News Service of Florida

- A push by Gov. Ron DeSantis for Florida universities to pause hiring international faculty and staff members through what are known as H-1B visas moved forward Thursday.The state university system’s Board of Governors set up for final approval a proposed moratorium as part of rule changes involving powers and duties of university boards of trustees.

A Senate committee on 5-3 party-line vote approved a Republican measure Tuesday that would severely restrict cities and other local governments from adopting policies to fight climate change, over the objections of Democrats and environmentalists.

A House proposal that would ask voters to phase out non-school homestead property taxes moved forward Thursday, as lawmakers and Gov. Ron DeSantis try to reach agreement on a November ballot measure. The Republican-controlled House State Affairs Committee voted along party lines to back a proposed constitutional amendment (HJR 203) that would annually increase the homestead exemption by $100,000 over the next decade, with a full exemption for non-school taxes in 2037.

A proposed constitutional amendment that would increase the homestead property-tax exemption for residents who have property insurance is ready to go to the Florida House after the 2026 legislative session starts in January. The Republican-controlled House Ways & Means Committee voted 10-5 along party lines Wednesday to approve the measure (HJR 209), which was part of eight property-tax proposals that the House released in October.

Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday called for state lawmakers to address pet-breeding facilities, derided as “puppy mills,” during the upcoming legislative session. “Now, many breeders take care of their animals and treat them with dignity and respect,” DeSantis said during an appearance at Big Dog Ranch Rescue in Loxahatchee. “No doubt, there are some bad actors who keep these animals in inhumane conditions, and we want to put an end to that type of practice in the state of Florida.”

Disability-rights advocates are challenging a new state law allowing pregnant women to use parking spaces reserved for people with disabilities, alleging the measure violates federal protections. The “expectant mother parking permit” allows pregnant women to obtain disabled parking placards at any point in their pregnancies. The permit, which women can get with notes from their doctors confirming they are pregnant, costs $15 and lasts for a year.

A House Republican on Tuesday filed a proposal that would re-designate a road at each Florida state university and college to honor conservative leader Charlie Kirk, who was murdered last month in Utah. The main and circular FGCU Boulevard at Florida Gulf Coast University would be re-designated as Charlie James Kirk Boulevard.

Local-government officials Tuesday offered some pushback against state efforts to cut property taxes and question city and county spending.With a Florida House panel finishing a two-day review of property-tax issues, city and county officials defended their financial management amid Gov. Ron DeSantis’ push to ask voters next year to slash taxes on homesteaded properties.

Siding with publishers and authors, a federal judge Wednesday ruled that a key part of a 2023 Florida law that has led to books being removed from school library shelves is “overbroad and unconstitutional.”U.S. District Judge Carlos Mendoza issued a 50-page decision in a First Amendment lawsuit filed last year against members of the State Board of Education and the school boards in Orange and Volusia counties. He focused primarily on part of the law that seeks to prevent the availability of reading material that “describes sexual conduct.”

A federal judge last week approved ending a Hendry County school-desegregation lawsuit that started in 1970, after the U.S. Department of Justice and the district agreed that “vestiges of the prior de jure segregation” had been eliminated.