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- Coming up next on WEDU: another special session ends with the legislature passing bills on immigration, voting, and Disney.

Five years since the Parkland massacre and now Tallahassee wants to make it easier to carry guns.

A big protest in favor of Black history in Tallahassee, and the incoming president of New College gets a giant pay increase.

All this and more next on Florida This Week.

(dramatic music) Welcome back.

Joining us on our panel this week Anna Eskamani is a state representative from Florida's District 47 and a Democrat.

Tara Newsom is an attorney and a political science professor at St. Petersburg College.

Deborah Tamargo is the immediate past President of the Florida Federation of Republican Women.

And Matt Dixon is the Senior Reporter for Political Florida.

And great to have y'all here.

Thank you for coming on the program.

- [Panelist] Thank you.

- Well, last week, in Tallahassee, during a five day special legislative session, the Republican-dominated House and Senate approved seven bills, including measures that would expand the governor's controversial migrant transport program, give Florida more control over Disney World, and strengthen prosecutorial powers over voting violations.

Each of the measures builds on previously approved laws that left some issues unresolved, or are facing legal challenges.

The legislature also moved swiftly to kill a bill that would've expanded Medicaid for low income workers.

Matt, tell us why this special session was necessary, because the regular session begins in just a few weeks.

- Well, I'm not sure that I can answer that, 'cause you're right.

The regular session begins very quickly.

We've done about a half a dozen special sessions up here in Tallahassee over the past year.

So the legislature and Governor DeSantis is urging, has called more and more special sessions.

And you hit on the three major themes in the open.

Kind of the broad headline of this one was the "fix it" special session.

And what I mean by that is legislation that had been passed previously that were Governor DeSantis' sort of priority bills, the migrant flight legislation and the State Election Investigations office had passed last session, but they weren't working the way the governor wanted them to.

The governor has been sued by State Senator Jason Pizzo, a Miami Democrat, over the idea the money was being misused because the budget language that was tied to this bill when it passed last year, said that the money could be used to remove migrants from Florida to other states.

The September flight from San Antonio to Martha's Vineyard that got so much attention, obviously doesn't fit that, it didn't leave from Florida.

So that is now mired in, you know, courts and and a legal challenge.

So DeSantis came back, and sort of got the legislature to come in and just fix it.

The new program that they had created allows migrants to be transported from anywhere in the US.

So that was kind of the first fix-it issue.

The second one was the election investigations office that DeSantis wanted.

Earlier this summer, 20 people who were formally charged with felonies were arrested for voting in the 2020 election.

The important caveat is the state and local elections officials told them they could vote.

So when they went and voted, they had voting cards and state elections officials said they could vote.

But what happened with this one is the first three went to court on those charges and the judge tossed them out because they said the statewide prosecutor who was in charge of prosecuting these based on state law, didn't have jurisdiction.

So they came in and filed a new bill during special session that this new special session bill basically just allows, saying, clarifying in state law that the state prosecutor can indeed, you know, prosecute election crimes.

And then the third big one that you hit on was the Disney or Reedy Creek legislation.

And that one essentially created a five-person, DeSantis-appointed board.

The big change there, DeSantis-appointed board, over how Reedy Creek does business.

So it's being seen as giving DeSantis significant levels of authority over Reedy Creek and how Disney sort of operates in a business and sort of logistics standpoint.

- Matt, I was unclear, who's gonna pay the property taxes for Disney from now on?

Will that be, you know, some of the fear last year was that with this change in Disney, that the local taxpayers in the two counties where Disney is would have to pay property taxes.

Do you know anything more about who's gonna pay the property taxes?

- Yeah, that was the big issue moving out of the decision last year to go to Reedy Creek and for year, for almost a year during these negotiations, us, the media, and others were asking, what's the plan?

What's the plan?

DeSantis sort of characteristically brushed it off as, you know, making an issue out of nothing.

But there was almost a billion dollars of debt up in the air.

The new board that's going to be created is going to sort of manage and handle that debt.

