Republican legislators in Florida are moving rapidly in a hurriedly convened special session to promote Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ possible presidential campaign this week.
GOP lawmakers are working to weaken or eliminate legal objections to several of DeSantis’ key programmes, as well as assisting him in resolving a year-long spat with Disney, which DeSantis has used to showcase his ongoing war against “woke” businesses.
It’s also a reminder that DeSantis has a ready partner in the Republican-controlled Florida Legislature who can provide him with victories on the campaign trail if he decides to run against former President Donald Trump later this year.
Legislative leaders announced the special session on Friday. Some of the first proposals, including one to protect DeSantis’ controversial migrant relocation programme from a pending lawsuit filed by a Democratic state senator, had already passed their first stop on Monday afternoon.
When queried about the scheduling of the special session, which comes only weeks before their annual legislative session, several GOP legislators either shrugged or joked. However, some acknowledged that the proposals on the table would support DeSantis’ agenda.
“Presidential races aside, I have every interest in assisting the governor,” said Ormond Beach Republican state Rep. Tom Leek, chairman of the primary House budget committee that supported the immigration measure Monday. “The governor is assisting the people of Florida.”
The 12-day extraordinary session comes at a difficult moment for DeSantis. He will appear before GOP organisations in Texas, California, and Alabama once his much-anticipated memoirs is out at the end of this month. The normal legislative session will also begin in early March, with lawmakers anticipated to take up more high-profile governor initiatives, such as improvements to Florida’s higher education system.
When you put it all together, you have a ready-made checklist to sell to Republican primary voters if DeSantis enters the race later this year.
Democrats framed the entire special session as a “clean-up” operation designed to provide DeSantis with “cover” for a projected presidential run.
“You have a governor that is overreaching and campaigning for president, so he is doing all of these things because he can,” said North Miami Democrat state Rep. Dotie Joseph. “And you don’t have a legislature to hold him accountable.”
The DeSantis administration has discovered that its rapid-fire strategy can lead to legal and political consequences. Multiple challenges have stymied or blocked some of DeSantis’ key priorities from moving through in recent years, including a rule governing how race is taught in Florida.
Three of the bills that state legislators are anticipated to enact in the next two weeks are related to activities that have garnered DeSantis global attention but have also resulted in significant political backlash and legal scrutiny.
DeSantis led the charge last year to abolish the Disney-controlled special district, which had been in place for more than 50 years, after the entertainment behemoth rejected a bill that prohibited discussion of gender identity or sexual orientation in classrooms until third grade. DeSantis consistently pledged that the state would resolve unresolved issues about outstanding bonds and debts associated with the special district. The current proposal would rename the special district and place it under the jurisdiction of governor-appointed appointees.
“We’re not going to have a corporation governing its own government,” DeSantis said last week, referring to the pending legislation that would put the state in charge.
Another bill tries to settle legal doubts about whether the statewide prosecutor has the jurisdiction to prosecute voter fraud prosecutions, as DeSantis promised in August. Some of the people who were arrested successfully utilised that question to dispute their allegations.
Finally, lawmakers are ready to embrace legislation expanding the contentious migrant relocation programme that resulted in the state paying to fly almost 50 migrants from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard last year. A lawsuit has been filed against the programme, in part because it was formed in the state budget rather than as a separate law.
But, more critically, the law would make it plain that DeSantis has the authority to transport migrants from anywhere in the United States, rather than only those who are in Florida.
State Rep. Kelly Skidmore, a Democrat from Boca Raton, slammed the bill as a “get out of jail free” card to allow DeSantis to carry out a political farce. Other Democrats, including President Joe Biden, have criticised DeSantis’ flights, claiming that the Florida governor is using vulnerable people as political pawns.
Legislators have pledged $10 million for the programme, but state Rep. Tom Gregory, a Republican from southwest Florida, questioned why lawmakers hadn’t considered spending up to $50 million or $100 million on relocation.
Rep. Randy Fine, a Brevard County Republican, also defended the policy after Democrats slammed it, claiming that sending migrants to “blue states” could make President Joe Biden “care” about border security complaints.
“Hopefully, this will hasten that day,” Fine added.
