DeSantis calls for teacher raises, immigration checks

Governor pushes agenda in legislative kickoff

TALLAHASSEE – Gov. Ron DeSantis kicked off the first day of the legislative session Tuesday by pressing lawmakers to pass his agenda of pay raises for some teachers, new E-Verify requirements for businesses, increasing environmental spending and reducing occupational license regulations.

He made his pitch on the back of strong job approval ratings and urged lawmakers to keep up the momentum of last year.

“We have the chance to build on a strong foundation, the chance to face the challenges before us and the chance to leave a legacy of success that will benefit

our people now and in the future,” DeSantis said.

GOP leaders of the House and Senate mostly went along with DeSantis’

plans last year, but there are signs his agenda will get a rougher treatment in his second year in office.

Senate President Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton, has said he’s skeptical of requiring businesses to use E-Verify to check employment eligibility of potential hires. House Speaker Jose Oliva also said he’s unwilling to impose E-Verify on businesses but left open the door for a compromise plan.

“I’m not in the position to tell individual business owners that they have to become arms of the government,” Oliva said. “But I also understand the importance of making sure there’s not a proliferation of undocumented [immigrants] if we can help it. So there’s a balance there somewhere.”

DeSantis’ plan to set a minimum salary for teachers at $47,500 is likely to get reworked by lawmakers as well.

Oliva said he was committed to a teacher pay increase of some kind, but wants to make sure it’s “sustainable” if an economic slowdown occurs. Democrats criticized the plan because veteran teachers making more than the $47,500 wouldn’t get a raise, and other school personnel, such as librarians, would be left out as well.

“(Teachers) know the governor is leaving half of their colleagues out of proposed salary increases even though they’ve worked arm-in-arm, committed to educating our children, despite years without any additional salary consideration,” Senate Democratic Leader Audrey Gibson of Jacksonville said.

Senate Democrats on Monday released an alternate plan calling for a 7.5% pay hike for all teachers.

DeSantis pushed back on those criticisms during his speech, saying his plan will halt the high turnover and address teacher shortages by making the profession more attractive to younger teachers.

“This will make it easier to get talented college graduates to enter the profession and will help us retain many of the good teachers we have now,” DeSantis said. “My plan will lead to a substantial pay increase for over 100,000 current teachers throughout the state.”

Democrats also bashed DeSantis for ignoring other problems facing the state in his speech, including elections security, chronic problems at state prisons and gun violence.

Rep. Geraldine Thompson, D-Windermere, was one of several Democrats who outlined their party’s alternative “Sunrise Agenda” following DeSantis’ speech. She stressed the need to make it easier to vote and fight GOP plans to preempt local government laws and impose new restrictions on petition gatherers, as lawmakers did last year.

“The focus of the Florida Legislature should be to make voting as easy and convenient as possible, not harder,” Thompson said. “That also includes not adding further barriers to citizen-led constitutional initiatives and defending local democracy against the corporate abuse of preemption.”

Republicans and Democrats are also poised to clash over health care, especially over abortion.

DeSantis expressed support for a bill to require underage girls to get the consent of their parents or guardians before getting an abortion.

Democrats have pledged to fight the bill, fearing it could clear the way for more abortion restrictions in the future if the Florida Supreme Court reverses a precedent set in 1989 when it struck down a similar law. But it could be headed to DeSantis’ desk anyway, as the bill is gaining traction in the Senate where it stalled last year.

But another fight among

Republicans over health care costs is brewing as well.

Oliva used his opening speech to blast the “health care industrial complex” for artificially driving up prices for care. That ends up eating up “nearly half” of Florida’s state budget, largely through Medicaid, Oliva said.

“The health care industrial complex, made up of hospitals, medical device manufacturers and pharmaceutical companies, are the great robber barons of our time,” Oliva said. “The term ‘robber baron’ is defined by government manipulation, monopolizing of an industry and price gouging: check, check and check.”

To address those rising costs, Oliva pushed bills to reduce health care regulations, including allowing nurses to provide more care — something the Florida Medical Association, a trade group for doctors, has long opposed.

But expanding the scope of practice for nurses could face a tough road in the Senate, as Galvano was skeptical of the idea.

“I’ve been always been cautious about letting certain groups achieve legislatively what was not achieved academically,” Galvano said. “We are going to be cautious moving forward on it.”

Other parts of DeSantis’ agenda include spending $625 million on environmental projects, passing bills improving water quality and imposing penalties on local governments with sewage and wastewater leaks into waterways.

He also wants to reduce licensing requirements for a range of occupations, including cosmetologists and interior designers, something lawmakers failed to pass last year.

“Our citizens shouldn’t need a permission slip from the government in order to earn a living,” DeSantis said.

STEVE CANNON/AP Gov. DeSantis delivers his State of the State address.