By: Ana Go\u00f1i-Lessan and Jim Turner, The News Service of Florida <\/p>\n
Florida\u2019s special session on redistricting will be delayed one week, after Gov. Ron DeSantis issued a proclamation Wednesday postponing it and reviving a couple of his priorities that failed during the regular legislative session.<\/p>\n
The session was set to begin Monday, but DeSantis reset lawmakers\u2019 return to Tallahassee to April 28, with the session lasting until May 1.\u00a0<\/p>\n
His proclamation also asks lawmakers address two of his key issues that failed to win House support in the 2026 session: a bill expanding vaccine exemptions for public K-12 students; and legislation aimed at protecting consumers\u2019 interactions with artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n
When asked about a potential delay on Tuesday, DeSantis said he expected the issue to be addressed \u201cOne way or another \u2026 within the next two weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n
Senate President Ben Albritton, a Wauchula Republican, was quick to advise members of his chamber on Wednesday they will await map changes from DeSantis rather than draft their own.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Senate is not drafting or producing a map for introduction during the special session,\u201d Albritton wrote in a memo to members shortly after DeSantis issued the proclamation. \u201cIt is our expectation \u2026 a proposal will be transmitted from the Governor\u2019s Office to the Senate for our consideration.\u201d<\/p>\n
DeSantis\u2019 office is expected to present his proposal to the Senate Rules Committee on April 28, the memo states. \u00a0<\/p>\n
Albritton warned members that as in prior redistricting cycles, significant litigation has followed any new lines.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe look forward to seeing the Governor\u2019s proposed map,\u201d House Speaker Daniel Perez, R-Miami, said in a released statement. \u201cThe other issues mentioned in the proclamation will be evaluated once we have seen the draft legislation.\u201d<\/p>\n
The atypical mid-decade map changes are being pushed by the White House in an effort by Republicans to maintain control of the U.S. House in the upcoming mid-term elections.<\/p>\n
DeSantis backed the vaccine proposal (SB 1756), that sought to expand exemptions for students to enter public K-12 schools and create a new \u201cconscience\u201d category for parents to opt out of immunizations.<\/p>\n
The measure also would have required health care practitioners who administer vaccines to offer parents an alternative vaccine schedule and to provide parents with information about the benefits and risks of vaccines at the time of vaccination.<\/p>\n
The bill also allowed pharmacists to provide ivermectin, an anti-parasitic drug often prescribed for animals, over-the-counter to adults without a prescription. However, this part of the bill was not mentioned in the proclamation.<\/p>\n
On the last day of the regular session on March 13, DeSantis held a press conference in Jacksonville and criticized the House for not considering the \u201cAI Bill of Rights\u201d and \u201cMedical Freedom.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt seems to me you\u2019re fumbling right on the goal line here,\u201d DeSantis said about the vaccine exemption measure. \u201cPunch it in for the touchdown and get it done. I know a lot of people in Florida really want to see these protections written into law.\u201d<\/p>\n
He then told the crowd: \u201cIt\u2019s not going to be the last word on it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Parents\u2019 rights advocates heavily supported the measure, but pediatricians and health care practitioners deemed it irresponsible, warning of the dangers the bill could cause.<\/p>\n
The bill still stopped short of what DeSantis and Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo originally asked legislators to file for the 2026 session: repealing all vaccine mandates in the state.<\/p>\n
DeSantis also pushed for an \u201cAI Bill of Rights,\u201d which passed the Senate but failed to move in the House, where Speaker Daniel Perez, R-Miami, preferred the issue to be handled at the federal level, backing an executive order issued by President Trump to block state-level AI laws. \u00a0<\/p>\n
The bill (SB 482) seeks to establish a right for parents to control children\u2019s interactions with AI chatbots. The proposal also declared that people have a right to know when they\u2019re communicating with a human or an AI system or chatbot, and set rules about the unauthorized use of people\u2019s names, images or likenesses.<\/p>\n
The measure also says people have a right to know whether political advertisements were created in whole or in part with the use of artificial intelligence and would prohibit government agencies in Florida from contracting with AI firms tied to what is known as a \u201cforeign country of concern,\u201d such as China or Russia.<\/p>\n
In his memo, Albritton stated senators will file identical versions of the bills during the special session.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By: Ana Go\u00f1i-Lessan and Jim Turner, The News Service of Florida Florida\u2019s special session on redistricting will be…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17292,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[232,234,233],"class_list":["post-234165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tallahassee","tag-tallahassee","tag-tallahassee-headlines","tag-tallahassee-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234165","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=234165"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234165\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=234165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=234165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=234165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}