The Florida Roundup - Florida redistricting, AI and vaccine mandates, weekly news briefing

Episode Date: May 1, 2026

This week on the Florida Roundup, we took a deep dive into Florida’s newly-approved congressional map that could eliminate four districts represented by Democrats. We talked with the University of Florida’s Political Science Professor Dan Smith and Fair Districts Now CEO Ellen Freidin about the new map changes and how voters may respond (00:00). We were also joined by Rep. Kathy Castor from the Tampa area who discussed what the new map could mean for her reelection campaign (25:31). Then, we checked in with Douglas Soule, Your Florida state government reporter, about efforts by Gov. Ron DeSantis to legislate AI and vaccine mandates (32:25). And later, a roundup of news from around the state including Florida’s SAVE Act (37:45). Florida ranks last nationally in teacher pay (43:07). Plus, sea turtle nesting season begins (45:40).

Support for Florida Roundup comes from the Everglades Foundation, working to restore and protect Florida's $1 trillion asset that helps to bring clean water to Floridians. Learn more at Everglades Foundation.org. This is the Florida Roundup. We are glad you're along with us this week. I'm Tom Hudson. You may see your congressional district change with the stroke of the governor's signature. Florida Republican lawmakers approved Governor Ron DeSantis's proposed map

that redraws several congressional districts throughout the state. It took about a day and a half during a special legislative session this week in Tallahassee, but it was years in the making. The story of what could be Florida's new political boundaries for its 28 House of Representatives districts is not confined to Florida. There's the Supreme Court ruling this week on a congressional district in Louisiana. There's the brinksmanship of redrawing congressional districts that was started by Texas last year.

and then there's Florida's own state fair district's constitutional amendment that's been on the books for 15 years. And partisan control of the House of Representatives on Capitol Hill is what's at stake this November. So what is a fair boundary? What is a biased border? What should be considered when lawmakers decide how to create political districts for our representative democracy? Call us now live on this Friday. 305-995-1800. 305-995-1800, email radio at the Florida Roundup.org. Same way to get a hold of us, regardless of your voter registration, Democrat, Republican,

NPA, radio at the Florida Roundup.org, or 305-995-1800. The map proposed by Governor DeSantis and passed by the legislature this week makes the biggest changes in the Tampa area and in South Florida, plus some impact in the Orlando area. Four districts that are currently represented by Democrats become much more Republican. Senator LeVon Bracey Davis is a Democrat from Orange County. This map doesn't just tilt the scales. It shatters them. The governor justified this mid-decade boundary change, citing the state's population changes, but he also leaned heavily on whether race should or should not be considered.

when drawing political borders. Florida's Constitution bans using partisan considerations when determining borders. It also bans limiting racial or language minority groups' power to elect their own representatives. House bill sponsor, Jenna Persons-Mullica,

expects the map will hold up to the inevitable lawsuits. It is a very difficult exercise. Again, there is an infinite number of maps that can be drawn compliant with redistricting criteria. But I believe the map before us today is a good map and based on viable legal theories

and likely to be upheld. We shall talk about all the legal stuff. It's important. We'll also talk with the representative whose solidly Democratic district disappears in this new Florida map. But let's start with the map. What it changes, how voters may respond

to changing their borders in the middle of the decade during the upcoming election. cycle 305-9-9-5-18-00 lots of phone calls lining up you can send us a quick email as well radio at the florida roundup dot org elizabeth has been patient in coconut grove your first up we want to hear from you elizabeth go ahead you're on the radio hey good afternoon thanks for taking my call i'm a lifelong republican but i will be voting democrat i really feel like people need to start voting outside of party lines and vote their moral compass so many people are upset about the overdeveloped development, you know, the infractions are happening to the environment and so forth.

And it's because they vote for a, just they wrote straight party. They vote their party instead of getting informed about the facts that are affecting them on a daily basis. And to be honest with you, except for Jeff Bush, I think I've always voted Democrat in the state because those are the people that are more concerned about your day-to-day life. And I think sometimes those elections are more important than the national elections. Elizabeth, let me just make sure I understand you right. You're a registered Republican in the state of Florida, but yet the only Florida Republican you voted for was Governor Bush.

Correct. Correct. And I'm going to continue voting that. And I think local and state elections, you really need to be informed of what those people really believe in and what their ties are because that is affecting you, whether it's public transportation. You can't even go to the football game.

because there's no public transportation because somebody's getting a back deal to pay for parking. So all these things are affecting as overdevelopment. And I think that redrawing the district lines is really to take away the power of Floridian, and it's giving the power to just a few special interest groups. Elizabeth, we appreciate you lending your voice there from Coconut Grove, a registered Republican, who acknowledges she's a voter Democrat when it comes to local elections for lots of of election cycles, it sounds like. 305-9-5-1800. Dan Smith is with us now, political science professor at the University of Florida. Dan, welcome back to the program. It's nice to have you again.

