Florida
State preemption bills have a good year at the Florida Legislature
The 2024 Florida Legislature passed a number of bills that would take away authority from local governments. Known as preemption bills, they were cleared for issues ranging from local wages to vacation rentals to affordable housing. Some of those that failed this year will likely be back next year.
“Over the past six or seven years, it’s not been a good year for home rule.”
That’s Jeff Sharkey, president of Capital Alliance Group. He represents Leon County government, so it’s his job to push back on preemption bills. Florida lawmakers filed about 1900 bills this year and roughly 325 bills passed.
“One out of 20 of those 1900 bills were preemption bills,” said Sharkey. “So, you can imagine it’s a constant battle with local government advocates, city officials, county officials, Florida Association of Counties, Florida League of Cities…trying to manage that onslaught of preemption bills.”
One of the most controversial is House Bill 433, which would prevent local governments from putting requirements on contractors about wages and heat-exposure protections for workers. Republican House sponsor Tiffany Esposito of Fort Myers and other supporters said the proposal would save taxpayer money and that businesses should be able to determine the wages of workers. Sharkey disputes that.
“But there wasn’t, to my knowledge, one piece of evidence or ordinance that showed it that had a dramatically adverse effect on businesses,” he said. “I mean, you talk about roofers, you talk about construction companies, you talk about landscaping. This is hot in the summer, and it’s not getting any cooler.”
A related measure by Republican representative Jason Shoaf of Port St. Joe. would override existing city and county ordinances that impose hiring preferences on local public works projects. In debate on the Senate floor, Democratic Senator Jason Pizzo said Broward County, part of which he represents, has a program to subsidize some workers’ wages so they can qualify for benefits.
“[Does] anything in this bill, if passed and signed into law, that would prohibit a place like Broward from offering that hourly subsidy?”
Republican Senator Jay Trumbull of Panama City in response:
“Senator Pizzo, not fully understanding the nuances within Broward, but there’s nothing in this bill that would prohibit Broward from giving a gift of some dollar amount to a particular industry or vendor…is my understanding.”
Another successful preemption bill deals with vacation rentals. Sharkey says there are hundreds of thousands of these in Florida now, and lawmakers have tried for years to address them. Some see them as extra income for property owners, others as party houses with no accountability. Senate Bill 280 by Republican Senator Nick DiCeglie of Pinellas County would preempt the regulation of vacation rentals to the state. Here’s DiCeglie:
“There’s been somewhat of — I’d say a weaponization of government to prevent these properties from operating as vacation rentals,” he said, “and I think that this bill is going to address those concerns.”
Also passing: a ban on public sleeping, new requirements for food delivery platforms and electric vehicle charging stations, and the uniform handling of complaints against law enforcement.
Other preemption bills failed, including a measure that would have capped transfers from a city or county’s municipal utility to its general fund…and a move to ban the removal of historic monuments that have been in place at least 25 years.
Republican Senator Blaise Ingoglia of Spring Hill fought for term limits for county commissioners, but ultimately the House and Senate couldn’t agree.
“I will continue working on this bill,” he said before the bill died. “We still have a way to go. We still have the House to reconcile with.”
Sharkey expects some of those proposals and others to come back in the next legislative session.
Florida
Florida college Republicans group chat reveals racist texts: ‘Avoid the coloreds like the plague’
It only took three weeks for a group chat for conservative students at Florida International University (FIU) to become a place where participants eagerly used racist slurs, prompting widespread condemnation from community leaders.
Abel Alexander Carvajal, secretary of Miami-Dade county’s Republican party and a student at FIU’s College of Law, reportedly started the chat after the killing of Charlie Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA, in September 2025.
But on Wednesday, the Miami Herald published leaked WhatsApp conversations in which the college Republicans made racist, sexist, antisemitic and homophobic comments, including variations of the N-word used more than 400 times. Knowledge of the chat’s existence was revealed on the same day that Republican lawmakers in Florida pushed forward a bill to rename a one-mile stretch of road alongside FIU in honor of Kirk.
William Bejerano, who the Herald noted once tried to start an anti-abortion group at Miami Dade College, was the most prolific user of the N-word. Using the slur, Bejerano called for dozens of acts of extreme violence against Black people, including crucifying, beheading and dissecting.
Dariel Gonzalez, then the College Republicans’ recruitment chair, who has recently applied to become a GOP committee member, responded to the calls for violence by saying: “How edgy.” He repeatedly used “colored” to describe Black people, including writing: “Ew you had colored professors?!” and “Avoid the coloreds like the plague,” according to the Herald.
