Gov. Ron DeSantis’s eighth and final legislative budget makes another run at redirecting cancer funding in Florida, including jettisoning a requirement that funds be awarded only to peer-reviewed projects and empowering an eight-member “collaborative” to direct how the state spends hundreds of millions of dollars on cancer care and research.

The push by the governor is likely to spark another largely behind-the-scenes battle among those who rely on the state money to help with their research programs.

Specifically, DeSantis’s proposed budget eliminates a decade-old law that spells out how $127 million should be distributed to four National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated facilities: Moffitt Cancer Center; University of Florida Health Cancer Center; Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center; University of Miami Miller School of Medicine; and Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Instead, the governor’s budget would empower the Cancer Connect Collaborative to distribute the money to all cancer providers, with a requirement that at least 60% continues to be spent on the four NCI facilities. NCI is the federal government’s principal agency for cancer research and training. There are 72 NCI-designated facilities nationwide.

The collaborative, established in law in 2024, is a group of eight people — three appointed by the governor, two by the Senate president, and two by the speaker of the House.

Lobbyists representing the four NCI facilities did not immediately respond to Florida Phoenix’s request for comment on the proposal. But representatives of the four facilities testified against a similar plan in a House Health Care Budget Subcommittee earlier this year.

John Cleveland, Moffitt’s executive vice president, director, and scientific officer, told members of the House House Health Care Budget Subcommittee in February that NCI facilities have recruited 980 premier investigators since the Legislature created the program in 2014 and has helped changed cancer care in Florida.

“Florida used to be a state where you flew to New York City or Boston to get your (cancer) care. No longer,” Cleveland said. “So, now they actually want to stay in the state. And I think that’s super important — we have to support our citizens. Having them get on a plane to get their care up in other states is just ridiculous.”

Florida has the second highest cancer burden in the nation. Between 2021 and 2023, the total number of cancer deaths in Florida was 140,955, according to the Florida Department of Health (DOH).

Former Gov. Rick Scott championed the NCI program, which was passed by the Legislature in 2014. Lawmakers pumped an additional $37million into the program in 2022 and renamed it the Casey DeSantis Research Funds.

Cancer innovation and incubator funds

The DeSantis administration first tried to steer funding away from NCI facilities to additional providers during the 2024 session and again in 2025.

The DOH issued a long-range report in 2024 noting that restricting the funding to NCI facilities “limits funding accessibility for other cancer facilities and research institutions across Florida, including those in rural or underserved areas.”

Although the Legislature refused to go along with the changes, lawmakers did agree to create and fund two new cancer grant programs: the Cancer Innovation Fund in 2024 and the Cancer Incubator in 2025.

There is $60 million available in Cancer Innovation Fund and $30 million in the Cancer Incubator program, which is directed toward research at children’s specialty hospitals

The cancer collaborative oversees both grant programs and is charged with making recommendations to the DOH, which awards the grants.

The governor announced in November that four pediatric hospitals were each receiving $7.5 million grants: Nicklaus Children’s Hospital in Miami; John’s Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in Tampa; Wolfson Children’s Hospital in Jacksonville; and Nemours Children’s Hospital in Orlando.

Statutes require that proposals for both the Innovation Fund and the Cancer Incubator program are “appropriate and are evaluated fairly on the basis of scientific merit.” To that end, the law requires the DOH to appoint peer review panels of independent, scientifically qualified individuals to review and score the merit of each proposal.

DeSantis’s proposed budget eliminates the requirement that grants for either fund be peer reviewed.

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The push by Gov. Ron DeSantis and state Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo to repeal some of the state’s vaccine requirements for public schools and day care kicked off last Friday with a lengthy and contentious hearing held in a hotel in Florida’s Panhandle.

Ladapo made the call to get rid of all vaccine mandates contained in both state rule and state law even though many of those mandates have been considered a public health success.

About 90 people attended the Department of Health three-hour public meeting on the proposed changes to Rule 64D-3.046, specifically removing the requirements for children to receive the hepatitis B, varicella (chicken pox), and haemophilus influenza B or Hib vaccine. The proposal would remove those vaccines, along with the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine, for admission to a licensed day care facility.

Emma Spencer, DOH division director for public health statistics and performance management, and facilitator of the meeting, described the workshop as an opportunity for “public input” as “part of an ongoing efforts to ensure the health and safety of Florida students and communities.”

