The Florida Roundup - Doge impact on Florida’s disaster preparedness, state budget remains at impasse and weekly news briefing

Episode Date: May 16, 2025

This week on The Florida Roundup, we looked at how federal funding cuts and job losses could impact weather forecasting and hurricane preparedness in Florida with Alex Harris, lead climate change reporter for the Miami Herald (03:30) and with James Franklin, former Chief of Forecast Operations at the National Hurricane Center (11:07). Later, we checked in with WUSF’s Douglas Soule for an update on state budget negotiations (32:00). Plus, we looked at one Florida City that has resisted signing an agreement with federal immigration forces (37:20), state tuition hikes for “Dreamers" (39:38), and we open up our inbox to share some listener emails (44:53).

This is the Florida Roundup. I'm Tom Hudson. Great to have you along this week. Hurricane season does not start for another two weeks, but the cancellations already have been coming in. These are not weather-related cancellations. These are due to DOGE, the Department of Government Efficiency, which is not an official federal government department, and other funding cuts directed by President Donald Trump

and his executive orders. More than a dozen positions have been cut at National Weather Service offices across the state. These are the offices responsible for weather forecasts and warnings when bad weather threatens. And President Trump fired the head of FEMA this month after he testified to Congress that he did not think getting rid of FEMA was a good idea. He has since been replaced by someone with no disaster management experience. It all makes for a different start to the storm season for Floridians. One milestone that remained on the schedule was the annual Florida

Governor's Hurricane Conference, where 2000 emergency management operations folks gathered to hear from weather experts, disaster response officials, and get training for professional certifications. But it was a much different conference this year thanks to the absence of federal agencies like the National Weather Service and FEMA. Eileen Kelly from our partner station WGCU was at the conference. The state of hurricane evacuations cancelled. Hurricane readiness for coastal communities cancelled. Helping you help others also cancelled.

The cancellation list is long, impacting more than one quarter of the hurricane conference's original 40 sessions. The canceled sessions are due to cutbacks in federal funding under the Donald Trump administration. Trump typically spends his weekends at his winter residence nearby on the island of Palm Beach. But frozen travel budgets for other federal workers means some two dozen workers with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the National Hurricane Center and the National Weather Service had to skip out of this year's events and training sessions.

Sessions they were supposed to be leading. Will these 12 cancellations affect certifications? Event coordinator John Jam Jameson with the Palm Beach County government said no. A lot of these the weather service trainings and things like that are not required for emergency managers to get their certification to do emergency management. Some 2,000 people registered for the week-long events. More than half of the states in the US sent people to the conference in Florida and Florida is represented quite well with people from 53 of the 67 counties. There are also contingents of people from Caribbean nations, Canada and even the United Kingdom. There's an information aspect to it so there'll be

public information officers here, there's emergency managers here, there's a lot of fire rescue, police, anybody that deals with the aftermath or the planning for a hurricane is going to be involved here. But it's not just hurricanes the attendees are training for. It's tornadoes, wildfires, and other natural disasters where masses need to be sheltered or evacuated. I'm Eileen Kelly in West Palm Beach. What does hurricane forecasting and communications look and sound like in the age of government efficiency and presidential executive orders? Are there places to save money in how we prepare and recover from disasters?

And do you heed the warnings when bad weather comes? Call us now 305-995-1800. 305-995-1800. We will be speaking with the former chief of forecast operations at the National Hurricane Center coming up in just a few moments. First, Alex Harris is the lead climate change reporter for the Miami Herald. Alex, thanks for joining us on the program. So how many fewer people are working today at National Weather Service offices in Florida?

From my calculations, it looks like we're running down about 16 fewer staffers, and that is everything from meteorologists in charge who head the office to the meteorologists who look at the models and tell us if it's going to flood to the engineers and staffers who just keep the show running. Talk a little bit more about the jobs that are vacant and the role that they would play in a normal sunshine day, but also when a hurricane is threatening the Sunshine State.

So a meteorologist in charge is the top boss at a weather office, and they are the ones who are making management decisions. They are okaying the forecast to see what goes out and when you call for a watch or a warning. The meteorologists are the ones who are pouring over all the data they can get their hands on to let you know, how much rain are we gonna see from the storm?

Is it gonna be different in Fort Lauderdale versus Miami versus the Florida Keys? Spoiler, yes, which makes these offices so valuable because they are the ones who are localizing the impacts of the larger weather phenomenon that we're seeing and letting you know, like, hey, there's a flash flood warning.

