that women in the state will no longer have access to needed health care. Dr. Leah Roberts, a reproductive endocrinologist and fertility specialist with Boca Fertility in Boca Raton, […]

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Florida’s ban on most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, before many women even know they are pregnant, went into effect Wednesday, and some doctors are concerned that women in the state will no longer have access to needed health care.

Dr. Leah Roberts, a reproductive endocrinologist and fertility specialist with Boca Fertility in Boca Raton, said the anti-abortion laws being enacted by Florida and other red states are being vaguely written by people who don’t understand medical science. The rules are affecting not just women who want therapeutic abortions, meaning procedures to terminate viable pregnancies because of personal choice, but also nonviable pregnancies for women who want to have babies.

“We’re coming in between them and their doctors and preventing them from getting care until it’s literally saving their lives, sometimes at the expense of their fertility,” Roberts said.

The new ban has an exception for saving a woman’s life, as well as in cases involving rape and incest, but Roberts said health care workers are still prevented from performing an abortion on a nonviable pregnancy that they know may become deadly — such as when the fetus is missing organs or implanted outside the uterus — until it actually becomes deadly.

“We’re being told that we have to wait until the mother is septic to be able to intervene,” Roberts said.

Besides the physical danger, there’s also the psychological trauma of having to carry a fetus that the mother knows will never be a healthy baby, Roberts said.

“They’re feeling the kicks for months after they’re being told that they’re never going to have a live birth,” Roberts said. “And it’s just horrifying when you could take care of it at 20 weeks, and they could move on, and they could get pregnant with their next pregnancy and be able to hold their babies that much sooner.”

The Biden campaign quickly placed blame for the “extreme” six-week ban on former President Donald Trump.

“Trump is worried the voters will hold him accountable for the cruelty and chaos he created. He’s right. Trump ripped away the rights and freedom of women in America. This November, voters are going to teach him a valuable lesson: Don’t mess with the women of America,” President Joe Biden said in a statement about the new abortion ban.

Vice President Kamala Harris will also criticize the six-week ban on abortions during an event Wednesday in Jacksonville.

She said a huge issue with the ban is that the doctors who perform emergency abortions have to learn the procedures by performing therapeutic abortions. So if most abortions are banned, the next generation of doctors won’t be able to develop the skills needed to perform an emergency abortion.

Roberts said she’s concerned the restrictions will also prompt veteran doctors to leave Florida, as they have in other states that have enacted abortion bans.

“We’re going to have less access to care for our general population, even if it’s just basic maternity care and normal OB-GYN care, because people are leaving,” Roberts said.

In addition, women are going to have to travel far from home to get abortions. Florida Access Network executive director Stephanie Pineiro said the organization, which helps provide funding for abortions, expects costs to increase dramatically. She estimates it will cost around $3,000 for a woman to travel to another state for an abortion. The closest place after 12 weeks would be Virginia or Illinois, but before 12 weeks would be North Carolina.

“It’s very emotionally draining and challenging to deal with these types of barriers and have to leave your home,” Pineiro said.

The Florida Supreme Court, with five of its seven members appointed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, ruled 6-1 last month to uphold the state’s ban on most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, which cleared the way for the six-week ban. The 15-week ban, signed by DeSantis in 2022, had been enforced while it was challenged in court. The six-week ban, passed by the Legislature a year later, was written so that it would not take effect until a month after the 2022 law was upheld.

Republican state Sen. Erin Grall, who sponsored the six-week ban, previously said bodily autonomy should not include abortions.

“We live in a time where the consequences of our actions are an afterthought and convenience has been substitution for responsibility,” Grall said, “and this is unacceptable when it comes to the protection of the most vulnerable.”

Voters may be able to enshrine abortion rights in Florida’s constitution after a separate state Supreme Court ruling allowed a proposed constitutional amendment to be on the November ballot. The proposal says, “no law shall prohibit, penalize, delay, or restrict abortion before viability or when necessary to protect the patient’s health, as determined by the patient’s healthcare provider.” It provides for one exception that is already in the state constitution: Parents must be notified before their minor children can get an abortion.