Thank you, Tom. Good to be with you. Yeah, quite a call there from Elizabeth there, admitting to be a Florida Republican who's voted Democrat. How do the changes in this map compare to changes in other redistricting efforts? Give us some historical perspective, Dan. Sure. We have had mid-decade redistricting in Florida, but it was the result. of legal challenges to uphold the fair districts amendments, which over 60% of voters passed in 2010. And those amendments in the tier one was you cannot draw districts that disadvantage racial ethnic minorities, but also you can't draw districts that advantage or disadvantage a political party or an incumbent. This redistricting mid-decade is very different. It's an effort

quite clearly to Advantage One political party. And I think, Tom, one of the things you mentioned at the top was, you know, how do you determine what's fair in terms of these districts? There are an infinite number of ways to draw them. And one of the basic standards is, well, let's take statewide votes. How did the two parties fare with respect to top of the tickets in gubernatorial or presidential elections and think about how many seats if we took that as a fair share should each political party get. And that's one of the things I think is just very fundamental in terms of understanding that Florida already had gerrymandered Republican districts after the 2000 census. This makes it worse. Let me if I can just give a quick example. The 20 out of the 28 congressional districts

that we have totaled 71 percent. 71% of what? Of the number of seats, right? Yes. So 71%. Okay. The map that has been drawn by the Republican staffer in the governor's office would put it up to 24 out of the 28 seats. Right.

That's 86% of the seats likely being Republican. Right. Let's put that in perspective. How did Ron DeSantis do in 2022, a historic Republican landslide? He won 59% of the vote. But if you heard from Elizabeth in Coconut Grove, right, a registered Republican who presumably has voted Republican with national elections, right, presidential and perhaps U.S. Senate, but says voted Democrat when it comes to local elections, she kind of is an example of how vague that line can be if we were to use this statewide partisan turnout and apportion. portion that somehow to our congressional districts. Yes, yes and no. Her vote is what determines how these maps are being drawn. Not the registration. Not the partisan registration. That's another one of

the red herrings that has been put out by Governor DeSantis is that Republicans do have a historic numeric Republican advantage over Democrats today as opposed to 15 or 20 years ago. As opposed to even five or 10, right, five years ago. Or even five years ago. So, yes, but it's how people vote that is determining these vote shares in the hypothetical new environment that we have. Dan Smith is with this political science professor at the University of Florida talking about the redistricting effort that passed out of the Florida legislature. The governor has said he'll sign it into law here in Florida just as soon as he gets it. Dan Smith, say hello to Dan in Merritt Island, who's listening in. Dan, you're on line three. Go ahead. You're on the radio now.

Yes. Thank you for your taking on. I call. My question is this. The Supreme Court has permitted political factors to be used in drawing congressional districts. This allows the party in power to gerrymandered the state to totally favor their party and give them probably a permanent majority, even if they only hold the minority of the voters. Isn't that the fundamental problem? As long as we allow political affiliation to be used in drawing. boundaries, doesn't that alone completely undermine the idea of representative voting where each of our

votes accounts? Dan, we appreciate you adding that important perspective here. Dan Smith with the University of Florida, what Dan and Merritt Islands is referring to, of course, is I think a Supreme Court case in 2019, where the United States Supreme Court essentially says that it couldn't call a baller strike when it comes to using partisan affiliation for political districting. the chief judge of the U.S. Supreme Court, John Roberts asked, how much is too much?

There are no legal standards discernible in the Constitution for making such judgments, let alone limited and precise standards that are clear, manageable, and politically neutral. That was the ruling in 2019 regarding political gerrymandering, Dan Smith. Yeah, that's absolutely true, Tom, and Dan's point is a good one. The fact, however, is that that Rucho v. Common Cause decision, which came out of North Carolina and Maryland, Republican and Democratic gerrymanders were in states that did not have the Fair District's

Amendment that we passed to amend our state constitution in 2010 with a supermajority Republicans, Democratic, and no party affiliate support. That is our standard for the state of Florida. And the Rucho decision said that states may determine how to deal with gerrymandering, including partisan and racial gerrymandering, which we also have as part of that fair district. The Calais decision is what's affecting the racial question, perhaps, but certainly not the partisan one. That is another red herring put out there by the DeSantis administration, and it has absolutely no effect with respect to our Constitution that prohibits partisan gerrymandering to advantage or disadvantage of political party or an incumbent. The Calais decision is the Louisiana case that came down from the Supreme Court this week. Dan Smith, we got so much more to talk about.

