
Advertise on podcast: Seeking Rents – The Podcast
Rating
4.9from
This podcast has
194 episodes
Language
EnglishPublisher
Jason GarciaExplicit
No
Date created
2022/07/14
Latest episode
2026/10/19
Average duration
41 min.
Release period
7 days
Description
"Rent-seeking" is a term in economics that describes when a corporation uses its political influence to twist tax laws and other public policy in its favor. Seeking Rents – The Podcast brings you the stories of how that's happening in Florida, where corporate interests like Florida Power & Light, Big Sugar, and Walt Disney World wield enormous influence everywhere from local city halls to the state Capitol. Hosted by award-winning journalist Jason Garcia, Florida's leading corporate-accountability reporter. jasongarcia.substack.com
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Check latest episodes from Seeking Rents – The Podcast podcast
Deceit and deception on the campaign trail
2026/10/19
In this episode: Early voting has begun in Florida. So, too, have the eleventh-hour election schemes — particularly in the campaign for Attorney General, which just may be the most important race on the ballot in Florida this year. Allies of incumbent Attorney General James Uthmeier are trying to censor TV commercials that spotlight Uthmeier’s role in the $10 million Hope Florida scandal. At the same time, some of the same consultants behind the infamous “ghost candidate” plot are once again trying to take out challenger José Javier Rodriguez. Meanwhile, another statewide elected official on the ballot — Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia — is running a double-barreled campaign in which he’s using taxpayer money to boost his own name ID and special interest money to attack his opponent. And the Florida Realtors are lying about Amendment 3.
Show notes
To make a donation to Seeking Rents, click here.
Stories and previous podcasts discussed in this show:
Republicans want Hope Florida story silenced and jail for anyone who talks about it
The bipartisan plot to take out Florida’s best senator (update)
Florida AG made sweeping claims in confidential abortion case
Surrogacy is akin to slavery, Florida AG says, with big implications for families
Blaise Ingoglia is spending millions in taxpayer money on advertising as he runs for election
Amendment 3 could increase home prices across Florida — and real estate agents love it
Data center interests have put $30 million into Florida campaigns as Election Day approaches
The investors behind the “Blue Ribbon Projects” bill are pouring money into state Senate races
The races that will decide the fate of the supermajorities in the state Legislature
Ron DeSantis took money from you and gave it to businesses. And you didn’t even notice.
Questions or comments? Send ‘em to [email protected]
Listen to the show: Apple | Spotify
Watch the show: YouTube
Get full access to Seeking Rents at jasongarcia.substack.com/subscribe
The tech bros are coming for Florida’s elections
2026/10/09
In this episode: The data center-backing billionaires behind ChaptGPT and a prominent right-wing tech investor are trying to tilt swing elections for seats in the Florida Legislature. So, too, are developers and real-estate investors behind some of the most sprawl-inducing bills to come through Tallahassee in recent years. Meanwhile, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Attorney General James Uthmeier claim vindication following an election-eve appellate court decision on the misappropriation of $10 million. But the Hope Florida ruling is not the absolution they say it is.
Show notes
To make a donation to Seeking Rents, click here.
For more information on the Oct. 10 recording of WSLR’s “Talk of the Town” in Sarasota, click here.
For more information on the Oct. 10 “Florida’s Resource Grab” forum in Sarasota hosted by the Social Justice Alliance of the Florida Suncoast, click here.
For more information on the Oct. 14 town hall on Amendment 3 in Tallahassee hosted by the Askew School of Public Policy, click here.
For more information on the Oct. 15 town hall on Amendment 3 in Clermont hosted by Braver Angels, click here.
For more information on the Oct. 16 “Environmental Advocacy Symposium” in Orlando hosted by Orange County Commissioner Nicole Wilson, click here.
