Here are three of the top issues affecting Floridians that will likely be the subject of major discussions in this year’s legislative session in Tallahassee.
It’s official: Florida is a red state.
Republicans soundly defeated Democrats up and down the ballot in the state in November, cementing an end to Florida’s once infamous status as a perennial swing state.
Republicans now hold 87 of the 120 seats in the state House of Representatives (including two former Democrats who switched parties after the election), 28 of 40 seats in the state Senate, and the governor’s mansion.
That means come March, when this year’s legislative session gets underway, they can once again pass just about any right-wing priority they want. But they’ll also be faced with real issues that Floridians want resolved, including the rising cost of property insurance, the continued crisis of gun violence, and the state’s health care issues.
Here’s a look at three of the top issues at play in 2025 and how the legislature might address them:
Property insurance
Florida’s skyrocketing property insurance rates have forced many Florida residents out of their homes or left them no choice but opt out of coverage in a state that is increasingly vulnerable to dangerous Category 4 hurricanes. State regulators and Republican lawmakers claim the market is stabilizing and cite the filing of some companies for rate decreases.
One of the more popular ideas on the table this year is My Safe Florida Home, a program which grants up to $10,000 for people to harden their homes. But there is no guarantee lawmakers will vote to fund it, as they are already talking about trying to limit state spending in the upcoming legislative session. A previous version of the program, which was created in response to a similar insurance crisis in the early 2000s, lasted only a few years.
Another way to alleviate the problem is to expand Citizens Property Insurance Corp. – the state-backed company for those who can’t afford coverage from a private company – to everyone. Citizens has asked regulators for a 13.5% increase for homeowners’ policies this year. The request is pending before the Office of Insurance Regulation.
RELATED: Millions of Florida homeowners could pay more for property insurance
Candidates in both parties say rates need to come down, but it remains to be seen which proposals may gain traction this year.
Health care
With the Legislature once again unlikely to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, more than 4 million Floridians who get their health care insurance through the ACA marketplace will need to rely on subsidies from the federal government.
But unless Congress acts to extend them, these subsidies are set to expire at the end of 2025. However, with the GOP controlling both chambers of Congress and the White House, those who support the subsidies are not optimistic this will happen. If and when those subsidies expire, Floridians could be priced out of health insurance, increasing the costs for care that often goes unpaid.
Gun violence
In 2018, following the mass shooting at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland that left 17 dead, the GOP-led Legislature passed a measure that included raising the age to buy a rifle from 18 to 21, banning bump stocks, and imposing a three-day waiting period to buy a firearm.
But now some Republicans and gun rights activists are pushing to repeal those laws. They are also proposing a law to allow guns to be carried openly in public.
Although the bills to repeal those laws have so far failed to pass, a lawsuit against Florida’s ban on open carry is pending in the courts.
