| | | | |  | | By Kimberly Leonard | | Presented by |  | | | PROGRAMMING NOTE: Florida Playbook will be off Thursday for Thanksgiving and on Friday. We'll be back on Monday, Dec. 2. Have a wonderful holiday!
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Then-Florida Sen. Don Gaetz debates on the Senate floor in Tallahassee, Florida, in 2015. | Steve Cannon/AP | Good morning and welcome to Wednesday. Florida state Sen. DON GAETZ has a homecoming ahead in more ways than one. Gaetz is the next chair of the Ethics and Elections Committee. It’s an area he knows well: He recently served on Florida’s Commission on Ethics, a nine-member independent watchdog. And in 2018, he helped put a constitutional amendment on the ballot that banned ex-lawmakers from lobbying for six years and prohibited public officials from taking actions that benefit themselves, their families or business associates. The rules took effect last year — something Gaetz said he plans to keep an eye on from his new perch. “Raising the standard of ethics among public officials has been a longtime passion and interest of mine,” the Republican lawmaker said. Another part of the job involves holding possible confirmation hearings on Gov. RON DESANTIS’ appointments. Agency heads and commission members tend to leave in a governor’s final two years in office, said Gaetz, who was Senate president from 2012 to 2014. The committee also will review the 2024 election for possible new voting laws. Gaetz said the election was a “great success” and conducted “very effectively,” though he’ll be listening carefully to supervisors of election and Florida’s secretary of state. “I don't anticipate any major cleanup,” he said, “but it is usually the case that there is an elections bill that tries to pull it a stitch tighter and deal with any issues.” Playbook also inquired about personal financial disclosures. Gaetz’s son, former Rep. MATT GAETZ, had run-ins with the House Ethics Committee over his personal life that contributed to him leaving public office. But the younger Gaetz also was among the loudest voices pushing to ban members of Congress from trading stocks — something most Americans agree with. The Legislature may be a different story. Don Gaetz said he never received complaints about Florida officials’ conflicts of interest and noted that local and state officers had less influence on publicly traded companies than Congress did. “I don't want us to generate a solution in search of a problem,” he said. “I’m certainly open to learning more about whether any of the good government groups have identified conflicts of interest or believe there are problems to look at.” The elder Gaetz also praised Florida’s disclosures. They require lawmakers and officials to show how much money they make and owe, what investments they have and how much they’re making from contracts like book deals. “We have the most transparent system of public disclosure that I’m aware of anywhere in the country,” he said. The Florida disclosures do differ from congressional requirements in one key way. When members of Congress buy or sell stocks, they have to report their transactions within 30 days (Business Insider found many lawmakers fail at this, with little consequence.). Florida lawmakers and officials only have to list the stocks they held on the last day of each year, so any transactions over the course of the year never get posted for public scrutiny. Gaetz’s appointment received widespread praise from good government groups. BEN WILCOX, Integrity Florida’s research director, said he hoped he would work to repeal SB 7014. The new law only allows ethics commissions to review complaints from people who identify themselves and have “personal knowledge” of possible wrongdoing, rather than “hearsay.” CAROLINE KLANCKE, executive director of the Florida Ethics Institute, said the organization supported proposals from the ethics commission that would provide whistleblower protections for ethics complainants. It also supports having officials' salaries withheld when they're found guilty of violating ethics laws yet don't pay their associated civil penalties. Have a tip, story, suggestion, birthday, anniversary, new job, or any other nugget that Playbook should look at? Get in touch at: kleonard@politico.com.
| | | | A message from Instagram: Instagram Teen Accounts: automatic protections for teens
Parents want safer online experiences for their teens. That's why Instagram is introducing Teen Accounts, with automatic protections for who can contact teens and the content they can see.
A key factor: Only parents can approve safety setting changes for teens under 16.