Florida Democrats hope young voters would vote to enshrine abortion rights, as a way to combat the 900,000 voter registration edge Republicans have over Democrats in the state. They hope moderate views of the ballot initiative will turn out younger voters to vote Democrat when faced with the binary choice between a six-week abortion ban or protecting abortion until viability.

Jayden D’Onofrio, chairman of the Florida Future Leaders political action committee, said young Florida voters have a “real opportunity to shape the electoral landscape.” Being that abortion rights have prevailed in elections nationwide, he thinks that Florida can engage young voters to register and vote for Democrats.

Nathan Mitchell, president of Florida Atlantic University College Republicans, said he would support a total abortion ban, and he hopes the amendment doesn’t pass. Mitchell said he’s seen most people want restrictions on abortion, usually for bans within 10 to 15 weeks of gestation.

Most Republican-controlled states have adopted bans or restrictions on abortions since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022. A survey of abortion providers conducted for the Society of Family Planning, which advocates for abortion access, found that Florida had the second-largest increase in the total number of abortions provided since the decision. The state’s data shows that more than 7,700 women from other states received abortions in Florida in 2023.

Florida Democratic leaders are encouraging women to seek help from abortion funds and resources. On Tuesday, Senate Minority Leader Lauren Book encouraged women to access abortion travel funds and urged them to avoid “taking matters into your own hands.”

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Florida Democrats hope abortion and marijuana questions draw young voters despite low enthusiasm https://floridadailypost.com/florida-democrats-hope-abortion-and-marijuana-questions-draw-young-voters-despite-low-enthusiasm/ https://floridadailypost.com/florida-democrats-hope-abortion-and-marijuana-questions-draw-young-voters-despite-low-enthusiasm/#respond Tue, 30 Apr 2024 12:26:16 +0000 https://floridadailypost.com/?p=62718 Jordan Vassallo is lukewarm about casting her first presidential ballot for President Joe Biden in November. But when the 18-year-old senior at Jupiter High School in Florida thinks about the things she cares about, she says her vote for the Democratic incumbent is an “obvious choice.” Vassallo will be voting for a constitutional ballot amendment that would prevent the […]

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Jordan Vassallo is lukewarm about casting her first presidential ballot for President Joe Biden in November. But when the 18-year-old senior at Jupiter High School in Florida thinks about the things she cares about, she says her vote for the Democratic incumbent is an “obvious choice.”

Vassallo will be voting for a constitutional ballot amendment that would prevent the state of Florida from prohibiting abortion before a fetus can survive on its own — essentially the standard that existed nationally before the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the constitutional protections to abortion and left the matter for states to decide.

Passage of the amendment would wipe away Florida’s six-week abortion law, which Vassallo says makes no sense.

“Most people don’t know they are pregnant at six weeks,” she said.

Biden, despite her reticence, will get her vote as well.

In Florida and across the nation, voters in Vassallo’s age group could prove pivotal in the 2024 election, from the presidency to ballot amendments and down ballot races that will determine who controls Congress. She is likely to be among more than 8 million new voters eligible to vote this November since the 2022 elections, according to Tufts University Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement.

While some of those voters share Vassallo’s priorities of gun violence prevention and abortion rights, recent protests on college campuses about the war between Israel and Hamas, including at some Florida campuses, have thrown a new element of uncertainty into the mix. In Florida and elsewhere, observers across the political spectrum are looking on with intense interest.

Florida Democrats hope young voters will be driven to the polls by ballot amendments legalizing marijuana and enshrining abortion rights. They hope the more tolerant views of young voters on those issues will reverse an active voter registration edge of nearly 900,000 for Republicans in Florida, which has turned from the ultimate swing state in 2000 to reliably Republican in recent years.

According to AP VoteCast, an expansive survey of the electorate, about 8 in 10 Florida voters under age 45 in the 2022 midterm elections said the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade had an impact on their decision to vote and who to support. The youngest voters, under age 30, appeared more likely than others to say the decision was the single most important factor in their votes, with about 3 in 10 saying that, compared with about 2 in 10 older voters.

Nathan Mitchell, president of Florida Atlantic University’s College Republicans, questions how impactful abortion will be in the election.

According to AP VoteCast, relatively few Florida voters in the 2022 midterms believed abortion should be either completely banned or fully permitted in all cases. Even among Republicans, just 12% said abortion should be illegal in all cases. About half of Republicans said it should be banned in most cases.

