Much of this week’s edition examines how various legislators view the just-concluded Regular Legislative Session. However, work remains on issues such as property taxes, a new congressional map and – lest we forget – the budget.
Of all the people in Tallahassee this year from this region, perhaps no one was as close to the process as Speaker Pro Tempore Wyman Duggan, who had a front-row seat during his final Regular Session in Tallahassee.
During a chat this week with Bold, Duggan recounted successes of the Session, including efforts to protect local waterways and children.
“Passing the Ocklawaha Bill,” Duggan said, was a “decadeslong effort by lots of people.”
Wyman Duggan reflects on the Legislative Session, highlighting wins, tensions and unfinished work.
“I was happy to help do this piece, and we got it passed off the House floor, which, you know, hadn’t happened before, so that’s great. Obviously, the Senate didn’t get it done, but it was still a tremendous accomplishment for me personally and in the House.”
While Duggan’s bill got just three no votes in the House, the companion bill filed by Sen. Jason Brodeur never made it to the floor despite sailing through Committees.
Duggan also spotlights legislation State Attorney Melissa Nelson brought to him, “arising out of the investigations of Douglas Anderson,” the art school in Jacksonville that went through a spate of predatory teachers grooming students.
The Senate companion, SB 590, sponsored by Sen. Jenn Bradley, passed.
“It’s going to the Governor for signature, and that tolls the statute of limitations for prosecuting mandatory reporters who are supposed to report improper activity and don’t,” Duggan said.
Duggan also discussed the choppy dynamic between Senate President Ben Albritton and House Speaker Daniel Perez, saying that it wasn’t necessarily that “out of the norm.”
He contends that former Speaker Paul Renner and former Senate President Kathleen Passidomo “probably worked in better harmony than Albritton and Perez,” and that the fractiousness of this Session and in 2025 isn’t necessarily “out of the historical norm.”
To that end, he expects the Legislature to play ball during redistricting, saying the Governor’s Office likely will provide a map and “we’ll probably pass it.”
(The drama, of course, is in how ambitious that map can be. U.S. Rep. Kat Cammack, for example, believes the Governor’s push for five newly Republican seats would put current Republican incumbents “in danger.” But that’s not the state Legislature’s concern.)
Similarly, a Special Session is expected for a property tax amendment, as the Governor eyes eliminating them for homesteads.
Duggan gave some insight into how he expects that to go, also, and why the Governor has slow-walked it so far.
“I think the Governor’s electoral strategy is built on the premise that constitutional amendments start out when they kind of get their big reveal to the public at their peak level of support, and over time, their support ebbs away. And then on Election Day, they, you know, they pass, or they don’t pass, depending on where they started out,” Duggan said, of the potential push for 60%.
He believes the “Governor’s approach to doing it as a special is built entirely around the strategy of having a sprint campaign rather than a marathon campaign.”
“He didn’t want to roll out whatever it is he wants to do too early because over time the public would (become bored and) the dazzle would wear off by Election Day (and) there might not be 60% statewide support for it.”
Davis days
Senate Democratic Leader Designate Tracie Davis is looking back at a Session where she “focused on issues that directly impact Jacksonville, including health care, education and local community priorities.”
One major accomplishment: “SB 1246, which strengthens the Linking Industry to Nursing Education (LINE) Fund.”
Tracie Davis highlights health care, workforce and labor wins while pushing for more Jacksonville funding.
“This program helps train more health care professionals and builds stronger partnerships between schools and local hospitals, directly addressing workforce shortages in the health care field. The House sponsor, Rep. Erika Booth, was a great partner. The bill passed on Day 59 of Session and is headed to the Governor’s desk,” Davis recounts.
But that’s not all.
“Sen. Danny Burgess and I collaborated on SB 1296, which updates Florida’s public employee labor system, ensuring fairer processes for local government workers and public employees across the state. I also championed the Protection from Surgical Smoke bill, SB162, focused on protecting health care workers in operating rooms and hospital settings across the state. While the bill did not pass this Session, my House sponsor, Rep. Marie Woodson, and I do plan to file it again next year.”
And it’s not over yet, she adds.
“While the Session has wrapped, some important projects are still in the works. With the state budget not yet finalized, we’re waiting on key funding decisions that will impact Jacksonville’s schools, hospitals and community programs,” Davis says.
“Looking ahead to upcoming special Sessions, I will focus on making sure Jacksonville gets the resources it needs, supporting local projects, and keeping the City’s priorities front and center at the state level.”
Succinct
Meanwhile, House Speaker-designate Sam Garrison is taking a matter-of-fact perspective on the just-concluded Regular Session and what’s to come.