And there was lots of input, ranging from medical professionals to parental rights advocates to those who questioned whether a measles outbreak is underway in South Carolina. More than 280 people are in quarantine there for measles after a significant influx in cases following the Thanksgiving holiday, Phoenix affiliate South Carolina Daily Gazette reports.

Susan Sweeten, chief marketing officer for the National Vaccine Information Center and a Florida resident, was first to testify. The center’s website says the group is “dedicated to preventing vaccine injuries and deaths through public education and advocating for informed consent protections in medical policies and public health laws.“

Sweeten said her son, just five hours old, was injured when he was given a hepatitis B vaccine in the hospital. 

“When I questioned it, she said, ‘If you don’t give your baby the vaccine, your pediatrician won’t see him, and you won’t know if he’s deaf, dumb, or blind,’” Sweeten told the DOH panel. “This is not informed consent. That is coercion. Vaccines should never be tied to a child’s education. Nothing that pierces the skin should ever be used as leverage over a child’s opportunity to education and to learn,” she said.

Doctors who showed up insisted vaccines work and that elimination of the mandates would lead to a resurgence of controllable childhood diseases.

“As a pediatric infectious disease physician, I cared for children before the varicella vaccine and saw ‘simple chickenpox’ turn into pneumonia, encephalitis, and needless hospitalizations — outcomes we can now prevent because of vaccines,” said Dr. Nectar Aintablian, a pediatric infectious disease specialist in Tallahassee. “Vaccines are victims of their own success; because they work, we forget the suffering they avert.”

Rick Frye, another Florida resident, said he’s been beseeching people not to vaccinate their children for about the past 20 years.

“Now, any pediatrician in this room who tells you that a kid needs 80 shots shouldn’t be trusted to put a band aid on a kid’s knee,” he said. “It’s obviously about freedom, but it’s also about the children these pediatricians damage because they get paid to to vaccinate these kids.”

More hearings coming

The meeting was the first one held on the proposed changes, but likely won’t be the last given the administrative rulemaking process and the requirements for public input.

The department did not say when the next meeting will occur, only that it would be announced in advance in the Florida Administrative Register.

DOH staff asked that public comment on the proposed rule changes be sent to the DOH at vaccinerule@flhealth.gov by Dec. 22, although Spencer acknowledged comments would remain open as the state works on the proposed changes.

The League of Women Voters of Florida didn’t focus on the science behind the vaccines, adverse reactions to vaccines, or parental rights. LWV representativeMary Winn focused her testimony instead on how the proposed changes conflict with the DOH’s statutory mission.

“This rule could probably be updated to reflect current practice and the responsibilities of the state, the Department of Health, private-practicing medical professionals, parents, and the public at large. But any changes must be consistent with the public health mission of the Department of Health as stated in Florida law,” she said. 

Winn noted that statutes require the DOH to conduct a communicable disease prevention and control program, which includes school immunization programs. The agency is charged by statute to ensure that “all children in this state” are immunized against vaccine-preventable diseases, she said.

“Eliminating the mandatory requirement will result in lower levels of immunization, which is contrary to that law stating that you are responsible for all of the children to be vaccinated in the state,” she said.

‘Tremendous damage’

Dr. Frederick Southwick testified that he has been an infectious disease specialist for 45 years. Although he worked with adult populations for much of his career, Southwick recalled helping cover pediatric infectious diseases in 1983 and 1984, before introduction of the Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) bacteria, which would be eliminated under the DOH proposal.

“What did I see?” he asked. 

Before the Hib vaccine, “I saw cases of orbital cellulitis, infections that went from the sinus causing bulging-eye blindness. I saw severe cases of pneumonia. I saw severe cases of otitis media. I saw bone infections, osteomyelitis that damaged the growth plate of the children so their bones could no longer grow. I saw sepsis, where patients got hypotension and died,” Southwick said.

“And the most feared was bacterial meningitis, and that had carried a 20% mortality. And this was the leading cause of deafness before the HiB vaccine. In 1985, the Hib vaccine came in, we went from 20,000 hospitalizations to 30, and today we don’t see any of those diseases. You are ending that vaccine. It’s going to cause tremendous damage.”

The proposed rule would change the existing religious exemption people can claim to refuse vaccines, removing language prohibiting exemptions based on personal or philosophical reasons.

Additionally, the proposed rule would allow parents, guardians, and college and university applicants aged 18-23 to decline to participate in documenting their vaccination status in the Florida SHOTS program, which is how the state collects vaccination data.

