The Florida Roundup - Short-term rentals, presidential politics in Florida and the stalled financial forecast for abortion amendment

Episode Date: July 12, 2024

This week on The Florida Roundup, we spoke with Redington Beach Mayor David Will about his opposition to bill that was vetoed by Gov. DeSantis that would have created statewide regulations for short-term vacation rentals (00:53). Then, we spoke about how presidential politics are playing out in Florida after both the Biden and Trump campaign made stops in the state with WLRN's Danny Rivero and WUSF's Steve Newborn (20:11). Plus, we look behind-the-scenes at the group tasked with forecasting the financial impact of the proposed abortion amendment that will appear on November's ballot (37:10). And later, we hear more from listeners weighing in on new condo reforms (46:54).

This is the Florida Roundup. I'm Tom Hudson. Thanks for being along with us this week. The Sunshine State was on the itineraries for both presidential campaigns this week. First Lady Jill Biden visited Tampa, hoping to drum up support among military families and veterans and quiet some concerns and calls for her husband to step aside. Former President Donald Trump, meantime, held a rally at his golf course in Doral, continuing to tease his vice presidential pick and strike out against his legal troubles. Now, we'll talk about Florida and presidential politics a little bit later on in this program, and we will be taking your calls and emails, regardless if you're a Democrat or Republican, or if you're an independent,

an NPA, we'd love to hear from you. Radio at thefloridaroundup.org. Radio at thefloridaroundup.org. First this hour, more than 40 and a half million people visited Florida in the first quarter of this year. It sets the stage for what may be another record year for Florida tourism. All those people have to stay somewhere. Maybe it's with family or friends. Maybe it's with a hotel. Maybe it's down your block in an Airbnb or a VRBO or some other short-term rental.

There are more than 60,000 licensed vacation rentals across the state. Miami Beach, Sarasota, and Orlando, well, those areas each have thousands and more are coming. Consider this, half of the condominiums under development in Miami-Dade and Broward counties are designed for short-term rentals. That's more than 10,000 new units. Four of the top 10 cities for Airbnb listings per capita, right here in Florida, Miami, St. Pete, Orlando, and Tampa. Jacksonville is in the top 75 cities, and this ranking only looked at big cities, not smaller areas. So this is where we're going to start this hour. Do you live near an Airbnb or a VRBO rental? Maybe you have a property that you list as a vacation rental to bring in some extra income.

What do you make of the rules for these properties or the lack thereof? Radio at thefloridaroundup.org is our inbox. That's our email address, radio at thefloridaroundup.org. You can also call us now. We're going to take those calls live on this Friday, 305-995-1800, 305-995-1800. 305-995-1800. Along our beaches and golf courses, along the canals and suburbs of Florida, these short-term rentals have really helped support Florida's booming tourism economy. It has meant extra income for owners facing higher home insurance costs, and yeah, sometimes brought the vacation party right to your neighborhood. An effort to give the state more control over these vacation rentals was vetoed by Governor Ron DeSantis this summer.

The bill was far from a slam drunk for state lawmakers, though. It grew and drew intense opposition throughout the 2024 legislative session. Supporters argued the state needs a comprehensive plan to regulate short-term rental platforms like Airbnb. The whole goal here is to kind of lay out a uniform set of regulations for vacation rentals. This is Senator Nick DeSigley. He's a Republican from Pinellas County, and he sponsored the measure to bring state rules to short-term rentals. His bill would have replaced local rules with state regulations, while still giving local governments the ability to deal with noise and safety complaints.

Among what would have been some of those new rules statewide, no more than two people per bedroom and have someone ready to respond at all hours to complaints or emergencies at the rental. This bill provides the tools for local governments within that registration program. the tools for local governments within that registration program. I think that the benefit to the state and to our constituents in this issue is to have some predictability from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Fellow Republican Senator Debbie Mayfield from Bavard County also pushed for the bill, arguing coming up with statewide regulation does not ignore local efforts. You know the cities are getting more than what they had. They can charge whatever registration fee they want to charge. They can charge whatever renewal fee they want to charge. They can charge whatever inspection fee they want

to charge. Now, we invited both Senators Mayfield and DeSigley to our program today. They declined our invitation. The governor vetoed their efforts, saying it would have created more bureaucratic red tape and prevented local governments from enforcing their rules or passing new ones. Now, the governor has supported other laws that ban local governments from enacting rules around, say, working outdoors in hot weather, rent control, and even suntan lotions. So have you stayed in a Florida short-term rental? What was that experience like? Maybe you own one of those rentals or live next door to one. How does the growth of these properties affect your housing value and housing market? 305-995-1800.