Don't drive for the next few hours. Or it's extreme heat. Bring some extra water with you today. They are the ones who are sending those local warnings and notifications for us. Is it accurate to say that these jobs are vacant or do they just no longer exist at these National Weather Service offices? That's a good question for my reporting. I can't quite tell. Obviously, the Weather Service office folks are pretty tight lipped and so are the spokespeople for their organizations.

What I did was I looked at the current staffing list that they have on their website and I compared them to the staff list in around September, looking through the way back machine. And I've noticed that there are a handful of people at each of these places that don't work there anymore. And I looked them up and some of them are on LinkedIn as open to work, some of them work at other places. So it's clearly a combination of people who took a buyout, were laid off, or maybe in one case of a meteorologist

in Miami looks like he started a real estate company. There's various reasons people leave, but the positions are listed as vacant on their website right now. So 16 fewer people, is that a lot given the total headcount of National Weather Service personnel, say, a year ago when we would be talking? that a lot given the total headcount of National Weather Service personnel say a year ago when we would be talking? Mostly that shakes down to about three or four

people per office of around 20 or 30 people. It's a noticeable impact but we're not talking bare bones. We are definitely down with fewer players on the field right as the big games about to start. So you mentioned some folks seem to have taken buyouts, maybe that were offered by the Department of Government Efficiency, which is technically not a government department of the federal government. Perhaps they retired. Is there a thread to pull out of these vacancies of these folks that are no longer with the National Weather Service?

I think some of these folks are kind of hoping they might get their jobs back. We saw it happen with members of the National Weather Service. Some people were laid off and then they got their jobs back and then they laid off again. We saw it with hurricane hunters at the Lakeland office in Florida. Two hurricane hunters and two other techs were all laid off and the hurricane hunters were brought back but the three techs were not. The Hurricane Hunters are those planes that fly literally into the eye of the storm to get all those important readings.

Now this is about what's happening today but President Trump has come up with his spending plan beginning in October of 2025, the new fiscal year, and the proposal calls for funding cuts of about 30% to the parent organization of the National Weather Service. And five former heads have written pretty significant letters. What are they worried about? They are worried about losing the incredible scientific gains we've made in the last few decades. America leads the world in weather research, and what was a very accurate five-day for a three-day forecast years ago when Hurricane Andrew came to town in 1992 is the same level of accuracy we see now at five days. And the path to keep going, I kept hearing from folks who used to work at NOAA,

is sustained investment in research that will make it just as accurate in 20 years at the seven-day mark, at the 10-day mark. The open letter that the Every Living Former Head of the National Weather Service wrote, they said they were deeply concerned about these cuts. And they are specifically worried that if we are facing this deficit of staffing, that there will be, the phrase they used is, needless loss of life. Alex Harris is the lead climate change reporter for the Miami Herald. Alex, terrific reporting. We really appreciate you sharing it with us. Thanks much. An internal federal emergency

management agency document warns that the agency is not ready for the hurricane season that starts in just a couple of weeks. ABC News reports the document includes this sentence, quote, as FEMA transforms to a smaller footprint, the intent for this hurricane season is not well understood. Thus, FEMA is not ready, end quote. Now as we mentioned, just last week President Trump fired the acting chief administrator of FEMA. David Merrick is the director of Florida State University's Center for Disaster Risk Policy. This week he said the emergency management community is being told to expect a different hurricane season. The 25 season is going to look different than the 24 season. We don't know exactly how that is. I think Florida might be in a much better position

than some of the other states when it comes to the ability to respond and recover Florida's emergency has a reduced role Florida's emergency response boss does not think this hurricane season will look any different this year though The State's Department of Emergency Management executive director Kevin Guthrie told us in a statement today that the state quote is Prepared for any storms that come our way this year and will continue to perform at a very high level for the residents of Florida end quote. Wired magazine has been reporting that FEMA has circulated what it calls five key reforms to regional directors. One change is that it will stop going door-to-door in disaster areas helping survivors apply for federal assistance.

It also wants to emphasize local and state assistance over federal help. What do you think about all this? Send us an email, radio at the floridaroundup.org. Robert N. Jensen Beach sent us this note writing, In the middle of all the talk about tax cuts for Floridians, no one is talking about the elephant in the room, namely the fact that FEMA as we know it no longer exists. How can the state justify tax cuts when there may be a need for funding pre-planning and reconstruction without the assistance of the federal government?

Robert continues, writing, What steps are the governor and the legislature taking to address this? It may require the need to raise taxes. 305-995-1800 is our phone number. James Franklin is now with us. James is the former branch chief of the National Hurricane Center's Hurricane Specialist Unit. He retired in 2017. James, welcome to the program. Thanks for your time. Thank you, Tom. Glad to be here. There are 122 National Weather Service Offices throughout the country.