Carvajal, who was appointed to a two-year role on the city of Hialeah’s planning and zoning board earlier this year, confirmed to the paper that the group chat was his doing, but he denied knowledge of the problematic comments until the publication contacted him about its logs last week.
“It’s been five months since this was sent and this is the first time I’ve seen this message,” Carvajal told the Herald.
“I guess to an extent, I bear some responsibility, cause I created a chat. But if I had seen this at the moment, I would have removed [Bejerano] from the chat. I probably would have even blocked his number.”
The Herald found that Carvajal had deleted 14 messages sent by other participants in the chat and 42 of his own messages before the publication obtained the chat’s logs.
He also participated in some of the racist discussions. While referring to a Black student who allegedly left FIU’s College Republicans after a member of the group “called her a [N-word]”, the Floridian reported that Carvajal wrote: “Why didn’t miggress leave?” Elsewhere in the chat, the publication reported that Carvajal used “Miggress”, “Migglet” and “Migger” to refer to Black women, Black children and Black people, in general.
At one point, Gonzalez wrote: “You can fuck all the [K-word, a slur for Jewish people] you want. Just don’t marry them and procreate.”
Ian Valdes, the Turning Point USA FIU chapter president, responded, “I would def not marry a Jew,” before changing the group chat’s name from “Uber [R-word slur for disabled people] Yapping” to “Gooning in Agartha”. “Gooning” is a gen-Z slang term for male masturbation, while “Agartha” is a mythical white civilization promoted by Heinrich Himmler, one of the most powerful leaders in Nazi Germany next to Hitler.
Gonzalez reportedly described Agartha to the group chat as “Nazi heaven sort of”.
Kevin Cooper, the first Jewish chair of the Miami Dade Republican party, condemned the group chat in a statement published to X and called for Carvajal’s resignation.
“The majority of our board voted to request Carvajal’s resignation. We have commenced removal proceedings and look forward to resolution from the Republican Party of Florida,” he wrote.
That call was echoed by Juan Porras, a Republican state representative and Miami-Dade GOP state committee member, who said in a statement: “Leadership carries responsibility. When someone in a leadership role engages in this kind of behavior, it damages the trust placed in our party by voters across Florida. For that reason, I am asking the Miami Dade Republican party secretary to step down from this position.”
In a joint statement, Florida Republican state senators Alexis Calatayud, Ileana Garcia and Ana Maria Rodriguez denounced the chats and called for the expulsion from party leadership of its participants.
“The individuals in the group chat have exposed how profoundly misaligned their beliefs are to the views of the Republican party of Florida,” their statement said. “We call for the immediate expulsion of the individuals disseminating from any level of leadership of the Miami-Dade Republican Party … We will not tolerate bigotry or discrimination.”
Multiple leaked group chats from young Republicans have created controversy in recent years.
Last year, Politico published messages from a group chat of more than 100 conservatives across the country in which users also made racist and antisemitic comments. In 2022, a Young Republican group chat from North Dakota was revealed as a cesspool of homophobic and antisemitic rhetoric.
Florida
Federal judge blocks DeSantis executive order declaring CAIR a 'terrorist organization'
Florida
Gas prices rise in South Florida amid U.S. and Israel’s conflict with Iran, as the stock market also reports a dip
Four days into the Iranian conflict, gas prices are rising at many stations in South Florida.
“I’ve traveled all over the United States,” says Stacey Williams. CBS Miami spoke to him as he was gassing up on the turnpike. He paid $66 for 20 gallons of diesel to fill his pickup truck. Williams has noted the fluctuations in fuel as he drives to locations for his work on turbines. He just spent three weeks at the Turkey Point Nuclear Power Plant south of Miami.
“The salary we get paid per hour does not add up to what we pay for gas, housing, and food,” he says.
Mitchell Gershon is also dealing with the higher gas prices. He has to fill three vehicles constantly for his business—Thrifty Gypsy, a pop-up store at musical venues. He’s back and forth from Orlando to Miami and says fuel is costing him 20% more. When asked how he handles these fluctuations, he said, “Have a little backup cash so you are ready for it.”
The rise in oil prices contributed to a drop in the stock market on Tuesday, which means some retirement accounts dipped, too. CBS Miami talked to Chad NeSmith, director of investments at Tobias Financial Advisors in Plantation, for perspective on the drop.
“We are seeing most of the pullback today. Yesterday was a shock,” he says. He’s not expecting runaway oil prices but says investors should stay in the loop: “Pay attention to your portfolio. Stick to your goals. Have a plan because these things are completely unpredictable.”
That unpredictability has Williams adjusting his budget. “You just cut back, cut corners, all you can do,” he says.
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