TALHASSEE, Fla. (AP) – For six years, Gov. Ron Desantis has been a solid grasp of Florida’s legislature. In his penultimate legislative session, that’s not the case.
Top lawmakers once stood beside DeSantis on issues ranging from parental rights and DEI programs to abortion and gun rights. A national profile of these padded Desantis ahead of the 2024 presidential bid.
This year, the Republican governor enforced President Donald Trump’s immigration agenda, sought to remove the state’s property taxes and address the crisis in apartments in South Florida. Instead, his influence fell as fellow Republicans publicly raised questions about the handling of state agencies, contrary to his orders.
Congress postponed the legislative meeting late Friday, and without a budget signed by Desantis, who exercises the power of veto on line items, to approve only the veto of the budget. Lawmakers extended the session until early June after announcing that there was a budget framework. The governor must sign the matter by July 1st, when the fiscal year begins.
Opposition parties present a whole new challenge to limited-time governors who may have a desire to run for president in 2028. And DeSantis has increased his rhetoric towards lawmakers, labeling it “Petitness’s House.”
Here are some important issues that were not necessarily made in DeSantis’ favor:
Lawmakers opposed DeSantis as immigrants
In January, Republican lawmakers opened and soon concluded a special session called DeSantis on Trump’s immigration agenda. Determined to tackle the matter on their own terms, they then left and returned, threw out the Governor’s proposal, presenting themselves.
Responsibility for Desantis could not have been thought of in the past few years.
The governor ended with signing the negotiated immigration measures. This went beyond Trump’s executive order by mandating the death penalty for immigrants without legal status for committing capital crimes in Florida.
Investigating the Florida First Ladies Key Initiative
The Florida House Subcommittee has launched an investigation into Hope Florida, an initiative by First Lady Casey DeSantis.
Initially, it focused on a $10 million donation to the Hope Florida Foundation as part of a $67 million settlement between the state’s largest Medicaid contractor and state agency.
DeSantis had asked lawmakers to request offices in Florida under the governor’s supervision. This would have supported the key initiative of the First Ladies, who she plans to campaign to replace her husband as governor ahead of the 2026 election.
Instead, Desantis has spent weeks criticizing the lawmakers’ probes of the initiative, accusing them of drawing negative attention to the “attacking the First Lady” initiative.
Rep. Alex Andrade, who chaired the state subcommittee, announced that the investigation was concluded on April 24 and that he was “solidly convinced” that several parties were involved in the misuse of the Medicaid fund’s $10 million.
Desantis wishlist budget backfire
In February, the governor recommended his own $115.6 billion budget proposals for lawmakers to consider.
The proposal included key measures such as $505 million for immigration enforcement and $1.5 billion for Everglades Repair and Water Quality Project. It also had a $2.2 billion tax credit through several provisions, including abolishing the business rent tax and providing more sales tax leave.
However, the House and Senate have not yet agreed to the budget. House Speaker Daniel Perez told lawmakers he hopes to return to June to finalise budget approval before the effective date in July.
The House has a $113 billion budget lower, contrary to the Senate’s $117.4 billion spending plan. One of the House’s main provisions is a 0.75% reduction in sales tax, something Desantis blamed. He’s pushing to roll back the state property tax instead. The Senate plan does not include that sales tax cut.
Throughout April, Desantis repeatedly criticized the House for budget inconsistencies, whether related to Everglades repairs, law enforcement funds, and tax cuts.
“They are not the Florida House of Representatives we had in modern Florida history,” DeSantis said at a press conference in Myers on April 16.
The pain of expensive condominiums
The first special session of immigration in January was also intended to address the issue of apartments as owners faced hikes of increased property insurance fees and association fees. Instead, lawmakers focused on these provisions in the final week of the session.
The 2022 law was passed, meaning that condominium owners face higher costs as the association legally requires sufficient reserves for large-scale repairs. The law also requires a 10-year investigation of reserves.
In this session, lawmakers aimed to ease some of these cost hikes for condo owners that have little impact on South Florida residents and fixed income retirees. The bill was sent to the governor on Wednesday, allowing the Condominium Association to fund reserves through a credit line, giving residents more flexibility to suspend payments while handling repairs and maintenance.
In the weeks leading up to the passage of the bill, the House and Senate presented two different versions, and the House version was widely criticized by the governor. In April, Desantis said the House bill would allow people to be “pushed out of their homes” and “pay the way for developers to make more money.”
“Let’s realize that these outcomes are not what we want, and we’ll provide reforms so that people can stay in condo units,” Desantis said of the House version.