Florida has I'll call it six and a half because the western stretch of the panhandle is covered out of an office in Alabama. Is this the most efficient organizational structure for National Weather Service? Well, it's a it's a big organization. It's tried to evolve over many years, whether it's as efficient as it could be I'm sure no organization is quite as efficient as it could be But it really has done a marvelous job providing services for the American people Over the decades that I've been associated with it

And so the cuts in the personnel are really concerning to me with it and so the cuts in the personnel are really concerning to me. Describe the return on investment that has been made by the American public over the course of the last several decades regarding weather forecasting. You know there are a number of studies out there the one that I remember most recently actually dealt with with hurricanes and and they estimated that since 2007, the improvement in hurricane forecasting has resulted in a savings of $5 billion per landfalling storm. And that's four times the annual National Weather Service budget. We had five landfalling US storms last year, hurricanes last year. So there's really a lot of benefit to it, both financially

and obviously in terms of lives. Five billion dollars of savings per storm that made landfall back to 2007. Is that kind of the calculation here? That the improvements that we've seen since 2007, in terms of improved forecast accuracy, less evacuation, economic benefits, that those improvements produce savings of five billion per landfalling hurricane over the last, I guess that's almost 20 years. So as you hear about these 16 positions or so that Alex Harris of the Miami Herald calculated

of folks who have left the National Weather Service offices in Florida as hurricane season begins, what are your concerns? What could those costs, what could that cost forecasting or communications for the upcoming storm season? So the losses at the local weather forecast offices are, I think, are going to be important in a couple of ways. We've seen in various offices across the country that not every balloon launch, the twice a day balloon launches, are occurring now. And those are very important observations that improve numerical models. If as a hurricane approaches some of those balloon launches,

whether they be in Florida or the Midwest or wherever they are, all those observations are connected, that you're going to see some degradations in some of the model forecasts of hurricanes. The other part of it is that while the National Hurricane Center is well-staffed and they continue to be well-staffed, they produce the forecast for hurricane track, intensity, size, but it's the local offices that translate those National Hurricane Center forecasts

into local impacts. And those are the folks who talk with local emergency managers and local officials and try and get them the best information that they can get on what's happening in their specific areas. And I'm concerned that they will not be able to reach as many people when we're in some of those serious situations this summer. Do you think it's a matter that the National Weather Service is going to be able to do that? to reach as many people when we're in some of those serious situations this summer. Do you think it's a matter that the National Weather Service stations in Florida simply

won't have the communication capabilities, the people to communicate to the local emergency management folks in the counties across the Gulf Coast or the Atlantic Coast as a storm may threaten the state? My understanding is that Miami and Key West, for example, are down 30% in terms of meteorologists. So, you know, when you've got an event, and a hurricane event can go on for days, it requires, you know, around-the-clock coverage, and you're going to burn out some of these people.

Now, I know that the Weather Service is trying to move folks around and fill vacancies. There was an announcement last week, but it's a little bit like shuffling the deck chairs on the Titanic. You fill a hole somewhere and you're creating one somewhere else. Well, let's hope we're not the Titanic in this metaphor here. James Franklin is the former branch chief of the National Hurricane Center's Hurricane Specialist Unit. He's going to stick with us. Mary Tracy in Bonita Springs has been listening and waiting patiently. Mary thanks for

listening and calling. You're on the radio. Hi, how are you? I'm well. How are you today? I'm fine thank you but I'm very very concerned about the fact that our current president seems to be completely out of touch uh... with the people in southwest florida who are extremely dependent on hurricane preparation hurricane warning hurricane tracking uh... you know all of us uh... tampa on down at the heart hit because of clock

and word you know that they believe right uh... and we're just uh... it where we get can't believe but anyone would make cut for relief warning tracking any of these things better felt essential to us when we're terrified by the possibility of storm without those things while i can be a lot

a lot more money plan to be back it's ridiculous and it's also heartless. And you would think that someone who spends as much time playing golf in Florida would realize the impact this can have on all of us down here. Thanks for listening. Mary, thank you for adding your voice there from Bonita Springs, Hurricane Ian, Helene, Milton. We know them by name there in southwest Florida, Mary. Hopefully you and your family are well protected. James, what could you say to Mary to assuage some of her concerns,

particularly regarding just the weather forecasting when a storm threatens? Well, I can't say anything really good. I mean, we're this loss, and not just the Weather Service, but if you look at the proposed budget in terms of cutting off NOAA research side, cutting off the cooperative institutes that exist across the country, we're talking about getting rid of organizations that have produced key techniques and key technologies that the National Hurricane Center has come to rely on. The GPS drop-in song, for example,

it's an instrument that I spent most of my career working with, was not developed by the Weather Service. It was developed on the research side and its benefits were identified on the research side. Is this the thing that you drop out of the shoot in the airplane going through the eyewall? Yeah, okay. So you've flown through 80 eyewalls in your time in your career, if not more. Yeah, that was the count when I retired from that aspect of my career after Hurricane Mitch in 1998.

