Sunburn — The Morning Read Of What’s Hot In Florida Politics — 5.16.22

By Peter Schorsch

Good Monday morning.

Rest in peace, Ms. Pearly:

Pearly Young, 77, was killed today in #Buffalo shopping for groceries.

For 25 years she ran a pantry where every Saturday she fed people in Central Park. Every. Saturday.
She loved singing, dancing, & being with family.

She was mother, grandma, & missionary. Gone too soon ???? pic.twitter.com/dQ5X9KBJCQ

— Madison Carter (@madisonlcarter) May 15, 2022

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Ahead of a Special Session on property insurance, Florida voters want clarity, not conflict or coverage cuts.

According to a poll conducted by McLaughlin & Associates, nearly nine in 10 voters are clamoring for new financial transparency requirements that would provide state regulators with more information on how insurers set rates.

It was by far the most favored pitch measured in the poll of the 1,000 likely General Election voters, with just 5% opposed to the concept.

Additionally, nearly three-quarters of those polled were open to making the Florida Insurance Commissioner an elected official to boost accountability to consumers.

Though it is uncertain what reforms lawmakers will pursue in the May 23-27 Special Session, insurers and lawmakers alike have blamed rising property insurance premiums on excessive litigation, particularly roof claims.

However, more than two-thirds of those polled said they opposed any legislation that would make it more difficult for policyholders to sue their insurers.

One measure previously considered by lawmakers would have attempted to slow rate increases by allowing insurers to offer policies that cover the cash value of roofs rather than the replacement cost. Later legislation would have allowed insurers to charge higher deductibles for roof claims.

They were nonstarters to House Speaker Chris Sprowls, and it appears voters agree — 82% said they were against any reform that would allow insurers to cut coverage without cutting rates.

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First in Sunburn — “Michele Rayner leaves CD 13 race for another run at the state House” via Daniel Figueroa of Florida Politics — State Rep. Rayner will not seek the Democratic nomination to represent Florida’s 13th Congressional District. She will instead run for re-election in the state House, albeit in a newly drawn district. Rayner said her decision was primarily based on Florida’s controversial new congressional maps. Rayner said the decision was not easy, but she saw the “writing on the wall.”

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Florida Politics will be providing daily coverage of Katherine Magbanua’s retrial for the 2014 murder-for-hire of FSU law professor Dan Markel. The case has drawn international media attention to Florida’s capital city, and we’ll share with readers the top things to watch for and discuss as proceedings unfold. Our reporting will draw from many sources, including contributor Karen Cyphers of Sachs Media, who, with attorney Jason Solomon, advocate with the grassroots group Justice for Dan to draw attention to this case and provide analysis of relevance to Florida’s political, advocacy, and legal communities.

Read my table-setter here.

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Holly Bell is leaving her position as Director of Cannabis at the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services to become Vice President of Regulatory at Flora Growth.

Bell had held the FDACS position since early 2019, shortly after Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried’s inauguration.

Bell announced her new position on Facebook, saying her job at FDACS was “hard but rewarding” and thanking Fried for the opportunity.

“I am challenging others right now to step up and get involved by doing your civic duty,” she wrote. “I did mine, and I learned a lot.”

Before joining FDACS, Bell worked at Nashville-Access, a media company she co-founded that produces syndicated radio shows and podcasts on country music.

She previously worked as a consultant specializing in the cannabis, entertainment and finance industries.

Flora Growth is the parent company of several cannabis brands and operates one of the most extensive outdoor cannabis cultivation facilities. It makes products from several cannabis derivatives, including cosmetics, hemp textiles, and food and beverages.

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South Florida governmental consultant Katia Saint Fleur is joining Miami-based public affairs firm Converge Public Strategies as a Government Relations Adviser.

Saint Fleur spent six years in the state Capitol working as a legislative aide to former Senate Minority Leader Oscar Braynon, where she worked on appropriations and policy matters spanning several silos, including health care, children and families, transportation, financial services, property, technology and criminal justice.

In addition to her experience in Tallahassee, Saint Fleur has twice worked as a senior partnership specialist at the U.S. Department of Commerce in 2010 and 2020. She forged partnerships between the federal government, businesses, and nonprofits to support Census activities.

She has led Miami-based governmental consulting firm KSF and Associates since 2016, and in 2021 she was elected to the Miami Shores Village Council. Saint Fleur holds a degree in journalism from Clark Atlanta University and began her career as a journalist with the NBC affiliate in Columbus, Georgia.

At Converge, Saint Fleur will assist the firm on local, state, and federal issues.

“Katia brings the perfect combination of relationships, experience and energy to Converge. We are excited to bring her talents to our firm’s clients,” said Converge Public Strategies Chair Jonathan Kilman.

— SITUATIONAL AWARENESS —

—@ElonMusk: Whoever thought owning the libs would be cheap never tried to acquire a social media company!

—@BrianStelter: What’s more fun: “Playing” Twitter boss, being the king in waiting and stirring things up, or actually owning and operating this site?

—@JeffBezos: The newly created Disinformation Board should review this tweet, or maybe they need to form a new Non-Sequitur Board instead. Raising corp taxes is fine to discuss. Taming inflation is critical to discuss. Mushing them together is just misdirection.

—@ChrisSpencerFL: Inflation is a monetary issue. The Federal Reserve monetizes debts of the federal government incurred by excessive spending. How about you reduce excessive spending. That’s how you stop inflation.

—@Brigitomo: As a Black mother, I am tired. This is not the time for thoughts and prayers. This is the time for meaningful policies to ban guns and condemn all forms of hate. My heart goes out to the loved ones of those killed by a white male terrorist in Buffalo.

—@BrentNYT: The news media normalizes racism and White supremacy when it fails to call them by their rightful names.

—@TheRickWilson: The Buffalo killer’s manifesto reads like a job application for a junior producer on Tucker Carlson. And no, I’m not being flippant.

—@NikkiFried: 2022 is Florida’s year to tell the radical right that enough is enough.

—@JaredEMoskowitz: Another disgusting attack on innocent people by an evil White supremacist radicalized right here in America. Schools, movie theaters, Churches, Supermarkets. No place is safe. More families broken. And Republicans in Washington want to keep it that way

Tweet, tweet:

—@CordByrd: Thank you, @GovRonDeSantis, for appointing me as Secretary of State. Honored and ready to get to work on protecting the integrity and security of our elections!

Tweet, tweet: