FLORIDA TOURISM VISIT Florida recorded a 60.5 percent drop in visitors during the second quarter of this year. International visitors plunged by more than 90 percent. The quarterly estimate is 12.8 million total visitors as compared to 32.4 million for the same period in 2019. HIGH SPEED RAIL The company behind the high-speed rail project that will eventually Read more about Issues of Interest[…]
REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION The GOP has picked Jacksonville to host the Republican National Convention keynote events in August. The convention’s official business meetings will take place in Charlotte. Portions of the convention events were moved to Florida after the governor of North Carolina expressed concerns about a potential spread of COVID at the larger events. TOURISM COVID-19 Read more about Issues of Interest[…]
The Legislature concluded its 2020 Session on March 19th. Since that time, only 16 bills have been sent to, and signed by, the Governor. The presiding officers have 191 additional bills to send to the Governor for his consideration prior to July 1st. That includes the budget with $400 million of member projects that will Read more about Legislative Issues[…]
FACIAL RECOGNITION The Orlando Police Department is one of the first police stations in America to test Amazon Rekognition facial recognition technology. The program allows police to upload a photo to “detect, analyze, and compare faces for a wide variety of user verification, cataloging, people counting, and public safety use cases.” The program is in Read more about Issues of Interest[…]
MEDICAL MARIJUANA After the Legislature passed a bill approving the limited use of marijuana for medicinal reasons this spring, the Department of Health has been busy writing the rules to license and regulate it. Two hearings were held in Tallahassee this summer with packed audiences and much public testimony. Former Governor Jeb Bush recently announced Read more about Issues of Interest[…]