Remarkable. to my career after Hurricane Mitch in 1998. Remarkable. And so you have these organizations that are producing models, developing models, and all of the improvements that we've seen over the last 20, 30 years, our ability today to sometimes forecast rapid intensification, which we could never do before. James, let me just interrupt. We've got to take a quick break. Stick with us. James Franklin used to be with the National Hurricane Center talking about hurricane preparedness on the Florida Roundup. This is the Florida Roundup. I'm Tom Hudson. Next week, it is our summer bookshelf program.

We're going to hear from authors who write in or about Florida, including hold on for this one, an eye opening exploration of one of the state's, I'll call it least favorite reptiles. Snakes are merely one of myriad partners and ecological web. Now you gotta wait until next week to hear about what pythons may be able to teach us about eating. It is fascinating. And then we'll have an only from Florida family story. She has used her trusty BB gun to shoot at a man who she claimed was stealing mangoes

from her yard. Only in Florida, I will note that today, today, May 16th was the first time a colleague gave me a backyard mango. It is early mango season in South Florida. Thank you, Josh, for that mango. We will enjoy it this weekend. Let us know what you're reading this summer. You can email us radio at the Florida Roundup.org radio at the Florida Roundup.org.

That's next week on this program. Now the 2025 hurricane season will look different. This is how the head of Florida State University's Disaster Risk Center described the message and the emergency management community with all the changes that the Trump administration is making at FEMA. Then there is the reduced staffing at National Weather Service offices thanks to job cuts and retirements. Ricardo sent us this email. He lives near South Miami in Dade County. Ricardo writes, I think it's completely irresponsible for the Trump administration to cut hurricane monitoring

and other FEMA resources ahead of hurricane season. It boggles my mind how our elected Republican representatives continue to support him and don't have the backbone to do their job and represent the interests of their constituents. Ricardo finishes writing, this is often a matter of life or death for many Florida residents and their silence speaks volumes. You can share your thoughts radio at the Florida Roundup.org or call taking a couple more calls at 305-995-1800. James Franklin is still with us former branch chief of the National Hurricane Center's hurricane specialist unit. We've

been talking James, of course, about some of the job losses at National Weather Service stations across the state of Florida. Can private weather services make up for this gap in this hurricane season? cap in this hurricane season? Well, you know, when you cut weather balloon launches, the data aren't available to anybody, not even private forecasters. When you cut modeling groups like they did at the Environmental Modeling Center up in Maryland, the models don't get better.

And nobody then can get the benefits of improved models, including private meteorologists. So I think that these are cuts that are going to hinder both public and private meteorologists. When we hear from state emergency management officials say that the state is ready, do not expect any difference in the state's ability to respond for recovery and relief, do you hear that, James, from a meteorological standpoint, or is that more, I suppose, from a kind of boots on the ground after the storm comes standpoint? Yeah I think they're certainly talking about the response

side of it and my concern is on the forecast side of it with all of the cuts that we're talking about it's the forecasts that are going to be degraded starting this year and that means that the people who have to respond may have to do more response rather than less because we're dealing with poorer forecasts. And how do, when you were at the Hurricane Center, you experienced the 2004 and 2005 seasons. You mentioned Hurricane Mitch, Hurricane Irma in 2017, I think was your last big storm,

at least in Florida. How do forecasts influence recovery and relief efforts after the fact? Well, I mean, it's really in terms of the preparation. So our job at the hurricane center is not so much on the response side, but it's making sure that people are prepared. And that includes, by the way, making sure that EMs and public officials understand how to use National Hurricane Center products. In Ian, for example, Lee County was a day late in issuing an evacuation order for the Punta Gorda area, and there were 36 storm surge fatalities in Lee County.