It's not ultimately gonna end up, as I understand it, with Orange and Osceola taxpayers, which is the two counties in central Florida where Reedy Creek has a footprint.

- And Anna, I wanna ask you about the decision not to expand Medicaid.

It was a pretty quick decision at the beginning of the session.

What do you think about that?

- I mean, it further emphasizes how this special session, like all special sessions, are just a part of DeSantis' political agenda, and don't actually address the issues that everyday Floridians face.

You know, I never got a phone call from my constituents asking us to continue the trafficking of asylum seekers or to arrest returning citizens.

My constituents are asking about affordability.

They're asking about healthcare coverage.

And as Democrats, we actually brought forth two different bills to be considered during special session.

One was to expand Medicaid, was to close the coverage gap and open up access to care for hundreds of thousands of Floridians.

And the other was property insurance reform.

Because despite having two special sessions on property insurance, rates are not going down.

And as Democrats, we brought forth our ideas, our vision, to help with property insurance.

But unfortunately, as you alluded to, both of the bills that we asked to be added to the special session order were rejected by the majority party.

- Hmm.

Deborah, what do you think is the biggest takeaway from the special session and when Matt talked about this is the "fix it" special session, was part of it an admission that the first migrant bill was the law was being violated by the state?

- Well, I don't think it was an admission, but I will tell you, yesterday I was watching the Financial News Network, which I typically do if I'm working at home.

And one of the big investment firms said literally, Governor DeSantis saved Disney by his exposing what was happening at Disney.

And now the stock's going back up and certainly the tourist trade is going up.

It's oversight, the new board.

Disney still has the debt.

So it's more of an oversight, kind of brings it back into the realm of other boards that oversee, you know, certain areas.

So I think, you know, that's fair.

We are not getting, we're not assuming the debt, and I think it's, you know everyone was kind of applauding that issue.

And with the migrant, we're not a sanctuary state.

We didn't invite them here, the illegals, but there are states and cities that have invited the illegals to come, and we're merely saving taxpayers money in Florida.

- Is it okay for you to fly migrants from Texas to other states, using Florida tax money?

- Well, if they, you know, if they were on the way to Florida ultimately, which so many are, it a tax saving, not a tax spending measure.

And so I applaud if you invite them, they're yours, and then you can't send me the bill for the party.

- All right, Tara, what was your take?

- It's a $10 million bill from now until June, 12 million after that.

And then emergency funds that the governor can access, especially regarding the fact that we're gonna be accessing those funds, despite the fact that there's litigation.

The supremacy clause prohibits states from overreach into the federal government's purview.

And right now, those immigrants are being processed through the federal immigration process.

So we're actually using- - [Rob] Was it an overreach?

Do you think it was- - Well, it's the, the courts will decide.

- [Rob] Yeah.

- But right now, we're using Florida taxpayers dollars.

- What about Deborah's point?

- To move immigrants, from other states to other states.

- What about Deborah's point?

She thinks all these immigrants are coming to Florida.

- I think that the federal government is processing them and that we should trust the federal government to follow through with the laws of America.

I support the laws of Florida and I support the laws of the United States of America.

But we can't extrapolate the intent of these immigrants, especially since they're seeking the proper channels to find their way into America.

- Okay.

Well this week marked five years since the Parkland mass shooting in Broward County, in which a gunman murdered 14 students and three staff members at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

- [TV Reporter] The anniversary came one day after a gun owner killed three people and critically injured five others at Michigan State University.

So far this year in the US, there have been 72 mass shootings, seven of them right here in Florida.

The issue of guns will come up in the legislature next month.

Newly elected state Senator Jay Collins, a Republican from Tampa, has filed a bill that would make it easier to carry guns.

It would allow people to carry concealed firearms in the state without obtaining licenses.

Right now, concealed weapons permit holders must first obtain a license by completing one firearm safety class.

- Tara, what do you make of this effort to do away with concealed weapons permits and the associated training and just say, if you have a gun and you want to carry it without a permit, and it's a legally obtained gun, you can carry it?

