Miami. – The year 2023 marks the close of a period of intense challenges for Florida and Governor Ron DeSantis, who aspires to the Republican presidential nomination. Throughout these 12 months, DeSantis, with a Republican super majority in the state Congress, promoted various measures that defined his conservative stance: he launched an offensive against irregular immigration, fought the ideological battle against the Woke agenda, adopted the penalty of death for pedophile rapists, authorized the possession of concealed weapons without a license, approved restrictions on abortion, confronted the powerful Disney World and the influence of China. However, he ended the year and failed to control the high home insurance prices that affect millions of Floridians.
In democracy, legislative activity materializes the political relations and electoral preferences of society. Therefore, we will analyze 2023 primarily through legislative activity in the Sunshine State.
One of the first big headlines of the year was the signing of the law that allows the transfer of illegal immigrants to any place in the US with the idea of ”stopping the massive flow of undocumented immigrants to Florida.”
“I am pleased to have signed the legislation to continue the program of transporting illegal aliens to sanctuary cities,” said the 45-year-old Republican governor, signing the law in February, five months after the astonishing airlift of 50 Venezuelan migrants. to the luxurious island of Martha’s Vineyard, in protest of the significant increase in immigrants without adequate measures being taken by President Joe Biden’s administration.
This law put civil rights groups and activists on a war footing who called it the Anti-Immigrant Law and unsuccessfully demanded its suspension.
New sheriff in town
The other big issue, which still occupies the front pages of the newspapers, was the DeSantis-Disney dispute and the enactment of the law that transferred to the Florida government control of the Reedy Creek special district, administered for five decades by the Disney World company to the its famous theme parks are located there.
“There’s a new sheriff in town”… “Today the corporate reign comes to an end,” DeSantis proclaimed as he signed the law.
The origin of the confrontation between the governor and the entertainment multinational was due to the position adopted by former manager Robert Chapek who publicly opposed the Parents’ Right to Education law, which prohibited children up to third grade from receiving education classes. sexual education and gender orientation. A law that is one of DeSantis’ ideological flagships. In fact, this year it was expanded to public school students from grades four to 12.
The DeSantis-Disney dispute became a battle of lawsuits. Meanwhile the name of the area changed to the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District and it became administered by a board appointed by the governor of Florida himself.
Education, epicenter of the cultural battle
In May, DeSantis signed two bills related to higher education that reinforced his cultural battle against what he calls the “Woke agenda,” allegedly installed in the nation’s universities. SB-266 does not allow accrediting agencies to mandate Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs on Florida educational institutions. Accreditation agencies are international or national institutions that accredit the quality of educational processes.
“If you look at how DEI programs have been implemented across the country, what you really see is that they are in favor of discrimination, exclusion and indoctrination. That cannot take place in our public institutions,” said DeSantis.
For its part, HB-931 prohibits public institutions of higher education from requiring political loyalty from students and employees. “They call it the Diversity Declaration, but what they are asking is to sign ideological support for an agenda that one should be able to be for or against,” DeSantis said and added “I hope there are free thinkers in the state.”
In this context, Florida passed a law that expands the school voucher program to all students. The law allows any student to be eligible and qualify for vouchers – of $8,000 – from the state that allows them to attend private or charter schools if they are dissatisfied with the education they receive in their public school.
The teachers unions spoke out against the rule, considering that it wastes public money and benefits private and charter schools, “which are not accountable.”
China and hostile countries in the crosshairs
Another moment of the year shaped by the law was the signing and entry into force of SB 264, which limits the direct or indirect acquisition of real estate and land by Chinese citizens and citizens of the so-called countries of interest – Russia, Iran, Venezuela, Syria, North Korea and Cuba. The Republican governor highlighted concerns about the Chinese Communist Party’s concentrated effort to acquire farmland across the United States.
The law prohibits Chinese citizens from acquiring land in Florida and prevents citizens of countries of interest from purchasing land within a 10-mile radius of military bases and critical infrastructure, such as airports, power plants.
Likewise, SB-846 prohibits any school affiliated with a foreign country of interest from participating in Florida scholarship programs. “The Chinese Communist Party is not welcome in the state of Florida,” the governor said.
Insurance crisis
The year 2023 was not a good one for homeowners in the Sunshine State who paid an increase of more than 33% on their home insurance policies, despite the extraordinary session in Tallahassee in 2022, which promised to solve the housing crisis. insurance.
Throughout 2023, insurance companies such as Farmers Insurance announced their withdrawal from the state, as did Southern Fidelity Insurance Co., Weston Property & Casualty Insurance Co., Lighthouse Property Insurance Corp., to name just a few examples. The bleeding of insurers fleeing Florida reduces the options for insuring a home and increases prices.
In this order of things, Michael Yaworsky was appointed Florida’s new insurance commissioner, while Tallahassee approved bill H-837 “against frivolous lawsuits” which, according to its promoters, seeks to reverse abusive practices by trial lawyers, “the maximum beneficiaries of the countless lawsuits between clients and insurers.”
DeSantis is running as a Republican candidate for the White House
Many aspects of DeSantis’ political actions in the last year are interpreted as an effort to enhance his image as a guarantor of conservatism among Republican voters nationwide. In April, she upheld the controversial law that restricted abortion to six weeks, with the exception of cases involving rape and incest that can be terminated up to 15 weeks.
That same month, he signed the law allowing Floridians to carry concealed weapons without requiring a state permit. He also endorsed a rule that prohibits minors who consider themselves transsexual from receiving gender reassignment treatment, including prescriptions that block puberty hormones, much less undergoing sex reassignment surgeries.
On April 20, he signed SB-450, which eliminated the unanimity requirement for sentencing a convict to death. The law also endorsed capital punishment for child rapists in Florida.
It was on May 24 when DeSantis launched his candidacy for the Republican nomination for the presidential elections in an interview with Elon Musk, overshadowed by technical problems with the platform.
“I aspire to be president of the United States to lead the great recovery of our country,” the governor told the successful owner of Tesla.
That same day, DeSantis acknowledged that former President Donald Trump was the favorite in the Republican race.
And he was not wrong, seven months later, all the polls place Trump with a 20 or 30 point advantage not only over him, but also over the Republican candidate Nikki Haley, former governor of California.
The most surprising thing is that the former United Nations ambassador has been gaining notoriety with the passage of the Republican campaign. Currently, some polls place Haley as the favorite among Republicans, behind former President Trump.
Although DeSantis’ term ends in 2027, if the miracle occurs and he wins the presidential elections, Florida would have a new governor at the end of 2024 who must take the helm of a state of 21.8 million inhabitants, whose budget exceeds 114.4 billion dollars .
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