We're going to have you on in the weeks and months ahead as this, of course, works its way through likely to the legal challenges. Dan Smith, political science professor at the University of Florida. We've referred to it a lot. Dan just spoke about the Fair Districts Amendment passed by a majority of voters in Florida in 2010, adding language to the Florida's constitution regarding how congressional districts and political districts can be drawn. Ellen Frieden was a driving force behind that. She's the CEO of Fair Districts now and was the prime sponsor of that amendment back in 2010. Ellen, welcome the program. Nice to have you on. Thanks so much for having me on, but thank you even more for talking about this really, really important subject to all Florida.

Regardless of where you land on the map, this is exactly what public radio was built for in Florida. It was this kind of conversation, Ellen. So do you believe this new map conforms to the Fair District's constitutional amendment here in Florida? Florida? Well, not only do I not believe that. It absolutely doesn't conform, but the governor's lawyer and staffers who drew the staffer who drew the map said that they specifically drew the map without any regard for the district's amendments because the governor has decided he doesn't like the fair district's amendments and he's directing his staff to ignore them. This is an amazing thing.

I want every person listening to understand that the leadership of our state is intentionally disregarding a very important provision of the Florida Constitution. On what grounds do you believe that this new map violates the Fair District's language in Florida? Well, they said that they specifically said, in a hearing, in a public hearing, that they were disregarding the portion of the Fair Districts amendments that says you can't draw districts with intent to favor or disfavor a political party. The map drawer also said that he looked at political party as he was deciding what voters to put in what district. Is that meet the threshold of intent, in your opinion?

I think so. Yes, of course. Regarding this Fair District's amendment, there's these two pieces that we've referred to, right, that Florida boundaries cannot be drawn with the favor or disfavor of political party and cannot be drawn with the intent of denying or abridging equal opportunity of racial or language minorities. Now, in the governor's justification, he argues that those two are linked. in other words, they both must be held. And he argued that if the Supreme Court removed the protection federally of using race to determine districts,

then that portion of the fair districts ban in Florida falls, and thus in his logic, the entire amendment is unconstitutional in the state of Florida. Are these two requirements linked? Well, let me address this because of what he's saying. they are he is what he's trying to do is say if part of this amendment has been held unconstitutional then all of it goes i don't see that that works at all but something very important and there's a big flaw in his argument is that just as this latest colla decision did not um hold the voting rights act unconstitutional it didn't right

It made it more difficult to prove a violation. After the 2022 redistricting, the Florida Supreme Court did something very similar. They didn't like the way a particular district had been drawn for the purpose of not diminishing minority's ability to elect a representative of their choice. And so they dealt with that district, but they did not say, and nobody has, no court has ever said that anything about the fair district's amendments or any piece of it is unconstitutional. The governor doesn't have the right to just decide on his own that something's unconstitutional and he's going to follow. The constitutionality of the

constitutional amendment, this fair district that was passed by, what, 63% of voters back in 2010? 63%. Yeah, that has not been decided through due process in the state of Florida. We mentioned the Voting Rights Act with the Supreme Court decision this week, and this does intersect what's happening here in Florida. And the majority opinion reworked the framework if someone is going to complain about a or file a suit against a political boundary. And that framework, according to Justice Alito, requires an inference, a strong inference when drawing these districts. Do you believe what Florida did this week shows that? that federal framework of a strong inference?

I'm not really in a position to say that. Okay. I mean, what we do know is that the map drawer testified that he didn't take race into or ethnic background or language background into consideration. And he just drew these districts. But if you look at the districts themselves, it's clear that he must have. You know, they're they're drawn in such a way that, that, that he must have known what he was doing.

Will you be part of any plaintiff action here, Ellen? That remains to be seen. I am one thing I'm absolutely certain of is that there will be challenges. Ellen Friedan, the CEO of Fair Districts, and the prime sponsor of that Fair Districts Amendment that was added to the state constitution back in 2010. Ellen, open invitation as this continues to wind its way through. We appreciate the conversation and the expertise.