“You win as a team in this business, so my biggest accomplishments this Session were the successes of my Republican colleagues. As for future Specials, I hope they are minimal in number and brief in duration. We’ve got elections to win,” Garrison told Bold.
Sam Garrison emphasizes team wins and eyes upcoming election amid post-Session outlook.
Garrison himself has an election to win. Antoinette Harmon is still an active candidate against him in the Republican Party Primary in Clay County’s high-definition 11.
Wiles’ struggle
Jacksonville Bold joins in the prayers for Susie Wiles, the current White House Chief of Staff and local political legend who is facing a breast cancer diagnosis.
President Donald Trump announced Monday that Wiles “has been diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer, and has decided to take on this challenge, IMMEDIATELY, as opposed to waiting.”
He expressed confidence in her medical team and said her prognosis is “excellent.”
And she will continue to work.
“During the treatment period, she will be spending virtually full time at the White House, which makes me, as President, very happy! Her Strength and her Commitment to continue doing the job she loves and does so well, while undergoing treatment, tells you everything you need to know about her. Susie, as one of my closest and most important advisers, is tough and deeply committed to serving the American People. She will soon be better than ever!”
Support came in from around the country, including from local leaders.
“In a battle against cancer, I bet on Susie Wiles every time. She’s the strongest woman I know,” said City Council member Rory Diamond.
“She never loses. God bless her and her family,” said Jordan Elsbury, the former Chief of Staff for Mayor Lenny Curry, who is now the local principal for Ballard Brothers.
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Differentiation
State Rep. Angie Nixon continues to make her case for being elected to the Senate in November, saying that, unlike retired Lt. Col. Alex Vindman, she has a record Floridians know and can therefore win the General Election.
“I am a community organizer,” she said. “I led organizing efforts in 2018 to help expand the minimum wage here in our state, and so I know what it takes to build complex coalitions of folks. I know what it takes to motivate and galvanize people who are apathetic; people who have been marginalized and told that they don’t matter. And I know that I am the one who can actually win in August as well as win in November.”
Angie Nixon pitches grassroots record and contrasts campaign with Alex Vindman ahead of Senate race.
During her interview with South Florida journalist Jim DeFede that aired over the weekend, Nixon also brought up class issues.
“We need to do things a lot differently than what’s been happening. And right now, these corrupt billionaires, these greedy corporations, are determining all avenues of our lives, all types of policies. And if we start getting more people who come from hardworking families to be our elected officials in Tallahassee as well as in Washington, D.C., we’ll see massive amounts of change here in our country.”
DEI and more
Sen. Clay Yarborough is spotlighting one achievement as the Regular Session ends.
“For the 2026 Regular Session, I am thankful to have seen the passage of SB 1134, Official Actions of Local Governments. I am also grateful to Rep. Dean Black for his efforts to pass the measure in the House and for Gov. Ron DeSantis’ indication that he plans to sign the bill into law,” Yarborough said.
“The problem the bill addresses is that taxpayer dollars in some of Florida’s cities and counties are being spent on a number of activities under the cloak of a less than 10-year-old construct labeled ‘DEI’ that is dividing Floridians. There is nothing wrong with the term ‘diversity,’ the term ‘equity,’ and the term ‘inclusion,’ the representations of which have been around since ancient times. At Issue is the manipulation, hijacking, and distortion of those terms into the recent “DEI” effort that, again, is dividing the people of our state,” he added.
Clay Yarborough touts the passage of SB 1134 and targets DEI spending in local governments.
Yarborough noted, as he did during floor debate and Committee discussions, that cities like Jacksonville and Gainesville had signed off on money for DEI training and for organizations that had distributed “explicit playing cards to children that depict the names and graphic images of body parts.”
“If local governments were not intentionally funding and promoting these kinds of activities that divide rather than unite people, the bill would not be necessary, but we represent the same constituents and have an obligation to uphold standards of transparency and accountability. Further, decisions related to individuals and actions should be based on merit and, if we have officials in local government, whether it be elected officials, the procurement director, the HR manager, or anyone else, who is not basing their decisions on merit (which levels the playing field), they need to be replaced,” he adds.
His wishlist for the 2026 Special Sessions includes a balanced state budget, a meaningful property tax relief proposal for voters to consider on this year’s ballot, Medical Freedom legislation, and the AI Bill of Rights.
Bet on Black
Rep. Dean Black had a successful 2026 Regular Session by any measure, but some things particularly stand out to him.
“Banning DEI in local government was huge! That was the culmination of nearly two years’ worth of work. Sen. Yarborough and I worked relentlessly on that, and it finally paid off,” Black said, of the legislation that will stop local diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, a priority of the Governor.