305-995-1800. You can also email us your thoughts. Radio at thefloridaroundup.org. Radio at thefloridaroundup.org. David Will joins us now. He is mayor of Reddington Beach in Pinellas County. Mayor Will, welcome to the program. Thanks for your time. Thank you, and I'm glad to be here. You opposed this bill that would have brought more state rules to short-term rentals. Why? Well, this is a preemption bill. This removes our ability, our residents ability, the people who are actually most affected by this bill. It takes them out of the decision making process to do what's best for what they feel is best for their community.

The bill sponsor, Nick DeSigley, is your senator in Pinellas County. The bill's sponsor, Nick DeSigli, is your senator in Pinellas County. He rejected that criticism, saying that folks would still participate in elections and use their voices to express their views at City Hall, for instance. Well, our residents have made it very clear that they would like to make their own decisions regarding land use and zoning. So do you put those kinds of decisions up to public votes for Reddington Beach, or do council members and yourself make those decisions? Well, that is correct. We actually had a referendum a couple years back wanting to... See, when you go to Tallahassee, they always ask you for, well, where's your data? Show me the data. So we had a referendum vote, whether how you felt about short-term rentals in your community, if you wanted to have them or not. 86% of our voters-

It was a binary question. Do you want them or not? Right. Do you want them and do you want to be able to regulate them if you want them? And 86% of our residents said, no, we don't want short-term rentals in our community. But this preemption takes that ability away to make those decisions for yourself. Now, prior to the 2011 preemption, if the community wanted to have short-term rentals, they have the ability to do that themselves. Right. So your community voted that they did not want short-term rentals, but there are short-term rentals in Reddington Beach. This morning I looked on Airbnb.

There was a one-bedroom, one-bath for $78 this weekend. That is correct. Are you coming over this weekend? No, it looks like a lovely community, and I will enjoy my visit when I'm able to get over there. But no, unfortunately, I can't make it this weekend. Yes, it is. We are not able to prevent short-term rentals.

According to legislation, the 2014 legislation says that you cannot prevent short-term rentals, and you cannot regulate the frequency or the duration. But that legislation also allowed local communities to regulate short-term rentals and gave them the ability to distinguish them from a residential home. So what are some of the rules around those short-term rentals in Reddington Beach? That $78 a night condo I found. By the way, I also found, Mr. Mayor, a five-bedroom home available this weekend for $1,300 a night. So quite a spectrum of properties available this weekend in your community. Right.

Well, first I'd like to explain that our community is a single-family residential community. So we don't have any businesses. And, you know, we're unique along the beaches here. And our residents have moved here because of that. They like that quiet residential community feel. And with short-term rentals, it's now turning into a hotel district. These houses are purchased by corporations for the sole purpose of being used as a short-term rental. About how many corporate, so-called corporate or LLC property owners do you

estimate in your community that are operating short-term rentals exclusively at those properties? We have approximately 100 short-term rentals out of 800 houses. And what does that mean for home values and for homeowners? Well, our homeowners have made it very clear that they do not like living in a hotel district. They purchased a house in a residential community, and they would like it to stay that way. So they were very adamant about contacting the governor for this veto of 280, because we have rules and regulations for short-term rentals, and 280 would have erased those. 280 is the bill number of this piece of legislation that the governor voted. It was Senate Bill 280. One of the regulations this bill would have provided statewide is around maximum occupancy.

It would have stipulated that no more than two people could stay in a bedroom or two people in a common area. Do you have occupancy rules in Reddington Beach for your short-term rentals? We do have occupancy rules. And I'd Beach for your short-term rentals? We do have occupancy rules. And I'd like to clarify when this bill was being discussed during session, it was always discussed as this bill allows, this bill allows. And when that's misleading, because it should say this bill only allows. We have the ability, and so do all the other municipalities around the state, to set the occupancy rate themselves. And so what is your occupancy rate in Reddington Beach? Ours is two per bedroom, no more than eight.

No more than eight total for a property. That is correct. I see. Mr. Mayor, stay with us. David Will is our guest. He is the mayor of Reddington Beach, a small beach community there right on the oceanfront on the Gulf of Mexico in Pinellas County. We're talking about the effort to regulate short term vacation rentals in the state of Florida.

A piece of legislation that would have provided some statewide regulations was vetoed by Governor DeSantis. 305-995-1800 is our phone number or radio at the Florida Roundup dot org. We're going to go just a little bit down the coast, Mayor Will, to Sarasota, where Sally has been listening to our conversation. Go ahead, Sally, you're on the radio. Hi, I'm very sorry that that bill didn't pass. The reason that we moved, my husband and I moved off of Siesta Key was because of short-term rentals. We bought a home there in 1990, and over the years, it just changed. We were surrounded by short-term rentals. We bought a home there in 1990, and over the years it just changed. We were surrounded by short-term rentals

by people who owned mostly out-of-state and didn't monitor. There was one officer for the entire key to monitor these things, and they would give people, send them a letter, send them a warning, and they would get some fines, but they got so much money

from their rental of these homes for sometimes a couple days, a week, a night. It was just, it just ruined our lifestyle. So we moved off the key into Sarasota, into an older neighborhood, and thankfully so far we don't have that problem in this neighborhood. Sally, thanks for sharing your experience there from Monroe County up to Sarasota. Brett has been listening in in St. Pete. Go ahead, Brett, you're on the radio.