DeSantis and Ladapo made national headlines in September when they announced they’d like to eliminate all vaccine mandates from Florida statutes and rules, a move that could affect schoolchildren but also college students and even nursing home residents.

Ladapo said at the time that mandates drip “with disdain and slavery.” 

The proposed rule only removes the vaccines the DOH has authorized through its rules. The proposal cannot eliminate the school vaccines mandated by statute. 

The Legislature’s reaction

To date there’s been no legislation filed on behalf of the DeSantis administration to eliminate vaccine mandates from Florida statutes. Even Republican U.S. Sen. Rick Scott distanced himself from the idea. 

Meanwhile, Senate President Ben Albritton told reporters this week that he’s a believer in what he called “the vaccines of old,” but that he has never gotten an mRNA vaccine — used during the COVID-19 epidemic — because “he doesn’t trust the technology.”

He said he and his wife support parental rights.

“Missy and I believe we’re going to separate the mRNA stuff from the traditional stuff. And let’s be thoughtful about what works and what we know.”

Sen. Carlos Guillermo Smith, a Democrat from Orlando, is pushing a proposal (SB 626) to amend statutes to require the vaccines (hepatitis B, chickenpox, haemophilus influenzae type b, and pneumococcal disease) Ladapo is trying to eliminate via rule.

SB 626 has been referred to the Senate Health Policy, Education Pre-K – 12, and Rules committees.

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Gov. Ron DeSantis unveiled a $117.3 billion state budget proposal Wednesday, his eighth and last, that includes new money for a Make America Healthy Again commission, transfers part of the University of South Florida to New College, and bolsters military installations in hopes of deterring oil drilling off the Florida coast.

The proposal, which runs roughly $3 billion higher than the current-year budget, would allocate a record $1.56 billion for teacher salary increases, $14.3 billion for infrastructure and transportation projects, and $1.4 billion for Everglades and water quality projects.

“​​Since I became governor, we have run budget surpluses, reduced the state’s legacy debt by more than 50%, and enacted record tax relief,” DeSantis said in a statement, hours after his Orlando budget rollout. “Today I announced the ‘Floridians First’ Budget, which will keep Florida on the course of fiscal responsibility and delivers on the priorities that have made Florida the greatest state in America.” 

His proposal would eliminate 354 vacant positions — 225 of which are county health roles — and launch novel testing of contaminants in food with a $5 million allocation toward Florida’s new MAHA Commission, co-chaired by First Lady Casey DeSantis and Lieutenant Gov. Jay Collins.

The commission emerged in September as a way for Florida to align with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy’s nationwide push to “make America healthy again” through targeting processed foods and chemicals, and questioning water fluoridation.

The governor proposed a bill, too, that would transfer land from University of South Florida’s Sarasota-Manatee campus to New College of Florida. DeSantis proposed last session that those Ringling Museum facilities be transferred to New College. 

The governor’s budget would expand the school guardian program, providing security to K-12 schools, colleges, and universities, with about $6 million to implement it. 

Another provision is aimed at an emerging battle between Florida officials and the Trump administration. DeSantis wants to allocate $6 million to the Florida Defense Support Commission and $1.5 million for the Defense Reinvestment Grant Program to counter the White House’s plan to explore for oil off the Florida Gulf coast.

“This investment is especially critical as Florida continues to advocate that leasing of oil and gas developments off Florida’s Gulf coast may negatively impact the Gulf Testing Range,” the governor’s office wrote in the budget proposal. 

The document referred to concerns that the military’s ability to train in the Panhandle would be severely hindered by oil rigs near their training areas. Florida has multiple military bases in Panama City and the Pensacola area.

One of the big items being sought by DeSantis is $1.56 billion targeted for teacher pay raises, nearly 15% more toward increases than last year. The governor emphasized that the stand-alone item for teacher pay can ensure that money appropriated from Tallahassee goes to the classroom and benefits students.

“The classroom, 90% of it is what teacher do you have standing in front of the classroom. That’s the most important thing,” DeSantis said.

Fiscal strength

DeSantis, who is term-limited from running for reelection, touted the state’s fiscal strength, noting that his proposed spending plan earmarks $118 million for the Budget Stabilization Fund, also known as the state’s “rainy day” fund. DeSantis has tripled the amount in the fund since first taking office. The fund could reach the constitutional limit of $5 billion next year if the Legislature approves.