After that, public officials blamed the fact that they were outside of or on the edge of the cone. And, you know, when I hear that from a public official, I'm, you know, boy, that person really needs some training on the kind of products that NHC and the Weather Service have in order to make decisions. You don't make decisions about evacuations based on where you are with respect to the cone. So it's that training that you know, we heard about earlier in the program that isn't happening. And so that concerns me a lot on the preparation side, that double edged sword of the infamous forecast cone, live and die by it, but one should not at all. James, stick with us here. We are continuing to talk with James Franklin,

former branch chief of the National Hurricane Center's Hurricane Specialist Unit about job cuts at the National Weather Service in the upcoming hurricane season. Melissa has been a patient in Treasure Island. Melissa, great to have you on the radio. Go ahead. Thank you for having me. This could not have come at a better time just when you're talking about on the edge of cone and how People who say the cone versus the risk We were I live in Treasure Island. We were 200 miles from the storm and with storm Haleem We had 13 people in Pinellas County Passaway lose their lives three of them were on my island and happened very, very

quickly. So one of my questions is after the math of that, FEMA response and the national response and the state response was eight days after that storm. We were without food, power, water, sewer, any supplies, and we were basically held hostage on the island for our security with not being able to leave and go get those items. So with cut and limited staff, my concern is since it took eight days with presumably full staff, how long is it going to take for our next response? And will it be more than eight days? And if so, how much more life will be lost,

or quality of life will be lost, as a result of lower amounts of staff to help us? Melissa, have these concerns changed how you're thinking about your own preparation and response for this season coming up in two weeks? Yeah, so I live on the third floor. We were pretty responsive. When we hear things like five to eight foot storm surges, that translates to about five

feet of water in my garage. So we take these things pretty seriously. I live right on the water. Some of the things that I had not included were a response plan for our community. We only have 10 units in our community. We're pretty close and tight-knit. But now we've launched a supply chain. How many people have generators?

How many people have coolers? Do we have enough water? Because we had to mobilize very quickly as a small community, and I feel that that is part of what the Homeless Security and FEMA community lifelines are about. If you don't know about that, that's fun as far as you're folks with training. Community lifelines are the safety net for every

community. You could take that and adapt it to a small community, but we're not even hearing about those educational schools. I had to go learn those for myself and then change my dissertation topic specifically because what happened to us and how I think we can really mobilize some of the tools you already have that don't cost any money and that don't even require any staff. So I'm wondering if there are any ways that your speaker that's on right now can help us and guide us as individual residents to look at the things we already have available to us and where should we be going so that we can mobilize ourselves?

Yeah, Melissa, we'll wait for your webinar next. I think, Melissa, you're in a great position to have that. But best of luck. Thanks for sharing your experiences there from Treasure Island. James, I know you're on the meteorological side, not on the emergency management side, but for folks like Melissa who live in barrier islands or others near water, which is just about every, all of us here in the peninsula in the Panhandle,

what about kind of local resources that perhaps had been minimized or we didn't necessarily think of that now you and others who are in this kind of business have been emphasizing for many years that could get new attention? So, you know, all the time that I was at the Hurricane Center, we've always preached that individuals need to understand and become familiar with what their individual

vulnerabilities are, what their risks are. I personally don't have to worry about flooding because of where I live. And so I'm worried about wind. But so, you know, everybody has their own risk profile that they need to understand. The Hurricane Center website is a good place to start. They have some resources there. Individual counties have resources available, but it really is important as we see what's happening on the federal level, that people take some responsibility and don't get caught unawares and unprepared. So you're not looking for food in the eight days after a storm hits, you have it ahead of time. Right. That's right. You should be stocking up that hurricane cabinet as best you can right now. I'll give you one other just hurricane journalism pro tip,

the Florida storms app from the Florida Public Radio Emergency Network. You can search Florida storms in your app store. I know there's a lot of great radar apps out there for us weather geeks, but I have to tell you at least for my for my free dollar, the Florida storms app, James is a pretty darn good radar and of course keeps people posted on any kind of weather emergencies in their neighborhood. James, we'll let you go but we really appreciate the service that you provided to our community through the many years and your expert look here. Thanks for sharing your expertise with us.

Glad to join you. James Franklin, former branch chief of the National Hurricane Center's Hurricane Specialist Unit. Allie has been patient in Lake County. We want to hear from you, Allie, on this issue. Go ahead. You're on the radio. Yes, sir. I live in Lake County, which is normally a fairly safe area to live in. And I've lived here all my life. And I can tell you that we can talk all we want to about preparation and evacuation, but the people that are living in Florida that have just come here, the seniors, people

that are homebound, there's no preparation for them. They can't afford it. That's why they don't evacuate. They have nowhere to go. And the changes that we have seen, the brutal, heartless changes we have seen, are going to result in a massive amount of fatalities, even if we don't have the kind of hurricanes we experienced last year. These are not the hurricanes I grew up with.

These things crawl up the rest of the country and destroy things. We literally have been told by the actions of this administration and by our own state preparation that those of us that can't get out of the way are simply expendable. Allie, we appreciate you adding to the conversation from Lake County. A hurricane veteran has some really wise points, especially for folks who are new to Florida and perhaps have not experienced a hurricane or perhaps you've gone through a tropical storm, a mighty different experience compared to a hurricane. I will say that the Florida Public Radio Emergency Network is dedicated to public safety during hurricane season, and this public radio station that you're listening to is a member of that Public Radio Emergency Network, and we are proud to provide that service for all of Florida.