Voters under 45 were slightly more likely than others to say abortion should always be legal, with 30% taking that position.

Mitchell said while abortion is a strong issue, especially for women, he doesn’t think it will drive many younger voters to the polls.

“I think other amendments will probably do that, especially the recreational marijuana amendment,” Mitchell said. “I think that’s going to bring out a lot more voters than abortion will.”

The AP VoteCast survey lends some credence to his thinking. About 6 in 10 Florida voters in the 2022 elections favored legalizing the recreational use of marijuana nationwide, the survey found. Among voters under 45, that was 76%. Still, it’s unclear how important that issue is for younger voters compared with other issues.

The big question is whether other issues can override Biden’s enthusiasm problem among young Florida voters, and elsewhere.

Six in 10 adults under 30 nationally said in a December AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll that they would be dissatisfied with Biden as the Democratic Party nominee in 2024. And only about 2 in 10 said in a March poll that “excited” would describe their emotions if Biden were re-elected.

Young voters were crucial to the broad and racially diverse coalition that helped elect Biden in 2020. About 6 in 10 voters under 30 backed Biden nationally, according to AP VoteCas. A Pew Research Center survey showed that those under age 30 made up 38% of new or irregular voters in that election.

In Florida, Biden won 64% of young voters – similar to his national numbers.

New issues that concern young voters have emerged this year. Biden’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war has sparked protests at college campuses across the country, and Biden’s inability to deliver broad-based student loan forgiveness affects many young voters directly. Concern about climate change also continues to grow. AP-NORC data from February shows that majorities of Americans under 30 disapprove of how Biden is handling a range of issues, including the conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians, immigration, the economy, climate change and abortion policy.

But in Florida, it will be abortion rights and marijuana that give voters actual control over issues beyond a presidential rematch most did not want but got anyway, said Trevian Briskey, a 21-year-old FAU student.

Tony Figueroa, president of Miami Young Republicans, said the abortion issue is important to many young voters, regardless of where they stand. He noted, however, that Florida “is a very conservative state.” That means some of the young voters motivated by the issue favor stricter abortion laws.

“Given how Florida has become so much more red over the past couple of years, really it’s more of a way to galvanize or mobilize young voters where this is an important issue for them,” Figueroa said. “It’s really a way to get them to come out in droves.”

Matheus Xavier, 21, who studies biology at Florida Atlantic University, said he considered voting for Trump at some point, but changed his mind since Biden fell more in line with the things he cares about, including the preservation of abortion rights.

“At the end of the day, you gotta go with what you support,” he said. “I guess Biden kinda shows more of that. If there was another option that was actually good, I’d probably go for that.”

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What to know about a settlement that clarifies what’s legal under Florida’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law https://floridadailypost.com/what-to-know-about-a-settlement-that-clarifies-whats-legal-under-floridas-dont-say-gay-law/ https://floridadailypost.com/what-to-know-about-a-settlement-that-clarifies-whats-legal-under-floridas-dont-say-gay-law/#respond Wed, 13 Mar 2024 03:54:26 +0000 https://floridadailypost.com/?p=62121 Here are things to know about the fallout from Florida’s settlement.

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The Florida law labeled by critics as “ Don’t Say Gay ” is remaining in place under a settlement reached this week between the state and parents, students, teachers and advocacy groups who challenged it in court.

But the fallout that gave it that nickname is nixed under the deal.

Florida’s 2022 law was created to push back against what conservatives characterize as efforts to indoctrinate kids to a liberal ideology.

It is one of the highest-profile among dozens of measures adopted in Republican-controlled states to try to rein in what can be taught about LGBTQ+ issues — and the rights of LGBTQ+ people — in a movement championed by Florida governor and former presidential candidate Ron DeSantis, among others.

Here are things to know about the fallout from Florida’s settlement.

WHAT DOES THE SETTLEMENT CHANGE?
The main thing the settlement does is clarify a law that was purposely vague so it could be used as a weapon to discriminate, said Joe Saunders, senior political director at Equality Florida and a former state lawmaker.

A key point of clarity is how the law applies to “classroom instruction,” as opposed to mere discussion or mention of a topic anywhere on school grounds.

