Ask most Floridians what the No. 1 priority should have been for state lawmakers, and more than half will bring up their increasing struggle to pay for the necessities of life. But ask state lawmakers what their top priorities are for Floridians, and you’ll get a much different answer.
Let’s just summarize it this way: When lawmakers finally adjourned Friday afternoon and stopped voting, it was the best news to come out of Tallahassee in weeks.
That’s because lawmakers put outsized effort into a slew of dangerous and divisive bills that assault the basic rights of every Floridian. The worst are racist, sexist and elitist, and they should all face immediate legal challenges after Gov. Ron DeSantis signs them, which he probably will.
On rights, going wrong
Basic rights were under attack this session as never before.
The right to vote: New restrictions will require voters to prove U.S. citizenship when registering to vote by showing a passport or certified birth certificate. Millions of people have neither, and married, widowed and divorced women face an additional hurdle if their citizenship documents use a different name. The Florida version of President Trump’s SAVE America Act, this is also a brazen ploy to prevent young people from voting by barring college student IDs at the polls (HB 991). Opponents salvaged a concession — the law won’t take effect until after the November midterm elections.
The right to free speech: It’s modern-day McCarthyism (HB 1471). Florida will create a new state-level designation of domestic terrorism that could permanently ruin an organization’s reputation before it can fully defend itself. This terrifying law, championed by Broward Rep. Hillary Cassel, won’t make us safer. It gives the governor far too much power to covertly punish groups for exercising their First Amendment right to dissent.
The right to unionize: The Republicans’ union-busting tactics are now nakedly partisan, targeting unions for teachers, nurses and other public employees that support Democrats. Senate Bill 1296 imposes strict member voting rules to weaken those unions, threatening the bargaining rights for many workers at a time when Florida is increasingly unaffordable. This is too extreme even for some Republicans, eight of whom voted against the bill in a mini-rebellion in the House.
The right to self-govern: A wickedly cruel anti-diversity bill (SB 1134) builds on DeSantis’ repressive Stop WOKE Act of 2022 by threatening city or county officials with removal from office if they use public funds to promote diversity, equity and inclusion policies. Anyone could claim a violation and sue a city, an invitation to a flood of frivolous lawsuits. Fears are rampant that this law would ruin community festivals that promote cultural diversity, or routine LGBTQ proclamations for Pride Mont.
A rare hopeful sign
On a brighter note, lawmakers approved a stopgap measure to keep low- and moderate-income HIV and AIDS patients getting their lifesaving medications under a program known as ADAP, the AIDS Drug Assistance Program.
The $31 million bill will override a heartless funding cut by the state Department of Health and, for now, avoids a potential life-or-death situation for about 11,000 people in Florida. But the solution will only last until June.
Still, this is a rare bright spot in an otherwise dreary session that prompted a senior Republican, Sen. Don Gaetz, to tell the Florida Phoenix: “I think we ought to be embarrassed.” Gaetz was referring to the failure of Republicans, who hold supermajorities in both chambers, to work harmoniously on top conservative priorities. But it easily applies to the failure of legislators to address real issues that affect Floridians’ lives.
A fortunate trainwreck
Fortunately, legislators were able to summon a few slivers of shame when it came to a set of bills that threatened to turn community growth controls into coleslaw. Some of these bills were so cartoonishly evil that they didn’t even get a hearing, including one (HB 479/SB 718) that would have barred local governments from adopting “regulations, rules, or policies” having to do with water quality or quantity, wetlands protection, pollution controls and other obvious, noxious threats to the local environment. Another (HB 105/SB 588) would have made it much easier for developers to sue local governments and win big-money judgments if their plans were denied. Also dead: A measure (HB 299/SB 354) that would have created a new category of sprawling development called “Blue Ribbon projects.” That’s a pretty name for an ugly proposal to stampede local governments into accepting new mega-developments, as big as mid-sized cities, in rural areas that don’t have the infrastructure to support them.
When the session wrapped Friday afternoon, only one questionable pro-sprawl bill survived — legislation (HB 399/SB 208) that puts multiple restrictions on local officials’ development-review processes, using language that is vague enough to invite multiple lawsuits. But it almost got much worse — with just a few hours left in the session, Sen. Jonathan Martin, R-Fort Myers, tried to pull a fast one. He filed a proposed amendment that might have brought a giant payday for people who own property governed by urban growth boundaries, such as the ones embraced by Orange County voters in 2024 and Seminole County voters two decades ago. The drama that unfolded on the Senate floor deserves its own editorial, which it will get soon. For now, the only thing that matters is that responsible Senate Republicans and Democrats worked together to shut the amendment down.9
As the dust slowly settles, Democrats predict a wave of outrage, especially over the new voting restrictions. “You all are going to catch hell,” Sen. Tracie Davis, D-Jacksonville, told Republican colleagues.
How to change things
The level of political repression in this state has reached unprecedented levels. It’s a scary picture, but it’s the inevitable result of extreme one-party dominance.
The only way to ensure that it stops is for voters to demand change in the statewide elections in November.On Friday, the regular session ended with no action on a state budget, a dereliction of duty that’s becoming increasingly common. They’ll have to come back into session to tackle that. They may also tackle two political stink bombs: A proposed constitutional amendment to strip local governments of funding by slashing property taxes, and a nasty (and probably illegal) move to reshuffle Florida’s congressional seats to allow for more GOP pickups.
When lawmakers adjourned Friday, everything left pending in the House and Senate was declared dead. That’s just as well, because so many remaining Republican-backed bills would have had terrible repercussions for the people of Florida.
They’ve done enough damage already.
The Orlando Sentinel Editorial Board includes Executive Editor Roger Simmons, Opinion Editor Krys Fluker and Viewpoints Editor Jay Reddick. The Sun Sentinel Editorial Board consists of Executive Editor Gretchen Day-Bryant, Editorial Page Editor Steve Bousquet, Deputy Editorial Page Editor Dan Sweeney and editorial writers Pat Beall and Martin Dyckman. Send letters to insight@orlandosentinel.com.