TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis delivered the annual State of the State address on Tuesday morning.
Press play above to re-watch the full State of the State address
DeSantis delivered remarks to a joint session of Florida’s Legislature and addressed a range of topics from illegal immigration legislation to the economy and property taxes.
“We are convening for the regular legislative session, having already enacted groundbreaking legislation to fulfill the historic mandate of delivering on President Donald Trump’s mandate to end the illegal immigration crisis once and for all,” DeSantis said.
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DeSantis largely stuck to broad ideas, rather than detailed plans, during his annual State of the State address to a joint session of the Legislature in the House chamber. The 60-day session will include myriad issues, including the House and Senate negotiating a budget that likely will exceed $115 billion.
After spearheading efforts to defeat proposed constitutional amendments in November about recreational marijuana and abortion rights, DeSantis reiterated his position that lawmakers should take steps to prevent what he contends is fraud in the petition-gathering process for initiatives.
“We saw the petition fraud that took place with Amendments 3 and 4 (the marijuana and abortion amendments, respectively), but particularly Amendment 4. We saw how that constitutional amendment process was perverted. We need to clean up the petition fraud, and we need to clean up this out-of-control amendment process,” DeSantis said, drawing an ovation from the Republican-controlled Legislature.
It’s not clear how the Legislature might change the process during the session. But changes likely would make it more difficult for groups to gather the hundreds of thousands of petition signatures needed to place measures on the ballot.
Opponents of making it harder to place initiatives on the ballot have long argued that proposed constitutional amendments are needed because lawmakers ignore the wishes of voters. Examples of amendments approved by voters over the past decade are measures that allowed medical marijuana and raised the minimum wage.
DeSantis also said there is a need for stronger Second Amendment protections.
“We have some of the more weak laws in the country compared to our other states who consider themselves conservative, I would ask you to protect people’s Second Amendment rights,” DeSantis said.
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DeSantis and other Republicans recently have floated the idea of eliminating or reducing local-government property taxes. While the governor did not provide a detailed proposal Tuesday, he again expressed support for the issue.
Voters would have to approve changes to property taxes through a constitutional amendment. Lawmakers would need to approve a proposal to go on the 2026 ballot, though DeSantis indicated later Tuesday to reporters that such legislation might not pass until next year’s session.
As property values have increased, DeSantis said higher assessments have created a “gusher of revenue” for local governments.
“Taxpayers need relief,” he said. “You buy a home, you pay off the mortgage, and yet you still have to write a check to the government every year just for the privilege of living on your own private property. Is the property yours, or are you just renting it from the government?”
DeSantis also called for condominium reforms during Tuesday’s State of th State address.
“I know there was efforts to made and may be made after the tragedy at Surfside in 2021 those were all very well-intentioned efforts, and I think probably have done a lot of good, but in some instances, it’s putting people in a very difficult financial pickle,” DeSantis.
Sen. Shevrin Jones, D-Miami Gardens, criticized DeSantis’ speech Tuesday.
“The governor should read the temperature of the room,” Jones said. “He doesn’t have as many fans as he used to have, back in the day.”