Stories discussed in today’s podcast:
Data center donors have spent more than $20 million in Florida ahead of the 2026 elections
The investors behind the “Blue Ribbon Projects” bill are pouring money into state Senate races
In the race for Florida governor, the fate of two sprawl-inducing state laws hangs in the balance
Developer lobbyists secretly sought to maintain a law handcuffing local communities on growth
Court erases Hope Florida grand jury report after shutting out anyone who would defend it
Governor’s office paid a second law firm $111,000 as Hope Florida grand jury report was fought in secret
Hidden consultants and hurried payments: Records reveal details of DeSantis’ campaign against abortion and marijuana amendments
Blaise Ingoglia is spending millions in taxpayer money on advertising as he runs for election
Questions or comments? Send ‘em to [email protected]
Listen to the show: Apple | Spotify
Watch the show: YouTube
Get full access to Seeking Rents at jasongarcia.substack.com/subscribe
The story behind a shady land deal in Florida (update)
2026/09/30
In this episode: In June 2025, just a few hours before Florida’s Republican-controlled Legislature finalized a new state budget, GOP leaders in Tallahassee slipped a sentence into the spending plan authorizing state officials to acquire a piece of property in the Panhandle through a popular land-preservation program. Three months later, Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Florida Cabinet used that little line in the budget to spend $83.3 million in taxpayer money on a tiny spit of vacant land owned by a prominent real-estate developer and Republican Party donor. Here’s the story of how Florida politicians pulled off a land deal that one longtime conservation leader called “a sham.” (Note: This is an update of a podcast that initially aired in November 2025. The three Cabinet members who voted to approve the $83 million land deal — Attorney General James Uthmeier, Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia, and Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson — are all now running for re-election.)
Show notes
To make a donation to Seeking Rents, click here.
Stories discussed in today’s show:
Florida lawmakers took instructions from a landowner’s lobbyist. Now Florida taxpayers will pay $83 million for four acres.
Transcript of the Sept. 30, 2025, meeting of the Florida Cabinet
Blaise Ingoglia is spending millions in taxpayer money on advertising as he runs for election
Florida politicians may give Big Sugar legal power to go after activists and silence critics
They said they wanted to help farmers. They really wanted to hurt environmentalists.
Conflicting testimony and foggy memories: How the Hope Florida grand jury found wrongdoing but no wrongdoers
The bipartisan plot to take out Florida’s best senator (update)
Questions or comments? Send ‘em to [email protected]
Listen to the show: Apple | Spotify
Watch the show: YouTube
Get full access to Seeking Rents at jasongarcia.substack.com/subscribe
The Hope Florida cover-up
2026/09/25
In this episode: The Ron DeSantis administration has been spending hundreds of thousands of dollars of taxpayer money to hide the Ron DeSantis administration’s misspending of millions of dollars of taxpayer money. The governor and his allies have also been handing out promotions, appointments and contracts to people who played roles in what is now widely known as the Hope Florida scandal.
Show notes
To make a donation to Seeking Rents, click here.
Exclusive: Taxpayers paid nearly $200,000 in legal fees for a witness the Hope Florida grand jury found “not credible”
DeSantis staff quietly rehired jilted lawyers who helped secure the Hope Florida settlement
Where are they now? Key actors in Hope Florida scandal got promoted
Hidden consultants and hurried payments: Records reveal details of DeSantis’ campaign against abortion and marijuana amendments
This story didn’t come up during the podcast, but it is an absolute must-read about an important — under-reported — aspect of the entire Hope Florida morass:
How Hope Florida quietly hollowed out Florida’s safety net
Questions or comments? Send ‘em to [email protected]
Listen to the show: Apple | Spotify
Watch the show: YouTube
Get full access to Seeking Rents at jasongarcia.substack.com/subscribe
The sickness infecting Florida state government
2026/09/19
In this episode: A new investigation reveals that Florida was secretly confining immigrants in cages the size of phone booths inside its infamous prison camp in the middle of the Florida Everglades. Meanwhile, the state attorney general and politically ambitious judges are colluding to weaponize family-law courtrooms and use them as fronts in their crusades against women’s healthcare and LGBTQ+ rights. Plus: A new developer-backed law out of Tallahassee is roiling local communities by unleashing more suburban sprawl. At the same time, cities, counties and towns are bracing for a property tax ballot measure that would open up huge deficits in local government budgets. They may sound like separate issues. But agricultural enclaves and Amendment 3 are two sides of the same coin.
To make a donation to Seeking Rents, click here.
To watch the First Coast Connect discussion on Amendment 3, click here.
To watch the Talking Central Florida discussion on Hope Florida, click here.
For more information about the Urban Land Institute Central Florida’s Oct. 1 panel on Amendment 3, click here.
