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Governor DeSantis signed all four bills passed by the Florida Legislature in this week’s special session into law in Brandon yesterday. The laws are in force immediately. Among the changes, public employers are blocked from imposing vaccine mandates for employers and private employers must offer five opt-out options for employees if they issue mandates. If employers impose COVID-19 testing programs they must cover the costs as opposed to employees. Parents retain sole discretion over whether masks are to be worn while children are at school. The state’s Surgeon General may no longer issue vaccine mandates and the state of Florida will begin a multi-year process to create a state agency to replace OSHA’s oversight.
In other news, a Honduran illegal immigrant who lied about his age and name while crossing the border earlier this year has been indicted for murder. Yery Ulloa, 24, lied to border patrol providing a fake name and age and was flown by the Biden administration to Jacksonville. As part of an initiative, the Biden administration failed to inform the state of Florida of where he was taken in by Francisco Cuellar, a father of four he’s now accused of murdering.
Florida reported 2,053 new COVID-19 cases statewide on Thursday, a total of nearly 500 fewer than prior Thursday helping drop Florida’s weekly cases per day to exactly 1,500. Florida is on track to have the fewest population-adjusted cases in the country for a fifth straight week.
Lastly, Florida led the country in new technology job postings in the third quarter for the first time on record. Jacksonville was the top metro in the country for tech job growth with postings up 18% sequentially and 38% year over year in the third quarter.