Lawmakers head into a special session designed to help DeSantis, critics say

TALLAHASSEE — Florida lawmakers will return to the Capitol on Monday for a brief special session to bolster state sanctions on Iran, a move aimed at helping Gov. Ron DeSantis with his floundering presidential campaign, his critics say.

Legislators also plan to tackle other issues, including more aid for Hurricane Idalia victims, extra money to harden homes against hurricanes and school voucher funding.

“In Florida when we see a problem, we don’t wait around, we fix it,” House Speaker Paul Renner, R-Palm Coast, said in an email. “We are fulfilling a promise to fund educational scholarships for families of children with unique abilities, provide much-needed hurricane relief to communities affected by Hurricane Idalia, redoubling our efforts to stand with Israel, one of our greatest allies, and respond to the rise in antisemitism by providing funding to keep children in Florida’s Jewish Day Schools safe.”

But Democratic lawmakers said the agenda for the session doesn’t go far enough in helping everyday Floridians, and the sanctions are merely window dressing framing DeSantis’ quest for the White House.

“DeSantis is so blinded by his own ambition he uses the people of Florida and their tax dollars to get ahead in his ambition to be president, using the session to insert himself in national concerns,” said House Minority Leader Fentrice Driskell of Tampa. “That’s what I think is going on with these sanctions against Iran.”

Not all the measures they’ll take up during the special session are bad, she said, but even those are steeped in politics.

“I am all for good governing, but you have to look at the timing,” Driskell said. “I read it as being timed to coincide with the presidential debate on Wednesday.”

Punishing Iran

DeSantis called for additional sanctions against Iran immediately after the Hamas assault on Israel on Oct. 7. Iran supports Hamas militants but there have been conflicting reports about whether it helped orchestrate the terrorist attack.

The Senate and House issued a joint statement on Oct. 20 calling for the special session.

“Definitely, some of this is about symbolism and performance politics designed to help DeSantis’ ambitions with the presidential primary,” said Aubrey Jewett, a political science professor at the University of Central Florida.

The session calendar shows the House voting on bills Tuesday and the Senate voting on them Wednesday, handing DeSantis foreign policy victories to tout in time for the third presidential debate that night in Miami.

It also seems clear that legislative leaders added bills addressing problems that popped up since last session that could be addressed now, Jewett said.

“We are likely to see some bipartisanship on some issues even if part of the motivation was to help DeSantis with the presidency,” Jewett said.

The state already has extensive sanctions against companies that do business with Iran, China, Cuba and Russia and several other nations considered “countries of concern.” Bills filed Thursday would expand those sanctions to companies engaged in construction, manufacturing, energy, financing, banking and shipping.

Sanctions would be imposed if more than 10% of the company’s total revenues or assets are linked to Iran and involve the listed enterprises and businesses. They would take effect Jan. 10.

“I think the governor would like to be president, but rather than waiting for the electoral process to play out, he is play-acting to be president in the hopes that that gets him the job,” said Gregory Koger, a political science professor at the University of Miami. “He has a history degree from Yale and a law degree from Harvard. He knows the rules; he’s just breaking them.”

Often, governors are dismissed for not having foreign policy experience, he said. “By play-acting DeSantis is trying to offset that argument.”

The Legislature also will take up a bill for $35 million to beef up security at private Jewish day schools, in light of rising antisemitism in Florida amid the war. The Florida Department of Education says there were 12,482 students enrolled in 64 Jewish schools in 2020-21.

Providing Idalia assistance

Disaster relief measures for the 16 counties struck hardest by Hurricane Idalia earlier this year include property tax reductions for damaged or destroyed farmland and equipment, tax exemptions for replacing fencing and making building repairs, and a tax exemption for fuel bought for agricultural reasons from Aug. 30 through next June 30.

The same bill proposes expanding the My Safe Florida Home grant program, which has already been depleted and has a waiting list of 17,000 homeowners seeking the $10,000 grant money for home improvements aimed at reducing property insurance premiums.

Those investments have saved an average $1,000 in premiums per home, according to CFO Jimmy Patronis.

The bill provides $176 million to take care of those already waiting for the grants and another $5.28 million for administrative costs to run the program.

Another $25 million would be given to the Florida Housing Finance Corp. for its hurricane housing recovery program. And $50 million would go to Emergency Management for housing repair grants.

Rep. Anna Eskamani, D-Orlando, noted that My Safe Florida Home is a reimbursement program, available only to those who can afford to make repairs up-front.

And long-term recovery from the hurricane isn’t being addressed, she said.

“So we’re preparing bills and amendments,” Eskamani said. “Constituents are demanding we do something about it so we’re not ignoring that.”

Driskell said the state cannot continue to spend money without addressing climate change.
“We are the third most populous state and should be leaders in this,” Driskell said. “People shouldn’t have to suffer at the hands

School vouchers

The session also will deal with increasing the number of students served under the Family Empowerment Scholarship for Students with Unique Abilities program – a voucher program for children with disabilities.

This school year, more than 85,400 students were awarded that scholarship, up from about 70,000 a year ago, according to Step Up For Students, a non-profit agency that administers most of Florida’s school voucher programs.

The proposed bills say all students determined to be eligible by scholarship funding organizations and the Florida Department of Education should be able to receive one.

A Senate staff analysis says there would be no additional money needed because funding in the budget approved in May could be drawn upon. The House analysis says the cost is “indeterminate.”

The school voucher system is a mess since the Legislature opened it to all families regardless of income, Driskell said.

It’s “robbing money from our public school system these past few years,” Driskell said. “The GOP said it’s not taking money from public schools but is using another funding source, if that’s the case there should be more money for public schools.”

Not on the agenda

Florida has the highest property insurance rates in the country, Driskell noted.

“They continue to go out of control with no immediate relief for homeowners,” Driskell said, “yet we doled out billions to the insurance industry in past sessions. To what end?”

DeSantis and other Republican leaders have said insurance reforms passed in the past year need more time to work and that premiums will eventually start to come down.

‘Eyes wide open’

Democrats will have to look at all proposals “with eyes wide open and understand that this is … taking valid policy concepts wrapped around a political ploy,” Driskell said. “As the loyal opposition, we push back and make people understand what is happening.”

She said the Democrats, who are overwhelmingly outnumbered by Republicans in both chambers, will push for more transparency in education funding, property insurance reforms, housing affordability, and common sense gun laws.

“We have a responsibility to see that all Floridians are healthy, prosperous and safe,” Driskell said. “We’re not afraid to address hard problems with meaningful policy.”

Leslie Postal of the Sentinel staff contributed to this report.