To reserve tickets to the Oct. 10 recording of WSLR News’ “Talk of the Town” roundtable about the influence of PACs and dark money in local elections, click here.
To see how your elected representatives in Tallahassee voted on the agricultural enclaves bill, click here for the vote sheet from the House of Representatives and click here for the vote sheet from the Senate.
Stories discussed in today’s show:
‘Alligator Alcatraz’ detainees were held in cages the size of a phone booth
Florida AG Candidate Jose Javier Rodríguez wants probe of ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ after DHS findings
Surrogacy is akin to slavery, Florida AG says, with big implications for families
Florida judge who questioned surrogacy appointed to appeals court by DeSantis
Florida AG made sweeping claims in confidential abortion case
St. Johns County denies 4,462-acre Davis agricultural enclave
New law has developers poised to build on thousands of acres of farmland around Florida
Tallahassee wants total power to decide who pays taxes in Florida — and who gets a free ride
Questions or comments? Send ‘em to [email protected]
Listen to the show: Apple | Spotify
Watch the show: YouTube
Get full access to Seeking Rents at jasongarcia.substack.com/subscribe
Nobody likes to lose
2026/09/12
In this episode: Earlier this year, Ron DeSantis and state legislators enacted a new law forcing Florida’s public nonprofit insurance company to set up a program pushing condo owners into higher-priced private insurance. The law was written in part by lobbyists for an insurance brokerage led by a billionaire megadonor that wanted to make money managing the new program on the state’s behalf. But that company just missed out on the contract for the job. Plus: Lobbyists for real estate agents are bankrolling a ballot measure that could drive up home prices (and agent commissions). And the Hope Florida scandal continues to shake up Florida’s November elections, as Attorney General James Uthmeier and U.S. Sen. Ashley Moody try desperately to dodge question about their roles in the $10 million scheme.
Show notes
To make a donation to Seeking Rents, click here.
Stories discussed in today’s show:
An insurance company led by a billionaire megadonor wrote a law pushing Florida condo owners into higher-priced property insurance
Amendment 3 could increase home prices across Florida — and real estate agents love it
Real estate agents just put $10 million into campaign to pass property tax amendment
The net tightens around key figures in the Hope Florida scandal
Conflicting testimony and foggy memories: How the Hope Florida grand jury found wrongdoing but no wrongdoers
Questions or comments? Send ‘em to [email protected]
Listen to the show: Apple | Spotify
Watch the show: YouTube
Get full access to Seeking Rents at jasongarcia.substack.com/subscribe
The bipartisan plot to take out Florida's best senator (update)
2026/09/08
In this episode: Newspapers across Florida have been pulling back the curtain on schemes orchestrated by political consultants working on behalf of a small number of big corporate clients, including utility giant Florida Power & Light. Many of their plans focused on one target in particular: José Javier Rodriguez, a Cuban-American Democrat from Miami who was once seen as a future candidate for governor — but is now out of office thanks to a ghost. (This is an update of a podcast that initially aired in July 2022. The story has become newly relevant now that the guy many people know simply as “JJR” is running for attorney general — against James Uthmeier, the politician at the center of the Hope Florida scandal.)
Show notes
To make a donation to Seeking Rents, click here.
For more information about the Urban Land Institute Central Florida’s Oct. 1 panel on Amendment 3, click here.
The webinar with Welcome to Florida cohost and candidate for Florida House District 15 Chadd Charland about the importance of state government will be held Wednesday evening (Sept. 9), starting at 8 pm. To join the Zoom conversation, click here.