Dean Black highlights DEI ban and Alzheimer’s awareness funding as key Session wins.
But that wasn’t the only important bill to him.
“Funding the Alzheimer’s awareness initiative was also consequential because we have done so much to make assistance available to people afflicted with the disease. Yet, if they aren’t aware of it, it does no good. We were one of the few major states without an awareness initiative, and now we will have one. This will get help to people who truly need it,” Black predicted.
Not on board
Not all sheriffs are on board with the concerns raised by Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd and others during Monday’s meeting of the state Immigration Enforcement Council.
“I was not on the call referenced and do not share or endorse the comments made by others. Our focus remains on enforcing the law and continuing our mission to make Jacksonville a safer place for all residents,” said Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters on Tuesday.
Waters is responding to a series of comments made by Judd and others, reported by the Florida Phoenix.
Grady Judd’s immigration comments draw pushback from T.K. Waters over enforcement approach.
“While Congress sits on their hands and does nothing about this, we are on the ground floor with this day in and day out — looking in the eyes of these folks that, yes, came here inappropriately. But some came here inappropriately only to do better for themselves and their family,” Judd said, during the same meeting where he said he’d write President Donald Trump, Senate Majority Leader John Thune and House Speaker Mike Johnson seeking clarity on federal immigration enforcement priorities.
Waters notes that immigration enforcement has been a priority in Duval County for nearly two decades.
“As Sheriff, I want to reaffirm that our agency has and always will work hand in hand with our state and federal partners to uphold the laws and priorities established by our elected leaders,” he said.
“We have participated in illegal immigration enforcement long before it was mandated for other Florida counties. The 287(g) program was established in Duval County in 2008. In the past two years alone, we have processed 1,289 illegal immigrants for removal proceedings, all of whom committed crimes in our county.”
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Comeback kid
With Democratic City Council member Jimmy Peluso running for an at-large seat, former state House candidate Ben Sandlin has joined the race to replace him in District 7.
Ben Sandlin enters District 7 race as Jimmy Peluso seeks at-large seat.
He was just 20 when he ran against Duggan in 2024 and would have been the youngest person elected to the state House had he won.
At 22, he would be the youngest person elected to the City Council.
Democrats Chaussee Gibson and Marlaina Geddes are also running.
Mixed home sales
Northeast Florida closed sales of single-family homes showed some positive signs in February.
The Northeast Florida Association of Realtors (NEFAR) issued its monthly real estate statistics, and there were 1,469 houses sold last month. That’s up by 8.3% from February 2025, when there were 1,357 sales on the First Coast, and it’s a substantial 26.7% increase over January’s figure of 1,159.
Other housing indicators were mixed in Northeast Florida. The median sales price was $388,500 in February. That’s down 0.4% from a year ago, when the figure was $389,900, but it’s a notable jump from the January price of $369,000, a 5.3% bump.
Northeast Florida home sales edge upward in February.
Duval County, which has the First Coast’s largest population, reflected those trends with 745 homes sold in February, a 3.8% uptick from a year ago and a 22.9% surge over January. The median sales price was $326,000, a 1.5% slip from last year and a 4.8% monthly increase.
St. Johns County saw one of the most robust increases in home transactions with 393 last month, a 20.9% jump in the year-over-year comparison and a 38.9% jump in the monthly figure. Median home sales prices came in at $542,000, a 1.3% fall from February 2025 and a 3.2% monthly slump.
Nassau County was the outlier with increases in sales and prices. There were 88 closings, unchanged from a year ago but a staggering 66% higher than in January. The median sales price was $492,500, a 7.1% increase from the year-ago figure and a 13.2% increase from the month-ago figure.
Clay County had 199 closings in February; a 7.6% hike compared to February 2025 and an 8.2% monthly increase. Median sale prices were stagnant, though, at $349,000, a 1.1% drop in the annual figure and a 4.8% slide from January.
Stadium stamina
The mixed-use stadium project for Sporting JAX is getting backing from a man who’s been working on the development for a long time.
The USL soccer club announced earlier this month that the 15,000-seat facility now has official backing and is ready to move forward. But as the Sports Business Journal reported, much of the progress on the project can be chalked up to Michael McNaughton, a North Florida real estate developer.
Michael McNaughton helps advance the Sporting JAX stadium project backed by private investors.
McNaughton had been working on the stadium deal for nearly a year, which will host men’s and women’s team competitions. It will be located near the St. Johns Town Center off Town Center Parkway, not far from the University of Florida.
The project also spawned a real estate subsidiary to oversee it. The Sports Business Journal reported that the entity will be Sport JAX Development Co., an offshoot of the USL organization. McNaughton will be the President of the subsidiary.
