Florida Policy Intelligence

Florida is often recognized for tourism, real estate, agriculture, and financial services. Yet one of the state's most important economic engines receives far less attention than it deserves. Manufacturing contributes approximately $90 billion annually to Florida's economy, supports hundreds of thousands of jobs across the state, and generates roughly 90 percent of Florida's merchandise exports.

By the early 1950s, the United States produced nearly half of the world's steel. Few industries appeared more secure. Fewer still imagined that America's dominance could ever meaningfully decline. Yet history had other plans. Today, the United States occupies a remarkably similar position in artificial intelligence. America's technology companies lead the development of frontier AI models. Its cloud providers operate much of the world's advanced computing infrastructure.

North Carolina recently became the first state to explicitly incorporate federally regulated prediction markets into its state budget by imposing a 6 percent tax on operators' net trading fee revenue. While the immediate fiscal impact is expected to be modest, the policy significance is far greater. For the first time, a state has acknowledged prediction markets not simply as a regulatory issue, but as a legitimate component of its future revenue framework.

Policies restricting or banning student cellphone use in schools are rapidly gaining nationwide support, backed by extensive research, mounting evidence of harm, and disturbing victim testimony. Yet enforcement remains the central challenge, as many school district administrations wrongly believe that consistent implementation would require substantial additional staffing and pull teachers and administrators away from instruction and student support.

Florida AI policy is emerging at the center of U.S.–China strategic competition, where a fragmented, state-by-state regulatory approach risks constraining American innovation in a critical national security technology.

Florida is emerging as a critical hub in autonomous defense and the energy infrastructure required to sustain it—where megawatts, not just munitions, will define the next phase of national security.

Florida’s 2026 infrastructure and regulatory framework is not designed for incremental growth—it is engineered to attract hyperscale, AI-driven data center development. The shift is deliberate, and it is already reshaping where capital flows.

For years, the digital economy was defined by its lack of physical constraints. Cloud computing, mobile platforms, and software-driven services created the perception of a system that could scale without friction—light, flexible, and largely detached from the physical world. Artificial intelligence is reversing that model.

Today, roughly 9,000 data centers operate worldwide, with the United States hosting the largest share by a wide margin. Despite periodic claims that America is falling behind in digital infrastructure development, the reality is quite the opposite: the United States continues to dominate globally in the deployment and operation of large-scale data center capacity..

Digital distraction is no longer a minor nuisance — it is a measurable safety and economic issue. The impact extends beyond safety. Broader digital distraction and disengagement are estimated to cost U.S. employers up to $1.9 trillion annually in lost productivity. TRUCE Software applies contextual mobility management to set intelligent boundaries around device use to eliminate digital distractions without banning mobile devices and phones outright.

President Donald Trump’s sweeping AI executive order marks a decisive shift in who writes the rules for artificial intelligence in the United States. Rather than allowing states to continue experimenting with their own AI frameworks, the order asserts federal primacy—aiming to replace a growing patchwork of state laws with a single national approach.

AT&T announced a $5.75 billion deal to acquire the bulk of Lumen’s mass markets fiber business, aiming to accelerate access to high-speed fiber internet across more than 4 million locations in 11 states. The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2026.

Moffitt Cancer Center, Florida’s premier National Cancer Institute-designated facility, has expanded its partnership with biotechnology firm RyboDyn, Inc. to accelerate the development of advanced immunotherapies.

AT&T announced it is set to surpass 30 million fiber locations by mid-2025, months ahead of schedule, after reaching 29.5 million at the end of Q1.

AT&T has announced its plan to discontinue traditional landline phone services in Florida and nearly all of its U.S. service areas.

Florida AG Ashley Moody, joined by 41 other state attorneys general, is urging congressional leaders to pass critical legislation.