Dear Friend,
I’m already back in Tallahassee for another week of committee hearings, but wanted to get you an update about the events last week, which included more committee meetings ahead of the 2024 session – and a politically motivated special session to prop up Ron DeSantis’ feeble presidential campaign.
We tried to make the most of this special session, which ran from Monday to Wednesday. I and my Democratic colleagues tried to use the opportunity to address some of the most pressing problems facing working people in Florida right now – including property insurance, housing security, and public safety.
Unfortunately, Republican leadership in Tallahassee refused to work on any of those issues at all and insisted on limiting the session mostly to issues that DeSantis thinks will help him on the Presidential campaign trail.
But I promise you that we’re going to keep fighting to solve real problems for Floridians. Don’t forget that the 2024 Session begins Jan. 9 – that’s less than two months away!
Below you’ll find more details about what the Legislature did (and didn’t do) last week. I hope you’ll find them helpful. And if you’re not already, please make sure you’re following us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube for more updates in real-time.
We’ve got some big battles ahead of us. But we can win some really important victories, even in this Legislature – if we all pay attention and pull together.
Onward,
Rep. Anna V. Eskamani
Republicans once again refuse to address Florida’s property insurance crisis
On the very first day of last week’s special session, Democrats filed a full package of bills meant to address some of the real problems facing Florida right now – namely property insurance, housing security and public safety.
I filed five pieces of legislation myself, including bills to help Floridians cover the cost of soaring insurance premiums, crack down on insurers that use accounting gimmicks to funnel profits out of Florida, protect the rights of renters, and help stop violent hate crimes.
You can read more about the bills I filed here: Representative Anna V. Eskamani Pushes Florida Lawmakers to Solve Real Problems Facing Floridians During Special Session
But Republicans refused to put a single one of these bills on the agenda. All they wanted to do last week was grandstand on the taxpayer’s dime and prop up our governor’s national laughingstock of a presidential campaign.
Republicans even specifically voted to refuse to hear House Bill 17C, which would have provided health insurance to thousands of Florida children who have seen their Medicaid insurance taken away by the DeSantis administration.
My values compel me to side with peace
Despite being a State Legislature, Republicans leaders in Tallahassee spent most of last week’s special session on the Israel-Hamas war. This included several resolutions being brought to the House Floor.
There were three resolutions in all. The first, House Resolution 9C sponsored by Democratic Rep. Katherine Waldron of Wellington, condemned the Oct. 7 terrorist attack by Hamas on Israelis and expressed support for the victims and their families. I voted in support of that resolution, which passed unanimously.
The second, House Resolution 11C, was a far more extreme resolution filed by Republican Rep. Randy Fine of Brevard County. Though there were parts of it that I agreed with, Fine admitted – proudly – on the House floor that his resolution specifically urged the federal government to cease all humanitarian aid to innocent Palestinians in Gaza. I could not support that, so I voted no.
And the third, House Resolution 31C sponsored by Democratic Rep. Angie Nixon of Jacksonville, called for de-escalation and a ceasefire while condemning antisemitism and Islamophobia. This resolution wasn’t perfectly worded. But when we tried to improve it, Republicans voted to block any changes – proving that they were only interested in creating tension and controversy.
I voted yes – in fact, Rep. Nixon and I were the only two lawmakers to vote for it. While no vote is easy, I feel deeply that peace should always win.
I posted a full explanation of my vote in the official House record. You can find it here.
A sham Iran “sanctions” bill that will do more harm than good
Republicans also passed yet another politically motivated bill last week: House Bill 5C, which they claim will “sanction” Iran.
It’s hard to overstate how dumb this bill is. There’s no evidence whatsoever that this policy will have any impact on reducing foreign terrorism – the sponsor couldn’t even name one single company that would be impacted by these sanctions. It’s also redundant, since the federal government already imposes intense sanctions on the Islamic Republic of Iran and its political and military leaders. And it’s unconstitutional.
This piece of legislation is nothing more than a political stunt for Gov. Ron DeSantis, so he can pretend to have foreign policy experience amid his pathetic campaign for president.
But that’s not all: While this legislation won’t do anything to hurt terrorists or authoritarian leaders of Iran, it may very well harm a lot of innocent people. As the only Iranian-American elected to any public office in Florida, I have real concerns that this bill will fuel anti-Iranian sentiment in this country and impact innocent Iranians in the diaspora who are not terrorists or funding terror.
I voted no.
Hurricane relief, students with disabilities, and security grants
We did pass three good pieces of legislation last week, all of which I voted for.
The first (House Bill 1C) is a $420 million relief package meant primarily to help communities in North Florida recover from Hurricane Idalia. The Revenue Estimating Conference warned that some of the tax breaks in the bill could go to Georgia-Pacific, the Koch Industries subsidiary that recently announced it will close a pulp mill in Perry and lay off more than 500 people in the hurricane-stricken community. I used my debate to remind us all to keep a close eye on Georgia-Pacific and to make sure they don’t get a dime out of this relief package.