- I think the timing and the tenor of this is really difficult for many Floridians and many Americans to take.

In our family, we had two nephews at Michigan State University and we're still trying to process this this week.

And so it looks like the Senate president is slowing this process down, and she's being very sensitive and I think politically savvy to it, because we know that most Floridians and Americans are polling that they believe in background checks.

They believe in fingerprinting, they believe in training and those are reasonable gun regulations.

I think we also have to take a pause and realize that many Floridians are being touched by this in a way that goes beyond just TV.

It's in their own personal homes.

And so I think that it's at a time in which we pause and give thanks to having a bicameral legislature so that we can slow things down and take a reasonable approach to this.

- Deborah, does doing away with concealed weapons permits make us safer?

- Well, I'm not sure it makes us safer, but I think there are other ways to handle the situation.

We know in every instance of the mass shootings there were, the villain was, had contact with the FBI or with law enforcement or mental health.

So there's ways of identifying that and, you know, government has been very remissed in following through on these situations, perhaps that point of purchase.

It's when you do the fingerprint and the background checks and so forth.

And also required the training.

I think training is very important.

So many accidents happen, particularly with younger people.

So I think we need to enforce the laws the way they stand today and we certainly need to do a better job in government by following through on all the tips we've had on these various felons.

- Anna, the governor said in the past that he wants to see this kind of legislation pass.

What's your sense of where it's heading?

- Well, that's the concern is, you know Deborah just mentioned the need for training.

She mentioned the importance of that and preventing young people from hurting themselves.

The Volusia County Sheriff's Office just reported that a three-year-old shot themselves with a gun that was just accessible to this child, and they died because of it.

And meanwhile, what this bill will do is completely eliminate any type of training requirement.

You can access a firearm without permit.

And Governor DeSantis has prioritized this.

He made a promise to voters in the last campaign trail that he would pass what he calls constitutional carry before he leaves office.

And so as he prepares to run for President and appeal to Republican based voters, the sad reality is that this is a litmus test for him.

He has to pursue some really unsettling loosening of gun laws in a state that arguably already has a great deal of access to firearms and very little regulation.

So this is a direction that he's moving, but I think there is a bipartisan pause I think not necessarily in the legislature, candidly, as I see this bill is being fast-tracked.

It already has committee hearings this coming week.

But in the face of everyday people, you know, I have Republican family members and they wanna see more regulations on firearms, not less.

And so I do think it's out of touch, but it's driven by a political motivation as is the case for many of the issues that Governor DeSantis prioritizes.

- And Matt, based on your reporting do you see any effort to slow down this among the leadership, either in the leadership in the Senate or the leadership in the House?

- Not particularly, just talking from sort of a logistics standpoint.

Each session, the House and the Senate leadership kind of define their own priorities.

House Speaker Paul Renner was kind of the lead on this permitless carry bill.

He's the one who led the press conference.

So that kind of signals, it's a fast tracked priority for the House, and the Senate president Kathleen Passidomo has signaled her top priorities are a big affordable housing bill and a few other things.

So generally the signal, the priorities for presiding officers are kind of a horse trade that kind of goes to the end of session.

So I would anticipate some version of this bill gets passed.

What you're seeing with it being a little more fast tracked in the House is a reflection of, that was the stated priority for the House Speaker.

I think even if they get some changes, if the Senate is slightly more skeptical, I guess I would be surprised if they, you know, stood in the way.

As Representative Eskamani mentioned, this is kind of an issue that has got gubernatorial involvement and and at this point, he kind of gets what he wants from the legislature.

It's more of a tell than an ask.

- Okay.

Well the Tallahassee Capitol Police say about 700 people took part in a large rally this week against what they said was the Governor's efforts to limit the teaching of Black history.

- [TV Reporter] Students, professors, and religious leaders, including the Reverend Al Sharpton, marched to the Florida Capitol to protest Governor Ron DeSantis' rejection of an advanced placement high school African-American history course.

Sharpton accused the governor of censoring a fundamental chapter of the nation's past.

- I read that he said something about some things making some folk uncomfortable.