Learn more. | | | |  | CAMPAIGN MODE | | |  Rep. Cory Mills (R-Fla.), left, and Randy Fine participate in a discussion about Israel at the Republican Party of Florida Freedom Summit in Kissimmee, Florida, on Nov. 4, 2023. | Phelan M. Ebenhack/AP | RANDY RESIGNING — State Sen. RANDY FINE submitted his resignation letter on Tuesday, given that he’s officially running for House District 6, the seat that Rep. MIKE WALTZ (R-Fla.) will soon vacate to become Trump’s national security adviser. His letter, provided first to Playbook, says he’ll resign March 31 — one day before the special election — which means he’ll be in Tallahassee for the start of the legislative session. Fine said in his letter that he was drawn to politics to help shape education policy but that he was worried about the world his children would grow up in. He called colleges and universities “a cesspool of wokeism and antisemitism” and cited concerns about illegal immigration and inflation. “It is my belief that President Trump is our nation’s last, best chance to right the ship,” he wrote. “And with his statement this weekend, he believes I can help. I owe it to those same children that I entered office to serve to join that fight.” Fine announced his decision to run through a Tuesday morning appearance on Fox News. “When [Trump] said he thought I could help him, I knew I didn't have a choice,” he said. Aside from Trump, Fine has the endorsement of the Republican Jewish Coalition, House Republican leadership, Sen. RICK SCOTT (R-Fla.) and Rep. BYRON DONALDS (R-Fla.). DROPPING OUT — Republicans KEITH GROSS and JOHN FRANKMAN have dropped out of the running to replace Matt Gaetz after Trump endorsed Florida Chief Financial Officer JIMMY PATRONIS, according to Florida Politics’ Jacob Ogles. — “What to know about Jimmy Patronis, the Trump-endorsed candidate running to replace Gaetz,” by the Miami Herald’s Ana Ceballos.
| | | | REGISTER NOW: As the 118th Congress ends, major decisions loom, including healthcare appropriations. Key focus: site neutrality. Can aligning hospital and clinic costs cut federal spending, reflect physician costs, and lower patient expenses? Join policymakers and providers to discuss. | | | | | | | TRUMPLANDIA AND THE SWAMP | | ANOTHER FLORIDA CONNECTION — Trump has tapped Stanford physician and economist JAY BHATTACHARYA to lead the National Institutes of Health, reports POLITICO’s Erin Schumaker. Bhattacharya was among the experts who gave DeSantis advice when navigating the Covid pandemic. LENDING A LOCAL HAND? — Doral officials are considering asking Trump for help to fight the planned construction of a waste incinerator, reports Verónica Egui Brito of the Miami Herald. The old incinerator was destroyed in a fire and a commission vote on the matter is planned for Dec. 3. The Miami Herald reports: “Doral Mayor Christi Fraga … plans to reach out to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Trump’s pick for EPA administrator, Lee Zeldin, to seek their support in preventing the county from obtaining the necessary permits to build the new facility within city limits. Fraga believes Trump will help the city’s residents, given that Trump National Doral Golf Club is located just one mile from the Miami-Dade incinerator on Northwest 97th Avenue. Additionally, the Trump Organization has a proposed development … pending final city approval.” MAKE AMERICA FLORIDA — “Trump is loading his administration up with Floridians. Is Washington ready?” — check out the discussion with POLITICO’s Gary Fineout, Mia McCarthy, Meridith McGraw and Kimberly Leonard. — “Pam Bondi charmed her way from Tampa’s courthouse to the White House,” by the Tampa Bay Times’ Dan Sullivan.
| | | | A message from Instagram:   | | | | | ... DATELINE TALLAHASSEE ... | | ON HOLD — A legal challenge to Florida’s ban on openly carrying firearms won’t go to trial until late 2025. U.S. District Judge JOSE E. MARTINEZ late last week noticed the trial for Nov. 3 of next year. In August, a gun rights organization sued the St. Lucie County sheriff and the state attorney for the 19th circuit over the law. The group contends that the open carry ban violates the U.S. Constitution. Florida Attorney General ASHLEY MOODY was asked to defend the existing law but her office declined to get involved at this stage of the litigation. Senate President BEN ALBRITTON, citing opposition from law enforcement, said he did not support repealing the open carry ban. — Gary Fineout