Stories discussed in today’s show:
Operatives working with FPL plotted primary challenge for Miami senator
Powerbrokers: How FPL secretly took over a Florida news site and used it to bash critics
Firm working for FPL took control of news site, let execs influence coverage, records show
‘Unsettling,’ ‘un-American’: FPL consultant obtained personal information, surveillance photo of journalist Nate Monroe
Dark power: How FPL, other utilities neutralize opponents, grow profits
Conflicting testimony and foggy memories: How the Hope Florida grand jury found wrongdoing but no wrongdoers
Questions or comments? Send ‘em to [email protected]
Listen to the show: Apple | Spotify
Get full access to Seeking Rents at jasongarcia.substack.com/subscribe
Hope Florida fallout
2026/09/02
In this episode: The release of a bombshell grand jury report into the $10 million “Hope Florida” affair has rocked the state’s political landscape two months before the election. James Uthmeier, the former Ron DeSantis chief of staff at the center of the scandal who the governor then promoted to attorney general, threatened a television reporter simply for asking him a question about it. Byron Donalds, the Republican candidate to become DeSantis’ successor, initially dismissed the issue but is now trying to reassure voters that he will demand reform. And pollsters are scurrying to figure out who Floridians ultimately blame for what the grand jury called “a sophisticated scheme” to spend taxpayer money on political campaigns. Plus: Updates on the state-altering property tax proposal that will appear on the November ballot and a developer-backed law that continues to cause chaos in local communities around the state.
Show notes
For more information about the Urban Land Institute Central Florida’s Oct. 1 panel on Amendment 3, click here.
The webinar with Welcome to Florida cohost and candidate for Florida House District 15 Chadd Charland about the importance of state government will be held the evening of Sept. 9, starting at 8 pm. You will be able to join the Zoom conversation at this link.
To watch the Florida Center for Government Accountability’s Aug. 26 webinar on Hope Florida, click here.
To make a donation to Seeking Rents, click here.
Stories discussed in today’s show:
Conflicting testimony and foggy memories: How the Hope Florida grand jury found wrongdoing but no wrongdoers
‘Are you trying to solicit a crime?’: Florida attorney general launches into tirade when questioned about Hope Florida
Florida AG says he wasn’t a grand jury target. So why didn’t he testify?
Donalds dismisses Jolly’s call for new Hope Florida investigation as ‘politics’
Donalds and Jolly call for Hope Florida reforms after scathing grand jury report
The legal loophole Florida is using to keep people locked in cages in the Everglades
Property Tax Cuts Under Amendment 3 Would Lead to Reductions in Services for Some Florida Hospitals
Senate Bill 180 strikes again
Attorney General James Uthmeier is raising hundreds of thousands from firms he hired
Questions or comments? Send ‘em to [email protected]
Listen to the show: Apple | Spotify
Watch the show: YouTube
Get full access to Seeking Rents at jasongarcia.substack.com/subscribe
‘A sophisticated scheme,’ exposed
2026/08/27
In this episode: A scathing grand jury report — one that some of the most powerful politicians in Florida tried to keep hidden from voters — says that the administration of Gov. Ron DeSantis “misappropriated” $10 million in taxpayer money “as part of a sophisticated scheme to fund political activities.” The grand jury broadly laid blame for the Hope Florida scandal with James Uthmeier, the former DeSantis chief of staff who since been appointed attorney general of Florida. It also exposed the hidden role in the affair played by U.S. Sen. Ashley Moody. The grand jury ultimately declined to issue any criminal indictments in part because “nobody will take responsibility” for key decisions. But Uthmeier and Moody are both on the ballot this fall — which means the final verdict now lies with Florida voters.
Show notes
Before you do anything else, read Jim DeFede’s scoop at CBS Miami, which includes the full text of the Hope Florida grand jury report:
Grand jury finds DeSantis administration "misappropriated" $10 million in taxpayer money to Hope Florida
To make a donation to Seeking Rents, click here.
To register for the Amendment 3 town hall I’ll be moderating, click here.
For more details on the Brevard County panel on all the November constitutional amendments that I’ll be participating on, click here.
Other stories discussed in today’s show:
The net tightens around key figures in the Hope Florida scandal
The attorney general has some explaining to do. Will anyone make him?
Hidden consultants and hurried payments: Records reveal details of DeSantis’ campaign against abortion and marijuana amendments
Did Florida’s attorney general break the law during a Martin Luther King Day legal stunt?
Judge finds Florida attorney general in contempt for defying court order in major immigration case
Former federal prosecutors see potential charges in Hope Florida saga
Caruso’s old sexual abuse allegations are easy to find. Why didn’t DeSantis know?