He listed some things that will change now:

— Books featuring LGBTQ+ characters were removed from school libraries in one county. Those books must now be returned. But depending on the content of the book, a teacher might not be able to, say, read it aloud to a class.

— Anti-bullying programs that had been ditched because they addressed anti-LGBTQ+ bullying can resume.

— Teachers in a county that once allowed them to designate their classrooms as LGBTQ+ safe spaces with a sticker on the door were required to peel them off. Now, the stickers can return.

— One valedictorian was forced to censor a commencement speech in which he mentioned he was gay. That kind of censorship would no longer be allowed.

— Lawyers advised teachers in one county that they shouldn’t talk with students about LGBTQ+ issues or, if they were in a same-sex relationship, even put family photos on their desks. Those photos can now come out of the closet.

— Some after-school gay-straight alliances canceled meetings or went underground because most are advised by teachers, some of whom worried about being punished. Those are now clearly allowed.

“What the settlement now makes clear is that students can say ‘gay’ in Florida schools, that students can say ‘trans’ in schools … and not have to deal with censorship from the weaponized vagueness of the law,” Saunders said in an interview Tuesday.

WHAT’S NEXT IN FLORIDA?
The agreement took effect immediately when it was signed by a lawyer for the state government on Monday.

Under the agreement, the state government is to share the settlement — and guidance on how to implement it — with the state’s 67 county school districts.

The agreement does not lay out a timeline for that.

Katie Blankenship, director of PEN America Florida, said her group will watch closely to see what happens to classroom books that had been removed or covered up with paper because of Florida’s law.

“I want to know that teachers are being assured they can still share their classroom libraries,” Blankenship said.

WHICH OTHER STATES HAVE SIMILAR LAWS?
Since 2022, at least six other states have adopted laws similar to Florida’s.

A court has put on hold enforcement of Iowa’s law from last year.

Laws are in effect in Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Kentucky and North Carolina. A federal challenge over Indiana’s is pending before the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

It’s not immediately clear whether the Florida settlement could sway what happens in the other states.

Some of the measures apply the instruction bans only to younger grades — as Florida’s did when it was initially adopted. Others apply it to all public school students. Florida’s was expanded through a state Board of Education policy last year.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN POLITICALLY?
Both in Florida and nationally, DeSantis has built his brand as a conservative willing to go to battle, and the curriculum law he signed in 2022 was a prime example.

The approach did not help him make much of a dent in this year’s GOP presidential primary. He dropped out of the race after a blowout loss in the Iowa caucuses in January and endorsed former President Donald Trump.

Both DeSantis and the plaintiffs in the challenge to the law emerged from the settlement claiming victory.

In a statement, his office called the deal “a major win against the activists who sought to stop Florida’s efforts to keep radical gender and sexual ideology out of the classrooms.”

Those who challenged it said the settlement provides clarity and “effectively nullifies the most dangerous and discriminatory impacts” of the law.

Jamie Miller, executive director of the Florida GOP, said that by leaving the law in place, it does give each side room to say they prevailed. “Democrats can say they had a political victory,” Miller said. And DeSantis emerged with the law he championed intact: “His goal was to protect children from classroom instruction that was in conflict with our state culture,” Miller said. “He accomplished that.”

Miller said he doesn’t expect the settlement will impact DeSantis’ political future.

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Florida teachers can discuss sexual orientation and gender ID under ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill settlement https://floridadailypost.com/florida-teachers-can-discuss-sexual-orientation-and-gender-id-under-dont-say-gay-bill-settlement/ https://floridadailypost.com/florida-teachers-can-discuss-sexual-orientation-and-gender-id-under-dont-say-gay-bill-settlement/#respond Mon, 11 Mar 2024 21:35:35 +0000 https://floridadailypost.com/?p=62111 The settlement clarifies what is allowed in Florida classrooms following passage two years ago of the law prohibiting instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in early grades.

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Students and teachers will be able to speak freely about sexual orientation and gender identity in Florida classrooms, provided it’s not part of instruction, under a settlement reached Monday between Florida education officials and civil rights attorneys who had challenged a state law which critics dubbed “Don’t Say Gay.”

