Shutdown may delay home sales.
It’s possible that the federal government shutdown may delay home sales. Buyers of homes in flood zones may be required by their mortgage company to buy flood insurance. But the shutdown has suspended the National Flood Insurance Program’s ability to write new policies. No state has more flood insurance policies than Florida, but we do have an advantage: access to a large private flood insurance market. Six Florida-related insurers manage over 23,000 private flood policies.
More than 60% of Floridians want property tax reform.
Gov. DeSantis is barnstorming the state pushing for elimination or sharp reductions to taxes on homestead properties. Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia has been doing the same, auditing local government books looking for waste, and purporting to find it. The campaign seems to be working — a survey shows that if the required constitutional amendment were on the ballot, 65% of Florida voters would say yes, 15% oppose it, 20% are unsure. But the Florida Policy Institute warns that local governments would struggle to fund police, fire, schools, and other crucial public services if property taxes are reduced or eliminated. Florida school districts received over $21 billion in combined property tax revenue last year.
PSC opens FPL rate hearing.
The Florida Public Service Commission began the first phase of hearings in Tallahassee yesterday for Florida Power & Light’s proposed rate hike for its 12 million customers. FPL’s originally proposed base rate hike in February would have allowed it to collect $9.8 billion in revenue over the next four years — the highest in U.S. history. Since then, that has been negotiated down by approximately nearly $3 billion — energy advocates argue that’s still far too high.
Florida’s AG asks Supreme Court to review school gender case.
Florida's attorney general, James Uthmeier has joined with 21 other states in siding with a Tallahassee couple in a case about parental rights that is headed to the U.S. Supreme Court. Even though they have lost their case in two federal courts, the couple continues to argue the Leon County School District violated their parental rights when the school spoke to their child about a gender support plan without informing them. The child wanted to express a gender identity and use pronouns the parents didn’t support.
Florida farmers struggle to find workers.
Some Florida farmers are struggling as even legal foreign workers worry about the immigration crackdown. Out of all 50 states, Florida’s agriculture industry may be the most at risk in the current worker squeeze. While most foreign-born agricultural workers in the U.S. are believed to be in the country illegally, foreign workers can live here and work legally on farms for a period of up to three years if they follow the requirements of the H-2A Temporary Agricultural Workers program. And Florida has had the largest number of H-2A workers in the country in recent years. Farmers must pay roughly $2,000 to $4,000 for each employee approved by H-2A.
Space Force awards FY26 launches.
The US Space Force favored SpaceX in the latest contract awards for rocket launches. SpaceX was awarded five launches for Fiscal Year 2026. United Launch Alliance won two launches. No missions were assigned to Blue Origin, which will have to wait another year for a Space Force contract.
SpaceX pushes back against airport delays.
Recent studies suggest that when SpaceX launches its massive Starship rocket from the Space Coast, it will delay as many as 12,000 commercial plane flights a year. SpaceX is saying those numbers are overblown. On its website the company claims the aircraft hazard zones cover the worst-case scenarios, and will significantly shrink in geographic area and be far shorter in time.
