| | | | |  | | By Kimberly Leonard | Good morning and welcome to Wednesday. The lead Republican House sponsor of a measure to revamp Florida’s defamation laws has made changes to the bill following uproar from a national outlet and a growing number of conservatives. The legislation from Rep. Alex Andrade would open journalists and news organizations to lawsuits if they published a false statement from a single anonymous source. Changing defamation laws was a priority Gov. Ron DeSantis didn’t get passed last session amid similar opposition from conservative-leaning media. But as lawmakers make another attempt at moving the bill through the Legislature, the conservative backlash has become more intense. A few days ago, the editorial board for the New York Post — which once celebrated the governor as “DeFuture” — blasted the bill as a “dangerous crackdown on free speech” and warned it would make Florida the “land of the unfree” and “in effect ban anonymous sourcing.” Conservative talk radio hosts have trashed it, as POLITICO’s Gary Fineout reported, and it received a poor reception from Republican U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds, who’s interested in running for governor in 2026, as well as a Christian broadcasters group that publicly opposed the bill on Monday. Andrade told Playbook he thinks critics are wrong about his bill, defending it as “codifying what is journalistic malpractice.” He and other supporters say more rules should be in place to protect people from reputational harm. Nevertheless, Andrade filed an amendment yesterday that he said “should make everybody happy,” that aims to address cases in which attorneys might partake in “forum shopping,” meaning filing complaints in specific jurisdictions to try to elicit a more favorable outcome under a friendly court. The changes specify that defamation plaintiffs can only bring a lawsuit in the county where a defendant lives or in a location where they suffered harm as a result of what was published. If a judge decides a lawsuit is frivolous, then plaintiffs and their attorneys would both be “on the hook financially,” Andrade said. The Pensacola lawmaker said he’d exchanged ideas with the governor’s office about the legislation, though DeSantis hasn’t said whether he backs the latest version. “I never saw the bill as this sky-is-falling scenarios that folks kept bringing up,” Andrade said, describing the latest changes as “mostly to provide comfort to folks to make sure that they understand that is a well intentioned bill.” Whether conservatives can get onboard will be clear today as the bill heads before the House Judiciary Committee, its final stop before going to the full House floor. (Tune in.) WHERE’S RON? Gov. DeSantis is attending the legislative prayer breakfast and will provide remarks. Have a tip, story, suggestion, birthday, anniversary, new job, or any other nugget for Playbook? Get in touch at: kleonard@politico.com | | | | DON’T MISS POLITICO’S GOVERNORS SUMMIT: Join POLITICO on Feb. 22 to dive into how Governors are wielding immense power. While Washington remains gridlocked, governors are at the center of landmark decisions in AI and tech, economic development, infrastructure, housing, reproductive health and energy. How are they setting the stage for the future of American politics, policies and priorities? How are they confronting major challenges? Explore these questions and more at the 2024 Governors Summit. REGISTER HERE. | | | | | |  | ... DATELINE TALLAHASSEE ... | |
TODAY — The House State Affairs Committee will vote on a just-unveiled bill to create a runoff primary system beginning during the 2026 elections, which is the next gubernatorial year. The legislation also would reduce the number of places voters can drop off mail-in ballots. Sen. Blaise Ingoglia, a Spring Hill Republican and the former chair of the Republican Party of Florida, told reporters the bill was “a bad piece of policy” that “will disproportionately hurt conservative candidates,” per Gray Rohrer of Florida Politics.
— Senators will consider the bill banning kids 16 and under from social media. The organization Stand With Parkland, made up of families impacted by the mass shooting who support school safety and hardening measures, formally endorsed the legislation yesterday. — The House Judiciary Committee is taking up two bills that would loosen gun laws, one to abolish the three-day waiting period and another to reduce the rifle buying age from 21 to 18.
|  Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks at a news conference Monday, Feb. 5, 2024, in Miami Beach, Florida. | Marta Lavandier/AP Photo |
AND JUST LIKE THAT — DeSantis insurance tax break picks up support, reports POLITICO’s Gary Fineout. The governor’s push to give homeowners a one-year break on their insurance costs has been given new life by Republican legislators. Senate and House panels on Tuesday signed off on rival tax cut packages that now include proposals to give homeowners a credit on their insurance bills although there are still distinct differences between the two measures that legislators need to work out over the next three weeks.