Yeah, as the Sarasota native been here since 1982, I feel like Sally is a little bit sour when it comes to people coming in, especially the younger, vivacious people. We got a rental up in St. Pete, and it's great. We don't really have partiers or anything like that. Everybody's pretty stable. We keep the rent pretty low, so it helps stimulate the local economy, and it's something where we can't really afford high rises and stuff like that. So it's a win-win for taxation, local, you know, spurring the local economy, and a small wealth transfer from having those large condos sucking up all the rental income to us local guys.

Yeah, let me ask you about that. How connected are you to any neighbors of that Airbnb property investment that you own, folks that may live there full time around it? Do they have your cell number or email, for instance? 100%. We're really friendly. Our whole block is interconnected. we're a really good community um you know i got two units and uh everybody is super nice if something gets out of hand you know my neighbor

will call me personally i'll take care of it personally you know so it's uh it's something where we're all connected we help each other. Left my garage door open on accident. Neighbor came over and shut it for me. It's a really good small community. And, you know, it's not like that CS2Key conundrum where it's just super unregulated. But I can totally see Sally's, you know, plight. But at the same time, you know, you've got to loosen up a little bit. I feel like Sarasota is getting a little too old, which is why we bought another property in St. Pete. So, you know, I got a property in Sarasota too. So it's, you know,

I totally understand. A real estate magnet in the making there, Brett. Thanks for sharing your thoughts there from St. Pete and Sarasota. Two very different perspectives there, Mayor Will, what do you make of it? Well, you know, it's whichever side, Your Honor, how you feel about short-term rentals. The pertinent situation is the ability to be part of the decision-making process. The gentleman in St. Pete has short-term rentals. He seems to be a very respectful owner of short-term rentals. But the people of St. Petersburg should be able to make the decision on whether they would like short-term rentals in their community and how they would regulate them. Elaine is listening, Mr. Mayor, from Pompano Beach

over on the Atlantic side. Go ahead, Elaine, you're on the radio. Hi there. Yes, I just wanted to, I guess, indicate that there are different types of neighborhoods. And one of the comments was, you know, we bought into a residential neighborhood. We have a number of short-term rentals on our peninsula, which is on a canal. And I think what bothers me is that we don't know who is renting. Occupancy rules really don't help when there are big parties going on. Police have been called in numerous times, and, you know, people are working, and they'd rather not have that throughout the week. And I think the density of these short-term rentals really needs to be thought about on a street-by-street level.

Yeah. If that's even possible. Yeah, you bring up a really important point there, Elaine. Thanks for joining the conversation from Pompano Beach. Daryl and St. Augustine listening in. And, Daryl, I think you want to make a bit of a point about essentially these short-term rental properties are businesses, oftentimes in a residential neighborhood. Well, exactly. It's a commercial business in a residential area, and if you want to do that, you must pay the bed tax in the area, commercial rates for insurance, commercial rates for water, sewer, garbage, just as any other short-term rental hotel, motel, condo does.

At the way you have it right now is the state of Florida is providing a competitive advantage to the people who run the Airbnbs. It's very, very simple. If I can avoid paying all those thousands and thousands of dollars in taxes, then I can rent my rooms and my house much cheaper. Darrell, lots and lots of communities over the last many years have cracked down on that licensing requirement and the pain of the bed tax. Mayor Will, how about in Reddington Beach and Daryl's point about Airbnb owners having to pay commercial rates for city or county services? Well, I completely agree with Daryl. I mean, now you have, because of allowing these businesses in residential neighborhoods, you have an industry in a residential neighborhood.

And if SB 280 were to pass, you would now have an unregulated industry in a residential neighborhood. That's where the 2014 legislation. But wouldn't that allow then a city to come in and charge a commercial rate for water usage or for trash pickup? Well, yes, I completely agree. Yeah. Right. Yeah. And when you talk to our legislators, you know, they are businesses when they want them to register and pay taxes.

And then when you talk about regulation, they are single family homes. Hmm. About how many of those 100 Airbnbs you mentioned in the housing stock are filled on Reddington Beach in a January weekend, for instance. Well, as you mentioned before, we have a beautiful community. So, yes, people do like to come and visit our community. I've never visited, Mr. Mayor. I'll take your word for it at this point, though. Okay.