The settlement clarifies what is allowed in Florida classrooms following passage two years ago of the law prohibiting instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in early grades. Opponents said the law had created confusion about whether teachers could identity themselves as LGBTQ+ or if they even could have rainbow stickers in classrooms.

Other states used the Florida law as a template to pass prohibitions on classroom instruction on gender identity or sexual orientation. Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky and North Carolina are among the states with versions of the law.

Under the terms of the settlement, the Florida Board of Education will send instructions to every school district saying the Florida law doesn’t prohibit discussing LGBTQ+ people, nor prevent anti-bullying rules on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity or disallow Gay-Straight Alliance groups. The settlement also spells out that the law is neutral — meaning what applies to LGBTQ+ people also applies to heterosexual people — and that it doesn’t apply to library books not being used for instruction in the classroom.

The law also doesn’t apply to books with incidental references to LGBTQ+ characters or same-sex couples, “as they are not instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity any more than a math problem asking students to add bushels of apples is instruction on apple farming,” according to the settlement.

“What this settlement does, is, it re-establishes the fundamental principal, that I hope all Americans agree with, which is every kid in this country is entitled to an education at a public school where they feel safe, their dignity is respected and where their families and parents are welcomed,” Roberta Kaplan, the lead attorney for the plaintiffs, said in an interview. “This shouldn’t be a controversial thing.”

In a statement, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s office described the deal as a “major win” with the law formally known as the Parental Rights in Education Act remaining intact.

“We fought hard to ensure this law couldn’t be maligned in court, as it was in the public arena by the media and large corporate actors,” said Ryan Newman, an attorney for the state of Florida. “We are victorious, and Florida’s classrooms will remain a safe place under the Parental Rights in Education Act.”

The law has been championed by the Republican governor since before its passage in 2022 by the GOP-controlled Florida Legislature. It barred instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through the third grade, and it was expanded to all grades last year.

Republican lawmakers had argued that parents should broach these subjects with children and that the law protected children from being taught about inappropriate material.

But opponents of the law said it created a chilling effect in classrooms. Some teachers said they were unsure if they could mention or display a photo of their same-sex partner in the classroom. In some cases, books dealing with LGBTQ+ topics were removed from classrooms and lines mentioning sexual orientation were excised from school musicals. The Miami-Dade County School Board in 2022 decided not to adopt a resolution recognizing LGBTQ History Month, even though it had done so a year earlier.

The law also triggered the ongoing legal battles between DeSantis and Disney over control of the governing district for Walt Disney World in central Florida after DeSantis took control of the government in what the company described as retaliation for its opposition to the legislation. DeSantis touted the fight with Disney during his run for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, which he ended earlier this year.

The civil rights attorneys sued Florida education officials on behalf of teachers, students and parents, claiming the law was unconstitutional, but the case was dismissed last year by a federal judge in Tallahassee who said they lacked standing to sue. The case was appealed to the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals.

Kaplan said they believed the appellate court would have reversed the lower court’s decision, but continuing the lawsuit would have delayed any resolution for several more years.

“The last thing we wanted for the kids in Florida was more delay,” Kaplan said.

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Court rules Florida’s ‘stop woke’ law restricting business diversity training is unconstitutional https://floridadailypost.com/court-rules-floridas-stop-woke-law-restricting-business-diversity-training-is-unconstitutional/ https://floridadailypost.com/court-rules-floridas-stop-woke-law-restricting-business-diversity-training-is-unconstitutional/#respond Tue, 05 Mar 2024 18:12:54 +0000 https://floridadailypost.com/?p=62048 The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday upheld a Florida federal judge’s August 2022 ruling that the so-called “Stop WOKE” act violates the First Amendment as it applies to businesses and is impermissibly vague.

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A Florida law pushed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis that limits diversity and race-based discussions in private workplaces is unconstitutional, a federal appeals court has ruled.

A three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday upheld a Florida federal judge’s August 2022 ruling that the so-called “Stop WOKE” act violates the First Amendment as it applies to businesses and is impermissibly vague.

“By limiting its restrictions to a list of ideas designated as offensive, the Act targets speech based on its content. And by barring only speech that endorses any of those ideas, it penalizes certain viewpoints — the greatest First Amendment sin,” Circuit Judge Britt C. Grant wrote for the court.

The governor’s office Tuesday was considering options for a further appeal.