Thanks so much. We've got some emails here, David and Sal Flor. Florida writing, I began thinking about what influences those that draw the district lines. In our case, people in power draw the lines to protect their roles of staying in power. In some circles, these are called safe seats. I oppose safe seats for either party. Joe and Vero Beach writes, if Congress does not ban the practice of gerrymandering altogether and start working toward a fair and simple tax code soon, it'll be the Chinese who lead earthlings to the stars, not us. All right. Well, we got your phone calls here. We've got three coming up,

Stick around 305-9-5-1800 if you'd like to join us. Of course, send us a quick email as well. We are monitoring the inbox, radio at the Florida Roundup.org. And, oh, it reminds me, if you are registered voter or plan to register for the August primary and vote here in Florida, we want to hear from you. We want to put together a roundtable of voter voices. Doesn't matter, red, blue, purple, yellow, whatever color you think you are with your politics, send us a quick note. Let us know a little bit something about you. radio at the Florida Roundup.org.

Working to restore and protect Florida's $1 trillion asset that helps to bring clean water to Floridians. Learn more at Everglades Foundation.org. This is the Florida Roundup. I'm Tom Hudson. We are thrilled you're along with us. Next week on this program, a pandemic of Parkinson's. An investigation by a team of student journalists at the University of Florida

examines links between chemical exposure and Parkinson's disease. Lots of our lives have been touched by Parkinson's. There are almost 80,000 Floridians with the disease and hundreds of thousands of family members with someone battling it. Florida, in fact, has the highest incidence per capita of any state. You can share your story if you have one around Parkinson's. Send us an email. Radio at the Florida Roundup.org. Radio at the Florida Roundup.org.

You're certainly not alone if you are facing this disease or have a family member. We will be talking about that next week. Today, continuing on redistricting. Your quick phone calls here in Van Evangelist Johnson on line one. I think I butchered the name Johnson, but welcome to the program. Go ahead. Yes, I'm evangelist. Evangelist.

My apologies. Please accept my apologies. Evangelist. Go ahead. I do. I do. Okay, since I have been given foresight on a lot of situations from above, What Ronda Stamps has done, rejoining the lines or allowing it,

it's going to make Florida, which is a tourist state, for people to just think Florida is just not fair or unjust to take, to redraw the lines from a minority basis area, and then put it in a majority area where they already have the majority, as far as Caucasian or African-American, So let's forget color. Let's go ahead and do how people feel in their heart. Let's go ahead and do like, well, we're already a minority, for example,

because you're going to erase our lines and put it over where there's a majority of people. And so that closes down. So that makes the minority people feel like our voices are closed down. We don't have a stay and that we're being closed out for a party to. just make certain that we're not going to take a chance. We're kind of scared that we're going to move. We're going to take what they have and put it over here by us. So that's going to make Floridians or travelers think that, oh, Florida's kind of unfair. Oh, I see.

To the little small people, and they're already a majority. We're already a red state. So what was the problem? He didn't have to do that. But it's going to make the minority feel closed out, left out, no voice. I see. Because he did that. I see. Evangelist, thank you very much for putting voice to that. Ron, you're next on line 5. Go ahead, Ron. We want to hear from you. You're on the radio now.

Okay, thank you. My thought is when they do redistricting stick to the calendar that they had originally once every 10 years. And the people who do maybe take a

committee of a number of all three parties, but when they are given this information as the dividing up the state, have them draw lines according to population, not race, color, creed, or party affiliation, and make the boundaries, the perimeters as short as possible. Hmm, yeah. Compact districts is one of those goals that the Florida Constitution has, Ron, and certainly the districts are designed to be of close. to equal population for the U.S. House, definitely. Ron, we appreciate you given voice.

Kit in Delray Beach, we wanted to hear from you as well. Go ahead, Kit. You're on the radio. Hello. Thank you for taking my call. In my humble opinion, a representative, an elected representative should represent every single man, woman, and child in the district. They should be representing their interests, not the interest of a party. not the interest of whoever is in power in Washington. I agree with that last caller. I think compact districts are the way to go. Instead of cutting up by gerrymandering,

instead of cutting up to have a map that looks like a selection of doilies, I think the selection should be by population by areas that consider themselves communities where they have common interests. We have agricultural areas. We have urban areas. We have manufacturing areas. The representatives should be representing the people who live there, not by party, because not everybody belongs to a party.

