Florida’s Legislative Session Starts Today & DeSantis’ True Test – Top 3 Takeaways – March 7th, 2023
- The session starts today. What has 60-days, 1683 bills and 165 people debating the fate of them? Around 11 o’clock this morning Governor DeSantis will ring in the official start of Florida’s annual fast and furious 60-day legislative session with his State of the State speech. And this won’t be just any State of the State speech, it’ll be the most closely watched in Florida’s history. And that’s not just because Florida’s prospects have never been brighter but because Governor DeSantis’ haven’t either. Fresh off of a successful weeklong book tour amid rampant speculation he’ll soon be announcing a run for president, he’s coming back home to Florida having just outdone the three most recent presidents on tour. DeSantis’ new book, The Courage to Be Free, isn’t just a #1 bestseller, it’s sold more copies in its first week than Joe Biden’s, Barak Obama’s and yes, Donald Trump’s books did their first weeks. Now, while being able to say that my book sales are bigger than your book sales, probably isn’t a winning line, and most certainly will not be worked into his speech today, it is a leading sign that this year’s session is set to be different. Starting with the way it's covered. On hand for today’s festivities in Tallahassee? Yes, traditional Florida news media outlets. But also, those which derive from far north of our state and typically take cracks at it from keyboards in Washington and New York. Yes, among the national news media outlets covering DeSantis’ State of the State speech, and the start of Florida’s legislative session, are outlets like the Washington Post and New York Times. Tallahassee hasn’t been crawling with so many questionable characters since the city’s favorite bisexual criminal, Andrew Gillum, and his pay for play posse were running the city. But while national news media types will likely look spin what DeSantis has to say, make no mistake that his agenda will be carrying the day. Armed with a Republican super majority in the Legislature, the state’s first in over a decade, there’s nothing standing in the way of his agenda other than the limitation of the sessions’ 60-days. And what that means is that what’s coming is going to be...
- Big, bold and conservative. Some will say that DeSantis’ agenda is more about his presidential ambitions than it is about what’s best for Floridians. I’d say I don’t care. Good policy is good policy no matter how or why it happens and it’s safe to say that bad policy enacted today won’t help a potential DeSantis’ presidential bid tomorrow. His “Framework for Freedom” agenda is filled with a host of conservative wish list items. Constitutional carry, or the permitless carrying of firearms (which some are currently attempting to turn into open carry as well – stay tuned), increased recruitment and incentives for law enforcement and community safety. Continued education reforms building on Florida’s Parental Rights in Education legislation including turning school board races into partisan races. Numerous permanent sales tax exemptions with the largest coming on products for babies and pets – in addition to an ever-growing list of sales tax holidays. But the biggest issue of all, in my view, is also one which the governor didn’t include in his budget planning and as a result hasn’t specifically endorsed. Universal School Choice. With a Republican super-majority that’s in position to pass it, now’s the time to make it happen. But yesterday, in asking Florida’s CFO Jimmy Patronis on the show about it, he hesitated in making a prediction about what would happen with the proposal, while also expressing hesitancy in answering whether...
- Florida can afford it – which has been the leading opposition argument against it to date. In our society there is no bigger issue than education and there’s no better solution to our long-term issues with it than school choice. While there will no doubt be many “big, bold, conservative” policies which make their way onto Florida’s books by the time this session is done. For me Universal School Choice is the one. And its success or failure in this session is the true test to me of just how big, bold and conservative it will have been. And a true test of DeSantis’ ability to lead the legislature given that most related coverage suggests they’re ready to do whatever he wants them to do. Taking the money that’s already allocated to be spent on public education and placing control over where it goes, along with where their children go, in the hands of parents as opposed to bureaucrats is as big, bold and conservative as it gets. Yes, Florida leads the country in school choice. Yes, we could do much better. This is the session, and this is the time in Florida to make it happen. And yes, with record revenues driven by record relocations and record tourism, Florida can afford it – the key is to prioritize it.