(crowd murmurs in agreement) Well, we were uncomfortable when y'all had confederate statues around Florida.

I don't know what he is personally, but I know what he is proposing is racist.

And if you do racist things, some folk can accuse you of that.

Now, I don't call him a name, I'm just calling his game.

This a racist game.

- [TV Reporter] The governor has been on a campaign against what he calls "woke ideology."

Critical race theory, and diversity, equality and inclusion.

His efforts and those of his allies have resulted in school books being banned or removed for review, school superintendents forced out, teachers fired and events canceled, as the governor looks to reshape the state's education system.

- But at the end of the day, we highlighted things that were very problematic.

And I'll tell ya, it wasn't just people like me saying that.

Across the political spectrum, people were saying that like, you know, this really is junk.

Why don't we just do and teach the things that matter?

Why is it always someone has to try to jam their agenda down our throats?

- Anna, the governor says he's not trying to limit Black history.

He's just trying to take the ideology out, the spin out.

What do you say?

- Well, as a graduate of Orange County Public Schools and a graduate of state universities, this is a lot of projection coming from the right.

I took multiple AP classes all through my high school career and when I got to University of Central Florida, took multiple classes, helped me gain exposure to different lived experiences and to different types of people.

And I'm a better person because of that.

When Governor DeSantis talks about projection, talks about issues like "woke ideology," he's projecting on us his desire to indoctrinate our schools, his desire to ensure that there is not critical free thought or speech, but that it's toeing a conservative ideology and not allowing students to really have debate, to really dive into different political perspectives so they can not only build their own identity but also bridge divides to be able to work together in diverse spaces.

African-American studies is a very important class, and unfortunately Governor DeSantis spoke to it as having no academic value.

And that is not only a slap in the face when it comes to the integrity of AP courses, but it's also an insult to students of all backgrounds, who either are African-American or wanna learn more about African-American history and identity and be able to become well-rounded citizens for it.

And of course it doesn't stop here.

It starts here.

Because DeSantis has gone as far as to want to privatize our schools.

He is now threatening universities and their funding towards programs, initiatives that support our veteran students, that support our students with disabilities, alongside diversity and inclusion programs.

So I think the average Floridian would rather him focused on things like housing affordability.

But it is a reminder for me that every culture war really is a class war, and we can't get distracted by the governor's efforts to deflect and to divide us but instead realize that diversity is our strength and we are stronger, we work together.

- Deborah, I want to ask you, the Republican Party has been making inroads with black voters.

DeSantis has made some significant inroads.

According to CNN exit polls, DeSantis won 14% of Black voter support in the 2018 Florida gubernatorial election and 13% in the 2022 reelection.

Is his move regarding these issues, like the AP African American Studies course, will that hurt him with black voters?

- No.

In fact, he was applauded by some black leaders down in South Florida.

So much of this had to do with spins and sexual references and so forth.

And honestly, I'm waiting for the day that American history is all of America and you can have subsections on Hispanics and Asians and Blacks and Indians.

And because we all contributed to what we look at as a Great American- - That day has come, because we have that in our educational systems.

- It's in the law that we do teach it.

And he's a big supporter of that.

- Mm-hm.

Anna what?

Were you gonna jump in?

Oh.

No?

- You know, we, let's talk about history.

History compels us to have informed electorate.

It's healthy for American democracy to be informed about social commentary, literature, art.

These are the ways that we add to our pluralistic society.

So limiting access to information is limiting a healthy democracy.

And one has to ask in the state of Florida, how do we define critical race theory?

How do we define diversity, equity, and inclusion?

It would be helpful for the state to define those terms to make sure that we can also be compliant.

If we don't define those, everything and anything can be in violation.

- Okay.

The newly constituted board of trustees at New College in Sarasota voted this week to vastly increase the salary and benefits package for its new interim president.

- [TV Reporter] Former Florida Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran, a close ally of the Governor, will get an almost $400,000 pay increase over that of the previous president.

