Gov.: Israel trip not ceremonial

But will Cabinet meeting violate state’s Sunshine Law?

TALLAHASSEE — A Florida Cabinet meeting in Israel next week will be more than ceremonial, Gov. Ron DeSantis’ office said Tuesday, raising questions about whether it can comply with Florida’s open-government laws.

“If it’s not going to be merely ceremonial, if they’re going to be taking votes or making any kind of decision, the Sunshine Law requires that they provide the public with a reasonable opportunity to speak, and how are they going to do that?” said Barbara Petersen, president of the First Amendment Foundation, an open government advocacy group. “I just think they’re playing fast and loose with the Constitution here.”

DeSantis has talked about the trip for a month and said an official Cabinet meeting will take place, along with business development and trade meetings, tourism exchanges and panel discussions on Florida issues. The events will take place in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, with the meeting set for May 29 in

Jerusalem, according to a preliminary itinerary released by DeSantis’ office.

But a week away from the meeting, there’s been no official agenda posted online, as is customary, and there’s no meeting set on the official Cabinet schedule.

Aides for DeSantis, the Attorney General, Agriculture Commissioner and Chief Financial Officer, the elected positions that makeup the Cabinet, typically gather a week before an official meeting to place items on the agenda, but no such meeting is taking place this week.

Helen Ferre, spokeswoman for DeSantis, said the meeting would be streamed online.

Cabinet meetings often involve rule changes for state agencies, the buying or selling of state lands and performance reviews of leaders of agencies overseen by the Cabinet. Ferre indicated no action affecting state agencies would be taken but nonetheless contended it wouldn’t be merely symbolic.

“There will be a meeting with the Cabinet, but it’s going to be completely in the sunshine,” Ferre said.

Ferre said about 90 people would take part in the trip, including Florida business executives, religious leaders and academics, but a full list hadn’t been released as of Tuesday. Ferre also said a total cost estimate for the trip wasn’t available yet.

A more complete itinerary should be released Wednesday, she said.

There’s also another Cabinet meeting scheduled for June 4, less than a week later, raising the question of whether one is needed.

A spokesman for Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried indicated she was focused on the trade mission aspect of the journey, and meetings are scheduled with a women-driven venture capital firm, an agricultural drone technology company, a kibbutz specializing in dairy technology and companies specializing in medical marijuana, blue green algae solutions, and disaster relief.

“She stated during her campaign that her first trade mission would be to Israel, and the Cabinet trip presented an opportunity to combine the two for maximum efficiency and taxpayer savings,” Fried spokesman Franco Ripple stated in an email. “The trip is an opportunity to strengthen the Florida-Israel relationship, and to bring home to Florida ideas and innovations from one of the world’s leading nations on technology and research.”

Ripple added that the Fried and her staff’s costs would be paid for with agriculture marketing dollars but a total of how much it cost wouldn’t be available until it was completed.

During the campaign last year, DeSantis said his first trade mission would be to Israel. DeSantis’ GOP predecessors, Governors Jeb Bush, Charlie Crist and Rick Scott all made similar trade mission trips while in office, but didn’t include an official Cabinet meeting on their journeys.

And it remains to be seen how Floridians will be able to watch the meeting, which will take place more than 6,000 miles and seven hours ahead of Eastern time.

“We are definitely going, and we are going to get as much as we can,” Beth Switzer, executive director of The Florida Channel, a Tallahassee-based publicly owned station covering state government, told the News Service of Florida. “But we are not sure on all the specifics yet.”

DeSantis