One of the most significant changes is the elimination of Florida's commercial rental tax, which has been in effect for decades. First enacted in 1968, it added state sales tax to commercial leases, making Florida unique among the states. As of October 1, the tax will disappear, a measure that is expected to save businesses nearly $1.15 billion this fiscal year and more than $1.5 billion next year.
Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who was finally freed in 2022 following years of diplomatic negotiations and the British payment of a 400m debt to Iran, said Mr Lammy promised to help those arbitrarily detained overseas when he was foreign secretary. Now he is justice secretary, I hope he will take that commitment to ending arbitrary detention at home, she told The Independent ahead of a panel event on the jail terms at the Labour conference.
We reject the outdated view that criminal justice is a zero-sum game that pits safety versus justice against one another. Moreover, history - and countless studies, data, and lived experiences - tells us reactive policymaking driven by politics and fear in response to a specific incident, no matter how awful, leads to poor legislation that serves neither justice nor safety.
Serious violent crime in England and Wales should be expected to rise unless urgent steps are taken to boost the probation service. That is the alarming warning from Martin Jones, HM chief inspector of probation. He estimates that 100,000 offenders on probation are currently not being properly managed. This overstretched service cannot be expected to manage the increased workload that will follow from sentencing reforms.
When Connecticut legalized recreational marijuana in 2021, the state's lieutenant governor, Susan Bysiewicz, boasted that the new law was "crafted to repair the wounds left by the War on Drugs." The move followed the same rationale that had motivated legalization in 18 other states: fewer resources exhausted on policing a drug that legalization advocates view as largely unharmful, fewer lives derailed by what they argue to be excessive lockups.
Blue-state governors seem to be responding to President Trump's anti-crime campaign with Marxist tactics. Not the communist, Karl, that is, but the comedian Brothers. In "Duck Soup," Chico Marx famously deceives a wealthy widow by asking "Who are you gonna believe, me or your own eyes?" It's an apt metaphor for Governor Kathy Hochul of New York when she poses as a defender of law and order.
Throughout his time in office, Trump has criticized Democratic-led cities for what he calls "radical left" policies on criminal justice. Those attacks have grown sharper in recent days, as the president took the extraordinary step of nationalizing the D.C. police force and deploying the National Guard all while signaling other cities may be next. Democrats have decried Trump's actions, arguing that while crime did surge nationwide during the pandemic, numbers have since fallen.
"What is set in stone is we are absolutely going to build something," Deputy County Executive Consuelo Hernandez stated, emphasizing the necessity of addressing deteriorating jail facilities and community needs.
His death, and his shocking mistreatment at the hands of law enforcement, underscore how people with mental illness are at risk when they encounter the police in the US.
While the 13th Amendment abolished slavery, it preserves a loophole allowing forced labor as punishment for crime, perpetuating exploitation of incarcerated individuals.
It is just an opening salvo. Vera might be the first organization to lose its federal funding, but I am certain we will not be the last in the criminal justice field.