Governor Ron DeSantis speaking with supporters at a caucus night watch party at the Sheraton West Des Moines Hotel in West Des Moines, Iowa.
The Florida Legislature is meeting in special session this week — but only on the issue of illegal immigration. In doing so, legislative leaders are openly defying Gov. Ron DeSantis’ attempts to bend lawmakers to his will – and his ability to control the discussion.
For weeks, DeSantis has been pushing for the Legislature to convene ahead of its regular session date of March 4 to deal with issues he insists could not wait — specifically, a crackdown on illegal immigration and making it more difficult to place citizen-led constitutional amendments on the ballot. He also wanted them to provide hurricane relief and deal with condominium safety.
House Speaker Daniel Perez addressed his members at 10:30 a.m. to say that he believes special sessions “should be used sparingly.”
“They should not be stunts designed to generate headlines. I dislike special sessions because they inhibit the very thing the legislative process should encourage: the push and pull of meaningful conversations that lead to the development of good and better ideas. Special sessions should be reserved for those issues that truly cannot be addressed in the normal course of the legislative process,” he said.
The issues DeSantis raised in his proclamation for the special session “simply do not meet that threshold,” Perez added.
Instead, the Legislature will wait to deal with the citizen-initiative process, condos, and hurricane relief during the regular session, he said.
But he said that he and Senate President Ben Albritton were ready act on immigration, now that President Trump had been inaugurated.
“We did carefully consider Gov. DeSantis’ proposal, and he had some good ideas. But many of his proposals are bureaucratic,” Perez said. “We do not need to duplicate the functions of U.S. Immigration and Customs and create a mini-me version of ICE. In addition, his proposals would hijack local law enforcement operations and, at one point, he even proposed arresting local law enforcement officers.”
‘Four Bs’
Perez said that he would have Hillsborough County Republican Lawrence McClure move what is being called the Tackling and Reforming Unlawful Migration Policy Act (or TRUMP Act) which would focus on what he called the “Four B’s.”
Recruit and empower more BADGES, Build more BEDS, Lock up more BAD GUYS, and Limit BENEFITS that draw illegal aliens into Florida.
Over on the Senate side, Albritton offered similar remarks.
“I’m not going to sit idly by and allow anyone to ignore the constitutional authority the people of Florida have given the Legislature to write the laws of this state. The Florida Legislature matters, our opinions matter, our voices matter,” Albritton said. “The Florida Constitution says so, and more importantly, so do our constituents.”
In addition, the GOP leaders announced that their immigration bill will name Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson as Florida’s chief immigration officer and establish the Office of State Immigration Enforcement within the Division of Law Enforcement under his Department.
Simpson is a Republican former Senate President who sits on the independently elected Florida Cabinet, which with the governor decides some state policies.
According to a statement sent out by the legislative leaders, Simpson “will serve as the central point of coordination between the Trump-led federal government, state entities, local governmental entities, and law enforcement agencies to enforce federal immigration law.”
When asked to comment about that, House Democratic Minority Leader Fentrice Driskell said, “It’s my understanding that the agriculture commissioner and the governor have never been close. So, from that perspective it seems like …. legislative leadership sticking with folks who have been in the Legislature and maybe people they prefer to work with on that.”
Committee hearings will convene on the specific immigration bills in both chambers later Monday, beginning at 1 p.m. in the House. Perez said the entire body would return Tuesday at 10 a.m. to vote on the bill.
Declaration of independence
In addition, nearly the entire House and Senate asserted their independence by voting to override DeSantis’ veto last year of an appropriation of $57 million for the Legislature’s operating budget. That money was earmarked for items such as accounting and human resources, as well as funding for several state agencies and the historic Capitol building.
Perez noted that the House was able to avoid firing employees or shutting down operations last year after the veto by using cash reserves. He went on to blast the governor’s office, saying the “veto was at best a misunderstanding of the importance of the appropriation or at worst an attempt to threaten the independence of our separate branch of government. Whatever the rationale, this special session represents the first opportunity to correct this veto, which we will be bringing before you for reinstatement.”
The House (and Senate) followed through on overriding that veto. It was opposed only by Spring Hill Republican Sen. Blaise Ingoglia, a close ally of the governor.
Orlando Democratic House Rep Anna Eskamani said the veto override shows “that the Florida House and Senate is willing to stand up to Gov. Ron DeSantis. In my now six years of being in the Legislature, we’ve never once done this and it’s historic that we’re finally challenging the executive branch and saying, ‘You know what, we’re going to operate as a separate branch of government like we should have been doing the whole time.’ I do hope it’s a shift in approaching executive branch and Gov. DeSantis’ very aggressive approach to governing, where he’s heavy handed, dictates everything, and continues to ignore us as a separate branch of government.”
Albritton and Perez told DeSantis two weeks ago that it was “completely irresponsible” to pass any legislative immigration changes before Donald Trump took office, but the president’s promise to begin a mass deportation program has taken root in just his first week in office.
DeSantis has been appearing in press conferences and making television appearances putting the pressure on GOP lawmakers to act on immigration for weeks now — with no reply from the legislative leaders.
The last time the Florida Legislature gaveled out of a special session without acting was when Charlie Crist brought lawmakers back to town in 2010 to vote on a constitutional amendment that would let voters decide if they wanted a permanent ban on offshore oil drilling in Florida waters.
However, that was after Crist had left the Republican Party to run as an independent for U.S. Senate, making it easier for Republicans to publicly rebuke him. It’s a completely different situation now, with the House and Senate Republicans leaders asserting their power in the face of a Republican governor in Ron DeSantis.
Governor’s bills
To prompt lawmakers, DeSantis had placed proposed bill language on the governor’s website.
On Sunday, bills were finally introduced dealing with immigration and the petition-gathering process. Spring Hill Republican Blaise Ingoglia filed several bills in the Senate, with Palm Beach Republican Mike Caruso doing so in the House.
A bill that would repeal in-state tuition for undocumented students in Florida colleges and universities was filed in the Senate by Lee County Republican Jonathan Martin and in the House by Sumter County Republican John Paul Temple.
Jackie Llanos contributed to this story.
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