PRAYER CLUB — Florida moves to join other states opening schools to chaplains, reports POLITICO’s Andrew Atterbury. Initially proposed in Texas, several conservative-leaning states including Florida, Oklahoma, and Kansas this year are turning to chaplains seeking a potential “alternative to mental health counselors” for students. Critics, however, have hammered the legislation for lacking clear qualifications and standards for prospective chaplains, leading to fears of possible proselytizing at public schools. ‘HIT OR MISS’ — Energy bill now with offshore wind ban advances in Senate, reports POLITICO’s Bruce Ritchie. A Senate committee on Tuesday voted to advance an energy bill backed by House Speaker Paul Renner after adding a ban on offshore windmills. The bill also strikes policies adopted by the Legislature in 2008 that sought to reduce carbon emissions that contribute to climate change and reduce dependence on foreign oil. The bill was amended to match the House version with the ban on offshore windmills or those within a mile of the coast. FILED LAST WEEK — “Florida bill would allow judges to more easily hold criminal defendants without bail,” reports Ana Goñi-Lessan for USA Today Network - Florida. The bill "would allow a judge to order pretrial detention based only on hearsay if a defendant is accused of a list of ‘dangerous crimes,’ including murder and carjacking.” — “Florida lawmakers agree to use gambling money to pay for environmental projects,” reports Jim Turner of News Service of Florida — Landmark affordable housing bill faces adversity in state Senate due to loophole, reports Jackson Bakich of The Floridian |  Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Florida first lady Casey DeSantis. | George Walker IV/AP Photo | CANCER CARE — Senate committee approves plan to expand Casey DeSantis cancer research program, reports POLITICO’s Arek Sarkissian. The Senate Appropriations Committee on Health and Human Services unanimously approved SB 7072, which would be one of the first state programs to offer grants to patients who are undergoing innovative cancer treatments … the governor and first lady called on the Legislature to approve more than $230 million in cancer research funding in next year’s state budget. BUILDING RESILIENCY — “My Safe Florida Home bill adds $100 million, prioritizes older, low-income families,” reports C.A. Bridges of USA Today Network - Florida. “The popular program … matches up to $10,000 of the costs Florida homeowners pay to harden their homes against hurricanes … under the new bill applications will be weighted toward residents aged 60 and older, and residents who qualify as low- or moderate-income.” YIKES — “Super-charged hurricane season possible in 2024,” reports Brian Lada of AccuWeather. Two key factors are playing into the projection: “The return of La Niña and historically warm water across the Atlantic Ocean.” | | | PENINSULA AND BEYOND | | |
HEALTH WATCH — Broward County now has six cases of measles, per Cindy Krischer Goodman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel. The infection is highly contagious though MMR vaccines are effective at prevention.
BOOMERANG — “Tech leaders fled San Francisco during the pandemic. Now, they’re coming back,” reports The Wall Street Journal’s Berber Jin and Angel Au-Yeung. “During the pandemic, scores of Silicon Valley investors and executives … decamped to sunnier American cities [like Miami], criticizing San Francisco’s government as dysfunctional and the city’s relatively high cost of living. Tech-firm founders touted their success at raising money outside the Bay Area and encouraged their employees to embrace remote work. Four years later, that bet hasn’t really worked out … In Miami, venture investment plunged 70 percent to just $2 billion last year.” STATE AND FEDERAL PROBES — “Surgeons: HCA North Florida Hospital ‘dirty instruments’ issue dates back a year,” reports Gary Nelson of Mainstreet Daily News. “For at least a year, surgeons at HCA Florida North Florida Hospital in Gainesville battled the problem of 'dirty' instruments being delivered to operating rooms and pleaded with administrators to fix it. Doctors vented their ‘disgust’ over the ‘festering’ problem in an extraordinary, early morning meeting with administration on January 10. One week later the hospital suspended all surgeries. A long-simmering crisis had boiled over." | | CAMPAIGN MODE | |
TODAY — DeSantis is holding a 3 p.m. call with delegates to thank them for their support during his presidential bid, per an email viewed by Playbook. The governor’s political team didn’t respond when asked about details.