“Our overall footprint from a government perspective is that we have the lowest number of state government workers per capita and we either are the lowest or the second-lowest in state spending per capita of all 50 states. So, the outcomes are superior to states that are spending 25, 50, 100 percent more per capita … ,” DeSantis said.

The 2026 regular legislative session begins Jan.13. Although the Legislature will consider thousands of bills during the 60-day session, there is just one they are required to pass: the General Appropriations Act, or the budget. If lawmakers are unable to pass a budget within that time, the Legislature can extend the session or call a special session.

Homestead property tax relief

DeSantis focused much of his energy on the proposed spending plan but also used the opportunity to push for property tax reductions for homestead properties in the coming session. DeSantis’ budget would set aside $300 million to “support ongoing property tax relief conversations.”

DeSantis called the issue “huge” and said he’d have more to say about it “going forward.”

“But we have an opportunity to give people relief on this. So, we’re going to be working, you know, I know there’s been a lot of great work that is being discussed, you know, I’ve been talking with some of the senators, but I know some House members are working on a lot of stuff. We got to be bold, we got to be strong, and we got to do something that’s going to have a meaningful difference in people’s lives and the lives of families. And, you know, otherwise, you know, it just ain’t gonna it ain’t gonna fly,” DeSantis said.

No money for social justice, net zero policies

DeSantis’s budget includes funding for 25 additional circuit and county court judges.

The governor’s budget bill would amend a 2023 statute that made it illegal for a governmental entity, the state group health insurance plan, or a state-contracted health care provider to spend state dollars on gender-affirming or -conforming care.

The bill would expand that law to ban all governmental entities from spending tax dollars on “efforts which advance, promote, entertain, or support fundamental considerations of social justice, including those focused on critical race theory; diversity, equity, and inclusion; or that otherwise defend the concept that mankind is inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive, whether consciously or unconsciously, solely by virtue of his or her race or sex.” 

DeSantis’s proposed budget bill would prevent governmental entities from spending funds to advance, promote, entertain, or support Net Zero policies, carbon taxes and assessments, and carbon emission trading programs, commonly known as cap-and-trade or cap-and-tax programs. The bill would amend statutes to say such  programs are “detrimental to the state’s energy security and economic interests. “

He’s also suggesting $693,455 — nearly identical to the current budget — for the State Board of Immigration, a commission created during the 2025 session to oversee Florida’s immigration laws and ensure statewide enforcement and compliance.

The governor’s budget would expand the school guardian program, providing security to K-12 schools, colleges, and universities and about $6 million to implement it.

Jay Waagmeester contributed to this report.

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Nearly two months after calling for the elimination of vaccine mandates from Florida statutes, the DeSantis administration announced it will hold a three-hour public meeting in Northwest Florida for the public to weigh in.

The Department of Health has scheduled the meeting in Panama City Beach on Dec. 12 to discuss changes to  the existing rule regarding vaccine requirements for public and private schools, from preschool through grade 12 as well as adult education classes.

While the DOH announced a meeting date and time it did not release a draft of any of its proposed changes.

Health care attorney and lobbyist Christopher Nuland predicted the meeting will be well attended.

“Despite the state putting the notice for a workshop in the most remote corner of the state, there will be several doctors who will be attending that workshop to argue for the existing rule,” said Nuland, a Jacksonville lobbyist whose clients include the Florida Chapter of the American College of Physicians Services; the Florida Chapter, American College of Surgeons; and the Florida Neurosurgical Society, among others.

Students who attend public and private schools are required by Florida law to be vaccinated for poliomyelitis, diphtheria, rubeola, rubella, pertussis, mumps, and tetanus. The statute allows the DOH through rule to require additional vaccinations, which it does.

DOH’s rule allows exemptions for valid medical reasons but also for religious and certain belief systems.

Gov. Ron DeSantis and Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo announced in September their desire to eliminate all vaccine mandates from Florida statutes, although their focus, for now, appears to be school-aged children.

Ladapo, a  long time vaccine skeptic, likened vaccine requirements to slavery and told those attending the press conference that the government lacks authority to require vaccinations.

“It’s wrong, it’s immoral,” he said at the time. “They do not have the right to tell you what you put in your body. They don’t have the right to tell you what your kids have to put in [their] body. They do not have the right. Do not give it to them. Take it away from them. And we’re going to be starting that here in Florida.”

The announcement made national headlines and was immediately blasted by top Democrats. Even some Republicans have distanced themselves from the idea.

