News Service of Florida

This spring marks the final time public school students will take tests known as the Florida Standards Assessments. Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a measure Tuesday that will revamp the state’s testing system.

Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed a bill that shields identifying information about applicants vying to become presidents of state colleges and universities.

Florida lawmakers finished the regular legislative session Monday by passing a $112.1 billion budget for the fiscal year that will start July 1. Here are snapshots of 10 big issues from the session.

The session was originally scheduled to end Friday, but a delay in finalizing the budget forced lawmakers to extend until Monday. The session adjourned at 1:03 p.m., after votes on the budget and a series of related bills.

With Gov. Ron DeSantis vowing to veto a congressional redistricting plan, a lawsuit filed late Friday asks a federal court to set new U.S. House districts that would be used in this fall’s elections.

Florida lawmakers will vote Monday on a record $112.1 billion state budget for the 2022-2023 fiscal year, up 10.4 percent from a spending plan approved for the current year.

Florida House and Senate negotiators agreed Wednesday night to use $200 million in federal stimulus money for a gas tax break, as they wrapped up more of a budget that will send the annual legislative session into overtime.

One of the most controversial parts of this year’s legislation would change the process for modification of alimony when people who have been paying seek to retire. Critics argued the plan could impoverish older ex-spouses who have been homemakers and are dependent on the payments.

With a budget remaining unfinished Tuesday night, the annual legislative session is headed to overtime. Senate President Wilton Simpson, R-Trilby, and House Speaker Chris Sprowls, R-Palm Harbor, issued a memo shortly before 9 p.m. that said budget talks would continue Wednesday.

House and Senate budget negotiators on Tuesday revamped a plan that called for shifting $200 million away from school districts that required students to wear masks last year during the COVID-19 pandemic.