Torres: As DeSantis campaign flails, the governor continues to ignore insurance crisis

The first of July marked the day new laws, passed by the legislature and signed by the governor, took effect. The majority of new legislation is a carryover from last year when Gov. Ron DeSantis unofficially started his presidential campaign by waging war with "woke" ideology.

It's a presidential campaign that may already be one for the record books as it took less than two months after his late-May official presidential announcement that the governor announced firing roughly 10 campaign staffers. And while DeSantis may blame others for his plummeting poll numbers ― especially in Florida where he trails former President Donald Trump by a large amount ― maybe he should just take a look at this year's legislative session.

New laws in Florida make it tougher to get an abortion, be a drag queen, hire an undocumented immigrant, or be a high school member of the LGBTQ community. On the other hand, the laws make it easier to carry a handgun in public, and a lot easier to execute someone. In other words, as the governor has vowed, he is really taking it to the "woke nation."

But if you talk to any one of your neighbors, the one thing missing from all those unneeded new laws is the word insurance. Maybe he should have been taking it to the insurance industry, you know, the industry raising Florida homeowner insurance premiums to record highs.

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No, DeSantis and his super-majority legislation, haven't ignored the insurance issue. In December, our leaders passed property insurance reforms that were beneficial to insurance companies by cracking down on insurance fraud, but offered no relief to Florida homeowners.

Farmers and AAA insurance companies have either pulled out completely or are limiting who they insure.

According to the latest figures, Florida homeowners pay the highest amount for insurance in the country at $6,000 annually or nearly four times the national average. Since DeSantis became governor in 2018, Florida insurance numbers rates have gone up 206 percent. That's not a typo: 206.

So, while the governor fights hard to make sure our children don't read classics like "The Kite Runner" and "Slaughterhouse-Five," or that pronoun use becomes a thing of the past or that gay kids go back in the closet, Florida homeowners are getting absolutely steamrolled by insurance companies.

What else has the governor worked on while ignoring the insurance crisis? Well, the government can now execute its citizens with jury votes recommending death of 8-4 insteads of being unanimous. That gives our state the distinction of having the lowest threshold in the U.S. DeSantis will also likely point out as a victory his assault on those 12 pesky words: pronouns.

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Who would have guessed a politician vying for the White House would care so much about I, you, he, she, it, we, they, me, him, her, us and them? The new law puts a policy in place in every public school that prohibits assigning "to a person a pronoun that does not correspond to such person’s sex.” This one would give great comfort to Archie Bunker ― remember the song? "And you knew who you were then, girls were girls and men were men."

The man who would be king also made it easier for the citizenry to "pack heat" as they used to say in 70s crime movies. While some in the legislature were vying for open carry (picture cowboys with six-shooters on their belts) the state's lawmakers settled on permitless carry. What does this mean? Well, it means you can now carry a concealed gun in Florida without a permit, training or background check. There is still a background check and three-day waiting period if you buy your gun from a licensed dealer. But you buy one from a neighbor or friend without training or a background check.

There was also the crackdown on teaching African American history in our schools. (We wouldn't want anyone to feel badly about slavery, would we?) And there is the new abortion bill that would make it illegal to get an abortion after six weeks of pregnancy. (This one will have to make it through a few legal challenges before becoming law).

It was a very busy session and lots, by the looks of it, got done. It's too bad none of it had to do with insurance concerns. I guess the governor doesn't have to worry about his insurance bill like the rest of us do.

Contact Torres at jtorres@floridatoday.com. You can follow him on Twitter @johnalbertorres or on Facebook at facebook.com/FTjohntorres.

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This article originally appeared on Florida Today: As DeSantis campaign flails, the gov. continues to ignore insurance crisis