For many lawmakers whose careers unfolded in the shadow of DeSantis\u2019 mighty executive power, the change proved refreshing.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve witnessed firsthand, prior to Danny, fear of hurting DeSantis\u2019 feelings or offending him being prioritized at the expense of good government and oversight,\u201d said Rep. Alex Andrade. \u201cHe\u2019s allowed the Legislature to fulfill its constitutional operations again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Andrade, of course, proved to be one of the sharpest thorns in DeSantis\u2019 side during the Perez era. As Chair of the House Health Care Budget Subcommittee, the Pensacola Republican led a House investigation that probed<\/a> $10 million awarded by the Hope Florida Foundation to nonprofits that, in turn, immediately gave that money as political contributions to campaigns fighting constitutional amendments on abortion and marijuana.<\/p>\n The scandal led the Senate to put multiple confirmations of DeSantis appointees on hold and the Legislature to defund more than 450 Hope Florida posts, not to mention an ongoing grand jury investigation<\/a> in Leon County. It also arguably derailed the First Lady\u2019s ambitions to follow her husband as Governor.<\/p>\n But lawmakers in the House said all that oversight wasn\u2019t so much driven by animus on Perez\u2019s part, but rather on simply empowering the Legislature to act appropriately as watchdogs. If anything, it\u2019s more a byproduct of a restructuring of the House to work bottom-up, instead of top-down. Individual lawmakers had the power to independently pursue both oversight interests and good policy.<\/p>\n Rep. Will Robinson, a Bradenton Republican who ran against Perez for Speaker in 2019, said Perez has empowered individual Representatives like no leader he served under in the last seven years.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery Speaker talks about making it more of a member-driven process. But in reality, you have the Speaker\u2019s priorities, the Chairs\u2019 priorities, and they funnel down to members,\u201d Robinson said.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you notice, last Session there was no HB 1 or HB 3 \u2014 or HB 5, 7 or 9. In my experience, when they have those leadership bills, everyone in the Republican caucus knows those are untouchable, It\u2019s like a consent agenda. But Speaker Perez said this would be a member-driven process in committees and in the engagement with all members. That\u2019s how you make good legislation.\u201d<\/p>\n That obviously wasn\u2019t well received by all. The Governor labeled the Hope Florida investigation a \u201cmanufactured fraud<\/a>.\u201d And that wasn\u2019t even the first time DeSantis leveled intense critiques at the House.<\/p>\n Tensions started just weeks after Perez officially took the gavel as Speaker. After DeSantis called a Special Session so the Legislature could grant him power to enforce President Donald Trump\u2019s mass deportation agenda, Perez balked.<\/p>\n Along with Senate President Ben Albritton, a major voice in agriculture, the Legislature met for Session but then gaveled out and launched their own process. The Legislature passed a bill that would instead have empowered Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson. Predictably, the Governor bristled at the snub.<\/p>\n \u201cHow many of these guys ran and asked for your vote and said they were going to kneecap the state\u2019s ability to combat illegal immigration? Not one of them did that, and yet, that\u2019s what they voted on,\u201d DeSantis said of the bill<\/a>.<\/p>\n Perez withered the worst criticisms coming out of the Governor\u2019s Office and proved more willing to respond in public. After DeSantis urged Republican Party of Florida leaders to blanket lawmakers with demands to pass his bill, Perez held a Q&A hosted by the state party and decried the Governor\u2019s bill as a power grab<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cHe wants his own state guard, with his own bureaucrat picking up the illegal aliens and shipping them off to another portion of the world, wherever it is that they originate from,\u201d Perez said.<\/p>\n Ultimately, DeSantis vetoed the Legislature\u2019s bill with as little ceremony as offered to his own proposal. But while that legislation failed to become statute, the episode caused a conversation between the executive branch after years of the Governor witnessing pure acquiescence.<\/p>\n DeSantis in February signed<\/a> a package of newly signed immigration measures shaped in negotiations with a coequal branch of government, and one that also assigned oversight power to the entire Cabinet and not just the Governor\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n But Perez didn\u2019t only demonstrate pushback against the command of the Governor. Months after locking arms with Albritton on the immigration bill, Perez stood at the Speaker\u2019s dais and issued a stunning rebuke<\/a> of his Senate counterpart as a budget framework fell apart.