DATE SET — The Florida Democratic Party is hosting its Leadership Blue weekend fundraiser May 3-5 at Disney’s Contemporary Resort in Orlando. Two years ago, Democrats moved their event from the “most magical place on earth” because Disney employees were mad that executives hadn’t taken a forceful enough approach to the Parental Rights in Education Act, one they’d go on to label as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill. The company would later face punishment from DeSantis and the GOP-controlled Legislature for speaking out directly. ON THE SHORTLIST — Trump says long VP shortlist includes Ron DeSantis, Byron Donalds, reports POLITICO’s Alex Isenstadt. Trump made the comment during a Fox News town hall event in which host Laura Ingraham asked about the Florida politicians among four other possible choices. Trump is known to talk off the cuff, and it would be surprising if he were to pick DeSantis. Trump and DeSantis spent a year savaging each other, before DeSantis dropped out of the presidential race following a disappointing second-place finish in the Iowa caucuses. NEW TOTALS OUT — The latest spending numbers posted by the Federal Elections Commission show DeSantis’ presidential campaign spent more than $2 million during his final weeks on the 2024 presidential campaign trail. The largest chunk of spending, of more than $325,000, went toward digital consulting. When total spending by the campaign and political action committee is divided among the 23,491 Iowa caucus goers who supported DeSantis, it reveals a spending total of more than $6,800 per vote. The total is an underestimate because Never Back Down won’t report its final spending amount until April. JUST STOPPING BY — DeSantis was in South Carolina yesterday, just four days before the state's Republican presidential primary that he won't compete in. He was there to keep a speaking commitment with the organization Term Limits and encourage state lawmakers to push for a convention that would rewrite the Constitution to limit how long members of Congress can serve. He also took time to dump on former 2024 rival Nikki Haley and declared “the primary is over.” “There’s no question that South Carolina is going to be a big victory for Donald Trump because he just appeals to core Republicans in a way Nikki Haley does not or is not trying to,” DeSantis said. Interestingly, DeSantis was also in Indiana earlier in the day and appears poised to try to lead more states into backing a convention. Both events were in his official capacity as governor, and the Orlando Sentinel reported that he used a state plane to travel. It’s worth noting that the issue itself — to put an expiration date on how long members of Congress can stay in office — cannot be sidelined as a Republican cause célèbre: Polls show Americans overwhelmingly agree with DeSantis. PUSHBACK — The newly formed political action committee School Sanity Project Inc. will run billboard trucks against Bridget Ziegler to protest her role on the Sarasota School Board. The billboards have Ziegler’s photo alongside the words “stop the school board scandal.” The group’s senior adviser, Samantha Pollara, accused Ziegler of turning the school board into a “circus with her blatant hypocrisy and bad-faith policymaking.” It plans to spend six figures on the forthcoming school board election. | | | | Don’t sleep on it. Get breaking New York policy from POLITICO Pro—the platform that never sleeps—and use our Legislative Tracker to see what’s on the Albany agenda. Learn more. | | | | | | | DATELINE D.C. | | | | 
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) arrives for a vote at the U.S. Capitol March 16, 2023. | Francis Chung/POLITICO via AP Images | MARCO MEETS MILEI — Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) visited Argentina yesterday to meet with the country’s new right-wing President Javier Milei and Vice President Victoria Villarrue. Rubio, vice chair of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, called Milei a “strong ally of America with a bold plan to save #Argentina from a century of disastrous socialist policies,” in a post on X. “We should help him succeed!” Rubio added. The elected officials met to discuss U.S.-Argentina relations and Milei’s economic plans, according to a statement from Rubio’s team. Milei, who is often compared to former President Donald Trump, was elected back in November after running on a strong opposition to left-wing economic policies. Milei has another friend in Florida: in December, Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-Fla.) was the o nly member of Congress to attend Milei’s inauguration in Buenos Aires. Members of the Biden administration also met with Milei after he was elected. — Mia McCarthy | | TRANSITION TIME | |
— Mia McCarthy has joined POLITICO’s States team as its new delegation reporter on Capitol Hill, covering Florida, California, New York and New Jersey. She previously was a POLITICO fellow. Get in touch with her at mmccarthy@politico.com and @Reporter_Mia, and say hello when you see her on the Hill.
— Christina Pushaw is returning to Gov. Ron DeSantis’ communications office after working as a rapid response director for his presidential campaign. | | | ODDS, ENDS AND FLORIDA MEN | | | BIRTHDAYS: State Sen. Jay Trumbull … former state Rep. Katie Edwards-Walpole … (was Tuesday) Jeremy Redfern, press secretary for Gov. Ron DeSantis | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook family Playbook | Playbook PM | California Playbook | Florida Playbook | Illinois Playbook | Massachusetts Playbook | New Jersey Playbook | New York Playbook | Ottawa Playbook | Brussels Playbook | London Playbook View all our political and policy newsletters | | Follow us | | | | |
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