DeSantis fires off first vetoes while campaigning for president in South Carolina

TALLAHASSEE – After coasting through a session where a compliant Republican-controlled Legislature approved almost all of his priorities, Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday vetoed his first bills of 2023 – including one sought by Senate President Kathleen Passidomo. 

DeSantis struck down two health care-related bills, including one, HB 385, involving professional counseling services that had been approved unanimously by lawmakers.

The other, SB 230, sought by Passidomo, a Naples Republican, proved more controversial as it made its way through the House and Senate. It was intended to regulate the titles and professional designations used by health care practitioners in their advertising.

DeSantis provided no explanation for the vetoes, with one-paragraph letters accompanying a release mentioning that he also signed 12 bills into law Friday.

The action comes just a couple of weeks after 99 of the 113 Republicans in the Florida Legislature endorsed DeSantis in his bid for the Republican presidential nomination.

The governor was campaigning Friday in South Carolina, the third state he visited this week after earlier stops in Iowa and New Hampshire.

Passidomo and House Speaker Paul Renner, R-Palm Coast, are among the Florida Republicans who have endorsed DeSantis.

Other calls for vetoes ignored

DeSantis’ first vetoes come after a host of organizations have called for him to rethink and turn back legislation seen as harmful to Florida’s LGBTQ community, a new six-week abortion law, another bill making it easier to apply the death penalty and one that imposes new hurdles for citizens challenging local government development decisions.

DeSantis, though, is now campaigning on many of these newly enacted provisions as he travels to early Republican primary states, promoting himself as a can-do executive.

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Passidomo downplayed the impact of the governor’s veto of the bill she backed, which critics had warned could cause confusion and professional rivalries by limiting who could call themselves “doctor.”

Katie Betta, a Passidomo spokeswoman, said the legislation was designed to “help patients, particularly our elderly, better understand the various roles of different members of their medical team.”

Echo of 'Eye Wars' fight

The measure, however, also contained overtones of a years-long fight in the Legislature between ophthalmologists, who are medical doctors specializing in eye care, and optometrists, who are not medical doctors.

The two sides have frequently battled back and forth over bills involving professional qualifications.

“She has been aware of the governor’s plan to veto the bill, but believes it started an important conversation she hopes to continue,” Betta said of Passidomo.

The professional counseling bill would have changed some terms of an Interstate Counseling Compact which Florida joined last year through legislation signed by DeSantis. The compact is designed to allow professional counselors to work across state lines without the need for multiple licenses.

The legislation vetoed by DeSantis would have added a provision giving states the discretion the collect fees from counselors practicing under the compact.

John Kennedy is a reporter in the USA TODAY Network’s Florida Capital Bureau. He can be reached at jkennedy2@gannett.com, or on Twitter at @JKennedyReport

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: DeSantis vetoes first 2023 bills while campaigning in South Carolina