Tag: chris sprowls

Earlier this week, the Florida Seaports Transportation and Economic Development Council (FSTED) released a report which shows that Florida’s seaports experienced declines consistent with the overall trend for 2020. Waterborne trade value, for example, decreased 16.1 percent compared to 2019, which is a drop off of $14.1 billion.

Florida TaxWatch President and CEO Dominic Calabro weighed in on Wednesday about the Back-to-School Sales Tax Holiday, which begins Sat., July 31 and ends Mon., Aug. 9.

Established in 2006 by the Florida Legislature, the Florida Council on the Social Status of Black Men and Boys studies conditions that negatively impact black males in Florida. Specifically, the Council focuses its efforts on reducing high school dropout rates, violent crime rates, and incarceration rates.

According to DeSantis’ office, the $169 million tax cut package in Florida’s Fiscal Year 2021-22 budget includes funding for three sales tax holidays.

These investments include $550 million to continue elevating minimum teacher salaries, as well as $215 million to provide all of Florida’s eligible public school principals and teachers with $1,000 disaster relief payments.

DeSantis highlighted “$1,000 one-time bonuses for approximately 174,000 first responders, including law enforcement officers, paramedics, emergency medical technicians (EMTs), and firefighters across the state.”

“Representative Chaney is a trailblazer and dedicated public servant,” said Sprowls. “From founding a business that saved women’s lives through the early detection of breast cancer to creating a charity that helps women trapped in prostitution and drug addiction, her impact on Pinellas County continues to have lasting effects. I am proud to appoint her today to Florida’s Cancer Control & Research Advisory Council where she can be a voice for cancer patients and survivors.”

Steube’s bill would ensure American colleges and universities do not take funds from the CCP. The bill would also stop higher ed employees from being funded by CCP. If colleges and universities do not comply, they would lose federal funding.

DeSantis brought out the “Civic Literacy Excellence Initiative” and is calling for $106 million from the Legislature to enact it. The governor wants to use funds from the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Fund included in the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriation (CRRSA) Act.

“Sow the wind, reap the whirlwind,” the governor told a joint session of the Florida Legislature while talking about what has happened in the lockdown states. “While so many other states kept locking people down, Florida lifted people up.” 

On Tuesday, with the start of the 2021 legislative session, Gov. Ron DeSantis offered his State of the State address.

The proposed legislation would place strategic safeguards against foreign influence by strengthening institutional vetting and applying strategic protections for Florida’s education system, governmental entities and more. The legislation would also bolster Florida’s law enforcement agencies to investigate and apply penalties for corporate espionage that benefits a foreign government.