Flroida legislature

Florida lawmakers are considering legislation to tighten regulations on the production and sale of kratom, an increasingly controversial herbal supplement made from the leaves of a Southeast Asian tree. SB 994, sponsored by Sen. Joe Gruters, and HB 1205, sponsored by Rep. Dean Black, would expand the 2023 Kratom Consumer Protection Act, which they say would help shield consumers from a dangerously unregulated and wildly volatile drug.

Amid an escalating feud between Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Republican-controlled House, the chamber’s budget chairman on Friday sent letters to six state agencies seeking a broad array of documents as part of a probe into government spending.The inquiry into DeSantis-administration spending, ordered by House Speaker Daniel Perez, R-Miami, has raised questions about potentially missing state-owned vehicles, agency leaders earning six-figure salaries while living in other states and millions of dollars of interest paid on a prison facility that has not been built.

The Florida Legislature has passed its budget and gone home. But the manner in which lawmakers closed out this year’s session raises a number of...

The stack of proposed bills awaiting Florida legislators include gun laws, water quality provisions, fracking bans, and negotiating gambling rules.With a…