The best and worst of Florida’s 2025 session (so far)
The bills discussed in today’s show:
House Bill 1445 — Public Employees and Public Officers
Passed the Florida House of Representatives by a 97-1 vote (vote sheet) and the Florida Senate by a 37-0 vote (vote sheet)
Questions or comments? Send ‘em to [email protected]
Listen to the show: Apple | Spotify
Watch the show: YouTube
Get full access to Seeking Rents at jasongarcia.substack.com/subscribe
Big money loses big
2026/08/20
In this episode: A number of lavishly funded candidates fell to grassroots challengers running on shoestring budgets during this week’s primary elections, showing that Big Money can become a big liability. Then again, Facebook’s favorite legislators survived their races and the candidate with the biggest bank account of them all — Byron Donalds, the new Republican nominee for governor — won his contest with (relative) ease. Plus: A book-banning backlash continues, Donald Trump’s grip on the GOP loosens, and the development lobby scores a split decision in the two communities that are driving so much of the statewide fights over growth management and local control.
Show notes
To make a donation to Seeking Rents, click here.
To register for the Amendment 3 town hall I’ll be moderating, click here.
Some post-primary reading:
The Left Notches Another Win With This Secret Weapon: Old-Fashioned Organizing
Sarasota County school board likely to have shift in political leaning as Democrats win the primary
Sarasota, Manatee voters deal a blow to grassroots candidates in primary
Slow-Growth Candidates Sweep St. Johns Commission Races Despite DeSantis Endorsements
Maxwell: Mills loses, Donalds underperforms as Trump influence wanes in Florida
Rawson downplays League of the South connection as ‘desperate’ play to win
Questions or comments? Send ‘em to [email protected]
Listen to the show: Apple | Spotify
Watch the show: YouTube
Get full access to Seeking Rents at jasongarcia.substack.com/subscribe
Endorsed by Mark Zuckerberg
2026/08/14
In this episode: In Tampa, Big Tech giant Meta Platforms is funding last-minute mailers on behalf of a Democratic legislator who is locked in a tough primary for an open seat in the state Senate. And in Miami, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram is paying for digital ads promoting a Republican legislator who is in line to become speaker of the state House. It’s all part of a nationwide campaign by Meta to fill state Legislatures with candidates supportive of the artificial intelligence industry — and Florida is the latest front. Plus: New records reveal that lobbyists for two big homebuilders and Republican donors lobbied against legislation that would have repealed a state law that has made it much harder for cities, counties and towns across Florida to slow urban sprawl, protect the environment and manage population growth.
Show notes
To make a donation to Seeking Rents, click here.
To sign up for the Sierra Club Central Florida Group’s Aug. 19 meeting at Leu Gardens in Orlando, click here.
To register for the Florida Center for Government Accountability’s Aug. 20 Hope Florida webinar, click here.
Stories discussed in today’s show:
Facebook is meddling in Florida elections
At the last minute, Facebook tries to tilt a tight Democratic primary for a Senate seat in Tampa
Developer lobbyists secretly sought to maintain a law handcuffing local communities on growth
Judge rules against impact fee increases in Palm Coast
Manatee County in a legal fight with developers. Over $14 million is at stake
A rebellion in Florida
Will Manatee County cut wetland protections? Science and developer interests clash
Bills discussed in today’s show:
Senate Bill 180 (2025) — Emergencies
Passed the House of Representatives by a 106-0 vote (vote sheet) and the Florida Senate by a 34-1 vote (vote sheet).
Senate Bill 840 (2026) — Land Use Regulations for Local Governments Affected by Natural Disasters
Questions or comments? Send ‘em to [email protected]
Listen to the show: Apple | Spotify
Watch the show: YouTube
Get full access to Seeking Rents at jasongarcia.substack.com/subscribe
Zombie sprawl
2026/08/07
In this episode: A month-old law enacted by Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Florida Legislature — with help from lobbyists representing major developers — already has more than 15 square miles of farmland around the state at risk of being consumed for new housing subdivisions. Many of the proposed projects have been previously rejected by county commissioners because of concerns about traffic congestion, habitat destruction, and encroachment on rural communities. But Tallahassee has now tied the hands of locally elected leaders. Plus: Amendment 3, the Florida Legislature’s controversial property tax ballot measure, is suddenly in limbo. And the growing problem of “dark lobbying” in the state Capitol.
Show notes
To make a donation in support of Seeking Rents, click here.