In addition to a base salary of $700,000, he'll receive an annual housing stipend of $84,000 a $12,000 automobile stipend, and yearly retirement supplement of $104,000.

He also stands to earn an annual bonus of up to $105,000 based on performance targets.

All told, it adds up to more than a million dollars.

The former New College president, Patricia Okker, was fired last month, amid a conservative transformation of the board.

She had a base salary of $300,000 her housing stipend was $40,000, and her automobile stipend was $8,000.

- And Deborah, what does this big increase say about, is it fair to the former president to give a big increase like that?

- Well, I think it is fair.

I believe when she assumed the leadership, we had maybe 1,200, 1,500 students.

It decreased to 675 students.

I think Richard Corcoran has the ideal background, having been the Education Commissioner, he's able to negotiate with the legislature.

We fund it to the tune of about $40 million today.

But what are we getting for at 675 students?

And it's moved away from its foundational elements, which were freedom, the encouragement and inquiry, and responsibility.

And I think we moved away from that and we'll see what Richard can do, but I've known him for a long time and he always succeeds.

And I look forward to New College becoming a pretty eminent college once again.

- Anna, is that the way you see it?

That New College has gotten away from its original roots and that Corcoran has the ability to bring it back and increase the number of students attending?

- Absolutely not.

Let's be clear, New College is one of the most premier universities in the state of Florida.

It has the largest graduate of Fulbright Scholars, largest proportion of students that go to graduate school.

The New College alumni are incredibly successful.

And of course, improvements can happen at any university.

And if you watch the Board of Trustees meeting, President Okker provided a presentation before her termination that spoke to the school's success, and the areas of retainment among students, the recruitment efforts of students.

And candidly, I think it's absolutely absurd to pay any president of a university that size, $700,000 as a base level and then up to a million based on the perks.

This is nothing but a conservative grift.

It's a hostile takeover at New College and it's fiscally irresponsible for a party that calls themselves fiscal conservatives.

And to give some perspective, we're paying him over a thousand dollars per student, where the FSU president earns about $24 per student.

And so it just does not make sense.

- Okay.

Before we go, what other news stories should we be paying attention to?

And Anna, let's go back to you, the other big story of the week.

What else should we have talked about this week?

- Well, there's never enough conversations about closing corporate tax loopholes.

And in fact, the Revenue Estimating Conference scored a very large potential corporate tax break.

So folks gotta pay attention to that.

- All right, Tara, your other big story.

- I think the big whispering in the wind is whether the governor is going to go to the state legislature and ask for them to change the state law regarding the resign to run, to make sure that he can remain Governor, to run as he runs for President, and possibly go back to the state legislature and ask for a change in our Constitution to get rid of governor's term limits in the state of Florida because he might find that he enjoys being governor more than dipping his toe into the national stage, and face the kind of critics that might call him unsavory names.

- Interesting.

Deborah, your other big story.

(Deborah laughs) - Well, recently two federal courts found that the Parental Rights Bill was legal.

It is now the law, and it even has been applauded, now that it's been applied, by a number of Anna's colleagues, Democrat legislators.

And so I'm looking this year for the Digital Rights Bill, so stay tuned.

It will be in ensured, it will be debated, and hopefully it will come to pass, and it will protect all of us.

- All right.

Matt, your other big story.

- Yeah, I mean, we've seen the New College stuff and also Disney as far as new boards, a DeSantis-appointed board in Disney, and then sort of the takeover of the new college board.

So I'm wondering kind of watching, if that's going to be a trend of if Governor DeSantis sort of likes to have more influence on, you know, entities or organizations where he doesn't necessarily agree.

There's some legislation related to a public utility in Gainesville that I have been kind of watching and I'm just, the general theme of if this board takeover or changes is going to kind of be a continuing trend moving forward is something I'm definitely watching.

- More power for the governor.

Yeah.

All right, we're back.

- Yeah, no, that's been the trend line at least.

And we're gonna, you know see if that's gonna continue moving forward here.

- All right.

Well thank you all for a great show, and thank you for taking part in Florida This Week.

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