- Florida lawmakers are meeting over the next 60 days to pass new legislation.
- DeSantis has posted his wish list, and he's expected to get almost everything he wants.
Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis hasn't formally announced he's running for president — and that's in part because his business in Florida isn't finished yet.
Beginning on Tuesday, lawmakers from across the state will meet for their 60-day session, during which they'll pass a budget and new bills for the governor to sign into law.
DeSantis has made most of his agenda for Florida public, and he's expected to get much of what he wants from the GOP-supermajority legislature after winning reelection in Florida by a historic, nearly 20-point margin.
The governor has also made it clear that he isn't afraid to retaliate against individuals or businesses, from liberal prosecutors to Disney, who publicly disagree with his politics.
Brewing beneath the surface ahead of Florida's session is the tacit acknowledgement that the popular governor has the presidency in his sights, meaning a national audience is watching what state lawmakers will do. The new bills are likely to generate numerous national headlines, giving DeSantis the notoriety of a presidential candidate without him having to officially declare.
"Unfortunately, it's the Ron DeSantis show, we all know this," House Minority Leader Fentrice Driskell of Polk County told reporters Monday. "Tallahassee has become of the DeSantis GOP primary campaign."
Among other measures, DeSantis wants to bar undocumented immigrants from getting in-state tuition, have supermajority — rather than unanimous — juries decide whether to invoke the death penalty, allow Floridians to carry a firearm without a permit, and ban China from buying Florida farmland and residences. DeSantis also has called for numerous tax cuts, particularly on needed items to help young families, and for measures that would increase price transparency on prescription drugs.
"You ain't seen nothing yet," DeSantis said during a book tour stop in Doral, a city outside Miami, last week.
"We have an opportunity to tackle more issues in a short period of time than even we were able to do with any of the four years so far," he said.
DeSantis hasn't yet detailed what he wants to see from the legislature on abortion rights or the expansion of a schools law that limits how teachers can talk about gender identity and sexual orientation in classrooms. The governor will be giving his "State of the State" speech Tuesday, the same day Republican leaders are set to address the media about their priorities.
Senate President Kathleen Passidomo, a Republican from Naples, has already begun work on an affordable housing bill and expanding wildlife corridors, which protect the environment and its creatures from development.
"Whether we have a supermajority or not, we treat each other with dignity and respect, and at the end of the day we go home to our constituents and say, 'This is what I've done for you,'" Passidomo said Sunday on WPLG's "This Week in South Florida."
Driskell panned DeSantis' agenda as "culture war nonsense," saying that Floridians were more concerned about the rising cost of living in the state. She called DeSantis "the ultimate arbiter of what happens this session."
But the governor's office made it clear that they view the supermajority in the legislature as a mandate to forge ahead with DeSantis' agenda. Bryan Griffin, DeSantis' press secretary, told Insider DeSantis wouldn't be detered by "platitudes from political opponents."
"The governor was elected by a 19-point margin to continue his agenda and enact his priorities," Griffin said. "The Democrats in the Florida legislature would fare better if they listened to the voters of Florida."
DeSantis has a full plate outside legislating
DeSantis said on "Fox and Friends" last week that he would make a decision about 2024 "once the dust settles" after the legislative session. Most political operatives expect he'll make a bid official in late May or June, but he is already taking all the steps presidential candidates take when they are working to introduce themselves to voters.
His book, "The Courage to Be Free: Florida's Blueprint for America's Survival," came out last week and he's been doing a book tour as well as political appearances in New York and California. On Friday, DeSantis is headed to Iowa, home to the caucuses.
A DeSantis presidential run would pit him against former President Donald Trump, who helped him win the gubernatorial race in 2018, as well as former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy. Other Republicans, such as former Vice President Mike Pence and Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, also are expected to jump into the ring.
But for now, DeSantis is able to focus his attention on governing Florida.
"I don't know who's gonna end up succeeding me in this office," the governor said in Doral, "but they are not going to have very much to do because I'm gonna get all the meat off the bone that I can."
Florida Democratic lawmakers told reporters on Monday that they thought some disagreements would emerge among Republican lawmakers during the session, but overall appeared resigned to the fact that the legislature would be going along with DeSantis' agenda.
"Floridians are going to be left with cleaning up the mess of his political ambitions," Senate Democratic Leader Lauren Book, who represents part of Broward County, said.
Democrats also criticized DeSantis for appointing politically aligned board members to oversee the district where Walt Disney World is located. They warned that he could similarly try to take control of other boards, such as those running high school athletics.
"It is fascist and authoritarianism when you're looking at these types of things that are happening," Democratic Sen. Shevrin Jones, who represents Miami Gardens, said. "I think we need to call it out as it is."
March 6, 2023: This story has been updated with a response from the Florida governor's office.