There is no deal. Republican legislative leaders and Governor Ron DeSantis have not been able to agree on competing tax cut plans or the state budget and they have to do it by July 1st. The regular law writing session ended a couple of weeks ago. This week the House met and decided to stay in session until June 30th officially. The Senate did not meet. Its deadline is June 6th. And the governor this week rejected a Republican Party of Florida idea to hold a budget summit with all the GOP lawmakers. So, stalemate. Before they can get to a budget, they need to know how much money they'll have to spend. And the governor wants a property tax rebate.

The House, though, passed a sales tax cut. We have been talking about property taxes for many, many months. In fact, last year we were talking about how people's property taxes were going up. The governor says cutting sales taxes will help tourists more than residents. He wants a one thousand dollar property tax rebate for homeowners this year and wants to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot next year to get rid of property taxes altogether. Now, the speaker of the Florida House Daniel Perez calls the governor's rebate idea

irresponsible. Perez also has criticized the governor for not providing a detailed property tax plan as local governments and school districts rely on that revenue. If you would spend more time here in this capital having conversations with myself and other members of the house, he would understand our position, why we're in that position. And if he is able to convince us otherwise and have us move in another direction, maybe in his direction, well, then he has every opportunity to do so.

All right. So what does all this political and budget standoff mean to you? Well, this is exactly what your Florida that project aims to answer by connecting you with state government policies affecting your life. Douglas soul is back with a state government reporter in Tallahassee. Douglas always nice to have you on your life. Douglas soul is back with a state government reporter in Tallahassee Douglas always nice to have you on the program. So this is Republican versus Republican versus Republican over taxes and spending the Florida House, the Senate and the

governor how far apart are they? Well, on day 60 of the legislative session, what was supposed to be the last day mind you, the House and Senate announced they had a form of a budget deal. They also said they'd agreed on tax cuts, a big chunk of them being sales tax cuts. That was a couple of weeks back, and that's blown up. DeSantis said he'd veto the sales tax cuts, believing they put at risk cuts he wants to property taxes. But the House doesn't want to back down on the sales tax stuff.

In fact, it's accusing the Senate of backing down. House Speaker Daniel Perez accused Senate President Ben Alperin of breaking his word on that. In the legislative chambers, that's a pretty big criticism. So they seem far apart. Of course, we're not party to the negotiations. They're happening behind closed doors. They seem far apart and getting further apart as the deadline is approaching. Sarah Schaeffer in St. Petersburg offered these ideas. Budget delays, it's not an abstract thing, right? And so I think it's disappointing to

be here and to know that as a citizen, is there recourse? How can I help or how could I, you know, signal that I want this forward progress, right? And working across the aisles to bridge some of those things. So while the session, at least on paper, is still in, it's not like the lawmakers are sitting in Tallahassee in their chambers, Douglas. What's the timeline that they're operating under? Here's what we do know.

The House and Senate initially agreed to extend the session until June 6. Considering both sides now say they're not going to be working in Tallahassee until at least after Memorial Day weekend, that seems like a tight deadline. In fact, the House has already voted to extend session until the end of June. The Senate hasn't done so yet. Perez did say another update will be provided by the middle of next week. Alperton says they're going to try to announce a schedule for budget conferences as quickly and responsibly as possible. Stephanie Johnson in Tampa shared her thoughts about this stalemate with us.

It's not even like what's right or what's wrong. It's like the optics. They're doing it for the optics. They're not even doing it for the good of the people that they represent their constituents. They're not listening to us. So Douglas, what are the risks of missing the ultimate deadline of having a state approved and signed by the governor's spending plan by July 1st? Getting a balanced budget done by July 1st is really the only constitutional obligation

the legislature has. If it doesn't get done, the consequences would be serious. There's not a precedent for a state government shutdown in Florida, but that's what we'd be looking at. Without that precedent, it's hard to completely comprehend how disruptive that would be, but it'd be highly disruptive. A lot of government activity would grind to a halt. While there would be still some essential employees, that situation would still be especially spooky considering hurricane season starts soon. Now, no one wants that to happen. Legislative leadership and the governor are going to try to avoid that if possible.