And the number of people who vote, who are eligible to vote, you know, there's a disparity there. This ends up being a representative of a very few. A previous speaker had talked about dividing up according to population in this party or that party. And that's a parliamentarian system that works in Europe, for example, where there are many parties. Right, right, but very different here where there's two parties. parties plus the ever catch-all NPA here in Florida. Kit, we appreciate you in Delray Beach and listening

in. Kathy Castor has served in Congress representing the Tampa area as a Democrat. She was first elected in 2012 with 70% of the votes. She received 57% support in her re-election two years ago. And in this newly drawn map of Florida's congressional district that was

approved this week, it divides her district in a way that shifts Democrats across multiple districts. Representative Castor, welcome back to the program. Thanks for your time. Thank you. You've called this MAP blatantly illegal. On what grounds do you find it illegal? Our Florida Constitution states very clearly that congressional districts may not be drawn to favor or disfavor a political party. And as the first caller also pointed out, the Constitution says that congressional districts should be contiguous. They should be compact. They need to take into account existing counts.

and geographic boundaries. And that is intended to respect, not divide communities, and what has happened with this blatantly unconstitutional redrawing of the maps without public input is you're disrespecting. It's an intentional poke in the eye, especially to my communities here in the Tampa Bay area, the city of Tampa now. They have divided East Tampa from West Tampa,

from South Tampa, cracked it into five different districts. And in St. Petersburg, folks are apoplectic because they've now been drawn into a district that connects them across Tampa Bay by the Skyway Bridge miles and miles away to Hardy and DeSoto County. Right. It moves that part of your district that now includes St. Petersburg instead of going across the bay to the east, instead it goes south. across the skyway into. Yeah, and this is not my district.

This is the, this is the, the district. This is the, the urban communities of Tampa and St. Pete, the kind of the economic center of the Tampa area. I appreciate that correction. You're absolutely right. Well, let me ask if this new map stands, will you run for reelection in the district in the 14th?

Well, I certainly hope that the Florida Supreme Court is composed of independent jurists and not puppets of Governor DeSantis. So as of right now, yes, I will run in District 14. That's where my home is. It's, again, it's still the composed of McDill Air Force Base and Central Command, Special Operations Command, the best airport in the country in Tampa Airport. TPA.

Port Tampa Bay, the Tampa's Riverwalk. But now it will also contain more rural areas of Hillsborough County that I have not had the pleasure of representing before. But it is a bizarre, unconstitutional draw. The Hillsborough County Democratic Party told the Tampa Bay Times that the current 14th and the new 14th boundary swings 21 points from Democrat to Republican. Are the issues different in the current 14th and the newly imagined? 14th district that you said you will run for re-election in? They are a little bit different.

But right now, overwhelmingly, it's the cost of living that's impacting everyone. But what they do when they draw boundaries that don't make sense and to favor a political party is it's an effort to avoid accountability for their policies. And right now, the policies of the Trump administration and this current governor are simply soul crushing for for families. There's such an affordability squeeze out there, you know, under the big ugly bill, they ripped health care away. That's so much more expensive.

Electric bills are up. You have a war in Iran that hasn't been really debated. That's causing gas spikes. And this is a way for them and the powerful special interest to get away with it without having fair elections and fair debate. How do you see the role of NPAs? independents, non-party affiliates in the newly drawn 14th district and how that compares to the current district that you were elected to represent two years ago?

They're up for grabs, but I always view it kind of as one of your callers said previously. You represent everyone. You fight for every vote. That's why I've been successful in always having, you know, overperforming President Obama and Biden and Kamala Harris, because I, have a record of serving everyone no matter their political party. It doesn't matter when you call my office if you have a problem with the IRS. We're going to cut through the bureaucratic red tape to do so, and that's how voters expect you to act. But here, you know, when you create such one-sided districts,

you don't have the same communities of interest. You don't have the same cohesion. It's more difficult for a representative to serve a community if they have to travel 100 miles or two hours in the Florida traffic. I'm guessing your constituent phone number is the same, regardless of party registration for the constituents. It will be, but it's likely that, you know, here you're highlighting another problem.

This is a colossal waste of time and taxpayer money because you will have to redraw. Every supervisor that has impacted, supervisor of election will have to redraw maps and redo pre-term. Cings congressional offices will have to, I'll have to find new office space. I want to ask you about the frequency of the redistricting here. You know, the census is dictated in the U.S. Constitution once a decade.

It's left up to the states to kind of decide, you know, how and when to redraw those political boundaries. Would you support congressional regulation on the frequency of congressional redistricting in states? Yes. I think we've got to follow the basic ground rules here in our democracy. But would you go further and try to pass legislation? We may need to do that after this very partisan call by Trump to rig elections, to operate outside of the census and the regular apportionment of congressional boundaries.

There is a lot we're going to have to do to shore up democracy, the foundations of democracy, and this is crying out for reform. Representative, we appreciate your time. Thank you so much on this Friday. Thank you. Kathy Castor is the Democrat representing the Tampa Bay Area in the District 14 of Florida's congressional delegation. I'm Tom Hudson. You're listening to the Florida Rondup from your Florida Public Radio Station.

