And while no one was willing to *publicly* oppose the legislation to fix Senate Bill 180 during the 2026 session, developer front groups like the Florida Home Builders Association and Associated Industries of Florida have since celebrated its demise...

A week after the session ended, records show that Pat Neal made a $25,000 donation to Rep. Sam Garrison, a Republican from Fleming Island who chairs the House Rules & Ethics Committee — and who single-handedly stopped the votes from happening. Two months later, Neal gave Garrison another $50,000...

The hurricane-recovery law has even complicated local efforts to slow or stop development of hyperscale data centers...

Records show that lobbyists whose clients include Pat Neal of Neal Communities and Carlos Beruff of Medallion Home arranged a private meeting with at least one top lawmaker during this year’s session to object to a bipartisan plan to undo parts of a law known as Senate Bill 180...

Tampa Electric Co. says there is "encouraging activity related to data center development" in Florida. The quote below is from Scott Balfour, the top executive at TECO's parent company (Emera Inc.), during the company's Q2 earnings call earlier this week.

Facebook parent company & hyperbole data center developer Meta Platforms is getting ready to fund advertisements on behalf of pro-AI candidates in Florida. Meta just set up this political committee:

Florida Power & Light increased projected electricity demand from hyperscale data centers and other "large load" customers by 33% – from 6 gigawatts to 8 gigawatts by 2032 – after Ron DeSantis signed a new law that utility execs say will spur data center development in Florida.

More from TECO execs: Senate Bill 484 "certainly makes it clearer to the data center investment community that Florida is, in fact, open for business...."

The parent company of TECO (Tampa Electric Co.) loves Florida's new data center law, too. Emera Inc.'s CEO told investment analysts that the law "sets a clear path for data center development."

Also from FPL's president and CEO: "I think there are a lot of spots in the state of Florida, and we are working with those communities that are really interested and have good locations that will be the perfect host for data centers."

Execs at utility giant Florida Power & Light say the new data center law that Ron DeSantis signed in May will actually *encourage* data center development in Florida. From FPL parent NextEra Energy Inc.'s Q2 earnings call last week:

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier used his office earlier this year to help Fontainebleau Hotel in its bid to build an onsite waterpark despite local opposition. The famed hotel is owned by billionaire Jeffrey Soffer – who also owns a casino that donated $25K to Uthmeier.

New: Data center interests have spent more than $22 million on campaign contributions in Florida ahead of the 2026 elections. Roughly a quarter of the money ($5.8 million) has been spent boosting Byron Donalds, the leading Republican candidate for governor. jasongarcia.substack.com/p/data-cente...

Water management districts, too:

Florida is about to start down the road to using artificial intelligence to determine eligibility for food stamps. State lawmakers agreed to add this procurement language to the new state budget during a late-night meeting yesterday:

House and Senate budget negotiators had previously settled on just $500K for the zoo, which needs to make a bunch of upgrades to maintain AZA accreditation. That would have been about $250K short of what the Central Florida Zoo had requested.

A bit of nice budget news: The Florida Senate added back funding for renovations at the Central Florida Zoo, which has been hit with ~$200K in unexpected costs caring for a group of dangerously sick sloths that were rescued from the failed "Sloth World' tourist trap in Orlando.

Lobbyists for another one of Guidry's companies (Pointe Resort LLC) have been lobbying the Legislature on something to do with "beach preservation" and "land acquisition" this year.

Update: Okaloosa Prime Properties LLC put $25,000 last summer into a political committee controlled by a Republican political consultant in Tallahassee. ~Two weeks later, that PC put $50,000 into "Panhandle Prosperity," which is controlled by Sen. Jay Trumbull (R-Panama City)

...And corporate records show that Okaloosa Island Prime Properties LLC is managed by Robert Guidry. That's same real-estate developer/Republican Party donor who owned the 4 acres in Destin that the state bought last year for $80+ million.

The budget instructions don't spell out a specific parcel to be acquired. But Okaloosa County property records show a company called Okaloosa Island Prime Properties LLC owns some vacant land right next to the Gulf Island National Seashore...

Florida lawmakers are in the very final stages of negotiations on a new state budget. And they just proposed a new provision ordering state officials to buy property in Okaloosa County that is "within the Gulf Island National Seashore"...

House also willing to push the New College takeover back by about three months:

Florida budget news: House GOP leaders still want to give USF's Sarasota-Manatee campus to New College. But: 1) They are now willing to let USF keep ~$20 million in funding linked to the campus. 2) They suddenly want to let New College divert $5 million in funding away from student scholarships

Ron DeSantis wants Florida taxpayers to keep paying for his security after he leaves office. This proposal just surfaced in a budget offer from the Florida Senate, where the chamber's GOP leadership has closely aligned itself with the governor this session:

Even as Republican lawmakers in Florida struggle to finalize an austerity budget that they insist must be smaller than last year's, GOP leaders in the state House just found $5.5 million of taxpayer money to spend renaming an airport after Donald Trump.

Ron DeSantis and Florida's Republican-controlled Legislature are about to approve new Congressional maps that were *intentionally* drawn to violate an anti-gerrymandering constitutional amendment that was approved by 63 percent of Florida voters.

Last month, a Democrat won a special election for Florida’s House District 87. The seat had been held by a Republican, who won it in November 2024 by 19 percentage points. There are ~30 GOP-held state House seats across Florida where the 2024 margin of victory was narrower than 19 points.

Here are executives at NextEra Energy (FPL’s parent company) discussing it during the company’s Q4 earnings call, which was held in late January, as Florida’s legislative session was underway: (4/4)

The Florida Legislature just sent Ron DeSantis a bill that records show was initially written by lobbyists for phosphate mining giant Mosaic Co. The bill makes it harder to sue mining companies over exposure to elevated radiation levels they leave behind on former mines.