The deadline on July 1 that may provide that focus that legislators perhaps are looking for in terms of compromise Douglas soul watching the state government for the your Florida project with our partner station WSF and community engagement reporter Megan Bowman contributes to our reporting. You are listening to the Florida Roundup from Your Florida Public Radio Station. This is the Florida Roundup. I'm Tom Hudson. Great to have you

along. There are more police departments in Florida cooperating with federal immigration authorities than any other state. That is a point of pride for Governor Ron DeSantis. One Florida city, though, has resisted the governor's insistence that local police sign an agreement with federal immigration authorities. Instead of joining the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency's 287G program, South Miami is waiting for a judge's opinion if it is required to sign up under the new state immigration enforcement law. Deputizing our officers for this function is not something that we've chosen to do at this point. This is South Miami Mayor Javier Fernandez

recently at an immigration town hall I moderated. The 287-G program has local police performing some immigration functions under the guidance of ICE. The state attorney general has argued that cities not signing an agreement with ICE violates the state's ban on so-called sanctuary cities. Fernandez, though, is opposed to any deal, arguing it would put his small city at financial risk. I'm expanding my service mission to help a federal agency. And even if there's a civil rights action that's filed against my jurisdiction, I'm on the service mission to help a federal agency and even if there's a civil rights action that's filed against my jurisdiction, I'm on the hook for the liability. The governor this week said he has a quote soup to nuts end quote immigration enforcement

plan that would expand how local and state police enforces federal law. It includes Florida handling deportations for the federal government. Joe Burns from our partner Central Florida Public Media has more. Governor DeSantis says Florida is way ahead among states cooperating with President Donald Trump's mass deportation efforts. That includes more than 1,800 Florida Highway Patrol troopers trained to enforce immigration law and legislation that requires local governments to cooperate. But DeSantis wants to take it further.

We have a plan on the table, if the feds approve, where we can take some of the military judge advocates, let them act as immigration judges, we can do makeshift detention space, and then even do transportation. I mean, honestly, it's easier to fly somebody to Central America than it probably was to Martha's Vineyard. He cites Florida's experience with hurricanes, and the state's 37-page plan gives emergency management a key role in immigration enforcement. In Ocala, I'm Joe Burns. As the spring semester at Florida's state colleges and universities comes to an end,

some students may face a hefty tuition hike in the fall thanks to the state's immigration enforcement law. Students without legal status had been able to pay the in-state tuition rate for the past decade, but that is ending. Here's Nancy Guan from our partner station WUSF in Tampa. In the hallway of Seminole State College in Orlando, Hernan stares at the photos of alumni hanging on the walls. I personally don't know most of them. We're not using Hernan's last name because he was brought to the U.S. as a child without documentation, and fears being targeted for his immigration status.

They're pretty professional people. She graduated in 2018. Maybe one day I'll be here too. Hernan is a junior studying construction management. He's worked in landscaping since he was 16 and he says a bachelor's degree will get him further in his career. I will need this for higher like manager or even corporate positions like up there. I feel that if I don't have this right now I can't begin my life in that sense. He needs to pass nine more classes in order to graduate. But a new state law scheduled to go into effect later this year could delay Hernan's future. The law gets rid of a waiver that has allowed students who don't have legal status to pay the same in-state tuition rate

as their U.S. citizen peers. They did have to prove that they attended a Florida high school for three consecutive years, then enroll in a public college or university within two years. When lawmakers created the waiver a decade ago, they believed it was fair to give young people like Hernan a chance at higher education. But attitudes have changed. It is immoral to charge people who shouldn't even be in the country a vastly discounted price. That was former state senator Randy Fine speaking at a committee meeting in January. He and other lawmakers who supported eliminating

the tuition benefit argue that it encourages illegal immigration. And now thousands of students are at risk of losing the waiver according to the state's university Holly Bullard is with the Institute. She says the n of the only means of finan students have, whether tha of federal financial aid.

students do not qualify f funders, but it is few and far between. And so, in-state tuition has been really the path for higher education. That's true for Jose Carrera, a junior studying biomedical sciences at the University of Central Florida. He's in the country without documentation.

His plan was to go to grad school and become a physician's assistant, but he recently received an email from the university that makes his future a bit murky. An evaluation of your record shows that you have not presented a documentation of lawful presence in the United States and are therefore no longer eligible for this waiver. I was shocked at first because, you know, I planned out my rest of my semesters already, so I was like, damn, they just won't allow me to continue my studies. Without the waiver, Carrera is looking at his tuition jumping from about $3,000 a semester

to $12,000. The scholarship he's on won't be able to close that gap, and neither can he, he says. So he's thinking of transferring to another school that's more affordable. It's kind of a sad feeling because you're leaving an environment that you're used to, you're leaving the friends that you made, and you're also leaving professors that you have a connection with. Hernan feels the same way, but he smiles and says he's staying positive. We just got to adapt. That's one of my favorite words, adapt.

