Meanwhile in the Free State of Florida... – Top 3 Takeaways – March 7th, 2025
- Meanwhile in the Free State of Florida... We’ve still got a lot going for us. The week has been defined by President Trump’s policies and his presidential address. Also, in focus is the warning he’s issued to Hamas stating that if they don’t hand over all remaining hostages and victims remains, that they’ll be destroyed. That’s worth watching heading into this weekend. But while foreign policies and federal policies have dominated conversations daily. We’re got a lot going on here at home. In the words of Governor DeSantis in his State of the State speech. We are not a sanctuary state; we are a rule of law state! For the past two years, Florida’s economy has ranked #1 in these United States. We also rank #1 in entrepreneurship, #1 in new business formations, #1 in GDP growth among large states, and have an unemployment rate that is lower than the national average for more than 50 months straight! We represented the refuge for freedom and sanity during the coronavirus pandemic, not just for the rest of the country but for the entire world. People moved here. Businesses flocked to our state. And investment in Florida surged. Not bad, right? While overshadowed by the President’s address for obvious reasons... I wanted to circle back to it today because it’s worth repeating, reporting and discussing what DeSantis has called on the legislature to do during the session’s 60 days. Specifically, DeSantis called for the legislators to do these things in this order: To provide funding for home hardening grants for those on the My Safe Florida Home Program’s waitlist. He asked the legislature to pass through all of Florida’s traditional sales tax holidays but also to add tax holidays for marine fuel this summer and called for the addition of a sales tax holiday for firearms and ammunition that he calls a “Second Amendment Summer”. DeSantis asked the legislature to end the business rent tax. Speaking of tax eliminations...
- DeSantis leaned in on what would be the largest in Florida’s history. In the words of the governor: Escalating assessments have created a gusher of revenue for local governments—and many in Florida have seen their budgets increase far beyond the growth in population. Taxpayers need relief. You buy a home, pay off a mortgage—and yet you still have to write a check to the government every year just to live on your own property? Is the property yours or are you just renting from the government? I know members of the Legislature are studying the issue in anticipation of formulating a proposal to place on the 2026 ballot to provide constitutional protections for Florida property owners. Please know you have my support. Oh, and one other thing—don’t let anyone tell you we will seek to raise state taxes, because we will not. Can I get an AMEN? Florida’s already the greatest state. But if there’s one massive miss it’s still this. No concept is perhaps more anti-American than the idea that the government should be able to tax the roof over your head every year and if you can’t afford to pay – they'll take your home that you theoretically own away. That should stop and this moment in time presents a historical opportunity to do what we should have always been doing. If state and local taxes demanded annual taxes be paid for other items your own or they’d come to your house and take them – you'd tell them to pound sand...and then some. But somehow, we’re ok with them coming to our home and taking our home? How is that the least bit more reasonable?
- Just because things have been done a certain way for a long time doesn’t mean that’s the right way to do things. If that were the case, we wouldn’t even have this country. We’d still be paying homage to a king. DeSantis also called for an increase in teacher’s salaries and added this interesting nugget of news. Quoting DeSantis: We have shattered records for state support for Everglades restoration, for water quality improvements, and for beach renourishment. While our efforts have been strong, the federal government has lagged in its responsibilities regarding Everglades restoration. I am happy to report that the Trump administration is receptive to block granting money to us so that we can complete these projects ourselves. Florida time is faster than Army Corps of Engineers time. That news is potentially huge. The federal government, and the Army Corps of Engineers specifically, is the biggest obstacle to progress within the Everglades and our waterways. Getting them out of the way everywhere possible so that we can do what needs to be done would be huge. In light of my recent conversation with Representative Brian Mast, who said the new Colonel overseeing the Army Corps’ waterway policies doesn’t believe that Lake O’ discharges are harming our waterways, and thus has no plans to stop...it's encouraging to see that the governor gets the need to move the Army Corps out of the way. DeSantis also asked the legislature for reforms to combat petition fraud for voter’s signatures for ballot access for proposed constitutional amendments, reforming condo association requirements to ease affordability issues and for easing gun ownership restrictions. It was a significant, if even overshadowed, speech with a session that’s underway that holds the potential to be one of the most consequential in our state’s history.