The 2026 regular session begins Tuesday, Jan. 13. To date, the DeSantis administration hasn’t floated its legislative proposal to eliminate all vaccines from statutes.

Meanwhile, Sen. Carlos Guillermo Smith is pushing a proposal (SB 626) to amend statutes to include hepatitis B, chickenpox, haemophilus influenzae type b, and pneumococcal disease in the list of required vaccines in statutes.

 The meeting site the Hyatt Place Panama City Beach, The Dunes Conference Room, 15727 Front Beach Road, Panama City Beach.

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Charles Canady, the longest serving justice on the Florida Supreme Court, announced Monday that he’s resigning his position to take a job at the University of Florida.

The resignation ensures that six of the seven justices will have been appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has longed touted his remake of the state’s highest court. 

The resignation comes before Canady, 71, is forced to step down due to age restrictions and before his wife, Rep. Jennifer Canady, is expected to become Speaker of the House following the 2028 elections.

It also comes before DeSantis is term limited out of office and a new governor is elected.

Canady took office Sept. 8, 2008, after being appointed to the Supreme Court by Gov. Charlie Crist.

He remains on the court for now. “He has not submitted his resignation. He is still a member of the Court,” court spokesman Paul Flemming said by email.

Canady was one of two justices not appointed by DeSantis. The other is Jorge Labarga, who took office on Jan. 6, 2009, also after being appointed by Crist.

In a statement released Monday, Canady said he will always “deeply value” his time on the bench.

“But the time has come to move on to another position of public service. I am looking forward to beginning 2026 as the Director and a tenured professor at the Hamilton School for Classical and Civic Education at the University of Florida,” Canady said in a statement.

“I’m very grateful to UF Board of Trustees Chairman Mori Hosseini and Interim President Don Landry for this opportunity. And I am eager to begin my work with the outstanding students and faculty at the Hamilton School.”

In addition to serving on the Supreme Court, Canady served in the Florida Legislature for six years, from November 1984 through November 1990. He served in Congress from 1993 through January 2001. Canady was one of the House managers appointed to prosecute the impeachment trial of President Bill Clinton.

Canady is considered conservative but in a 2024 opinion agreed to green-light proposed Constitutional Amendment 4 to enshrine abortion access in the state. In a razor-thin 4-3 decision, Canady joined the majority finding that the proposed amendment would not in any way mislead voters, break the single-subject rule for initiatives, or violate the U.S. Constitution. “Accordingly, we approve the proposed amendment for placement on the ballot,” the opinion reads.

Likewise, Canady joined the majority in a 5-2 decision to allow proposed Constitutional Amendment 3 on the ballot, which would have authorized recreational use of cannabis for adults.

Canady’s resignation gives DeSantis another opportunity to name a Florida Supreme Court justice and to nail down the conservative leaning of the court.

DeSantis has appointed five of the seven Supreme Court justices: Chief Justice Carlos G. Muñiz, John Couriel, Jamie Grosshans, Renatha Francis, and Meredith Sasso.

He also appointed Supreme Court justice Robert Luck and Barbara Lagoa to the court in 2019 but they served on the bench for a handful of months before President Donald Trump appointed them to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.

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The DeSantis administration is warning nearly 3 million Floridians who rely on federal food assistance that their benefits won’t be available in November due to the federal government shutdown. 

“If the federal government shutdown continues into November, (supplemental nutrition assistance program) SNAP benefits for the month of November will not be issued until federal funding is restored,” the Florida Department of Children Families (DCF) posted on its webpage.

“You may receive notices about your eligible benefit amount, but you will not receive any benefits deposited to your (electronic benefit transfer) EBT card during this time.”

DCF posted its notice in close proximity to the U.S. Department of Agriculture declaring in a memo that it would not tap into a $6 billion emergency fund to temporarily finance the program. 

Florida has the fourth largest SNAP enrollment nationwide with 2.94 million relying on the assistance for their food security, behind California, Texas, and New York.  Nationwide, 41.7 million people rely on SNAP benefits, August 2025 data show.

SNAP provides nutritional support for low-income seniors, people with disabilities living on fixed incomes, and other individuals and families with low incomes. Although funded by the federal government, SNAP in Florida is administered by DCF’s Office of Economic Self-Sufficiency, which is responsible for determining eligibility.