“We disagree with the Court’s opinion that employers can require employees to be taught—as a condition of employment—that one race is morally superior to another race,” the governor’s office said in an email. “The First Amendment protects no such thing, and the State of Florida should have every right to protect Floridians from racially hostile workplaces.”

The law prohibits teaching or business practices that it says contend members of one ethnic group are inherently racist and should feel guilt for past actions committed by others. It also bars the notion that a person’s status as privileged or oppressed is necessarily determined by their race or gender, or that discrimination is acceptable to achieve diversity.

DeSantis frequently referred to the law during his unsuccessful run for president, with the slogan that Florida was where “woke goes to die.” Other parts of the law involving education have also been challenged but have not been blocked.

Florida attorneys had argued that the law banned conduct, such as requiring employees to attend diversity meetings, rather than speech. The court disagreed.

“Banning speech on a wide variety of political topics is bad; banning speech on a wide variety of political viewpoints is worse,” Grant said in the opinion.

The lawsuit was filed by private entities, Clearwater-based Honeyfund.com and others, claiming their free speech rights are curtailed because the law infringes on company training programs stressing diversity, inclusion, elimination of bias and prevention of workplace harassment. Companies with 15 or more employees could face civil lawsuits over such practices. Honeyfund is in the wedding registry business.

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DeSantis vetoes social media ban for kids under 16. Florida lawmakers offer new option https://floridadailypost.com/desantis-vetoes-social-media-ban-for-kids-under-16-florida-lawmakers-offer-new-option/ https://floridadailypost.com/desantis-vetoes-social-media-ban-for-kids-under-16-florida-lawmakers-offer-new-option/#respond Mon, 04 Mar 2024 04:49:52 +0000 https://floridadailypost.com/?p=62023 Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis vetoed what would have been one of the most far-reaching social media bans for minors on Friday, and lawmakers are proposing new language that seeks to keep children under under 14 off of addictive platforms. The bill sent to the governor last week would have banned minors under 16 from popular social media […]

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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis vetoed what would have been one of the most far-reaching social media bans for minors on Friday, and lawmakers are proposing new language that seeks to keep children under under 14 off of addictive platforms.

The bill sent to the governor last week would have banned minors under 16 from popular social media platforms regardless of parental consent. DeSantis had concerns about privacy issues and parental rights, but appears to be on board with a new proposal that would allow 14- and 15-year-olds on social media with parental consent and ban access for younger children.

“The Legislature is about to produce a different, superior bill,” DeSantis said in his veto message. “Protecting children from harms associated with social media is important, as is supporting parents’ rights and maintaining the ability of adults to engage in anonymous speech.”

He said he anticipates signing the new bill, which will go before the Senate on Monday, just days before the legislative session ends March 8.

Lawmakers were expecting the veto and worked with DeSantis on the compromise. The issue is a top priority for Republican House Speaker Paul Renner, who believes social media is causing psychological damage to children.

“My personal view is we ought to go to 18. It is bad. It is poison,” Renner said. “Their business model is addiction that causes harm to children for profit. That’s not good.”

But Renner expressed optimism after the veto and said the new proposal is an improvement to the original bill and will have broader public support.

“It’s a good product of compromise,” he said. “It will have a better chance of getting through the courts.”

Several states have considered similar legislation. In Arkansas, a federal judge blocked enforcement of a law in August that required parental consent for minors to create new social media accounts.

Supporters in Florida hope the bill will withstand legal challenges because it would ban social media formats based on addictive features such as notification alerts and autoplay videos, rather than on the content on their sites.

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U of Florida axes diversity and inclusion office under GOP-led law aimed at ridding similar programs https://floridadailypost.com/u-of-florida-axes-diversity-and-inclusion-office-under-gop-led-law-aimed-at-ridding-similar-programs/ https://floridadailypost.com/u-of-florida-axes-diversity-and-inclusion-office-under-gop-led-law-aimed-at-ridding-similar-programs/#respond Mon, 04 Mar 2024 04:48:17 +0000 https://floridadailypost.com/?p=62020 The University of Florida is eliminating its chief diversity officer position, scrapping the program’s staff jobs and halting any contracts involving the subject because of a new law passed last year that was pushed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis. The university in Gainesville, Florida, said in a memo released Friday that staff whose jobs were eliminated will […]

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The University of Florida is eliminating its chief diversity officer position, scrapping the program’s staff jobs and halting any contracts involving the subject because of a new law passed last year that was pushed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis.

