What will Legislature do for you this session?
Today, the state Legislature officially kicks off its 60-day annual session, and it will look a lot like most opening days throughout the years. There will be flowers on every desk. There will be ceremony and introductions of spouses. And there will be speeches.
So many speeches. House and Senate leaders, then Gov. Ron DeSantis, then Democrats’ hapless complaints.
If you listen in — and it’s probably going to be worth it, just for the drama — we would suggest keeping one question foremost in your brain.
How well do these speeches, by Republicans or Democrats, line up with what you really want and need your Florida leaders to be doing?
You’re almost certain, for example, to hear at least one leader going on about “billboard lawyers.” We agree that the ads with people holding big checks can be annoying. But what’s more annoying? Having nothing but those ads to stare at while you sit through three traffic-light cycles, because your local roads are so congested. Your lawmakers aren’t proposing to do much about that. In fact, there’s a raft of bills out there that would make it almost impossible to stop developers who want to pave their way without paying their way.
If culture war issues come up, ask yourself this: When is the last time you worried about a drag queen forcing your kid to listen to a “woke” story about Jackie Robinson’s successful breaking of the color barrier in baseball? (Or, to put it more broadly, what the heck is up with Florida leaders and this whole “woke” thing? Have you ever heard a really coherent explanation of why “woke” is bad?)
They might talk about guns and the need for Florida to adopt permitless carry. Do you really feel all that disenfranchised because you can’t strap a Colt .45 to your hip when you make a grocery run? Or are you more concerned about affording the apartment or house you’re bringing your groceries home to? If early indications are any predictor, expect almost nothing from lawmakers about expanding access to affordable housing.
When is the last time you worried about your doctor giving needed treatment to someone transitioning genders? We think it might be a bigger problem, for most Floridians, if their family doctor were suddenly thrown in jail for giving treatment (whether we thought it was necessary or not) to somebody else. Even if that person were a drag queen.
Speaking of health care, do you expect to hear anything about the vast number of Floridians who have almost no access to health insurance? Us neither.
As for all this ESG business, we’ll admit it: We had to do some research to figure out exactly what it was all about. Even now, we have trouble understanding why the governor and legislative leaders would be so intent on meddling in the business of companies who make investments in environmentally friendly policies, or community service, or ethical behavior. Yet they don’t seem at all concerned about mounting evidence that some big corporate leaders are making “investments” in clandestine campaign contributions (and asking for “returns” on their investments in the form of historic rate increases).
DeSantis did sound some promising notes this weekend when he talked about fighting human trafficking and doing something about the fentanyl crisis. Unfortunately, he seems to be putting most of his effort toward going to war with prosecutors for criticizing him. He’s offered little support for efforts to make neighborhoods across Florida safer.
And we can certainly understand the governor’s desire to catch the truly evil predators who trick innocent people — often immigrants — across state lines to serve their own nefarious needs. But why is he asking the Legislature for more money to trick innocent asylum seekers across state lines to serve his need to be on Fox News?
Don’t expect him to get into that.
We could do this all day. At the same time, we recognize that our priorities might not be the same as yours.
And that’s just fine. All we ask is that you listen to (or read about) today’s events with this question on your mind: Why should I care about any of this? And when are they going to start talking about things I really need them to care about?