Seeking Rents – The Podcast

In this episode : Amid a growing consensus that overly restrictive housing rules are a major driver of high housing prices, the city of Gainesville just passed far-reaching reforms meant to make it much easier to build more homes. At the same time, Orange County is on the brink of passing changes meant to slow suburban sprawl and encourage denser urban development instead. A pair of leaders from b...

In this episode : Roxey Nelson is an executive vice president with 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, the largest healthcare union in Florida and a board member for Floridians Protection Freedom. That’s the group sponsoring a constitutional amendment to overturn Florida’s near-total abortion ban. She joined the show to talk about Amendment 4, and the ties that bind policies like abortion ban...

In this episode : Ron DeSantis is now threatening television stations with criminal prosecutions unless they take down ads supporting a ballot measure that would overturn Florida’s near-total ban on abortion. It’s the latest escalation in DeSantis’ increasingly extreme efforts to use the powers of state government — and the pocketbooks of Florida taxpayers — for political campaigns against citizen...

In this episode : Progressive activist and Ron DeSantis antagonist Thomas Kennedy joins the show to talk about why the DeSantis bubble burst so spectacularly on the national stage and to call out some of the Florida politicians from both parties who take money — and marching orders — from Big Sugar. We also talk about DeSantis’ refusal to extend Florida’s voter registration as a monstrous hurrican...

In this episode: There are some important battles being waged in Orlando right now — including a pivotal local election and a tug-of-war over a vast swath of cattle pasture that could become covered in subdivisions. And at the center of both fights are Buddy Dyer, the longtime mayor of Orlando, and Tavistock, the billionaire-backed real-estate developer that has cultivated close ties with the mayo...

In this episode : State Rep. Angie Nixon just won re-election to a Jacksonville-based state House seat after steamrolling over a challenger backed by the state’s big-business lobby. She joins the podcast to talk about what it’s like to take on corporate influence in the Florida Legislature and whether a backlash may be building to Republican overreach. For more on some of the topics that came up d...

In this episode : Longtime Florida journalist Nate Monroe, the statewide columnist for USA Today’s Florida newspapers, joins the show to talk about the bursting of the Ron DeSantis bubble — an implosion that plenty of people in Jacksonville always said was inevitable. We also chat about why TV execs are trying to keep abortion banned in Florida and who to root for as some of the biggest bullies in...

In this episode : A recent report from the United Way revealed a staggering fact about Florida: Nearly half of the state’s 9 million households are now unable to afford basic living expenses. One reason so many Florida families are struggling is that the state has the most unfair tax code in the country — one that takes far more money from the working and middle class than it does from the very we...

In this episode : Anti-abortion politicians in Florida are in a panic over Amendment 4, the proposed constitutional amendment that would overturn the state’s near-total abortion ban and prevent further government interference with abortion. State police are going door to door to interrogate Floridians who signed the Amendment 4 petition, and political appointees are using taxpayer resources to adv...

In this episode : With help from some politically plugged-in groups, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis hatched a plan to build golf courses, hotels and pickleball courts on state parkland across Florida. But the plans leaked — and blew up in his face. Legendary Florida environmental journalist Craig Pittman joins the show to discuss the controversy. Show notes Get the latest updates on DeSantis’ state par...

In this episode : The most important result to come out of this week’s primary elections in Florida was the rejection of culture-warring School Board candidates in races around the state. But the most interesting result came in Manatee County, where, in one fell swoop, residents completely overhauled a local county commission that many believed was in the pocket of a few influential real-estate de...

In this episode: Just two years after they seemed to be in their ascendancy, School Board candidates backed by Gov. Ron DeSantis and the conservative censorship group Moms for Liberty suffered big losses in local elections across the state. Longtime Orlando Sentinel education reporter Leslie Postal joins the show to talk about what just happened in Florida. Show notes Both Politico Florida and the...

In this episode: Over the past few years, Republican politicians in Florida have enacted a near-total abortion ban, spent millions in taxpayer money on anti-abortion propaganda, and blocked funding for contraceptive care. But many of them want to go much further — from completely banning abortion in all situations to granting legal rights to frozen embryos used for in vitro fertilization. That mak...

