A river runs into it

Florida in Five: Five stories to read from the past week in Florida politics.

Photo credit: St. Johns River Water Management District

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Welcome to another installment of Florida in Five: Five* stories you need to read from the past week in Florida politics.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation last week intended to prevent construction of a cruise port near the mouth of Tampa Bay, making the bipartisan environmental bill the first new law to come out of the Florida Legislature’s 2026 session.

But what may be most interesting about Senate Bill 302 is what isn’t in it.

“At the very end, we had a member that wanted to tack on an amendment. And it would have killed the bill,” Rep. Will Robinson (R-Bradenton) said during a bill-signing ceremony Thursday morning in Manatee County. “Thankfully, that member decided not to tack on the amendment.”

It was a veiled reference to a late-session attempt to save another bipartisan environmental bill — one that would have revived a beloved river in central Florida that has been blocked by a purposeless dam for more than half a century.

Rising just northwest of Orlando, the Ocklawaha River is the largest tributary of the St. Johns River. It was once a key link in a 217-mile “Great Florida Riverway” system connecting Silver Springs, the old Florida tourist attraction near Ocala, with the city of Jacksonville and the Atlantic Ocean.

But the Ocklawaha was dammed in the late 1960s as part of a never-completed plan to build a barge canal across the peninsula. The backed-up water body flooded thousands of acres of surrounding forest, smothered more than 20 springs, and cut off channels used by migrating manatees.

Environmentalists and outdoor enthusiasts have been fighting to breach the dam and restore the river ever since. A pair of bills to do so — House Bill 981 and Senate Bill 1066 — were filed at the start of the year and soon began breezing through the Capitol with near-unanimous support.

It was one of the feel-good stories of Florida’s 2026 session — until Senate President Ben Albritton (R-Wauchula) stepped in to stop a final vote from happening on the Senate floor.

In the closing days of session, Rep. Wyman Duggan, a Republican from Jacksonville and the sponsor of House Bill 981, made a last-ditch attempt to save the measure by filing an amendment that would have added the Ocklawaha restoration plan to Senate Bill 302. But Duggan ultimately agreed to withdraw the amendment without forcing a vote on it.

That’s the amendment Robinson was referring to as he, DeSantis and others celebrated saving environmentally sensitive spots in Manatee County like Rattlesnake Key and the Terra Ceia Aquatic Preserve from the threat of mega-cruise ships docking near the foot of the Sunshine State Skyway.

Gov. Ron DeSantis signs Senate Bill 302 in Bradenton. (Source: The Florida Channel)

The admission that Duggan’s amendment would have doomed it all is revealing.

It shows just how determined Senate leadership was to block the Ocklawaha River bill, despite the fact that 22 senators — more than half of the chamber — voted in favor of the legislation at one point or another as it moved through committees.

Stopping the proposed cruise terminal was a top personal priority this session of incoming Senate President Jim Boyd (R-Bradenton), who represents Manatee County — and who, as the soon-to-be presiding officer of the Senate, is a key member of the chamber’s leadership.

And yet, that leadership was apparently willing to sink the cruise port legislation if that’s what it would take to bottle up the Ocklawaha River bill.

Albritton, the outgoing Senate president, has declined to shed much light on the behind-the-scenes debate on the legislation when asked about it by reporters. “The Senate as a whole had concerns about it,” he said.

It’s worth nothing that Gov. Ron DeSantis has vetoed funding for Ocklawaha River restoration last year and has been circumspect at best about when asked about this year’s bill. And Senate leaders made a clear strategic decision this session to cleave as tightly to DeSantis as possible amid continuing bad blood with their counterparts in the state House.

Albritton and co. even killed another pair of broadly supported bills, both of which passed the House unanimously, that would have substantially strengthened Florida’s ethics and public records laws — but which also would have been embarrassing to the governor, whose own behavior inspired them.

But reporting since the end of session has also revealed the role of another key opponent of the Ocklawaha River legislation: Sen. Tom Leek, a Republican from Ormond Beach who was first elected to the Senate last year.

Leek’s Senate district includes Putnam County, the site of the Ocklawaha River dam — and much of the nearly 10,000-acre lake it creates, which has become a prominent fishing spot that has long been fiercely protected by locals.

It’s a testament to the growing influence of the freshman senator — who, according to Albritton, is already on track to become president of the Senate himself following the 2030 elections.

*To paraphrase Barbossa, five is more what you’d call a guideline than an actual rule.

The Florida House passed a bill about this, too. And the Florida Senate killed it.

Florida homeowners were forced into a new insurance company. Whistleblowers say it siphoned millions in profits. (CBS News)

The Legislature also spiked a bill about this

FPL may have collected No. 1 highest profit margin nationwide in 2025, report finds (Tampa Bay Times) ($)

More about what lawmakers did

Florida lawmakers boost state courses rivaling AP programs (Politico) ($)

See also: Miami Beach considers suing state over bill to allow Fontainebleau water park (Miami Herald) ($)

See also: With anti-terror law, DeSantis has new tool to reshape higher-ed (Florida Trib)

See also: Florida’s states-led accrediting board poised for expansion (Politico) ($)

And more about what they didn’t

Emails reveal influential anti-trans group behind Florida bill targeting gender-affirming care providers (Orlando Weekly)

See also: How Trump Drove a Wedge Between Florida Republicans Over A.I. (New York Times) ($)

See also: Move to further deregulate Florida surf pools sinks (Orlando Sentinel) ($)

See also: Rural boundaries spared, but lawmaker to try again to curtail them (Orlando Sentinel) ($)

See also: After easy win in the Florida House, nursing school oversight bill dies in Senate (Orlando Sentinel) ($)

Forced C-sections in the ‘Free State of Florida’

They Didn’t Want to Have C-Sections. A Judge Would Decide How They Gave Birth. (ProPublica)

See also: She Was in Labor at a Florida Hospital. Then She Was in Zoom Court for Refusing a C-Section. (ProPublica)

Perspectives

On Hope Florida grand jury, let the light in (South Florida Sun-Sentinel) ($)

To vote in Florida, all state IDs would be legal — except for college IDs (Orlando Sentinel) ($)

Am I agreeing with Sheriff Grady Judd on immigration? (Tampa Bay Times) ($)

Florida’s government-in-the-sunshine laws have been descending into darkness (Florida Trident)

Florida Legislature again blocks action on climate change (Florida Phoenix)