When Governor DeSantis called lawmakers for a special session this week in Tallahassee to come back to the Capitol City, he had three items on his agenda, redistricted. which we've been talking about. He also had artificial intelligence regulation and removing vaccine mandates. Now, he got redistricting through the legislature, but his effort to regulate AI and do away

with the vaccine requirements fizzled, fizzled fast. They were declared dead on arrival in the House on the first day of the special session. Douglas Soll covers the legislature for the York Florida project with our partner WUSF. He joins us from Tallahassee. So, Douglas, let's start with AI. What did the governor want to do?

Yeah, so the governor wanted to create a slew of AI protections and safeguards, including a lot of protections for children, for example. It would have required parental consent for a child to use something called a companion chatbot. It would have also required things like AI disclosures if a chatbot is being used. Sometimes when you're communicating online with various people, it can be kind of hard to tell these days. And this would have given Floridians that transparency. So what happened? Which it did not.

Yeah, it didn't even get a hearing. There was no bill, I think, at all for legislators, at least in the House to consider. What happened? So, yes, the House did not put forward a bill at all. And within moments of the special session starting on Tuesday, House Speaker Perez said it was dead on arrival. This shouldn't be too surprising, though. The House did not take up that. measure in the regular legislation that ended this spring. There's one big reason that the House Speaker cites. He does say that he too wants to protect children. There are a lot of concerns about AI right now, and those concerns increased by the week. But he says that he wants there to be a federal policy in place, such as the one, such as one that President Trump says is needed. President Trump himself doesn't want there to be a patchwork assortment of rule state to state.

He says the laws about AI should come at a nationwide level. Due to national security concerns, the president believes that, you know, it's kind of a too stringent regulations would put the country at a strategic competitive disadvantage with other countries who are also developing this technology. Speaking of protecting children, the vaccine requirement issue also didn't go anywhere during the regular legislative session. The governor tried again wanting lawmakers to reduce or eliminate many vaccine requirements. Why didn't that see the light of day this time around? Yeah, so that was an interesting bill. It would have added a exemption to vaccines at the school level. Right now, parents can get exemptions for their kids for religious or medical reasons.

that would have added the reason of personal conscience, personal beliefs in that as well. And House Speaker Perez says it's something that just makes him uncomfortable. He says that he's worried about the spread of diseases, infectious diseases, and so were many other members of the House. Clearfisher continuing to grow between the governor's agenda and the Speaker of the House, Danny Perez. Where do we see that going even in the next few weeks, given the budget still? hasn't been passed and there's still talk about a property tax special assessment. Yeah, the governor is

not happy at all about this. He called the House's actions this week political shenanigans. So I could only imagine this will manifest itself in the budget making process or maybe more specifically in the governor's review of the eventual budget. The governor has line item veto power. And he's never been afraid to use it. No, no, he hasn't. He has a lot of ink in that well for that particular line item should he choose to use it. Douglas, we appreciate you contributing to the reporting today. Much appreciated. Noah, thanks for having me on. Douglas, all covering the legislature for the your Florida project from our partner, WUSF.

So we're still looking for your voice. If you're a voter here in Florida, plan to vote in the August primary, the November election. We're putting together some roundtables of voters over the next several months, and we'd love to feature you. Doesn't matter your political persuasion. handle down the peninsula to Key West to Pensacola where you're at. We want to know about your issues. So send us a quick introduction. Introduce yourself by send us an email, radio at the Florida Roundup.org. I'm Tom Hudson, and we got more on the Florida Roundup. Still to come. Support for Florida Roundup comes from the Everglades Foundation, working to restore and protect Florida's $1 trillion asset that helps to bring clean water to Floridians. Learn more at

Everglades Foundation.org. This is the Florida Roundup. I'm Tom Hudson. Great to have you along. So let's give you a roundup of some other news across the state. Florida's new congressional maps, which we've been talking about, will certainly wind up in court before you cast your ballot in an August primary. So too has the state's newest voter registration law. The law is modeled after the Federal Save Act. Save stands for safeguard American voter eligibility. A federal effort has failed in the United States Senate, but it is law here in the Sunshine State and faces a court challenge. Here's Megan Bowman with our partner station, WUSF.