USDA —  in a notice it posted Friday — put the blame on Democrats for not agreeing to pass a continuing resolution to keep the government funded. Democrats are against passing a funding plan that doesn’t extend the enhanced premiums tax credits that lower the costs of so-called Obamacare plans purchased through the federal health exchange (healthcare.gov).

The partisan impasse has resulted in a 27-day government shutdown, which began Oct. 1, the start of the federal fiscal year.

“The best way for SNAP to continue is for the shutdown to end. If not for Congressional Democrats blocking government funding, November SNAP benefits would be paid on-time,” the memo, first reported by Axios, notes.

SNAP has about $6 billion in contingency funds; $9 billion is needed to cover the costs of the program through November. But the federal memo says that SNAP contingency funds cannot be used to float the program during the shutdown.

Contingency funds “are only available to supplement regular monthly benefits when amounts have been appropriated for, but are insufficient to cover, benefits. The contingency fund is not available to support FY 2026 regular benefits, because the appropriation for regular benefits no longer exists,” the memo says.

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities President Sharon Parrott, a former official with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), says that’s not the case.

“Speaking as a former OMB official, I know from experience that the federal government has the authority and the tools it needs during a shutdown to get these SNAP funds to families. Even at this late date, the professionals at the Department of Agriculture and in states can make this happen. And, to state the obvious, benefits that are a couple of days delayed are far more help to families than going without any help at all,” Parrott said in a written statement.

“It would be unconscionable for the Administration to go out of its way to threaten millions of children, seniors, veterans, people with disabilities, parents, and workers with hunger, rather than taking all legal steps available to provide food assistance to people who need it.”

Florida Policy Institute senior policy analyst Cindy Huddleston told the Florida Phoenix that more than 70% of Florida SNAP beneficiaries are children, seniors, and people with disabilities. But the cuts impact more than families in need.

“But it also affects the bottom line of thousands of small businesses in Florida where SNAP participants shop. USDA, which already has the money to provide assistance to every family participating in SNAP for almost all of November, should release those funds immediately and also transfer other available funds so that those in need do not go hungry and local businesses can stay afloat,”  she said in an email to the Phoenix.

The elimination of SNAP dovetails with the start of 2026 enrollment in the federal health exchange.

Florida leads the nation in Obamacare enrollment with more than 4.6 million residents.

Due to the elimination of the enhanced premium tax credits (and the damage that is expected to cause to enrollment) and increases in costs of prescription drugs, health insurance overall costs are going to increase.

Florida Office of Insurance Regulation Deputy Commissioner for Life and Health Alexis Bakofsy said earlier this month there would be an average 34% increase in premiums effective effect Jan. 1.

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Florida Democrats in the Legislature are imploring Gov. Ron DeSantis to declare a state of emergency and use state money to buy food and direct it to food pantries as nearly 3 million people lose access to a federal food assistance program.

Led by Senate Democratic Leader Lori Berman, D-Boynton Beach, and her House counterpart Fentrice Driskell, D-Tampa, legislative Democrats sent DeSantis a letter Tuesday asking him to use his emergency powers to ensure the millions of Floridians who rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program don’t go hungry when their benefits expire Saturday as a result of the federal government shutdown.

The letter also asks DeSantis to direct the Department of Children and Families, which administers the SNAP program, to coordinate with local food banks and their community partners to distribute the food immediately.

“For families already struggling under record food and housing costs, the loss of this critical support would be catastrophic,” the letter reads. “Local food banks and pantries have already reported overwhelming demand and depleted supplies. … We are days away from a full-blown hunger emergency that will leave families without food during the holiday season. The state cannot stand by.”

Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried added in a separate written statement: “This moment is bigger than politics. This is about showing up for our fellow Americans and keeping Floridians safe and fed.”

SNAP provides nutritional support for low-income seniors, people with disabilities living on fixed incomes, and other individuals and families with low incomes. Florida has the fourth largest SNAP enrollment nationwide with 2.94 million relying on the assistance for their food security, behind California, Texas, and New York. Nationwide, 41.7 million people rely on SNAP benefits, August 2025 data show.

The governor’s office didn’t immediately respond to Florida Phoenix’s request for comment.

The Democrats’ letter comes after the DeSantis administration posted a notice that SNAP benefits are about to expire.

The state notice was put up after the U.S. Department of Agriculture posted Friday that it would not tap into $6 billion in contingency funds to keep benefits intact for the coming month. It would take $9 billion to cover the costs of the SNAP program through November. But the federal memo, first reported by Axios, claims that SNAP contingency funds cannot be used to float the program during the shutdown, an assertion that has been disputed.

