Lawmakers cancel special session called by Gov. DeSantis

Reporter: Olivia Jean
Published: Updated:

There was some chaos and defiance as a special session got underway in Tallahassee Monday morning.

WINK News talked to a former state representative and a political science professor who analyzed Monday’s significant move in Florida politics.

Tensions are high between the Florida Legislature and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis as lawmakers pushed back against the governor’s recent actions. The Legislature convened a special session, initially called by DeSantis, to discuss many topics, including ballot initiatives and immigration.

Lawmakers quickly adjourned the governor’s session and initiated their own. What happened was the session was gaveled in, then quickly out of Session A and then gaveled in for Special Session B.

House Speaker Daniel Perez addressed speculation that things are tense between lawmakers and the Governor. He said the Governor should not have called a special session because the issues he wants discussed can wait until March when the regular session begins.

“They should not be stunts designed to generate headlines,” Perez said. “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. Most of the issues raised in the proclamation for Special Session A simply do not meet that threshold.”

Perez also addressed alleged threats from the governor against lawmakers, including mass emails and texts sharing personal contact information. “Attacks on this body, attacks on all of you, are not acceptable,” Perez stated, receiving applause from fellow lawmakers.

The Speaker went on to say the Governor is right about immigration being an important topic.

“The governor’s proclamation was just too narrow to accomplish all of the things that we must do to assist President Trump. We did carefully consider Governor DeSantis’ proposal, and he had some good ideas, but many of his proposals are bureaucratic. We do not need to duplicate the functions of U.S. Immigration and Customs and create a mini-me version of ICE,” Speaker Perez said.

Instead, the legislators filed their own bill Monday and disregarded the governor’s idea. The bill is called the “Tackling and Reforming Unlawful Migration Policy” or “Trump Act.” It would cost $509 million to implement.

With the legislator’s move comes a political tug-of-war.

“It’s clear from the statements of the Senate President and the House Speaker that they just felt that Governor DeSantis was really disrespecting them as leaders and as the legislative body, and they wanted to try to make it clear to him that that would not be acceptable any longer,” Aubrey Jewett, a UCF Political Science Professor said.

Jewett said Monday morning’s actions were bound to happen.

“It is more about how those bills will be written, when they will go into effect, and who will be in charge, and who will get the political credit as well,” Jewett said. He went on to say, “So in a number of ways, the legislature’s trying to stand up to the governor, but yet, at the same time, still pass some legislation that begins to help Florida crackdown on illegal immigration, much as Donald Trump wants the country to do.”

Former State Representative Spencer Roach said, “There is absolutely some tension there,” and he called the lawmakers’ move uncalled for.

“I think this fight was a little bit ill-advised. This was the wrong issue. And again, what we’re seeing here is that I think that the governor clearly had a win today,” Roach said.

A win because?

“This Special Session B would not happen had Ron DeSantis not called for special session A,” Roach said. “What they are proposing is certainly a watered-down version of what the Governor had proposed. It’s not going as far, and I don’t know that it’s going to produce real results.”

The two key differences in comparison to Governor Ron DeSantis’ idea and the bill filed are as follows: First, the Commissioner of Agriculture will oversee immigration, not the governor. Two, law enforcement does not have the ability to get in trouble if they don’t comply.

Roach argues the governor is still the reason why you will see immigration policies change in the state of Florida.

“I’m not sure that they would have acted had the governor not, in fact, called the special session to begin with,” Roach said.

The governor, too, used social media to criticize lawmakers.

“They gutted the interior enforcement provisions that we had where we’re all working in unison. It’s not enough to just say we’re not a sanctuary state, which we’re not. It’s not enough to just say we don’t have sanctuary cities, which we don’t. We need everybody on board. We got to work as a team; otherwise, this stuff just isn’t going to work,” Governor DeSantis said.

He went on to say, “Now they’ve named this bill the Trump Act, but that’s a misnomer because President Trump has been very strong coming out of the gate on immigration enforcement. He wants to solve this problem once and for all. The bill they did is more window dressing.”

If a fully new immigration bill wasn’t enough of a message to DeSantis, the Florida legislature also overrode a veto by DeSantis, which will reverse the decision to kill funding for some legislative operations. This marks the first time the Legislature has overridden a veto from DeSantis, who had previously cut 30% of their operating budget.

“All of this spending is just creating another layer of government that separates people from their representatives, and so, I understand why the Governor took that action,” Roach said.

“There’s only been about 14 or 15 veto overrides in the last 40 years in the Florida legislature,” Jewett said.

The Legislature plans to discuss the new bill in committee hearings, with a vote expected soon.

Only time will tell what happens next in the crazy political world in Florida.

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