I got to adapt to the changes, you know, in current society, you know. He says he's thinking about applying for scholarships or loans that can cover the extra costs, or maybe taking a year off to work full-time and save up. I consider the state my home, and it will be my home until the last stage, you know, where they kick me out, where they deport me. But as far as I'm going to keep fighting. Fighting, he says, for whatever it takes to earn his degree. I'm Nancy Guan in Tampa.

One of the governor's previous priorities remains on hold. A Florida law aimed at stopping children from attending drag shows is still blocked from being enforced after a decision from a federal appeals court this week. Regan McCarthy from our partner station WFSU in Tallahassee has more. In the ruling, judges called the law substantially overbroad and agreed with arguments that efforts to bar kids from attending adult live performances, such as drag shows, amounts to a free speech violation

under the First Amendment. The law does not specifically mention drag performances, but during legislative committee hearings on the measure, the bill's sponsor said he was spurred to file the legislation after seeing advertisements for drag queens' story time. Opponents of the law say drag performances are part of the LGBTQ plus culture and can help kids who are part of that community feel seen and recognized. I'm Regan McCarthy.

And I'm Tom Hudson. You're listening to the Florida Roundup from your Florida Public Radio station. Let's click open our email inbox because we've been getting lots of messages, especially about taxes lately, and especially the push by Florida Republican lawmakers and Governor Ron DeSantis to eliminate or reduce local property taxes. Norm wrote, When discussing property tax in regards to rentals, it's important to make the distinction between short term and long term rentals. Short term rentals like Airbnb and VRBO receive much higher rents

than long term rentals, and they do not serve as homes for residents. They actually take inventory away from rental residents. Any reductions in property taxes, Norm writes, should not be applied to properties used as short-term rentals. Interesting point, Norm. Wondering if the lawmakers will consider that. Thomas wrote, eliminating the property tax would bring growth to Florida. It would eventually lower insurance on housing because there'll be more people in Florida, which means more money for insurance companies. Thomas, I'm not sure that's worked out

thus far as Florida has grown for the better part of 6070 80 years and insurance costs have gone up. Risk after all is going up. Thomas continues a lot of things in the future are going to be going to AI and we will not need a brick and mortar school or teachers to pay. So we will not need money for schools in the future. Thomas writes eliminating all that now is actually better. Now listeners, I'll note that I did clean up Thomas's grammar in that email. Plaza 01 emailed us talk is cheap. The legislators have had plenty of time to address homeowners insurance they failed quit acting like

taxes are the answer. Darrell from Lake Worth wrote, I'd like to bring up the fact that public parks are explicitly for the poor, and those who cannot afford recreation in nature. This helps everyone just like public sanitation and water treatment. Darryl, I'm not sure that most people would agree with you. After all, public parks are open to everybody, regardless of income level. Julie wrote, I appreciate your thoughtful interviewing. All right, side note. Thank you, Julie.

She continued, the governor is against fiscally conservative ideas, which include reducing the state's budget, which is funded via sales taxes, not property taxes. Now, Julie's right about how the state budget is funded via sales taxes, property taxes are local. I will note that Governor DeSantis and others have launched their own Florida Department of Government Efficiency Strategy, FLOSGE, to look at government spending. And then our friend Terry from Melbourne contributed this. She wrote, a graduated state income tax

should be implemented to replace as many of these regressive taxes as possible. Now, Terry, suggesting a state income tax in Florida? Oh my gosh, we may have to reconsider your status as a Floridian. And then finally, Adam wrote us. I've been living in Tampa for almost two years, but hurricanes aren't new to me. I've lived through Sandy and Baltimore and Harvey when I lived north of Houston. Since living here, I've been in Tampa for almost two years, but hurricanes aren't new to me. I've lived through Sandy and Baltimore and Harvey when I lived north of Houston. Since living here, I've been making ambient improvisational music during and somewhat in collaboration with the hurricanes.

Take a listen to Adam and ready for you. The inbox is radio at the floridaroundup.org. That is our program for today. It is produced by WLRN Public Media in Miami and WSF in Tampa by Bridgette O'Brien and Grace and Doctor with assistance from Denise Royal. WLRN's Vice President of Radio is Peter Maertz. The program's technical director is MJ Smith. Engineering help each and every week from Doug Peterson, Ernesto J, and Jackson Hart. Our theme music is provided by Miami Jazz guitarist Aaron Leibos at AaronLeibos.com. Thanks for calling, emailing, listening, and above all supporting public media in your corner of the Sunshine State. I'm Tom Hudson, have

a terrific weekend!