To reserve a ticket to our discussion about data centers in Venice with Alice Herman and Christian Casale of Suncoast Searchlight and Emily Mahoney of the Tampa Bay Times, click here.
Stories discussed in today’s show:
New law has developers poised to build on thousands of acres of farmland around Florida
Dark lobbying in the Florida Legislature
After taking money from Walmart heirs, Ron DeSantis and the Florida Legislature helped billionaires hide their family fortunes
Florida judge rules property tax amendment misleading, orders rewrite
Same circus, different clowns
Bills discussed in today’s show:
Senate Bill 686 — Agricultural Enclaves
Passed the House of Representatives by a 90-20 vote (vote sheet) and the Florida Senate by a 34-2 vote (vote sheet).
Questions or comments? Send ‘em to [email protected]
Listen to the show: Apple | Spotify
Watch the show: YouTube
Get full access to Seeking Rents at jasongarcia.substack.com/subscribe
Billionaires for Byron
2026/07/30
In this episode: A billionaire hedge fund executive gave $10 million last week to Byron Donalds, the Republican Congressman from Naples who is the favorite to win the GOP nomination for Florida governor in next month’s primary elections. His gift came after a billionaire TikTok investor gave Donalds at least $7.5 million. Other billionaires are pouring money into the Donalds campaign, too. Their cash comes with strings. Plus: Attorney General James Uthmeier helps the billionaire-owned Fontainebleau Hotel steamroll residents of Miami Beach who are fighting a proposed expansion project; the companies that sell electricity to AI data centers love Florida’s new data center law; and a key provision in the state constitution is, it turns out, meaningless.
Show notes
To make a donation in support of Seeking Rents, click here.
To reserve a ticket to our discussion about data centers in Venice with Alice Herman and Christian Casale of Suncoast Searchlight and Emily Mahoney of the Tampa Bay Times, click here.
Stories discussed in today’s show:
The DeSantis decisions: Quiet wins for homebuilders and car dealers
Billionaire Ken Griffin pours money into Byron Donalds’ campaign for governor
Meet the billionaire pushing taxpayer-funded school vouchers
The billionaire trying to reinvent Florida schools has a $7.5 million bet on Byron Donalds
The Scale of Billionaires’ Campaign Donations is Overwhelming U.S. Politics
Lobbyist for a billionaire-run hedge fund wrote a bill allowing longer non-competes, records show
Lobbyists for a billionaire and a charter network pushed Florida lawmakers to expand a school privatization program, records show
A billionaire-backed think tank keeps sabotaging Florida workers. More attacks are coming.
Untraceable: Who sends all those political mailers?
Fewer Florida residents are receiving federal food benefits
The Fontainebleau wanted another favor from the Florida Legislature
New law has Florida ‘open for business’ for AI data centers, utility execs say
Florida judge refuses to boot Fishback from the ballot, won’t ‘decide the race’
Bills discussed in today’s show:
Senate Bill 686 – Agricultural Enclaves
Senate Bill 484 – Data Centers
House Bill 399 – Land Use and Development Regulations
Questions or comments? Send ‘em to [email protected]
Listen to the show: Apple | Spotify
Watch the show: YouTube
Get full access to Seeking Rents at jasongarcia.substack.com/subscribe
Chink in the armor
2026/07/23
In this episode: Data center interests have spent more than $5 million supporting Byron Donalds, the Trump-endorsed Congressman from Naples who is the heavy favorite to win the Republican nomination for Florida governor in next month’s primary election. But all that industry money is morphing from a strength to a liability amid a rising bipartisan backlash to data center development around the state. Meanwhile, James Uthmeier, Florida’s never-elected attorney general, is using his office to help Elon Musk’s Tesla try to get out of paying $243 million to victims of a fatal car crash involving Tesla’s Autopilot technology. Plus: Updates on big battles over property insurance, growth management and home rule.
Show notes
To make a donation in support of Seeking Rents, click here.