Among the many things Florida's new SAVE Act does, it will require eligible voters to prove their citizenship to vote, and it could affect millions of Floridians. Susan Magnuson is in her 70s. She says the new law will make it incredibly difficult for seniors. We don't have a transit system here to be able to get to this office and get these documents and prove your citizenship. I believe it is a deliberate attempt to limit our voice in Florida. Governor Ron DeSantis signed the bill earlier this month. He says the law protects the voting registration process. Our constitution in the state of Florida says only American citizens are allowed to vote. elections. And so we need to make sure that that is the law. The law makes people who need to

update or change their registration and those voting for the first time prove their citizenship. It also requires Florida officials to remove voters they believe are not eligible. Almost immediately after the governor signed the bill, pro-voting organizations took action. Carrie McNamara is an attorney for the ACLU of Florida, the group filed suit in federal court. McNamara says with the National Save Act percolating, the ACLU saw this coming. The idea that in order to justify your citizenship, you have to pull together documents from the government that costs money. It's just a way to disenfranchise truly millions of people. McNamara is concerned eligible voters might not cast a ballot when facing paperwork barriers or confusion over the law.

Amy Keith leads the Florida chapter of common cause, a nonpartisan organization focused on protecting democracy. It's suing alongside the ACLU. They want people to be confused and to feel like it's not worth it or to have all these hurdles. to jump over. She says the state's motor vehicles and voter registration databases will be cross-checked looking for citizenship. If they match, you probably won't run into problems. But if they don't, you'll have to show your papers. The state's NAACP and the Florida Alliance for Retired Americans also filed a federal lawsuit. Elias Law Group partner Abacana represents them. She says the election law violates the first and 14th amendments. As these kinds of provisions historically and

traditionally have had an undue burden, particularly on minority voters, older voters, and low-income voters. The law goes into effect in January, so voting rights groups say nothing will change until after November's midterm elections. I'm Megan Bowman in Tampa. Once you register to vote, how will you cast your ballot in person or through the mail? Almost one out of every three ballots cast here in the Sunshine State are by mail. Even President Donald Trump cast his ballot by mail in a recent special state house election in the district that includes Mar-a-Lago. His own recent executive order aims to rewrite rules for mail-in voting nationwide. Trump's order requires the Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration

to work with states to create lists of confirmed American citizens who are at least 18 years old, the age you can vote. It also requires the U.S. Postal Service to send ballots only to verified voters. Now, the order has been challenged by several states, but not Florida. When I hear him talk about vote by mail, I hear him talking about those other states because I feel like we would have heard if he had an issue with the way Florida conducts our elections since he is a resident and voter. This is Florida Secretary of State Court Bird. He's responsible for voting here in Florida. Bird appeared on the Between the Lines with Deracam podcast. We have a really good grasp in Florida already on who is a citizen. So even if the EO goes into effect, I don't know that it will impact. Floridians all that much because I think we're already there. Florida lawmakers held just their

first special session this week. There will be another one on the budget coming up and possibly a third on property taxes. Governor Rond DeSantis has pledged to have a constitutional amendment on the fall ballot to reduce or eliminate most non-school property taxes for homeowners. This week, the mayor of the city of Miami said she's preparing a budget scenario that would cut a quarter of the city's spending. We're going to budget like we normally budget, but we have to have contingencies. That's Miami Mayor Eileen Higgins Tuesday morning at a BizNow real estate event that I moderated. Miami's city budget begins in October. It will be the first since Higgins was elected mayor. She said the city is working on three spending plans, one with no cuts, one with a 10%

cut, and we are preparing a budget just in case that would have an immediate 25% cut in services. So you know what that means. Your parks are going to be closed. There's going to be no after-school parts. We're not going to be having little camps for kitties. Your drainage projects are going to be canceled. Higgins says the different scenarios are necessary because of the uncertainty around property taxes. Among the arguments the governor makes for wanting to reduce or eliminate some local property taxes for homeowners is to address the rising cost of living. We learn this week that Florida remains at the bottom of the list of teacher pay nationwide.

It's the third straight year Florida has been ranked 50th. The data comes from the last. largest teacher union group in the country, the National Education Association. Natalie LaRoche Pietre from our partner station WLRN in South Florida has more. The average teacher salary in Florida public schools was $56,600 in 2025, compared to the national average of $74,400. President of Florida Education Association, Andrew Spar, tells WLRN the low pay makes retention challenging. And every time you have that turnover, students lose out. But the bottom line is it's really hard for teachers and people who work in our schools without having to work two and three jobs.

Teacher salaries also haven't grown on par with inflation. The report showed. Average teacher pay in Florida has only gone up about 3% over the last few years. And when you look at that compared to inflation, you wonder why teachers are leaving because you can't keep up with the cost of goods. The report also found teachers earn 24% more on average in states with collective bargaining groups. The Palm Beach Teacher Union Group has been negotiating with the district for months on raises. A decision from the school board is expected next week. I'm Natalie LaRoche Pietri in Weston. And I'm Tom Hudson. You're listening to The Florida Roundup from your Florida Public Radio Station.

