The Florida Legislature began their 60-day session this week. Lawmakers are tackling several issues such as abortion, education and immigration.
The chairman of the FAU political science department told WPTV’s Michael Williams there is a trend that national issues are now becoming issues at the state and local levels.
“We're talking about things like immigration, which typically were not a huge driving issue, and historically in Florida politics, but have increasingly become so,” Dr. Kevin Wagner said on To the Point. “ I think sometimes when we make everything a national issue, it becomes hard to cooperate and agree on things. It makes it harder for the legislature in Florida, if they're divided along national lines, to agree on things that both sides want.”
Dr. Wagner said the abortion issue will be one issue to watch in particular this lesson, especially as the debate plays out in the Supreme Court as well.
“If the Supreme Court does what many people expect, and either cuts down Roe v. Wade or just overturns it, you're going to see that issue return very centrally to states,” Dr. Wagner said. “This could very well change the political balance and dynamic of how the state runs. In other words, politicians who had never really had to take a position on or could take a position with no consequence, are now going to have to actually talk about how they vote on these bills.”
A proposed bill facing lawmakers would ban abortions past 15 weeks. The current law bans abortion after 24 weeks. Democrats say the proposal is extreme while the bills’ sponsors believe pregnant mothers would have enough time to make a decision.