Stories discussed in today’s show:
Data center donors have spent more than $20 million in Florida ahead of the 2026 elections
Meta Begins $65 Million Election Push to Advance A.I. Agenda
Florida’s attorney general is trying to help Elon Musk’s Tesla get out of a $243 million verdict
An insurance company led by a billionaire megadonor wrote a law pushing Florida condo owners into higher-priced property insurance
Group tied to influential Ruane Cunniff sues Reinhold Corporation over Clay County land sale dispute
A New York investment firm with vast land holdings across north Florida wants state lawmakers to greenlight giant developments
Ron DeSantis is helping real estate developers exploit a hurricane relief law
The Florida Legislature made a mess. The Florida House refused to clean it up.
Bills discussed in today’s show:
Senate Bill 484 — Data Centers
Senate Bill 1616 — Liability of Advanced Driving System Manufacturers and Developers
Senate Bill 1028 — Citizens Property Insurance Corp.
House Bill 299 / Senate Bill 354 — Blue Ribbon Projects
Senate Bill 840 — Land Use Regulations for Local Governments Affected by Natural Disasters
Senate Bill 180 (2025) — Emergencies
Questions or comments? Send ‘em to [email protected]
Listen to the show: Apple | Spotify
Watch the show: YouTube
Get full access to Seeking Rents at jasongarcia.substack.com/subscribe
The good, the bad and the bought
2026/07/17
In this episode: Led by a Donald Trump-appointed judge, a federal appeals court struck down Florida’s infamous “Stop WOKE Act,” a Ron DeSantis-championed law meant to censor university professors on subjects like racism and sexism. But Florida and other GOP-controlled Southern states are working on another way to control what can be said, taught or studied on college campuses. Meanwhile, rural and suburban towns across the state face an existential threat from a property tax cut that will appear on the November ballot. And new records reveal how a billionaire-led insurance broker wrote a law that could drive up property insurance prices for condo owners— and then puppeteered the plan through the Florida Legislature
Show notes:
To make a donation in support of Seeking Rents, click here.
Stories discussed in today’s show:
‘Breathtaking assertion of power’: Appeals court slams door on Florida ‘Stop Woke’ law championed by DeSantis
Scott Maxwell: Courts confirm Florida’s ‘Stop WOKE’ law is un-American garbage
A lawyer for Ron DeSantis revealed the real motive behind one of Florida’s most controversial laws
Next in Florida's war on 'woke': Becoming its own higher ed watchdog
Florida leaders hid money for controversial higher education project
City-by-city estimates of property tax impacts from Amendment 3
What Florida’s tax rollback looks like through the eyes of one small town
An insurance company led by a billionaire megadonor wrote a law pushing Florida condo owners into higher-priced property insurance
Questions or comments? Send ‘em to [email protected]
Listen to the show: Apple | Spotify
Watch the show: YouTube
Get full access to Seeking Rents at jasongarcia.substack.com/subscribe
Podcast reviews
Read Seeking Rents – The Podcast podcast reviews
adastria 2026/07/17
Sad that it’s necessary, but great for keeping up with Florida corruption
As a former participant in The Process, appreciate Jason’s reporting into the backroom deals that really run Florida.
Thoughts and Dreams 2025/12/14
Detail focused that other news misses
Seriously, if you want to keep up what’s happening in the FL legislature/gov, you need to listen to this.
Eric B Gray 2025/11/19
Must listen
Seeking Rents is a graduate level course in Florida state policy and politics. Jason’s relentless journalism sheds light on the darkest portions of th...
DrDK2 2025/11/06
Truth Matters
Jason Garcia is an amazingly dedicated investigative reporter getting behind what is actually driving the right wing repression in Florida. Hint: It’s...
buggysdad 2024/02/28
Fascinating-Even If You Aren’t a Floridian
I started following this podcast when big big Disney vs. DeSantis feud erupted - more just to keep track of what was happening. But even though I don’...
Caloula 2023/12/10
Graft is alive and well in the state of Florida.
All Floridians wb well served to follow this Podcast!!!!
Wytch1111 2023/08/06
Imperative and insightful
Seeking Rents is spelling it like it is here in Florida, and indeed all citizens of this country who are being impacted by landlords and management co...
brickbabeboo 2022/07/18
Wow
I didn’t know a lot about this host. He was introduced to me first when he was on Nickelodeon. Wow time has grown him up. The level an depth of know...
BethInThe407 2022/07/14
Accessible politics
Seeking Rents gives listeners a front row seat to a level of political intrigue and drama that isn’t uncovered often enough in Florida. This show will...
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