Well, it is a beautiful community. I've been here 30-plus years. And it was the best secret on the West Coast. Have you seen your city revenues increase because of Airbnb taxes? We do not have any businesses whatsoever, so I have not seen any. I don't know how we benefit financially from short-term. There's no taxing regime for Reddington Beach and its Airbnb stock. Mr. Mayor, thanks for spending a hot July afternoon with us. Much appreciated. Yes. Can I make one last statement?

You've got a few seconds. Yes, sir. Okay. Because of all this grassroots support and those people were able to reach the governor and get the governor to veto this bill, I would like to announce the creation of the Home Rule Coalition, which is a nonprofit that I have created for the purpose, which the purpose would be to educate, advocate, and empower all Floridians at the most local level possible and to let them know that their voice can make a difference. Mr. Mayor, we'll be watching that, and we may have a conversation in the future here on the Florida Roundup. David Will is the mayor of Reddington Beach in Pinellas County.

More of the Florida Roundup continues. You're listening to the Florida Roundup. I'm Tom Hudson. Thanks for being along with us live on this Friday. We want to let you know about an upcoming program. Like a lot of Floridians this summer, we're going to hit the road. Now, in our case, that road is going to be the Overseas Highway in the Florida Keys. Yeah, the Florida Roundup will be live from Key West on August 9th. Now, we may be leaving the mainland, but we will still be talking about politics, of course, here in the Sunshine State.

We're going to be talking with the leading Democrat running for the United States Senate, Debbie Mercosel Powell. We'll be talking with her about her race against Senator Rick Scott, who's running for reelection. We'll be talking about, hey, we'd love to see you in Key West. You can register at WLRN.org, WLRN.org. This week, the two presidential campaigns brought two very different messages and two very different messengers here to Florida. First Lady Jill Biden visited Tampa on Monday. Former President Donald Trump held a campaign rally at his golf course in Doral on Wednesday night. Let's start there with Danny Rivero from our partner station WLRN in South Florida. There's thousands of people in the golf course, many of them trying to find shade. It's really hot outside. They're trying to avoid it. But at the same time, you know, people are having a lot of fun. They're going to all the vendors selling every kind of thing you can imagine. One of the most popular shirts I'm seeing that a lot of people are wearing says,

I'm voting for the felon 2024 in reference to President Trump and his legal problems over the last couple months. The Tampa and Miami based rap group Trump Latinos has been shooting a music video. Many people posing for photos alongside them and joining on in the background. It's generally pretty festive and people seem pretty excited for the main event for former President Trump to hit the stage. I'm Steve Newborn in Tampa. Jill Biden gave an energetic speech to about 100 people crowded into the American Legion

post. She talked about the president's work with military families and his son Beau's service in the Iraq war. She also appeared in two other states, Georgia and North Carolina, that have a large veteran population. Today we are launching veterans and military families for Biden because we need you in this election. Help us make sure that everyone in this community has the ballots they need to vote no matter where they are stationed. Biden says the president has made it clear he is, quote, all in in his re-election bid,

despite his lackluster performance in the recent debate. Her comments spark chants of four more years from the crowd. Jay Chetney of St. Petersburg was at that Biden event this week in Tampa. He said he was discouraged by President Biden's debate performance, but he remains a supporter. Well, I was not expecting that. I was not prepared. And I knew it was going downhill from the second he came out.

But I'm back on board. And I really appreciate what he's been doing the last day or two, you know, really speaking out. Jonathan Chavez of Tampa worried all the talk about Biden being too old for the job could become what he called a self-fulfilling prophecy. I would be happy to see him run again if the decision either from him or the party is,

you know, maybe we need a new guy, then that's, you know, we'll have to go to the drawing board. We might have an open convention. Wouldn't that be something? Well, the president's age and ability to serve another four years certainly has consumed the political chatter since that debate back in June, then his TV interview last week, and then Thursday night's press conference this week. Meantime, former President Trump has been raising a lot of money while his lawyers seize on

the Supreme Court's presidential immunity ruling from a few weeks ago, arguing his hush money criminal conviction in New York should be thrown out and the classified documents criminal charges here in Florida should be frozen. So it's been a little bit since we've talked about presidential politics in the sunshine state. Let's do it a little bit this week here. Democrats, what's your conviction for President Biden? Republicans, how are you putting aside Trump's convictions with your support of him? And independents, NPAs, we really want to hear from you undecideds. Where phone lines are open to talk presidential politics here in Florida. 305-995-1800. Or send us a quick thought on email radio at the Florida Roundup dot org radio at the Florida Roundup dot org. The two reporters who were with the campaigns this week here in Florida are with us now on the Florida Roundup. Danny Rivero here in Miami. Steve Newborn with our partner station WSF in Tampa. up, Danny Rivera, here in Miami, Steve Newborn with our partner station WSF in Tampa. Let's start in Tampa, Steve. How did the first lady address the issue that has dominated Democratic politics for weeks now, the age of her husband? Yeah, Tom, I'd like to, you know, just start off with that.