The second bill (House Bill 3C) helps families of students with disabilities who have found themselves denied scholarships through the state’s private-school voucher program. It’s one of the many problems that have been caused by a reckless and irresponsible expansion of the state’s private-school voucher program that Gov. Ron DeSantis and Republican lawmakers forced into law earlier this year.
And the third bill (House Bill 7C) increases funding for safety and security improvements at Jewish Day Schools and Jewish Preschools. The bill also increases funding for a grant program to fund safety and security improvements at other other religious and educational institutions, too, such as our Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
DeSantis’ university appointees target free speech – and sociology
While the Legislature was in Tallahassee for Special Session and committee meetings, the Board of Governors – the governor-appointed board that oversees our state’s public universities – met in Orlando, where it took a number of alarming actions.
The board – whose members included Republican operatives like the ousted former CEO of Florida Power & Light – voted to ban funding for DEI programs, using a *very* broad and political definition of DEI.
But that’s not all. It also voted to ban trans people from using restrooms that reflect their gender identity. They also funded funding for programs that promote “social and political activism” – again using a *very* broad definition that is intentionally aimed at chilling free speech on campuses.
And then – in a last-minute amendment sponsored by Manny Diaz, a far-right Republican politician whom DeSantis appointed Commissioner of Education – the BOG voted to eliminate sociology classes from General Education Courses.
This is insane: How do students learn about sociology if the gen-ed option is taken away from them? Which, of course, is the point.
These actions haven’t been finalized yet, though. The Board of Governors will take a final vote on these changes at its Jan. 24-25 meeting at Florida State University in Tallahassee.
I will be there – and so should you.
You can read more and take action here about this meeting here.
Read: Florida board advances rule limiting discussion of social issues on campus (Tampa Bay Times)
Towing laws and nursing shortages
Only one of my regular committees meet last week: The Transportation & Modals Subcommittee, where we held a workshop on problems and conflicts within the state of Florida’s towing laws. We’re almost certain to pass some sort of legislation during the 2024 session overhauling towing laws.
You can watch the towing workshop here.
There was also another interesting briefing in the Healthcare Regulation Subcommittee, which focused on the state’s nursing workforce. The shortage of nurses has become a big problem in Florida, and it’s going to be a big issue this coming session, too.
You can watch the nursing workforce briefing here.
Some bad bills are being filed for 2024
As the start of the 2024 legislative session gets closer, more bills are being filed every day. And some of them, unfortunately, are really bad.
Like House Bill 395, which was filed last week by Rep. Dean Black, a Republican from Jacksonville. The bill would give Gov. Ron DeSantis the power to remove independently elected, local government officials if they vote to remove confederate statues from public parks.
Do you think that maybe we have bigger issues to focus on than protecting statues honoring people who fought a war against their own country to defend slavery?
You can read more here: Dubious bill aims to block Deegan from removing Confederate statue (Florida Times-Union)
We’ve also told you before about House Bill 49, which would weaken longstanding child-labor laws – and allow businesses to employ more cheap teen labor rather than raising wages to attract more adult workers.
While it turns out this terrible bill was written by a right-wing think tank funded by an anti-worker billionaire who just happens to be one of Ron DeSantis’ biggest political donors.
You can read more about that here: A billionaire megadonor Is behind the bill to weaken Florida’s child labor laws (More Perfect Union)
More grifting after DeSantis’ Disney takeover
We keep learning more about all the grifting that’s been happening at Walt Disney World’s Reedy Creek Improvement District ever since Gov. Ron DeSantis took it over.
Political cronies are getting fat salaries, fundraisers are landing no-bid contracts and experienced, competent professional staff are being driven out by all the chaos and cronyism.
Here are two more stories about the mess the governor is making at Disney – which would be funny, if it it weren’t also destructive, dangerous and corrupt.
Political insiders get fat paychecks, big contracts from DeSantis’ Disney district (Orlando Sentinel)
Morale is down and cronyism up after DeSantis takeover of Disney World government, ex-employees say (Associated Press)
A big win for abortion access in Ohio boosts the fight for abortion access in Florida
The national fight for access to reproductive healthcare won a huge victory last week, when 57 percent of voters in Republican-leaning Ohio voted in favor of an amendment guaranteeing a constitutional right to abortion.
The Ohio win is also a big boost to our efforts here in Florida, where we’re gathering signatures to get a ballot on the 2024 amendment that would protect abortion access here, too.
You can read more about our effort here in Florida – and how the Ohio effort helped – in these stories:
- Ohio Voted to Protect Abortion Rights. Could Florida Be Next? (New York Times)
- Ohio vote puts abortion-access ballot effort in Florida under a new spotlight (Miami Herald)
- Ohio votes to protect abortion access — will Florida be next? (Orlando Weekly)
Help get abortion on the ballot in Florida via this link.
The week in photos
We’ll send this update with a few photos from Team Anna’s activities over the past week, both in Tallahassee and back at home in sweet Orlando (and in a few other places around the state, too).
