Seeking Rents – The Podcast

In this episode : After a pitched battle that dragged on for more than a year, the people of Fernandina Beach finally seemed to beat an effort by Rayonier Advanced Materials to build an ethanol plant in the historic seaport town. But then the company sent its lobbyists to the state Capitol with legislation to overturn to the decision. And the lawmakers who filed the bill on RYAM’s behalf tried to...

In this episode : The largest private landowner in Florida is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Better known as the Mormon Church, it owns more than 600,000 acres around the state. About half of its land holdings are cattle ranchlands east of Orlando — where the the church has long-term plans to build the equivalent of a new city of 500,000 people. But voters in Orlando recently app...

In this episode : In recent weeks, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis — and aides he installed as attorney general and education commissioner — have bent local leaders in Orlando and Tampa to their will in disputes over mass deportations and book bans. They’ve done so by twisting laws and then threatening punishment under their twisted interpretations. But there are ways communities can fight back. Show no...

In this episode : In February 2024, a pair of animal-rights groups used drone recordings to expose a massive pigeon-shooting event at a ranch in Okeechobee, Fla., owned by Troy Link, the CEO of Jack Link’s Meat Snacks and a major donor to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and other Republican politicians A little over a year later, DeSantis signed a new state law that criminalizes the use of drones to rec...

In this episode : Late last month, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed Senate Bill 180, a sweeping new law intended to help communities better prepare for — and recover from — hurricanes. But developers around the state are now trying to use the new law to undermine local rules that help slow suburban sprawl. One industry group used Senate Bill 180 to sue a county in southwest Florida that raised fee...

In this episode : Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is hiding $250 million in taxpayer-funded contracts tied to the new immigration detention camp Florida just opened in the middle of the Everglades. His hand-picked attorney general is showering public money on $875-an-hour lawyers. And his administration has been ducking auditors for nearly three years now. But Ron DeSantis wants you to think that its yo...

In this episode : Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis just slashed millions of dollars in funding for river restoration, public radio, and well-behaved inmates who want to phone their families. But the Republican governor also approved pork-barrel projects supporting the Inter Miami Major League Soccer team, owners and breeders of thoroughbred racehorses, and a giant real-estate developer near Daytona Beach...

In this episode : In the morning, Ron DeSantis celebrated the opening of an immigrant detention camp built on Everglades land he commandeered using emergency powers under what is now a nearly three-year-long “state of emergency” in Florida. In the afternoon, he vetoed a bipartisan bill intended to limit corruption in his administration by stopping him from interfering in future elections and makin...

In this episode : Florida’s attorney general defied a federal court order and bragged about it on TV. A trio of appellate court judges colluded to strike down a state law. The board of education ordered a school superintendent to break the rules and ban more books. And the governor seized property to build an immigrant prison in the Everglades. Each of these would be an extraordinary story on its...

In this episode : They say a budget reflects your values. And if that’s true, state lawmakers in Florida sure do value culture wars. The new state budget pours more than $100 million of taxpayer money into culture-war crusades — including cash for anti-abortion activists, new book-banning software, and an “economic freedom” center that invented an award for Ron DeSantis and praises Donald Trump’s...

In this episode : Florida lawmakers are springing some last-minute surprises as they inch toward a final budget deal — including a potentially massive charter school expansion. An update from Day 100 of the Florida Legislature’s 60-day-session. Yes, you read that right. Show notes The bills discussed in today’s show: House Bill 1267 — Education Senate Bill 1708 — Education House Bill 1115 — Educat...

In this episode : Across the country, state-level politicians are hollowing out home rule, robbing communities of the freedom to make their own choices, and seizing power for themselves. They are doing it by weaponizing a legal tool known as “preemption.” Katie Belanger of the Local Solutions Support Center, an advocacy group that fights for home-rule rights, joins the show to talk about what pree...

In this episode : Ron DeSantis made a college lower its standards so he could make a middling politician its president. He tried to use a university presidency as a dumping ground for another politician no one liked. It was just a matter of time before political goons came for the state’s most prestigious school, too. Meanwhile, in Tallahassee: Lawmakers are finally negotiating a new state budget,...