I was really impressed with the energy at this appearance. Jill Bryden really stoked the crowd. She spent nearly as much time afterwards shaking hands with the crowd as she did speaking. Now, she only mentioned her husband's decision to go all in for reelection once. I mean, one sentence, she didn't want to dwell on it, and it got whoops of four more years from the crowd. Now, I have to say this was a marked difference from President Biden's visit to Tampa back in April. When he was here, he spoke for only 13 minutes. I think it took me longer than that just to get through security. And he sounded really low-key.

There was very little energy from him. His voice was raspy, and he sounded listless. And there was very little energy from the crowd. Now, his whole speech then focused on abortion. You've got to remember, this is just after the Supreme Court overruled Roe v. Wade, right? And the Democrats were really focusing on that issue as a way to pick up votes in Florida. But since the presidential debate, that focus has just about disappeared. Now it's all about Biden and whether he has what it takes to win in November. what it takes to win in November. Danny, you were with the former president, President Trump, in Doral. How did his supporters, or did they hear anything new about the former president and his legal troubles, including those that he faces here in Florida?

I mean, the general line from the president himself was, you know, that of he's been absolved by the Supreme Court in the decision, essentially meaning that, you know, that of he's been absolved by the by the Supreme Court in the decision, essentially meaning that, you know, many of his official actions are completely immune from prosecution. And now it's up to, you know, the courts to decide what's an official action, what's not. But his take is all the above is an official action. Therefore, yeah, he's immune. It's his argument. The court hasn't actually ruled on the Trump specific incidences. But they but him and his supporters have really internalized that. And, you know, it's it's interesting because his mugshot has become, you know, it's a it's on everything.

And it's almost become a Billy the Kid kind of thing. This is the mugshot from the Georgia case. Exactly. And it's almost made him somewhat of a folk hero among his own supporters that the authorities don't like him, but we like him. He's almost a Robin Hood figure. Here's the mugshot, but he's the bad guy that the authorities hate. But he's on our side. Yeah.

And that kind of energy is really propelling his his supporters and it's animating them and motivating them to continue supporting him no matter what happens. And, you know, we've heard that, you know, months back he had a rally in Hialeah and I had supporters there saying, please keep the, keep the, the, the indictments coming. You know, the more that we get, the better we are.

Yeah. It's been obviously pointed out. He's raised a lot of money during the indictment process when he was indicted. And Steve, some in the democratic world have criticized the Biden campaign for not raising more money on its side. When those indictments were announced many, many moons ago. Speaking of which, there have been, Steve,

some marked differences between how some in the Biden campaign have thought about their chances here in Florida and what the president mentioned during that trip in Tampa that you were at, that you mentioned in April. What was the sense during the first lady's stop? Yeah, things have really changed in the last couple of weeks or so. You know, before the presidential debate, Democrats were really pumped up about having, you know, both the abortion and the recreational marijuana amendments on the ballot as a way to get younger people to the polls. They were really focusing on getting the younger people there, right? Yeah, but now, of course, the president's health and all the talk about his mental acumen have overshadowed all that, at least for now. So, you know, the party officials and some canvassers that I've been talking to have, up until now, pretty much towed

the party line on backing President Biden. You know, they'll excuse it for he had a bad night or he'll come back, but mainly they say he's the best candidate to take on Donald Trump. Now, there is a bit of an age divide on this. The older folks I talked to at the Jill Biden event, you know, they were pretty much falling in line behind the president. But some of the younger people, well, they're not so crazy about either candidate, having two octogenarians, basically, who have little in common with them. You know, we just heard a comment recently from Jonathan Chavez at the Jill Biden event. He's in his 30s, roughly, and, you know, he welcomed an open convention. So I think a lot of the conversation going on is going to revolve around younger people and if they're even going

to show up at the polls in November and what the Democrats can do about that. Steve, I think it's worth pointing out, right, that the Florida Democrats did not have a presidential primary this year. Exactly. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. No, it's something that, you know, a lot of the supporters, because there has been a lot of commentary on, you know, whether he should step down or not. And a lot of the Democrats have said, well, there was a primary. Well, not in Florida. There was no vote for anyone in Florida on the Democratic side. It was canceled.

The presidential primary was canceled in the state of Florida by the Democratic Party in Florida. 305-995-1800 here, talking with Danny Rivera from South Florida, Steve Newborn from our partner station in Tampa, about presidential politics. The first lady, Jill Biden, visited Tampa on Monday. The former President Donald Trump held a campaign rally at his golf course in Doral on Thursday. Danny was at that campaign rally. Steve was alongside the First Lady in Tampa this week. We want to hear from you, especially those

independents. 305-995-1800. The NPAs, no party affiliation. We'd love to hear from you. Same phone number for, regardless of how you're registered to vote here in Florida, 305-995-1800. Ina in Miami has been listening. Go ahead. You are on the radio. Yes. Hi, how are you doing? I'm doing well. You described yourself as an independent. Is that right? Yes, I am an independent and non-party affiliated. I want to point that out. But looking at both candidates, yes, I agree we need some new fresh blood. However, this is what we have, what's running at the moment.