Contingency funds “are only available to supplement regular monthly benefits when amounts have been appropriated for, but are insufficient to cover, benefits. The contingency fund is not available to support FY 2026 regular benefits, because the appropriation for regular benefits no longer exists,” the memo says.

The partisan impasse has resulted in a 28-day government shutdown, which began Oct. 1, the start of the federal fiscal year.

“SNAP is one of the most effective programs for addressing hunger and food insecurity in the state,” the letter from the Democrats stated.

“Especially after the recent cuts stemming from President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill, Floridians cannot afford another day without action by the state. Florida has the fiscal strength to respond. What’s needed now is the moral will to act. No parent should have to choose between paying rent and feeding their kids. No child should go hungry because politicians in Washington can’t agree. We urge you to act immediately.”

“Heartless”

Berman said in prepared remarks that Florida has $5 billion in its “rainy day” fund that DeSantis could use to avert the food cliff  low-income families face.

“The sudden loss of those benefits would be an economic and humanitarian nightmare,” she said. “With the stroke of a pen, the Governor can keep food on peoples’ tables. He has a responsibility to the people of this state to put partisanship aside and lead. Refusing to act would be truly heartless.”

Driskell said in her prepared remarks that the governor “brags” about “maxing out” the amount of savings in the state’s “rainy day” fund.

“If millions of hungry Floridians isn’t an economic storm, I don’t know what is,” she said, adding, “This is a crisis but an entirely solvable one. We can make sure Floridians do not go hungry. It costs a little more than $6 a day to feed someone. Isn’t every Floridian worth that?”

The letter also asks the governor to request the state Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services to implement the universal school meals programs for the duration of the emergency.

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The organizers behind an amendment to legalize marijuana in Florida contend that the administration of Gov. Ron DeSantis is interfering with their efforts to make the 2026 ballot and they have asked a court to stop it.

Smart & Safe Florida, the political committee sponsoring the amendment and which is largely supported by Trulieve, a medical marijuana company, last week filed a lawsuit over an effort by state election officials to toss out as many as 200,000 signatures for the initiative. They call the actions by Secretary of State Cord Byrd, appointed by DeSantis, “unlawful” and unprecedented. 

Smart & Safe needs to collect more than 880,000 signatures to make the ballot. The new lawsuit points out that Maria Matthews, head of the Division Elections, told local supervisors to throw out signed and validated signatures because Smart & Safe Florida did not provide the people it reached out to by mail with a copy of the entire amendment.  

Matthew’s edict to toss the signatures came after Byrd in March advised Smart & Safe Florida that the petition it was mailing voters and asking them to return wasn’t valid because it didn’t contain the wording of the amendment. 

The group began including the full language following Byrd’s correspondence and also provided Byrd with the names of all those who returned forms to it by mail.

Nevertheless, the suit calls Matthews’ actions unlawful. 

“Smart & Safe filed this lawsuit to require the Secretary of State to follow Florida law and to prevent the state from denying the Florida voters who signed the petition to have their voices,” the group said through a spokesperson.

“We are asking the court to enforce Florida law, it’s really that simple. In this matter in an unprecedented directive the Secretary of State’s office ordered all local supervisors of elections to invalidate upwards of 200,000 lawfully gathered petitions that have already been reviewed and certified by the local supervisors. The state is wrongly attempting to change the rules after the fact and deny these registered voters their voice in the process.”

Under Florida law, those seeking to place an initiative on the ballot have until Feb. 1 to gather the signatures they need. The latest figures posted by the Department of State show that organizers have collected more than 662,000 already.

Smart & Safe Florida is the same group that tried unsuccessfully to get pot legalized in 2024 but the amendment fell short of the 60% threshold needed for approval.

The 200,000 tossed signatures may not be the only legal obstacle the new proposed amendment to legalize marijuana is facing.

Politico Florida reports that Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier has not sent the proposed amendment to the Florida Supreme Court for review, despite the organizers having collected enough signatures to trigger that action.

Meanwhile, the legal challenge over the second pot amendment coincides with a Leon County grand jury’s probe into a $10 million Medicaid payment made to the Hope Florida Foundation, an initiative spearheaded by First Lady Casey DeSantis designed to help transition people off  Medicaid and other social service programs. 

