Florida Legislature

The law would help at least three Black farmers who sought licenses to grow the plants but were deemed ineligible to apply by state officials.

A House panel hears a presentation that reported the shortage could affect access to health care if current trends persist, as the supply of physicians could meet only 77% of the projected demand by 2035.

The expanded eligibility would apply to veterans’ nursing homes and what are known as domiciliary homes. The state operates eight skilled nursing facilities and one assisted living facility.

The Senate and House unanimously passed the measure to eliminate the cap on the Family Empowerment Scholarship for Students with Unique Abilities as part of last week's special session.

The Senate Health Policy Committee will hold a workshop Tuesday “to begin the process of fine-tuning ideas, putting pen to paper, and of course, hearing more input from stakeholders.”

The measure focuses on the Family Empowerment Scholarship for Students with Unique Abilities, which has been limited to nearly 41,000 children. The bill would eliminate the cap this year.

The proposal would increase the number of students this school year while also placing a higher cap on the number of ESE students next year. The Senate is slated to vote on the issue Wednesday.

State Senate and House panels unanimously approved identical measures aimed at allowing more students to receive the state-backed vouchers amid high demand.

Legislative leaders say the session will include an effort to provide “a mechanism to increase the number of students served under the Family Empowerment Scholarship for students with disabilities.”

Many private and public health insurers won’t cover the $4,000-to-$8,000 expense of whole-genome sequencing. Florida now is among eight state Medicaid that programs do.