Legislative Updates
Each year the Legislature introduces an average of 2-4k bills. Around 315 bills per year pass both chambers to be signed by the governor.
Important Links:
Weekly FL Senate Calendar: https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Calendar/2025/Daily%20Calendars%202025-03-31%20194402.PDF
Weekly FL House Schedule: https://www.flhouse.gov/Sections/HouseSchedule/houseschedule.aspx
FL House Bill Actions: https://www.flhouse.gov/sections/bills/bills.aspx
Live and archived videos of the Florida House and Senate are available through each chamber’s website, as well as The Florida Channel.
The Florida Department of State Division of Elections website contains voter information and election resources, statistics and reports.
State Library and Archives of Florida – Laws of Florida provides a listing of all new laws that were enacted in the previous session.
2026 Florida Legislative Session Updates
Based on recent legislation, budget items, and statements from Florida officials, key topics for the 2026 legislative session will likely include high health insurance premiums, stalled affordable housing and resilience efforts, and education policies. The upcoming 2026 election will also influence the legislative agenda. As a gubernatorial election year, the 2026 legislative session agenda will be influenced by issues important to Republican and Democratic voters:
Republican Candidates:
Byron Donalds: A U.S. Representative from Florida since 2021, Donalds was endorsed by former President Donald Trump in March 2025. A recent poll showed him leading a primary field that included First Lady Casey DeSantis.
Paul Renner: The former Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives declared his candidacy in September 2025.
Other Potential Candidates:
Jay Collins: State Senator and ally of Governor Ron DeSantis, Collins was appointed lieutenant governor in August 2025 and is considered a potential primary challenger to Donalds.
Casey DeSantis: Florida's First Lady has been widely speculated as a potential candidate, though she has not taken firm steps toward a campaign.
Wilton Simpson: Florida's Commissioner of Agriculture has also been mentioned as a possible candidate.
Democratic Candidates:
David Jolly: A former Republican U.S. Representative who served from 2014 to 2017, Jolly announced his run as a Democrat in June 2025.
No Party Affiliation Candidates:
Jason Pizzo: A State Senator who left the Democratic Party in April 2025, Pizzo has declared he will run as an independent.
John Morgan: The Florida attorney and major political donor has hinted at a run as a third-party candidate and has the personal wealth to enter the race late.
After a contentious 2025 legislative session, which required overtime to hammer out a budget, Florida lawmakers will again face decisions about limiting spending during the 2026 session.
“Our work is not done,” House Budget Chairman Lawrence McClure, R-Dover, said. He made this comment after a joint House and Senate panel received an overview of the state’s long-range financial outlook from economist Amy Baker, coordinator of the Legislature’s Office of Economic & Demographic Research. “I intend for the House to dig even deeper this (upcoming) year for efficiencies, find waste and ineffective programs,” McClure said.
The economic forecast showed a $3.8 billion surplus for the 2026-2027 fiscal year. But without altering current levels of spending, shortfalls are anticipated of $1.5 billion and $6.6 billion in subsequent years.
McClure pointed to health care and education, which are the largest parts of the budget, as areas where lawmakers will likely face spending decisions.
“You're going to instinctively be looking in those areas just as a function of their volume,” McClure told reporters after the Joint Legislative Budget Commission meeting. “But I think the good news here is, unlike maybe an ‘08, where you had to have a true reduction off of previous year appropriations, this is easily solved by just not spending as much of the new money.”
One of key topic will be Gov. Ron DeSantis’ push to cut or eliminate homestead property taxes. A House select committee is scheduled to meet Sept. 22 and Sept. 23 to look at this issue.
And state agencies already are looking at the possibility of a tight budget next year.
Baker’s presentation to the Joint Legislative Budget Commission highlighted four areas --- an emergency preparedness and response fund, the Medicaid program, the main school funding program and state employee benefits --- that are expected to collectively increase in costs by $2.572 billion next fiscal year and $6.779 billion over three years.
Meanwhile, the prime working-age population, people between 25 and 54, will slip from 36.8% in 2020 to 36.2% by 2030. The report also noted that wages in Florida have increased, from 87.3% of the national average in 2020 to 91.9%, a trend Baker said is expected to continue.
Faced with a similar outlook heading into last year’s session, the House and Senate battled on spending levels and tax cuts far beyond regular session—all the way until June 17th—when lawmakers passed a $115.1 billion dollar budget.
First official interim committee week: October 6-10, 2025
Legislators have pre-filed just over two dozen pieces of legislation and so far, the most interesting one is where Republican representatives Jim Mooney and Chip LaMarca pre-filed legislation to officially recognize the flamingo as the Sunshine State’s bird.