The total $500 million stadium project will still be privately funded by First Coast business owner Ricky Caplin, who oversees the ownership group that also includes former Jacksonville Jaguars running back Fred Taylor and former Florida Gators quarterback Tim Tebow.
While the $500-million proposed stadium deal may have its backers in place, it’s still subject to environmental and zoning reviews by the local government. If all that is secured, groundbreaking on the stadium could happen next year.
Swoop scoop
Stadium revisions and additions have been the trend at many venues on the First Coast recently. Add the University of North Florida (UNF) to the fray, where the Ospreys will have reason to fly high.
UNF officials announced last week they’re in for some major upgrades to the school’s Hodges Stadium on the Southside campus. The estate of Kernan R. Hodges, the namesake of the athletic facility, has donated $8 million to the state university.
That money will go directly to the stadium built about 22 years ago.
“We are thankful for this transformational gift from the Hodges family that will help UNF recruit future Ospreys, strengthen community connections and enhance campus life,” said UNF interim President Angela Garcia Falcone.
UNF secures $8 million donation and city funding for major Hodges Stadium upgrades.
The funds will be used for upgrades and renovations to the stadium that holds 9,400 seats. The facility has hosted professional soccer competitions and has raised its profile among track and field events. It’s also home to the Browning Athletic Training and Education Center, along with UNF Athletics Department offices.
UNF will also use another $6 million in funding from the City of Jacksonville that was approved in 2025 to pay for renovations to restrooms, locker rooms, press boxes and other infrastructure improvements. University officials say they’re looking into adding more premium seating to the facility.
“These enhancements to Hodges Stadium will elevate the experience for our student‑athletes and strengthen UNF’s ability to attract national and international events, which will further amplify the stadium’s significant economic impact on our community,” said Nick Morrow, UNF Athletics Director.
What’s next for Jaguars roster?
If you were looking for the Jaguars to make a splash in free agency, you would be disappointed.
The team added only one new player, former Washington Commanders’ running back Chris Rodriguez Jr. Jacksonville also retained two would-be free agents, signing cornerback Montaric “Buster” Brown, linebacker Dennis Gardeck, and tight end Quintin Morris to new deals.
Chris Rodriguez Jr. headlines quiet Jaguars free agency amid roster turnover and depth focus.
In the process, the Jaguars lost running back Travis Etienne, who signed with the New Orleans Saints, and linebacker Devin Lloyd, who joined the Carolina Panthers. Cornerback Greg Newsome II signed with the New York Giants, and safety Andrew Wingard agreed to a deal with the Arizona Cardinals.
On its face, it appears to be a free-agency period in which the Jaguars lost more than they gained.
But closer examination of position groups may reveal otherwise.
At running back, the loss of Etienne will be felt. But the Jaguars drafted two running backs last season, Bhayshul Tuten and LeQuint Allen, who both showed promise. Tuten rushed for five touchdowns as Etienne’s backup last season and is likely to enter training camp as the Jaguars top option. Adding Rodriguez, who played for Jaguars head coach Liam Coen when Coen was the offensive coordinator at Kentucky, provides another option. He rushed for 500 yards and six touchdowns last season in Washington.
The cornerback room now includes Brown, Travis Hunter, Jourdan Lewis, and Jarrian Jones, who figure to be in the top four at the position. That’s a young, rising group of corners.
Lloyd had a breakthrough season with five interceptions, including one run back for a touchdown against the Kansas City Chiefs. He also recovered a fumble and was named a Pro Bowl pick and a second-team All-Pro. It was, by far, his best season in the NFL and came in a contract year. It could be that Lloyd is just hitting his stride as a pro. Or it could be a one-year aberration. Regardless, the Jaguars are left with Foye Oluokun at middle linebacker with Gardeck and Ventrell Miller to battle it out at weakside linebacker.
The Jaguars’ salary cap situation limited the moves they could make. However, the team has continued to restructure contracts to carve out more room for moves to strengthen the team’s depth in the second phase of free agency that comes after the draft.
Where will the Jaguars concentrate their focus for the rest of the offseason? There is no gaping hole in the starting position. The Jaguars could look to add more big bodies on the offensive and defensive lines. The top four wide receivers seem to be set with Jakobi Meyers, Parker Washington, Brian Thomas Jr. and Hunter, who will be used primarily at cornerback upon his return but will be included in the passing game as well.
While the Jaguars lost some impact players in free agency, the roster as currently constructed allows the team to draft the best player available without a strong need at any one position. That’s a luxury that most teams in the NFL don’t have.