Seeking Rents – The Podcast

In this episode : An investment company with a history of peddling poorly performing tax incentives is back in Tallahassee, trying to attach itself to the “rural renaissance” movement in the Florida Senate. An update from Day 28 of the Florida Legislature’s 60-day legislative session. Show notes The bills discussed in today’s show: Senate Bill 1322 — Tax Credits for Investment in Rural Communities...

In this episode : Republicans in Tallahassee want to punish the state’s chief economist because she refused to bend to political pressure during a debate last year over an abortion-rights ballot measure. Meanwhile, the speaker of the state House calls for a historic tax cut for consumers. It’s an idea with a lot of promise — but a lot of peril, too. Show notes The bills discussed in today’s show:...

In this episode : Republicans voting against Republicans, Democrats fighting with Democrats, sick-and-tired-of-it public testimony in every hearing, and a long list of bad bills on the move. But also a public execution for one particularly controversial piece of legislation. An update from Day 22 of the Florida Legislature’s 2025 session, one of the wilder days we’ve seen in Tallahassee in years....

In this episode : Philip Morris, the Big Tobacco giant best known as the maker of Marlboro cigarettes, helped Ron DeSantis defeat ballot measures last fall that would have legalized marijuana and protected abortion rights. A few months later, the Florida governor did a favor for Philip Morris: Allowing the company to sell its IQOS product line free of state tobacco taxes. And now Florida lawmakers...

In this episode : Republican lawmakers in Florida are considering a bill pitched by a billionaire-backed think tank that would make it even harder for workers to qualify for unemployment insurance. Plus: “Baby Olivia” comes to the Florida Capitol and all the adults play dumb. An update from Day 15 of the Florida Legislature’s 2025 session. Show notes The bills discussed in today’s show: House Bill...

In this episode : In a single afternoon, Florida lawmakers advanced bills to roll back protections for rural land in Orlando, allow an ethanol plant in a historic city north of Jacksonville, and help hedge funds bind workers to years-long non-compete contracts. Those issues and more from Day 14 of the Florida Legislature’s 2025 session. Show notes The bills discussed in today’s show: Senate Bill 4...

In this ep is ode: There's a quiet effort afoot in the Florida Capitol to enable a charity funded by the duPont family fortune to shift spending from Delaware to Florida. Meanwhile, an ugly plan to cut funding for Legal Aid — so a few banks can make more money — has begun to move forward. Those bills and more from Day 9 of the Florida Legislature’s 2025 session. Show notes The bills discussed in t...

In this episode : Wealthy communities in Florida have hijacked a program that is supposed to help impoverished areas. Some Republican lawmakers want to put a stop to it. Unfortunately, they also want to help the dairy industry duck competition from plant-based rivals. An update from Day 8 of the Florida Legislature’s 60-day legislative session. Show notes : The bills discussed in today’s show: Sen...

In this episode : As the second week of Florida’s 2025 legislative session begins, Republican lawmakers roll out an intentionally unconstitutional plan meant to provoke a legal showdown over the state’s voter-approved minimum wage. But there’s also a budding bipartisan movement to make sure Ron DeSantis never again pays for political ads with taxpayer money. Show notes : The bills discussed in tod...

In this episode : With lobbyists for big corporations like Publix and Florida Power & Light cheering them on, Republican leaders in the Florida Legislature began advancing new plans this week that are meant to make it much harder — maybe even impossible — for everyday citizens in Florida to pass ballot measures through petition drives. Plus: An oversight fight that could have major implications fo...

In this ep isod e: The Florida Legislature opened its 2025 session Tuesday — and Republican legislative leaders are already forcing Ron DeSantis onto some politically dangerous ground. Plus: Lawmakers move forward on a favor for one of the state’s biggest companies. And the most important battle of session is about to begin. Show notes : Secret study reveals insurance companies pocketed billions w...

In this episode : Insurance companies in Florida have been quietly pocketing billions of dollars in profits while claiming to lose money, according to an explosive new report from the Tampa Bay Times and Miami Herald. The insurance industry used those “losses” as a pretense to lobby Florida politicians into passing a series of industry-written, anti-consumer laws that have left millions of Florida...

