Q&A of the Day – Special Sessions: The Difference Between a Gubernatorial & Legislature Session
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Today’s Entry: Hey Brian quick question for you. I know we’ve had lots of special sessions called by governors but I’d never heard of one called by the legislature until this week. What’s the difference (is the legislature just posturing in a power struggle with DeSantis)? Also, have we had these in Florida before and maybe I just missed it? Love your research, thanks for what you do!
Bottom Line: It’s been an interesting week in Florida’s political scene for sure. Florida entered this year with a record number of Republicans elected top to bottom statewide and with a record voter registration advantage. That includes a popular governor in Ron DeSantis and a super majority in the state legislature - meaning that effectively Republicans can pass their agenda regardless of resistance from Democrats if they’re united in that agenda. Few would have expected that straight away the current political makeup in the state would have led to a significant feud between the new GOP senate and house leaders and the governor. But as we’ve seen play out this week, with the state legislature immediately dismissing Governor DeSantis’ session and instead calling their own, where they passed their own agenda that’s exactly what we’ve had happen.
Today’s question is a good question as there is a distinction between the two types of special sessions, in other words it’s more than just posturing or a power struggle with what’s happened in Florida this week. Also, there are three different ways special legislative sessions may be called within the state. I’ll start there. The three ways a special session may be called (one by the governor and two by the legislature) are:
- By declaration of the governor
- A joint proclamation by the president of the Senate and speaker of the House
- If three-fifths of the members of both houses respond affirmatively to a poll by the Department of State—the poll being initiated by certificates from 20 percent of the members of the Legislature.
So, what’s the distinction between the two? Unlike the regularly scheduled legislative sessions, in which legislators may propose any legislation for consideration before the body, special sessions are limited to only proposing and considering legislation outlined in the declaration.
- In the case of a governor’s declaration, the topics addressed may only be those outlined by the governor
- In the instance of a legislature called session, the topics are limited to what the legislature outlines in their declaration
Now in the specific example of what played out this week in Tallahassee, this is where gamesmanship entered the equation. When Desantis called a special session his declaration stated: The Legislature of the State of Florida is convened in Special Session for the sole and exclusive purpose of considering legislation and appropriations relating to (a) combatting illegal immigration, (b) condominium regulation, (c) agricultural relief in response to natural disasters, (d) replenishing the My Safe Florida Home program, and (e) citizens’ initiative petition process. When the legislature voted to end DeSantis’s session and to commence their own, it was stated that the agenda would be focused on illegal immigration and specific line-item vetoes DeSantis issued when signing the budget last year.
Now, on the one hand, the state legislature could have simply used Governor DeSantis’ session to consider the Immigration bill, the so-called Trump ACT, that was passed without starting their own. However, the decision to do so was more than just ego driven behavior. When they canceled DeSantis’s session, they also cancelled consideration of the bills that had been filed for it. Mike Caruso proposed legislation that delivered on DeSantis’s desired immigration proposals. Had there been a side-by-side debate of the two proposals it’s possible that the stronger DeSantis proposals would have won out. As for whether we’ve had the legislature call special sessions before...? They’re more common than you may think.
The three most recent special sessions called in Florida prior to this week (two in 2023 and one in December of 2022) were called by the state legislature. The reason that may not stick out to you is due to the way it’s been presented in news media and what’s historically been a Republican party that’s mostly been on the same page in our state. Governor DeSantis supported the legislature’s decisions and legislation passed in the previous three legislative sessions. The battle that’s ensued between the governor and state legislative leaders this week is what’s different.