Jason Mariner has secured the Republican nomination for U.S. House in Flordia’s 20th District.

Mariner defeated Greg Musselwhite, who unsuccessfully challenged the late U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings for the seat in 2020.

Mariner’s opponent for the January special general election is still unknown with the crowded Democrat primary race being too close to call.

Gov. Ron DeSantis has set the dates for the November Florida Legislature’s special session concerning COVID-19 vaccine mandates.

Lawmakers will convene the special session on November 15 and can adjourn no later than November 19.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has announced special election dates for Senate District 33, House District 88, and House District 94.

The special primary election will be held on January 11, 2022, followed by the special general election on March 8, 2022.

The three seats became available in July when Sen. Perry Thurston and Reps. Bobby DuBose and Omari Hardy resigned to run for U.S. House District 20, a seat vacated by the late Rep. Alcee Hastings.

This announcement comes after three months of delays and a lawsuit filed two weeks ago seeking to compel DeSantis to set election dates.

The delay will result in the new lawmakers missing preparations and the start of the 2022 legislative session.

Further, if a general election is needed, the new lawmakers will miss out on most of the session, which is scheduled to end on March 11, 2022.

Gov. Ron DeSantis announced he intends to call a special session of the Florida Legislature in November.

Though the specific dates have not been set, the session will take up issues regarding COVID-19 vaccine mandates.

The Board of County Commissioners have adopted Ordinance 21-73 adding additional requirements to the registration and reporting of lobbyists communication with the Miami-Dade County.

The new requirements include requiring lobbyists to disclose the specific issues they are lobbying, lobbyist registration to be amended within 15 days to ensure accuracy, and requiring lobbyist expenditure reports to be filed even if there were no expenditures.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed Senate Bill 1890, establishing a contribution limit of $3,000 to PACs sponsoring or opposing constitutional amendments proposed by initiative.

The new law also establishes a preemption of contribution limits established by local government entities.

The bill is effective July 1.

Gov. Ron DeSantis has announced the special election to fill Florida’s 20th Congressional District to replace Rep. Alcee Hastings who died last month.

The special primary election will be held on November 2 with the special general election being held on January 11, 2022.

The Florida Legislature adjourned sine die on April 30.

Among the measures passed was the record $101.5 billion budget bills.

Other measures passed include the controversial election reform, anti-protest, and transgender athletes bills.

Florida House Speaker Chris Sprowls and Senate President Wilton Simpson have announced a special session to convene on May 17.

The special session will focus on legislation implementing and ratifying the 30-year gaming compact with the Seminole Tribe of Florida announced on April 23 by Gov. Ron DeSantis.

This expansive compact looks to modernize the state’s gaming industry, authorize sports betting, and is projected to increase revenue by over $6 billion over the next decade.

The Florida House and Senate have instituted COVID-19 safety protocols during committee meetings ahead of the 2021 legislative session.

For the month of January, Senate committee meetings will be limiting in-person attendance to individuals invited by the committee leaders.

Rooms at the Leon County Civic Center have been reserved and will be made available to other individuals wishing to remotely appear and provide testimony.

House committee meetings attendance will also be limited.

Individuals seeking to attend and provide public testimony must register online at least three hours prior to the meeting.

Once seating capacity is reached, individuals will be allowed to provide written testimony.

The testimony will then be distributed amongst the committee members prior to the meeting.

The new House protocols will be in effect until February 28.

Leon County, Florida commissioners have approved an ordinance updating the county’s lobbying regulations.

The new ordinance updates the registration and reporting process by removing the notary requirement and developing an online registration form.

The ordinance also defines a clear process for enforcement and adds new penalties for violations of the lobbyist regulations.

A public hearing will be held on the new ordinance on October 13.

After extending the session to complete work on several appropriations bills, the Florida Legislature adjourned sine die Thursday, March 19.

During the 2020 session, the Legislature considered but failed to pass any of the proposed ethics bills.

Bills include changes to revolving door restrictions and the establishment of a centralized local lobbyist registration system.

Additionally, this does not affect any lobbyist dates reporting.

The Florida Senate has introduced a bill creating a statewide registration system for lobbying government entities.

The bill expands the definition of lobbying to include seeking to influence any governmental entity with respect to a decision or an attempt to obtain the goodwill of an official or employee of any governmental entity.

Further, the bill defines governmental entity as including:

• • Water management districts
  • Hospital districts
  • Children’s services districts
  • Expressway authorities
  • Port authorities
  • Counties
  • Municipalities
  • School districts
  • Special districts

With these new expanded definitions, the Commission on Ethics will establish the Local Government Lobbyist Registration System.

All lobbyists wishing to lobby any governmental entity within the state would have to register with this new system.

All previously established rules and local ordinances currently governing lobbyist registration would be preempted and replaced by this new system.

On December 4, the Tallahassee City Commission approved an ordinance amending the city’s ethics code.

The ordinance expands the Independent Ethics Board’s jurisdiction to covered individuals including:

• Each public official
• An employee or member of a city board, commission, or council required to file financial disclosures, or with purchasing authority exceeding $35,000
• Employees participating in the procurement of services or commodities exceeding $10,000

The amended ethics code extends the ban on solicitation and acceptance of gifts to covered individuals.

Additionally, the amended code extends the prohibition against misuse of public position to all public officials and employees of the city.

The ordinance becomes effective January 1, 2020.