First Read for Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2022

Good morning. It’s National Chocolate Soufflé Day. Here’s a “low carb” recipe from Florida’s Dairy Farmers (but wouldn’t you rather have the full carb version?). 

FIRST UP

With the last legislative committee week behind us, and only one more week till the start of the 2023 session, members of the Florida Legislature’s Republican supermajority filed a number of noteworthy bills on Monday:

* SB 942 & HB 941, by Sen. Alexis Calatayud & Rep. Demi Busatta Cabrera: Would do away with bans by local governments and housing authorities on specific kinds of dogs, including Miami’s ban on pit bulls that dates to 1990. 

* SB 1216 & HB 1187, by Sen. Blaise Ingoglia & Rep. Mike Beltran: Prohibits political committees from transferring funds to each other. In a LinkedIn post, Beltran said the intent was “to counteract the use of dark money in political campaigns.”

* SB 1238 & HB 1217, by Sen. Ana Maria Rodriguez & Rep. Lauren Melo: Places restrictions on how state agencies can “regulate greenhouse gas emissions for the purpose of addressing changes in atmospheric temperature,” and preempts local governments from requiring the use of energy saving materials in building construction. 

* SB 1240 & HB 1197, by Sen. Danny Burgess & Rep. Randy Maggard: Preempts local governments from regulating water quality, pollution control, “pollutant discharge prevention or removal,” wetlands and more. It also repeals state law that created land management review teams under water management districts. 

– Jim Rosica

FROM CITY & STATE

* BILL COTTERELL: Gov. Ron DeSantis is all wrong in trying to intimidate the news media by making it easier to hit broadcasters and publishers with defamation suits, but he’s right about the political motives behind the Supreme Court ruling that protects news companies.

* DISNEY DISTRICT: About a year after the Walt Disney Co. angered him by opposing a controversial education law, DeSantis signed a bill that shifts control of the Reedy Creek Improvement District from Disney to the governor’s office.

* TWEET THIS: A new study of tweeting habits found that women lawmakers tweet more often than their male counterparts. The question now is why. 

NEW THIS MORNING

* The most prominent name DeSantis appointed to the new board of the former Reedy Creek district is Bridget Ziegler, a conservative education activist who was a major backer of what its critics call the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, Politico Florida reports. 

* In a written Q&A with incoming interim New College of Florida President Richard Corcoran, the former state education commissioner and House speaker says among other things that he supports abolishing diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs at the school, the Sarasota Herald-Tribune reports. 

* Alex Andrade, the GOP House member carrying DeSantis’ bill to lower the bar on what’s considered defamation in Florida, says it’s a way for more people to get justice for harms but the bill has alarmed free speech advocates, the USA TODAY Network-Florida reports. 

* A Hillsborough County man who was the first person in Florida to face trial on charges of voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election was sentenced to two years of probation, the Tampa Bay Times reports.

* After Hurricanes Ian and Nicole devastated parts of the state last year, the Florida Senate is considering a series of proposals aimed at helping communities recover from future storms, the News Service of Florida reports. 

More news below …

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YOUR MESSAGE HERE: City & State First Read is the must-read morning roundup of Florida politics and government. Reaching thousands of subscribers each morning, it's the most effective and targeted digital ad venue to get your message in front of city and state elected officials, agency and industry leaders, and the staff, advocates, media and operatives who drive the issues of the day – all by 7 a.m. each weekday. For advertising information, please email: advertising@cityandstatefl.com

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* Voters in Miami’s coastal neighborhoods elected former journalist Sabina Covo to fill the Miami City Commission’s District 2 seat for the next eight months, the Miami Herald reports.

* Civil-rights attorney Ben Crump, who received the NAACP’s Social Justice Impact Award, chided Florida education officials’ recent move to get rid of an Advanced Placement course on Black history, the Tallahassee Democrat reports.

* Keith Ingersoll, a long-time associate of former Seminole County tax collector Joel Greenberg, was sentenced to more than nine years in federal prison for taking part in a real estate scheme that bilked an elderly investor out of millions of dollars, the Orlando Sentinel reports.

* Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood fumed that it was an “honor” to be included on the “hit list” of an organization behind a string of disturbing antisemitic incidents, the Daily Beast reports. 

* Clearwater City Councilmember Lina Teixeira formally proposed increasing council member salaries to match the full-time nature of the job and attract candidates beyond retirees or independently wealthy residents, the Tampa Bay Times reports.

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DESANTIS WATCH 

The governor today kicks off a signing tour for his new book, “The Courage to be Free: Florida’s Blueprint for American Revival.” That’s 6 p.m. at the Books-A-Million in Leesburg. Tickets were on sale yesterday through Eventbrite for $35; fees and tax brought the cost to almost $42. 

2024 ROUNDUP

* Vivek Ramaswamy, a 37-year-old entrepreneur and the “self-described intellectual godfather of the anti-woke movement,” is running for president – and here’s why, The Week reports. 

* DeSantis may not be officially running for president, but his packed schedule this week sure looks like someone laying the groundwork for a campaign with a book tour, the Orlando Sentinel reports.

* Rupert Murdoch acknowledged that top hosts at Fox News endorsed former President Donald Trump’s false claims of a fraudulent election in 2020, court documents filed on Monday show, the Hill reports.

* A top political adviser to Glenn Youngkin insisted that there’s room for the Virginia governor to enter the Republican race for president after saying the campaign was a “two-person race” between Trump and DeSantis, the Associated Press reports. 

* The Trump-DeSantis battle is brewing: Assuming the governor actually runs, the race between them is set up like few others before, in a way that practically demands direct confrontation, Aaron Blake writes in the Washington Post. 

ANALYSIS & OPINION 

* Liberals are exaggerating the dangers of Ron DeSantis, Damon Linker writes in the New York Times. 

* Florida gun owners are not fooled by the watered-down “permitless carry” gun legislation and want actual constitutional carry, Luis Valdes writes in Florida Today.

* Nikki Fried is getting mocked by the left and the right after winning the Florida Democratic Party’s chair race, the Florida Standard’s Zac Howard writes.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

HAPPY BIRTHDAY: To Ben Gibson, managing partner of Shutts & Bowen’s Tallahassee office … to Michelle Todd Schorsch … to lawyer Matt Weidner of St. Petersburg. 

ON THE MOVE: Shelly Darby, a USA TODAY Network veteran, now is the South Florida Business Journal’s managing editor, the publication announced.  She will oversee newsroom operations under the direction of Editor-in-Chief Mel Meléndez.

Have a birthday, career change, birth, death or life event to announce? Email us: editor@cityandstatefl.com. 

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YOUR MESSAGE HERE: City & State First Read is the must-read morning roundup of Florida politics and government. Reaching thousands of subscribers each morning, it's the most effective and targeted digital ad venue to get your message in front of city and state elected officials, agency and industry leaders, and the staff, advocates, media and operatives who drive the issues of the day – all by 7 a.m. each weekday. For advertising information, please email: advertising@cityandstatefl.com

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KICKER

“Students and parents don’t sign up for college to have an agenda foisted on them.  They want an education that equips people to be critical thinkers.”

– Interim New College of Florida President Richard Corcoran, via the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, on why he supports the removal of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts on college campuses.