And for me, it's not only whether the candidate, for me, it's what the candidate is standing for. And for me, President Biden can reflect my interest way more than Trump will ever be able to do. And that is for me also mandatory when I vote. It's not only the president, but also the people he surrounds himself with and all his and that is what he stands for, what his beliefs are. And for me, Trump is a downfall for America, to be quite honest with you. Let me take the opportunity to speak to you, to ask you a question, if you don't mind, as an independent. There's a lot of personality, to put it very politely, in this race.

But what about policy? Are there specific issue stances that is attracting you to one candidate over another, beyond the personality and beyond, I guess, what I would call kind of the morality question that you are asking yourself about these two men? Well, I'm also looking at what's going on in the world right now. I'm originally from Europe, so I'm also concerned and I'm also looking above the, not only in America. First of all, when you think about the abortion law, I cannot stand with the Republicans on where they're standing when it comes to abortion law. Then I'm also looking at, like I said, where the world is standing with all the wars going on in Israel and in Ukraine and Russia.

I don't think the Trump administration will have the finesse to really deal with that. I don't think so. to really deal with that. I don't think so. I mean, remember, this is the president, when we had COVID, we said we should drink Clorox to fight the virus. I mean, come on. What can you expect from somebody and his administration to suggest that to the American people? Ina, thanks for joining the conversation here from Miami, an independent voter. Danny, foreign policy is kind of local policy, especially in South Florida, as it relates to to Latin America and elsewhere. And the president, the former president and some of his campaign teasing a decision that may have been announced in Doral.

It was not. We're talking about, of course, the running mate conversation, although Senator Marco Rubio continues to be chattered about as someone who may be on the short list for the former president. And the senator was at the campaign rally. He was at the campaign and Senator Rick Scott as well. Senator Rick Scott actually floated the idea and said, Marco Rubio, he would make a great vice president, wouldn't he? And, you know, people cheered. President Trump himself pointed at all the press there and said,

you know, maybe they think I'm going to announce that Rubio is my running mate. So they were kind of flirting with the idea publicly. I will say, though, the Republican congressman out of Naples, when he hit the stage to speak, spontaneously the crowd started chanting. Byron Donalds. Byron Donalds. The crowd just started chanting VP, VP. So there's a lot of energy around a couple Floridians for that number two spot on that ticket. You are listening to the Florida Roundup

from your Florida Public Radio station. Steve Newborn with WUSF, our partner station in Tampa. The independent caller we just spoke to there, you certainly heard some big issues that she is attracted to and helping her make her decision. She mentioned abortion. A Florida Atlantic University poll, Steve, in early June. So before the presidential debate, that she is attracted to and helping her make her decision. She mentioned abortion.

A Florida Atlantic University poll, Steve, in early June, so before the presidential debate, found that the top issues cited by Florida voters, the economy, immigration, abortion, came in third at 15%. How did that issue come about, if at all, during the First Lady's visit this week? Well, her speech just focused on military families and veterans. This is a kickoff of their campaign aimed at veterans in several states. So she didn't really address much else. I mean, she talked about the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan, her son

Beau's service in the Iraq War, and just kind of briefly touched on what she called President Trump's diminishing leadership around the world. I mean, that was it. I mean, that was a short speech he gave. But, you know, we have heard here, we've done a survey here at USF. I could just give a brief plug for that. Sure. And the majority of what our listeners want the candidates to talk about, it's overwhelmingly about the economy,

primarily inflation, the cost of housing. You know, the rents have just about doubled here in the last five years. Now, even though the rate of inflation has slowed recently, the cost of just about everything is still really high. And what we've been hearing is people don't think enough is being done to bring the cost of living down. But you don't really hear that much on the campaign trail right now, do you? Danny, anything from substance from the Trump campaign on that? I know the president mentioned inflation, certainly. He certainly did.

And, you know, many promises were made that they're going to turn it all around. I mean, but on the on the topic of the substance of it, it's not entirely exactly clear. I mean, there's there's clearly a lot of frustration from his supporters about the general cost of living and whatnot. And, you know, a lot of these factors are also local. I mean, the state of Florida is dealing with its own insurance crisis, which has itself made the cost of living rise. And that's not something the president is gonna run on because the president doesn't control that necessarily but you know all these frustrations overlap and they can create you know momentum or you know the sense

that we need to fight back against something that can be channeled by candidates and it's very clear that President Trump, former President Trump, is using that anger and frustration to channel people to vote for him. And this is an outlet for all your frustrations, even if he's not necessarily going to really be in the position to do something about every single point on that list. Yeah.

