April 3, 2025 | by Rob Garguilo on WFLA Florida News
FLORIDA – Florida’s House is advancing two controversial measures—one that would require all employers to verify new hires’ immigration status through E-Verify, and another that would loosen restrictions on teenage labor.
The E-Verify expansion, House Bill 955, was approved by the House Industries & Professional Activities Subcommittee in a 12-4 vote.
The bill, sponsored by Rep. Berny Jacques (R-Seminole), would broaden the current 2023 law that mandates only businesses with 25 or more employees use the federal system to confirm new workers’ legal status.
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April 2, 2025 | by Amber Jo Cooper on Florida's Voice
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – A bill aimed at expanding the use of E-Verify in Florida to ensure that only individuals legally authorized to work in the United States are employed passed its first House committee on Tuesday.
What it does: HB 955 removes previous exemptions for smaller private businesses and mandates that all private employers, regardless of size, use the E-Verify system starting July 1.
- In 2023, Republican Rep. Berny Jacques carried legislation that required private employers with more than 25 employees to use E-Verify; the new 2025 bill removes this threshold, making the requirement applicable to all private employers.
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March 26, 2025 | by Peter D'Abrosca on Fox News
A bill filed in the Florida state Senate would expand the methods by which death row inmates could be executed.
Senate Bill 1604, introduced by state Sen. Jonathan Martin, R-Fort Myers, aims to protect Florida’s status as a death penalty state if certain execution methods like electrocution or legal injection are made unconstitutional by the Supreme Court or the Florida Supreme Court, or if lethal injection drugs are unable to be obtained in the future.
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March 24, 2025 | by Anita Padilla on Florida's Voice
LARGO, Fla. – State Rep. Berny Jacques is calling for immediate action from Largo’s mayor after alleging the Largo Public Library is indoctrinating children.
“Today I learned that the Largo Public Library is actively promoting radical gender and sexual ideology to children. Here is my letter to Mayor Brown. This must be corrected,” Jacques stated.
Jacques’ letter to Mayor Woody Brown included attached photos, but the images were not shared with the public.
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March 1, 2025 | by Sara Filips on WFLA News Channel 8
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WFLA) — A new bill filed in the Florida House aims to impose the harshest penalties on human traffickers.
House Bill 1283, filed by Rep. Berny Jacques, is strengthening Florida’s fight to combat human trafficking and to penalize those who exploit children and vulnerable people.
The bill would establish traffickers as a distinct criminal offense, allowing life imprisonment and the death penalty for those who are convicted of using physical force to traffic kids under 12 or those with severe mental incapacities, according to the Florida House of Representatives.
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