Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis chastised over immigration plan – Courtesy: Shutterstock – Image by Hunter Crenian
The Republican-controlled Florida Legislature, which will revise immigration rules this week, chastised Governor Ron DeSantis on Monday for overriding a veto of last year’s budget.
DeSantis called for a special legislative session, which the House and Senate swiftly concluded before launching their own special session with an immigration-related agenda. The action was taken after DeSantis infuriated Senate President Ben Albritton, R-Wauchula, and House Speaker Daniel Perez, R-Miami, by convening a special session that they claimed was premature.
“The Florida Legislature matters,” stated Albritton. “Our viewpoints are important. Our opinions count. The Florida Constitution states as much.
“I think special sessions should be used sparingly,” Perez told the House. It is not appropriate for them to be publicity stunts. In actuality, I detest special sessions because they impede the precise process that the legislative process ought to promote—the tug-of-war between genuine discussions that result in the creation of ever-better ideas. Issues that really cannot be resolved within the regular legislative process should be the sole focus of special sessions. That criterion is simply not met by the majority of the problems brought up in the proclamation for Special Session A (the DeSantis call for the special session).
Why DeSantis requested a special session of the Florida legislature
DeSantis convened the special session on January 13 to discuss a number of matters, including implementing reforms to support President Donald Trump’s immigration policies. DeSantis also urged lawmakers to address concerns that have raised prices for residents and condominium associations, help storm victims, and make improvements to the ballot initiative process.
DeSantis, however, obviously irritated lawmakers before attempting to increase pressure on them to support his policies, especially those related to immigration.
Perez stated that “in the last week, attempts have been made to bully members of this House, including sending out mass emails and text messages with members’ personal cell phone numbers on them,” but he did not specifically attribute the acts to DeSantis. It is unacceptable to attack this body or any of you. Threats will never move this House.
The Legislature reacted on Monday after Republican members had generally supported the aggressive governor since he assumed office in 2019.
However, the Legislature’s conflict with DeSantis was questioned by Rep. Mike Caruso, a Republican from Delray Beach who sponsored a number of bills that would have assisted in implementing DeSantis’ special session agenda on immigration and the ballot initiative process.
“Republicans got their power because we stayed together for the last six years, and as a result, we got a super-majority, and now they have the governor and the speaker going at each other,” Caruso stated. “That’s not a way to lead this state.”
DeSantis’ budget veto was overridden by the Florida Legislature.
Perhaps the most unexpected action Monday was the nearly unanimous override of a DeSantis budget veto from last year, the first time the Legislature has overridden DeSantis. For two weeks, there had been conjecture about whether lawmakers would comply with DeSantis’ requests for a special session.
Perez claimed that $57 million from the Legislature’s budget, which DeSantis vetoed, went into various “backend operations.” According to Perez, in order to prevent staff layoffs or business closures, the Legislature had to draw from reserves.
“This veto was at best a misunderstanding of the importance of the appropriation or at worst an attempt to threaten the independence of our separate branch of government,” Perez stated.
The Senate voted 35-1 to override the veto, but the House voted overwhelmingly to do so. Sen. Blaise Ingoglia, a Republican from Spring Hill and DeSantis’ buddy, was the sole opponent.
“As a staunch fiscal conservative, I don’t believe in veto overrides for the purposes of increasing the budget,” Ingoglia stated.
Immigration bills from Florida
The House and Senate passed similar immigration-related bills (HB 1B and SB 2-B) after concluding the DeSantis-called session and beginning their own. Lawmakers will not use the special session to handle the other topics brought up by DeSantis, such amending condominium regulations, since the yearly regular legislative session begins on March 4.
According to Albritton and Perez, they conferred with the White House following Trump’s executive orders last week on a crackdown on unauthorized immigrants.
“I want criminal illegal immigrants to be deported efficiently and effectively, and the best way to do that is to follow the leadership of President Trump,” Albritton stated.
According to Perez, the full House is anticipated to vote on the legislation on Tuesday after the House and Senate set committee meetings for Monday afternoon.
The proposals include eliminating a 2014 legislation that permits illegal immigrant students to avoid paying higher out-of-state tuition rates at Florida colleges and universities provided they meet specific requirements, according to a summary issued by the House and Senate.
Additionally, the summary states that the proposals would allocate $500 million to support local law enforcement agencies in their efforts to combat illegal immigration.
The bills would create the Office of State Immigration Enforcement within his department’s Division of Law Enforcement and designate Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson as the state’s lead immigration officer.
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