Dana Rivero covered the Trump campaign during its stop here in South Florida this week for our member partner station WLRN. Steve Newborn has been along with us who covered the First Lady's visit in Tampa this week for our partner station WUSF. Gentlemen, thanks so much for sharing the reporting with us. Much appreciated. Thanks for having us. Thanks so much, Tom. We've got plenty more to come here on the South Florida Roundup. This is the Florida Roundup. I'm Tom Hudson. Thanks for being with us this week. The fight over the proposed constitutional amendment about abortion is not being fought at the ballot box just yet. Instead, it's in a conference room at the Capitol in Tallahassee with four people. The Financial Impact Estimating Conference, what we call the FIAC. The Financial Impact Estimating Conference, it's a little-known government panel that's

required to come up with a statement about the financial impact of the proposed amendment. Now, this is important because it will show up on your ballot this fall, in addition to the proposed amendment itself. This is all a requirement to present to voters what could be the impact to revenues or costs for state and local governments. The panel has met for a total of almost 10 hours over just the past two weeks, and it has not finished its work yet. You know, we're going to just take our time this morning and go through each piece. It may sound simple enough. Come up with 150 words for what the law calls a, quote, clear and unambiguous financial impact statement. Those 150 words will appear on the ballot alongside the amendment question.

This group also has to write up a longer summary and then a detailed report on how they came up with their decisions. There are four people on this panel, one from the governor's office, one each from the state house and state senate, and someone from the state's office of economic and demographic research. They do not need to agree. They are supposed to reach a consensus or a majority, but even that may be out of reach. We're going to attempt to reach closure as we go through today, and then we'll see where we are. This is Monday when the panel last met. Now, a state court ordered the conference to go back to work after throwing out an earlier financial impact statement that the group came

up with. The analysis was challenged because it was based on comparing the financial impact of the proposed amendment to a 15-week abortion ban, not the existing six-week abortion ban. There are several areas the group cannot agree on, including costs to the state Medicaid health program, the cost of likely lawsuits, and the cost if there are fewer babies born in Florida. The proposed amendment would ban the state government from passing any laws that, quote, prohibit, penalize, delay, or restrict abortion before viability or when necessary to protect the patient's health. So what would be the financial impact on state finances?

Well, the panel seems to agree passing the amendment would save some money in the criminal justice system. Just to keep us moving forward, how about something like the conference could not agree? This is Amy Baker. She's the state's chief economist. Direction of the budgetary impact, however... Chris Spencer represents the governor on the panel. The impact on the criminal justice system is not expected to be significant. We are agreeing, I think, that it's not expected to be significant.

I would agree with that. Okay, so they agree. Next, the impact on public education. $9,000 a year, $9,000 a year, $9,000 a year for each and every student. So that, to me, is a cost savings if you're not providing educational services. The cold reality is fewer babies would mean less state spending on public schools. if you're not providing educational services. The cold reality is fewer babies would mean less state spending on public schools. The state spends about $9,000 per student per year in basic funding. While the constitutional amendment would result in an aggregate statewide cost savings

from a reduction in the provision of educational services due to fewer live births, comma, this is where I insert some... This is Chris Spencer, the governor's representative on the panel. For districts already experiencing a decline in student population, the effects of the proposed amendment would exacerbate financial constraints. The group worried that some school districts already are experiencing drops in student enrollment, Some school districts already are experiencing drops in student enrollment, and the abortion amendment could add to lower student populations in years ahead and thus less state money for education coming in. I like exacerbate because I think that brings in the notion that it's not.

It's already happening. It's already happening, yeah. This is Azhar Khan with the State Senate Committee on Finance and Tax. And I like the financial constraints because we just, you know, it's, it's, yeah. I could live with this. Me too. Yeah, I agree with it. Okay.

Okay, so agreement that the abortion amendment would save some money in education and have an inconsequential savings in criminal justice. But this is where the agreement among panelists ended. Well, not quite. They did all agree that there will be lawsuits if the amendment passes. Probably lots of lawsuits. Here's the governor's representative. There's the two litigation issues we have to talk about, which is there's a whole host of statutes that are going to be questioned.

I made a list here and the stuff that I submitted. I mean, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 different statutes that will probably be litigated on whether or not they, you know, run afoul of the text of Amendment 4. The state's economist, Amy Baker, agreed. Personally, I think there will be litigation, and I do think litigation will be greater than it would have been in its absence. But that was styled as it's indeterminate because we don't know what to do with this litigation piece. But does the possible cost of lawsuits need to be figured into the financial impact statement? And if so, how? There's just a lot of uncertainty right now, too much for Azhar Khan with the state finance committee.