<\/p>\n \u201cAs presiding officers, as elected officials, our word is our bond. Breaking our word, breaking a deal, is breaking faith not only with one another, but with our institutions,\u201d Perez said.<\/p>\n Whomever deserved blame for the budget talk collapse, the friction resulted in an extended Session that ran until June, when lawmakers finally produced<\/a> a $115 billion budget. That total came in around $500 million under DeSantis\u2019 proposal at the start of Session, though the Governor would later find another $600 million to veto<\/a> himself. Ultimately, the lengthy process reduced a budget lower than the prior fiscal year, a move toward austerity unseen in years.<\/p>\n But the stage already appeared set for the next war between lawmakers and DeSantis as well. While the Governor wanted lawmakers to eliminate property taxes in the state, Perez favored a more deliberative approach and appointed a select committee<\/a> to develop multiple proposals. One of those could end up on the ballot in 2026, but it will be crafted by the Legislature and not rubber-stamped.<\/p>\n Where all this leaves Perez heading into 2026 remains unclear. While a property tax proposal has already advanced<\/a> in the House and will likely come up for a vote in the 2026 Session, Albritton said the Senate wants to take things slow. Meanwhile, DeSantis believes none of the proposals to emerge so far goes far enough<\/a> toward eliminating property taxes altogether.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the House emerged as a leader in starting the conversation on redrawing Florida\u2019s congressional lines. Perez in August<\/a> announced he would appoint a Select Committee on Redistricting. He later<\/a> named Rep. Mike Redondo \u2014 whom Perez endorsed in a 2023 Special Election<\/a> and who is now in line to be Speaker in 2030 \u2014 to lead it.<\/p>\n On the mapmaking front, other states already kicked off a cartography war in 2025, either at Trump\u2019s urging in Republican-controlled states or in direct response to it by Democrat-led ones. California, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas and Utah already implemented new maps ahead of the Midterms. The White House has made clear it wants Tallahassee to maximize GOP opportunity in 2026.<\/p>\n But while other states moved quickly and with brazen partisanship, Perez treaded more carefully, promising a detailed review of legal ramifications in a July ruling from the Florida Supreme Court case upholding the current map. In this instance, DeSantis and Albritton both want to move even slower, noting that the U.S. Supreme Court could issue a ruling in the spring that offers new guidance on use of race in crafting political boundaries.<\/p>\n Perez believes waiting too long will create more problems.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s inconsiderate of our members to say that in May, when hopefully we\u2019re home, you\u2019re going to have to come back to Tallahassee and take a week off or whatever you have going on with your family because certain parties didn\u2019t want to address an issue that was before us right now in the immediate moment. I think that\u2019s irresponsible,\u201d he told POLITICO<\/a>.<\/p>\n It\u2019s unclear how much political capital Perez may bring with him into the 2026 Session. With relationships fractured with the Senate and Governor\u2019s Office, he may become isolated. But he\u2019s shown there to be a strong foundation under the House, and an ability to get results against long odds in the past.<\/p>\n Moreover, he\u2019s not working alone. Andrade said the true strength in Perez\u2019s agenda is that he doesn\u2019t bring his own list of scores to settle but rather advocates for the lawmakers within his caucus. Budget talks didn\u2019t center around the Speaker\u2019s personal priorities, and he didn\u2019t bet his reputation on any single policy achievement so much as on the respect afforded to the Fourth Floor.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile obviously don\u2019t want sessions year in and out where it\u2019s always contentious between the legislative and executive, the pendulum swung back to a more stable position under Danny,\u201d Andrade said. \u201cGetting along without sniping at each other is not the same as kowtowing to the Governor.\u201d<\/p>\n The high drama in Tallahassee garnered attention and may even have made Perez some friends in Washington. When Trump visited Florida to tour Alligator Alcatraz, an immigrant detention center set up in the Everglades, the President reportedly insisted Perez be invited to the event and given a prominent seat at public events.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/2023-8-24_PIAM_Display_728x90-1.jpg\")
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