The Florida Legislature for the past few years worked hand-in-hand with Gov. Ron DeSantis ahead of his unsuccessful presidential bid, pushing into law a long line of controversial measures dealing with abortion, gender and racial identity, and guns.
The Republican majority and DeSantis also worked closely together on a huge expansion in taxpayer-financed private school vouchers and a crackdown on social media companies (although that last one drew Democratic support).
This year’s regular session, however, could feature a less malleable Legislature following a bruising battle this year between legislative leaders and the Republican governor over immigration. It took three special sessions for both sides to reach an accord on a bill aimed at helping state and local authorities cooperate with President Donald Trump’s mass deportation plans.
DeSantis for his part has played down talk that the tug-of-war over immigration with Senate President Ben Albritton and House Speaker Daniel Perez will spill into this year’s session.
“I think you are going to see a very productive next two years,” DeSantis said right after he signed the immigration measure into law. “I know both Ben and Danny worked hard to get into their positions. You know, they want to leave a mark. They want to leave a legacy of success.”
Familiar flashpoints
Some familiar flashpoints are possible this year. Bills dealing with abortion — including one to require public schoolchildren to watch an anti-abortion video in health class — guns, and even preserving Confederate memorials have been introduced for the 60-day session that starts on Tuesday.
Democrats, who now comprise superminorities in both chambers, will be unable to stop any of these initiatives if they gain backing from legislative leaders.
DeSantis also wants legislators to embrace a crackdown on ballot initiatives that some critics contend would make it all but impossible for citizens to place constitutional amendments on the ballot. DeSantis launched that effort after he led the push last fall to defeat initiatives dealing with abortion access and recreational marijuana.
But legislators — mindful of DeSantis’ limited time remaining in office — may wind up spending more attention to complicated, pressing problems such as insurance and condominium regulations — maybe even property taxes (which the governor wants to abolish). They could even vote against some of DeSantis’ controversial appointees to university boards.
The Legislature could even limit the power of a governor who has pushed the limits of his authority throughout his time in office, as evidenced when the House and Senate released identical higher education bills that would reinstate transparency requirements for university presidential searches and places term limits on members the Board of Governors and the Board of Education, which oversee the State University System and individual institutions.
Additionally, the House has teed up possible veto overrides of budget items that DeSantis nixed last year from the state fiscal year FY 2024-25 budget.
DeSantis did lay out his spending priorities a month ago, including eliminating a tax charged on commercial leases, redirecting how the state spends on cancer research, and putting nearly $590 million into the My Safe Florida Home program, designed to help homeowners hurricane-proof their residences and earn them potential reductions in insurance premiums.
DeSantis’ proposed budget would transfer the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, the Ringlings’ Ca’d’Zan mansion, and the Ringling Circus Museum from Florida State University to New College of Florida. While New College President Richard Corcoran is “super excited” at the idea, the proposal isn’t sitting well with Florida State University, Perez’s alma mater.
Albritton, meanwhile, has his own big-ticket items, including his “rural renaissance” package, a nearly $200 million effort to help economic development in the state’s less-populated counties. The proposal targets improved broadband access, roads, schools, and health care facilities. The Senate president also wants to increase opportunities for children with autism and their families.
‘Valuing value’
Perez hasn’t released his legislative priorities, although a House health care committee last month passed a dental therapy bill that Perez sponsored as a freshman in 2018; he co-sponsored similar legislation in 2019.
A House committee last month passed a sovereign immunity bill to make it easier for people injured by state or local governments to sue for damages beyond what’s allowed in statute. Perez in 2019 sponsored two claims bills on behalf of constituents seeking to pierce the sovereign immunity limits.
But in terms of the next state budget, the only bill lawmakers are constitutionally required to pass during the regular session, the speaker’s priority appears to be reining in spending.
In his inaugural speech as House Speaker in November, Perez noted that when he was first elected to the House the state’s budget was $82 billion and that it has grown by about $40 billion since then.
“State government has become so flush with cash that we have lost any sense of discipline. We make purchases following natural disasters with little to no inventory control. We buy land that we can’t keep track of, much less manage competently. We spend millions of dollars on failed IT projects. How much money has been spent on Capitol renovations only to have parking garages that leak water and flood?” Perez said. “We need to build a state budget that values value.”