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Trulieve CEO Kim Rivers speaks at a Trulieve medical cannabis dispensary in Hallendale Beach, Florida, on Oct. 23, 2024. | Rebecca Blackwell/AP | NEW WEED LICENSES — The Florida Office of Medical Marijuana Use has finally released the names of the 22 applicants picked to receive licenses to sell and grow medical marijuana. The list of winning applicants was posted Tuesday by the Office of Medical Marijuana Use, and each will receive a license to operate what Florida calls a medical marijuana treatment center. The state’s vertically-integrated medical marijuana program is the largest in the country, and the new licenses almost double the 25 companies already on the books. The recipients of the licenses were picked from a pool of 74 applicants that underwent a vetting and review period that the Florida Department of Health had announced in February 2023 and concluded two months later. DOH has not responded to questions about the delay for several weeks and didn’t respond to a request for comment about the newly released list. The then-outstanding licenses were brought into the fray over this year’s failed ballot initiative on pot. DeSantis, who had vowed to defeat the initiative, accused the state’s largest medical pot company of contributing most of the $152 million to the campaign in a bid to create a monopoly over recreational weed. In response, KIM RIVERS, the CEO of Trulieve, said DeSantis should finally issue the 22 licenses. Trulieve spokesperson STEVE VANCORE said the company was “pleased” about the licenses, which brought the state total to 47. “We continue to look forward to working with the governor and legislature to expand access to safe lab-tested cannabis for Floridians,” he said. — Arek Sarkissian DISENROLLED — “Florida’s Deloitte-run computer system cut off new moms entitled to Medicaid,” reports KFF Health News’ Daniel Chang and Samantha Liss. “It is yet one more example of problems states and beneficiaries have encountered with Medicaid management systems operated by Deloitte, a giant consulting firm. As of July, Florida had awarded the global firm contracts valued at more than $100 million to modernize, operate and maintain the state’s integrated eligibility system for Medicaid and other benefits.” TWO-PART INVESTIGATION — “New school model enables incarcerated kids to watch porn, public records show,” reports the Florida Phoenix’s Jay Waagmeester. “Kids in juvenile detention facilities are using state-provided laptops intended for educational use to post on Instagram, screen movies, and view pornography, according to agency disciplinary reports and people who worked in the system. There’s an overall lack of appropriate supervision for the hundreds of incarcerated youth in 38 residential centers under state oversight and their misbehavior is being underreported, Alyssa Richardson, a behavior analyst who works in facilities housing at the Department of Juvenile Justice youth, told the Phoenix.”
| | | | Want to know what's really happening with Congress's make-or-break spending fights? Get daily insider analysis of Hill negotiations, funding deadlines, and breaking developments—free in your inbox with Inside Congress. Subscribe now. | | | | | | | PENINSULA AND BEYOND | | DISMISSED — “Tyreek Hill’s traffic citations dropped after controversial stop outside Dolphins stadium,” reports Shira Moolten of the South Florida Sun Sentinel. “Hill was facing two citations stemming from the stop outside of Hard Rock Stadium, to which he pleaded not guilty: careless driving and not wearing a seatbelt, according to court records. But on Monday, a Miami-Dade judge dismissed both citations for ‘lack of prosecution’ because Officer Manuel Batista did not show up, according to court records and Hill’s attorney.”
| | ODDS, ENDS AND FLORIDA MEN | | — Scientists are studying alligators and crocodiles to better understand climate change, including environmental pressures in the Everglades, reports Ashley Miznazi of the Miami Herald. HOLIDAY SEASON — Florida first lady CASEY DESANTIS on Tuesday announced the second annual “Hope for the Holidays Toy Drive” that provides children’s gifts for vulnerable families. The group is collecting donations through Dec. 13. NOW HIRING — POLITICO’s Florida team is looking for a reporting intern for the spring semester. Pay is $23/hour. Apply by Nov. 30. BIRTHDAYS: Former state Rep. Halsey Beshears … USA Today Network-Florida’s John Kennedy … (Thursday) former state Rep. Omari Hardy … (Friday) former state Rep. Cindy Polo … (Saturday) former state Rep. Bob Rommel … state Rep. Yvonne Hinson … Kathleen McGrory, local investigations fellowship editor for The New York Times … Mark Kaplan, VP of government and community relations for the University of Florida … Keith Fitzgerald, professor at New College of Florida and former state representative … Florida Politics’ Jacob Ogles … (Sunday) Sen. Rick Scott … former state Rep. Anne Mackenzie ... Tampa Bay Times’ Michael Van Sickler.
| | | | A message from Instagram: Introducing Instagram Teen Accounts: limits for teens, peace of mind for parents
Parents want their teens to grow and thrive - and to make sure they’re staying safe.
That’s why Instagram is launching Teen Accounts, with automatic protections limiting who can contact teens and the content they can see. Putting built-in limits in place for teens, so parents can have more peace of mind.
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