In this episode : Every year, Florida lawmakers take more power away from cities, counties, towns and school districts — stripping local communities across the state of ability to make decisions for themselves. Often in response to lobbying by some of the state’s largest corporations, Florida’s governor and Legislature have blocked locally elected leaders from passing laws that address water pollu...

In this episode : Bowing to pressure from Florida’s construction and farming industries, Gov. Ron DeSantis and the state Legislature just passed an infamous new law protecting businesses that refuse to provide clean drinking water to employees working outside in 100-degree heat. In this episode, Jason Garcia talks to a trio of activists who have spent years fighting for heat protections for outdoo...

In this episode : Nearly 20 years ago, Florida leaders erased an anti-competitive law that had been preventing a public nonprofit insurance company from challenging private, for-profit insurers. Gov. Ron DeSantis and the state’s Republican-controlled Legislature decided to reinstate that law. As a result, Florida homeowners are now paying higher prices for their home insurance. Sources : * House B...

In this episode : The Florida Constitution gives governors the authority to suspend local officials over “incompetence” and “neglect of duty.” Ron DeSantis is exploiting that power unlike any governor before him. Contact :   Garcia. JasonR@gmail.com Follow :  Twitter   Follow the show :  Apple  |  Spotify Get full access to Seeking Rents at jasongarcia.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode : Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis just made some of his most important decisions of the year, by signing a new, $117 billion state budget — but eliminating hundreds of millions of dollars in spending on everything from tampons in high schools to tax prep in poor communities. It was a great day for credit card and bank lobbyists. But not so much for environmentalists trying to tear down a...

In this episode : At a time when so many Floridians are struggling to find and keep home insurance, the state’s new insurance commissioner has started cracking down on predatory practices, pushing for pro-consumer changes, and forcing more transparency on a notoriously inscrutable industry. Contact :   Garcia. JasonR@gmail.com Follow :  Twitter   Follow the show :  Apple  |  Spotify Get full acces...

In this episode: Farmworkers and construction workers across Florida spent years pleading with state leaders to pass a statewide heat-safety law that would ensure everyone working outside had access to water and shade. When Tallahassee refused to help, workers turned to city and county leaders instead. So Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Florida Legislature finally leapt into action — to make sure local...

In this ep is ode: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis just signed a bill erasing most mentions of climate change from state law — even though climate change is one reason so many of his state’s residents can no longer afford their homeowner’s insurance. Contact :   Garcia. JasonR@gmail.com Follow :  Twitter   Follow the show :  Apple  |  Spotify Get full access to Seeking Rents at jasongarcia.substack.com/...

In this episode : Just before Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis launched his campaign for president, Florida lawmakers passed a law hiding his flight records from the public. The DeSantis-for-president campaign quickly crashed and burned. But the secrecy around state air travel endures. Contact :   Garcia. JasonR@gmail.com Follow :  Twitter   Follow the show :  Apple  |  Spotify Get full access to Seeking...

In this episode: Florida lawmakers want to stop Visa and Mastercard from charging inflated swipe fees. The credit card companies are turning to Gov. Ron DeSantis for help. Contact :   Garcia. JasonR@gmail.com Follow :  Twitter   Follow the show :  Apple  |  Spotify Get full access to Seeking Rents at jasongarcia.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode : Behind closed doors, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed House Bill 433, a sweeping piece of legislation that was originally written by lobbyists for some of the biggest companies doing business in the state. The legislation will dissolve local living wage laws, prevent communities from passing “Fair Workweek” rules, and block efforts to set new heat-safety standards for outdoor wor...

In this episode:  The Florida Supreme Court just issued a pair of seismic decisions on abortion. One ruling stripped women and pregnant people in Florida of their right to abortion, while the other ruling will give the state’s voters a chance to restore that right in November. But the conservative court also signaled that it’s ready to rule that fetuses are people, too — which would have enormous...