TALHASSEE — Despite strong opposition from Gov. Ron DeSantis, the Florida home on Wednesday approved a bill aimed at reducing the governor’s power in selecting presidents of state public universities and universities.
This measure, House Bill 1321, prohibits elected officials (including governors) from communicating with higher education leaders regarding current or future presidential vacancies. The bill received bipartisan support, but a small number of Republicans opposed it.
Governor DeSantis criticized the proposal, claiming it threatened his education agenda and marked a step towards “repeat” of Florida’s higher education system. “They don’t want elected officials to hold the university accountable,” DeSantis said this week. “They’re going back to left-wing ideology.”
In response, Pensacola’s Republican leader Michelle Zalzman, who sponsored the bill, stressed that it was not an attack on DeSantis, but rather an effort to increase government transparency. “This is about government transparency,” Salzman said during a discussion on the House floor.
The bill also seeks to abolish the 2022 law that kept the president’s search secret, particularly the names of candidates who were not selected as finalists.
In addition to transparency reform, HB 1321 proposes period restrictions for state college boards, state education boards, and state college boards. Board members are required to submit financial disclosures, limited to a single seven-year term. Additionally, the bill requires that members of these governing committees be either Florida residents or graduates from Florida Public University. For trustees, non-residents must be graduates of the institutions they serve.
One major change under the bill would eliminate the requirement that the Governor’s Committee approve presidential elections made by individual university boards. However, the governor still has considerable influence as he appoints the majority of his members to both the board and the councillors. “We are not excluding the power of the governor,” Salzmann emphasized. “He appoints people who make these choices.”
The law follows recent headlines on university appointments. This includes Lieutenant Colonel Janet Nunez, who was appointed interim president of Florida International University earlier this year. DeSantis also confirmed that former state legislator Randy Fein defended leading Florida Atlantic University, but he later suggested he would be fined by Congress. The fine told Florida politics on his side that the governor encouraged him to apply for the position.
The Senate companion bill, SB 1726, is different from the House version. The governor does not limit his advocacy for presidential candidates and maintains current public records exemptions, but at least three finalists must be nominated in the presidential search.
At a press conference Wednesday, DeSantis predicted that the Senate would reject the House bill. “I don’t think it’s going to get on the desk,” he said. “If that’s the case, we’ll invite you to a ceremony that rejects it.”