In this episode : The Florida Legislature has agreed to give giant tax breaks to businesses — and table scraps to everyone else. The Republican Party of Florida is defending a law that takes rights away from its own voters. And Florida’s governor is cashing in on his veto power. For show notes The bills discussed in today’s show: House Bill 1205 — Amendments to the State Constitution House Bill 60...

In this episode : Ron DeSantis is once again flexing political muscle in Florida, seizing control of more state universities and joining forces with the state’s Big Business lobby. But after yet another attempt to develop conservation land collapsed in controversy — and amid a new criminal investigation into DeSantis’ “Hope Florida” charity — it’s clear that Florida’s governor can’t get away with...

In this episode : Well, everyone knows the Florida Legislature’s 2025 session broke down in dysfunction. What this podcast presupposes is…maybe it didn’t? Show notes The bills discussed in today’s show: Senate Bill 1620 — Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders House Bill 913 — Condominium and Cooperative Associations Senate Bill 56 — Geoengineering and Weather Modification Activities Senate Bil...

In this episode : All of a sudden, nobody knows when Florida’s annual legislative session will end. But lawmakers are still racing to finish up a few big special-interest favors before it does. Show notes The bills discussed in today’s show: Senate Bill 492 — Land Development  House BIll 1609 — Waste Incineration  Senate Bill 700 — Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services Florida lawmakers...

In this episode : After key players in a scandal roiling Ron DeSantis and his closest allies refused to answer their questions, Republicans in the state House decide to end their hearings rather than escalate even further. So what’s next? Plus: Bills to help banks earn bigger profits, hedge funds bind workers to longer non-competes, and Success Academy charter schools set up shop in Miami. Show no...

In this episode : Some bright-red warning flags just began waving in the Florida Legislature, suggesting that top lawmakers are about to spring some last-minute surprises. Meanwhile, Florida’s attorney general has some explaining to do as the Hope Florida scandal roiling the DeSantis administration continues to deepen. Show notes The bills discussed in today’s show: Senate Bill 492 – Land Developm...

In this episode : Republican lawmakers are digging deeper into a scandal in which the Ron DeSantis administration may have used a Casey DeSantis charity to turn $10 million of Medicaid money into funding for TV ads in a political campaign that was important to the governor. It’s obviously bad — and potentially illegal. But it’s also part of a broader pattern of abuses. Plus: Is the Florida Senate...

In this episode : Florida lawmakers may shower millions in taxpayer money on the beef-cattle industry — while also passing laws to obstruct potential lab-grown and plant-based competitors. Plus: Subsidies for the horse-racing industry; a money-losing incentive program written by a company that profits off of money-losing incentive programs; and a corporate tax break for a national funder of conser...

In this episode : The state House has suddenly gotten very aggressive with Ron DeSantis, as lawmakers probe ever-deeper into his administration’s spending. The enraged governor has responded by accusing House Republicans of betraying GOP voters. The Florida Senate has avoided taking sides — for now. Show notes The bills discussed in today’s show: House Bill 1445 — Public Officers and Employees Sen...

In this episode : Republicans in the Florida Senate are trying to pass a bill that would help everyone from farmers to cellphone owners find affordable repairs when the stuff they buy breaks. Why are Democrats in the Florida Senate trying to stop them? Plus: New records reveal that Ron DeSantis is secretly behind a bill to weaken child-labor laws. And the charter-school industry is having a very g...

In this episode : Florida lawmakers are working on changes that could stop staffers in the Governor’s Office from squeezing lobbyists for campaign contributions and interfering with university presidential searches. Meanwhile, a bad bill written by lobbyists for car dealers has been gutted. And good bills giving people the power to fix broken tractors, wheelchairs and cell phones are inching close...

In this episode : You won’t find the word “abortion” anywhere in them, but two bills that just passed the Senate Judiciary Committee in Florida may ultimately amount to a backdoor expansion of a statewide abortion ban that is already one of the strictest in the nation. Plus: Bills that would make it it harder for college students to vote and easier for billionaires to suppress worker salaries. Sho...