In this episode : Ron DeSantis and Republicans in the Florida Legislature end a month of fighting over immigration by agreeing to a package of bills that crack down on college kids — but cower from big corporations. Florida’s new immigration legislation is most interesting for the way that Republican state lawmakers used the process to push back against DeSantis after years of playing a submissive...

In this episode : Florida lawmakers are finding ways to reassert themselves after half a decade of cowering in a corner from Ron DeSantis. Meanwhile, Florida’s agriculture commissioner — a potential candidate for governor in 2026 — doesn’t think the state should use its power to protect farmworkers dying in 100-degree heat. But he does think the state should use its power to protect the dairy indu...

In this episode: One year ago, Ron DeSantis wiped out almost all state funding for arts and cultural programs across Florida because he claimed some of the shows getting to be funded were too “sexual.” Now, the Republican says he’s willing to restore arts funding in Florida — but only if he gets to deny money to any groups he doesn’t like. It’s part of a broader theme running through a new state b...

In this episode : In a wild 48 hours, Florida’s Republican-controlled Legislature made clear that it is sick of Ron DeSantis’ self-promoting schtick. But as much fun as it was to watch the biggest bully in Florida politics get his head metaphorically dunked in a toilet, Florida’s two-day special session on immigration also saw a bunch of innocent kids get hurt by politicians who seem more interest...

In this episode : Florida’s Republican-controlled Legislature just wrapped up its first week of hearings ahead of the state’s annual 60-day lawmaking session, which will begin in March. The week offered a sneak preview of some big coming battles on issues like abortion and immigration. But it also revealed important fights ahead over insurance industry secrets, rock mining in the Everglades, and f...

In this episode : Florida has become a national leader…at kicking kids off health insurance. Over the past year or so, politicians in Tallahassee have presided over a brutish purge of state insurance rolls, defied federal rules meant to keep kids covered, and slow-walked a bipartisan expansion plan that was supposed to ensure medical care for more children. Joan Alker, a professor at Georgetown Un...

In this episode : Since taking total control of state government 25 years ago, Florida Republicans have systematically rolled back reforms that once kept state courts independent. It was a project launched by Jeb Bush, expanded by Rick Scott, and that has now culminated under Ron DeSantis with a Florida Supreme Court that is a rubber stamp for the governor and Legislature — and a roadblock for any...

In this episode : Longtime Florida journalist and Bloomberg Opinion columnist Mary Ellen Klas dug through a trove of legislative and electoral data from around the country to understand what happens when one party commands total control of a state’s government. She joined the show to talk about what she found. Show notes : This Is Why You Don’t Recognize Your State Government (Bloomberg Opinion) Q...

In this episode : The new leaders of Florida’s Republican-controlled Legislature take the stage for the first time in Tallahassee. The good: The speaker of the Florida House of Representatives suggests he may try to stop private equity firms from squeezing individual homebuyers out of the housing market. The bad: The president of the Florida Senate signals he’ll turn a blind eye to Ron DeSantis’ d...

In this episode : The first twins of Florida politics — Anna Eskamani, a state representative from Orlando, and Ida Eskamani, a long-time advocate in the Florida Legislature who now organizes in state legislatures across the country — join the podcast to talk about corporate influence in the Sunshine State and how to defeat it. Hint: It takes a lot of hard work. (Note: Ida Eskamani appeared on the...

In this episode : Thomas Kennedy, a progressive organizer in Miami and former Bernie Sanders campaign staffer, rejoins the pod to talk about how Democrats lost touch with the working class — and what needs to happen next. Show notes : A couple of items referenced on the show: What It Took to Win: A History of the Democratic Party Trump’s closing campaign ad in 2016 Thomas’ podcast Questions or com...

In this episode : Orlando Sentinel columnist Scott Maxwell joins the podcast to talk about Florida’s 2024 elections — including some stunning local results in which voters in Orlando chose a pair of grassroots activists over tourism- and developer-backed alternatives who had outspent them by as much as 8-to-1. It’s the dawning of a new day in what has historically been one of the nation’s biggest...

In this episode : Thoughts on the 2024 election results in Florida. Questions or comments ? Send ‘em to Garcia. JasonR@gmail.com Listen to the show :  Apple  |  Spotify Watch the show:  YouTube Subscribe:  SeekingRentsFL.com Get full access to Seeking Rents at jasongarcia.substack.com/subscribe