Gov. Ron DeSantis’s (R-FL) 2024 agenda can be reasonably understood based on his legislative priorities as governor.
The 2023 legislative season in Florida began on Tuesday, with solid Republican control of the legislature allowing the governor to get through legislation easier than normal. DeSantis is likely to use the opportunity to push through his agenda to its maximum extent.
NEVER RON REPUBLICANS? TRUMP CAMP LINKING REAGAN AND DESANTIS COULD BACKFIRE
With possession of a loyal legislature, here are five things DeSantis is trying to get done.
1. Allowing permitless concealed carry almost anywhere
DeSantis has been signaling since December that pushing through a “constitutional carry” law, one that would allow gun owners to conceal carry without a permit, would be one of his top legislative priorities.
“This was something that I’ve always supported,” he said in December, according to the Tampa Bay Times. “It’ll be something that will be done in the regular session.”
If successful, Florida would become the 26th state to allow permitless carry, according to ABC news.
2. Further pushback on diversity initiatives at universities
HB 999 would expand the Florida Board of Governors’s authority over schools and universities, allowing it to force them to cut classes studying critical race theory or gender studies and likewise cut any programs supporting them. DeSantis has provided implicit support for the bill.
“In Florida, we will build off of our higher education reforms by aligning core curriculum to the values of liberty and the Western tradition, eliminating politicized bureaucracies like DEI, increasing the amount of research dollars for programs that will feed key industries with talented Florida students, and empowering presidents and boards of trustees to recruit and hire new faculty, including by dedicating record resources for faculty salaries,” DeSantis said in a Jan. 31 press release.
3. Make it easier to sue media outlets for defamation
HB 991, introduced by DeSantis’s Republican allies in the state House, aims to reduce the “actual malice” clause for suing media organizations or the need to prove that a journalist acted on information they knew to be false with reckless disregard for accuracy, ABC News reported.
“We’ve seen countless examples in recent history of members of the journalism profession playing fast and loose with facts,” Republican state Rep. Alex Andrade told the outlet. “I don’t believe that journalists have more or special privilege to be protected against the harm that they cause when they act recklessly or negligently.”
The bill would count allegations of racism, sexism, and other forms of discrimination as defamation and would allow recipients of the labels to sue for at least $35,000 in recompense.
4. Ban requirements that students and teachers need to use transgender people’s preferred pronouns
HB 1223 and SB 1320, introduced in the House and Senate, respectively, would forbid schools from requiring that students or teachers refer to transgender people by pronouns that don’t correspond to their biological sex.
SB 1320 prohibits “employees and contractors from providing a pronoun or personal title to students which does not correspond with his or her sex.”
DeSantis is likely to help boost and promote the bill.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
5. An expansion of the Parental Rights in Education Act
HB 1223 and SB 1320 also include provisions that would expand the Parental Rights in Education Act, derided by liberals as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill.
The bill, as it currently stands, prohibits the discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity with students up to the third grade. The new expansion would extend the prohibition up through the eighth grade.