Hope Florida subsequently directed the money to two groups that donated millions to the campaign to defeat the 2024 amendment to legalize recreational pot for adults.

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A pair of reproductive-related bills have been filed in the Florida Legislature in advance of the 2026 legislative session that starts Jan. 13.

One proposal, filed by Vero Beach Republican Sen. Erin Grall, would let parents file wrongful-death lawsuits for the death of a fetus at any stage of development.

As of this publication, Grall’s bill, SB 164 lacked a House companion.

SB 164 would not allow civil suits to be brought against medical personnel providing assistive reproductive technology, or procedures that involve the handling of human eggs, sperm, and embryos to help achieve pregnancy.

Neither could lawsuits be filed against a patient seeking reproductive assistance.

Grall filed similar legislation last year but that bill faced opposition from powerful Sen. Kathleen Passidomo, the former Senate president and chair of the Rules Committee. Passidomo took issue with the bill’s definition of “unborn child” as a “member of the species Homo sapiens, at any stage of development, who is carried in the womb.”

The 2026 version of the bill uses the same definition of unborn child.

The second proposal, HB 6001, was filed by Boca Raton House Democrat Kelly Skidmore. That bill would eliminate from statute the “Florida Pregnancy Support Services Program,” established in 2005 as an initiative of then-Gov. Jeb Bush with the Legislature agreeing to appropriate $2 million for its operations.

In 2018, the Legislature codified the program into statute passing HB 41.

Now the program is housed in the Department of Health and legislators have agreed in the current year state budget to allocate $29.5 million to help it operate.

Skidmore argues that the program is no longer needed because of the state’s six-week abortion ban which, for the most part, bans terminations before many patients know they are pregnant.

“When we live in a state that has a six-week ban, how many crisis pregnancies do you think there are that we still need to fund $29.5 million for these centers?” Skidmore asked. “What crisis pregnancies are they helping with? There aren’t any, because there are no options for pregnant women. So, this is just false. All of it is false and a misuse of taxpayer dollars.”

HB 6001 doesn’t have a Senate companion because it is a “repealer bill.” Florida House Speaker Daniel Perez implemented a rule allowing representatives to file one repealer bill per session that does not count toward their seven-bill limit.

Skidmore said she took advantage of the opportunity.

“And what surprises me is that the emphasis on the new DOGE office has not raised this as a red flag of inappropriate spending of taxpayer dollars, particularly since there was a recent news story that the lawyer that represents many of these networks gave advice to not provide ultrasounds to pregnant women suspected of having an ectopic pregnancy because it was a high risk of being sued,” Skidmore said, referencing a Massachusetts lawsuit.

Meanwhile, the most recent available data show that during state fiscal year 2022-23, 21,372 women were provided 132,395 counseling services and 18,238 pregnancy tests were provided by the centers.

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Slightly more than 78% of the 2,152 first-time applicants — or 1,687 people who took the Florida Bar examination in Tampa this summer — passed, data released by the Florida Supreme Court Monday show.

When the data are narrowed to the 1,236 first-time applicants who attended one of the state’s 12 accredited law schools, the statewide passage rate increases to 82.8%

The University of Florida Levin College of Law had the highest passage rate of the 12 accredited law schools in the state (92.8%).  One-hundred-thirty-eight UF law school graduates sat for the bar exam July 29-30 in Tampa and 128 of them passed.

Jacksonville University College of Law had the second highest passing rate with 11 of the 12 graduates passing the multi-part test, earning the school a 91.7% passing rate.

Florida International University College of Law, Florida State University College of Law, and Stetson University College of Law round out the top five schools with the highest passing rates, scoring 89.3%, 88.5%, and 87.3%, respectively.

Passing rates were lower for the 416 first-time applicants who attended what’s described on the Supreme Court’s list as “other accredited schools.” The passing rate for those students was 66.1%. 

Another 243 applicants who were already admitted to the practice of law but sitting for the Florida Bar exam for the first time; 176 of them passed the test. That’s a passing rate of 72.4%

The Florida Bar examination consists of multiple parts; Part A and Part B of the general bar examination and the multistate professional responsibility examination.

The exam is offered twice a year, once in February and once in July, although the scores generally are higher in July when the test is taken by applicants soon following graduation.

The July 2025 passing rate soars past the February overall passing rate of 64.9% and eclipses the July 2024 overall passing rate of 76%.

Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Michael Moline for questions: info@floridaphoenix.com.

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