A couple of Florida wildlife stories here. Have you heard about the sloths in central Florida? Sloth World Orlando was supposed to be a tourist attraction. Instead, it has turned deadly. A sloth named Bandit died Wednesday. Bandit was one of the 13 sloths who had been imported for Sloth World and removed from the company's warehouse a week ago. 12 of them remain alive and are being cared for at Central Florida Zoo.

Zoo CEO Richard Glover says they did all they could in hopes of saving Bandit. He'd fought as long as he could fight and he just didn't have anything left and buy a little before midday, he'd reached a point where he just was essentially non-responsive. The other 12 sloths removed from the warehouse in Orange County remain in 30-day quarantine. They all have serious health issues. The zoo says they're stable right now and they're cautiously optimistic for recoveries. A bandit is not the only sloth to have died. At least 32, possibly more, that were sent to Orlando for this attraction, have died.

And Sloth World announced it will not open. Orlando State Representative Anna Eskimani has asked the state attorney general to open a criminal investigation. Today begins a new season in Florida. No, no, no, no, it's not the season that shall not be named. That's still a month away. It is sea turtle nesting season, especially in southwest Florida. Tom Bayliss reports from our partner station, WGCU in Fort Myers. More hatchlings hustled through the sand in the wrong direction at Fort Myers Beach than anywhere else in southwest Florida.

Chad Schutz is an environmental manager for the town and oversees sea turtle issues. So the recent spate of hurricanes, Hurricane Ian, Idalia, Milton, Palline, they took their toll on the trees, knocked down a lot of structures. And as a consequence, our beaches are a lot more exposed to light. And that light pollution poses a problem to sea turtles that orient themselves with the moon and starlight reflecting off the Gulf. So whenever they are misoriented, they go the wrong direction and suffer as a consequence. Most beach towns in southwest Florida have sea turtle ordinances, and a main focus of them is to avoid disorientations. In Fort Myers, I'm Tom Bayless. Finally on the roundup this week, the Tampa Bay Rays were in Cleveland this week on Monday playing the Guardians.

It was scoreless in the fifth Cleveland was at back. It pretty well to left. A two-run homer for the Guardians. And there was a scrum in the stands for that ball between two Cleveland fans, a young girl and an adult man. It looked like the girl had it. No, he's not going to steal that. Yeah, that can't have.

Yeah, the guy took the home run ball and walked back to a seat. Now, this is where a Floridian comes in. Ryan Bass is the sideline reporter for the Tampa Bay Rays. Well, when you see something wrong has occurred, it's nice to make up for it. And Ryan Best making up for that Cleveland fan by going out making friends, and she deserves that baseball. Ryan grabbed a ball and gave it to the girl.

He spoke to News Nation the next morning. I'm just so glad that we could make a memory and make a moment and make it right. Now, the story doesn't end there. The guy who took the ball as Max Quinn. He ultimately gave the ball back to the girl a few innings later. And by Wednesday morning, the girl named Evelyn forgave Max in a video her mom sent to Fox 8 in Cleveland. Hi Max. Thanks for giving us the ball back. We forgive you for it. But the internet has not been so kind to Max.

The internet is a really mean and scary place. A lot of people have said a lot of really mean things. So what are we learned here? Don't steal home run balls. The internet is a scary and unforgiving place. And a Florida man saves the day. A Florida man. How about that? That is the Florida Roundup. This week. It is produced by WLRN Public Media in Miami and WSF in Tampa by Bridget O'Brien and Denise Royal. W. L. L.N.'s vice president of radio is Peter Marys. The program's technical director is M.J. Smith. Engineering

help each and every week from Doug Peterson, Harvey Vassard, and an S.O.J. Our theme music is provided by Miami jazz guitarist, Aaron Leibos, at Aaron Leibos.com. If you're a registered voter in Florida, plan to be registered and vote in the August primary, we'd love to hear from you. Voter voices. Send us a quick email.

Republican, Democrat, NPA. Doesn't matter. The inbox is the same for everybody. Radio at the The Florida Roundup.org. We're putting together a roundtable of Florida voters. Radio at the Florida roundup.org. I'm Tom Hudson. Thanks for calling, emailing, listening, and supporting public media in your slice of the Sunshine State. Have a terrific weekend. Support for Florida Roundup comes from the Everglades Foundation, working to restore and protect Florida's $1 trillion asset that helps to bring clean water to Floridians. Learn more at evergladesfoundation.org.