We don't know what the cost is going to be because it depends on who brings the issue when and the complexity of the issue that's been brought. One example, does the amendment require Medicaid to pay for abortions? Michigan voters added abortion protections to their state constitution two years ago. In June, a lawsuit was filed seeking to reverse that state's ban on using taxpayer dollars through Medicaid to pay for abortions. Here's Florida's chief economist Amy Baker on Monday. I am having a hard time reaching that a probable outcome of this conference is that Medicaid is going to have to include abortion. Because it's so many steps removed from where we are, from where we start. steps removed from where we are, from where we start. She argued that Florida's proposed amendment bans the state government from taking action rather than granting a right to an abortion.

She offered this comparison. So we have a proposed amendment to give a right to hunting and fishing in Florida. I don't think anybody is here saying, oh, we have to buy a fishing pole for everyone and a rifle for everyone because we have this new right to hunting and fishing. The governor's representative, Chris Spencer, though, responded this way. Well, sure, you know, with hunting and fishing, we're not assuming the state would have to have incurring some cost to go and purchase a fishing line. But if you are providing medical coverage under the Medicaid program for somebody and there is a constitutional right to an abortion, then why are you denying one type of a medical service over another under that regime if it's a constitutional right? If Medicaid were to pay for abortions in Florida, it would cost state money. But that has not been enough to convince Kahn from the Senate Finance Committee that it should be included in the financial impact statement. I totally agree the cost would be significant.

Cost would be significant, but I don't think it's doing that today. And so while possible, I'm not sure if it's probable. With the panelists representing the House, the conference could not come to a consensus. Again, we're 2-2. So are we getting to a point that we have to agree to disagree and then figure out what we need to do to conclude with that? It was the same result for whether to include the potential costs of lawsuits and whether or not the impact of a lower birth rate from the amendment on state revenues should be mentioned. The proposed amendment would have the impact of

further reducing already declining fertility rates in Florida. Consequently, it is likely that the amendment would increase pressure on the state budget by increasing per capita spending, reducing per capita revenues, and potentially affecting the state's credit rating. This is Heather Grenzler. She represents the Florida House on this panel. She was pushing for the group to include that warning, but the state's chief economist, Amy Baker, pushed back. From an economic perspective, I absolutely agree with you. From an economic perspective, I absolutely agree with you. From an economic perspective, when you're talking about valuing a life from an economic perspective, it does need to be over the full course of the life. But I don't think that's our charge unless we crisply tie it to a budgetary issue or a revenue issue.

So again, stalemate. If this issue is so important that we don't think we can reach agreement, that we're 2-2, coupled with the other ones we're kind of 2-2 on, we can agree to disagree. On to Monday morning, the group will be back in that conference room in Tallahassee. I'm looking forward to next Monday. I'm Tom Hudson, and you're listening to the Florida Roundup from your Florida Public Radio station. A couple of weeks ago, we were talking about the impact of new state rules for condominiums and condominium associations here in Florida. By the end of this year, condo buildings more than 30 years old need to be

inspected, and they need to show that they have the financial resources to fix any problems. It's led to a lot of worries about condo owners facing huge special assessments and the impact on condominium prices. Several of you sent us emails after the program. Cliff in Hollywood wrote us, I think the financial hardship and ripple effects of fully funding reserves on top of already out-of-control insurance premiums for condo associations will create a financial strain on the Florida economy. Jim in Sarasota wrote us asking, do any of you remember the Dolphin Tower internal collapse 15 years ago? Well, Jim, we looked into it. The Dolphin Tower, as a reminder,

it's a 12-story condo building in Sarasota. Ocean views, beautiful location. In late June 2010, a wide crack was found in a concrete slab that held up the building. The crack was big enough you could stick your hand into it. The building was evacuated. It was five years and millions of dollars later before the problems were fixed and residents who stuck around moved back. The building, by the way, is now named 101 Condominium. LFH in Miami sent us this note, in my condo, which is over 60 years old, it's in a great waterfront neighborhood. The monthly association fee doubled as a result of the cost of insurance, and because the board decided to fully fund the reserves as required by law in a building that had previously no reserves, I initially paid less than $600 a

month maintenance. It's now $1,200. My social security income is $3,000 a month. Thanks for letting me share my experience. You can share yours, get something off your mind by writing us radio at thefloridaroundup.org. That's our program for today. The Florida Roundup is produced by WLRN Public Media in Miami and WLRN Public Media in Miami and WUSF Public Media in Tampa by Bridget O'Brien and Grayson Docter. WLRN's Vice President of Radio and the program's Technical Director is Peter Mertz. Engineering help each and every week from Doug Peterson, Charles Michaels, and Jackson Hart. Richard Ives answers the phones. Our theme music is provided by Miami Jazz Guitarist Aaron Leibos at Aaronleibos.com. Thanks for calling, emailing, listening, and supporting public media in your neighborhood.

I'm Tom Hudson. Have a terrific weekend.