The university in Gainesville, Florida, said in a memo released Friday that staff whose jobs were eliminated will get 12 weeks of pay and are encouraged to apply for other positions by April 19. The move axes 13 staff jobs and also removes administrative appointments to the diversity office for 15 faculty members, officials said.

Three senior UF officials said in the memo that despite the elimination of the diversity, equity and inclusion or DEI program, the school will continue what they called “our commitment to universal human dignity.”

“As we educate students by thoughtfully engaging in a wide range of ideas and views, we will continue to foster a community of trust and respect for every member of the Gator Nation,” the memo says, referencing school’s reptilian mascot.

In addition, $5 million that had been earmarked for the DEI program will be diverted into a faculty recruitment fund. The University of Florida has more than 55,000 students, according to its website.

The legislation passed in 2023 and signed into law by DeSantis — as he prepared for his unsuccessful presidential run — was among several measures aimed at ending what he called “woke” policies in education, including critical race theory and DEI.

Rules on DEI adopted earlier by state education officials say state colleges and universities are banned “from using state or federal funds to administer programs that categorize individuals based on race or sex for the purpose of differential or preferential treatment.” DEI supporters say such offices help ensure equality and representation for people of different races, gender and disabilities.

In a statement on the X social media site, DeSantis said “DEI is toxic and has no place in our public universities. I’m glad that Florida was the first state to eliminate DEI and I hope more states follow suit.”

Democrats, however, see the effort as an out-of-touch attempt to tackle a non-existent problem.

“I am stunned but not surprised at the elimination of DEI staff at University of Florida, my alma mater,” said Democratic state Rep. Yvonne Hayes Hinson in an email. “The culture wars engaged in the Republican dominated Florida House of Representatives will continue until Floridians have had enough and develop the will and determination to flip the majority in the Florida House.”

After Florida and Texas, more Republican-led legislatures around the country are pushing about 50 similar anti-DEI bills this year, according to a recent Associated Press analysis.

The new law eventually will impact all of Florida public colleges and universities that have DEI programs. New College of Florida in Sarasota, where DeSantis appointed a group of conservative trustees, last year voted to abolish its DEI office.

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Florida lawmaker pulls bill on wrongful death of unborn children after Alabama IVF ruling https://floridadailypost.com/florida-lawmaker-pulls-bill-on-wrongful-death-of-unborn-children-after-alabama-ivf-ruling/ https://floridadailypost.com/florida-lawmaker-pulls-bill-on-wrongful-death-of-unborn-children-after-alabama-ivf-ruling/#respond Wed, 28 Feb 2024 18:32:03 +0000 https://floridadailypost.com/?p=61928 A House version of the bill is ready for a vote by the full chamber but currently isn’t scheduled for a reading.

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A Florida bill to allow people to file wrongful death lawsuits over the death of a fetus is being shelved because of the political fallout from an Alabama Supreme Court decision that frozen embryos are legally protected children.

Republican Sen. Erin Grall decided not to proceed with her bill Monday after opponents cited the Alabama ruling to raise questions about whether the legislation could be used to grant personhood to embryos.

“Although I have worked diligently to respond to questions and concerns, I understand there is still work that needs to be done. It is important we get the policy right with an issue of this significance,” Grall said in a statement released by her office.

Grall tried to ease fears by changing the bill language to define unborn child as “a member of the species Homo sapiens, at any stage of development, who is carried in the womb.” She also included language that would have protected pregnant women from being held liable if they lost their embryo.

Opponents raised concerns when Alabama in vitro fertilization clinics began suspending operations after the Supreme Court ruling there. Grall’s bill had one more committee stop before being heard by the full chamber.

“This is a backdoor attempt at personhood. It’s a very scary time. People across the country are talking about it, people are finally looking at it,” said Senate Democratic Leader Lauren Book. “I think the Republicans across the country realize this is a problem. This isn’t something they should be doing.”

A House version of the bill is ready for a vote by the full chamber but currently isn’t scheduled for a reading.

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