Hardly a constituency or demographic in Florida has escaped the legislative onslaught of Gov. Ron DeSantis and his Republican supermajority in the statehouse.
Over the past year, bills have been introduced or signed to impose strict controls on public and higher education, restrict women’s reproductive rights and ban diversity and “woke’ culture, while promoting the carrying of firearms and raising what some describe as DeSantis’ personal militia force.
The measures also would make it illegal to require public school educators and students to refer to another person with pronouns that do not correspond with their birth gender.
Kyle Reese
“The governor is obviously getting whatever he wants,” said Kyle Reese, former pastor of Hendricks Avenue Baptist Church in Jacksonville and executive director of OneJax, a nonprofit committed to community building and overcoming injustice and racism. Reese also serves on BNG’s board of directors.
Among those wants is legislation prohibiting the teaching of Critical Race Theory, gender studies, diversity, equity and inclusion in Florida’s public colleges and universities. SB-266 and HB-999 were quickly introduced and continue to be considered in the Legislature.
SB-266, according to the ACLU, “dictates what courses of study college students could choose to pursue, prohibiting fields of study involving race and gender studies; usurps faculty hiring decisions to the governors’ appointees and allows tenure to be reviewed at any time; prohibits spending on activities that promote diversity, equity and inclusion; and creates new general education requirements prioritizing neoclassical education focused on Western European civilization.”
The Senate’s companion version recently was amended to omit specific language about diversity, equity and inclusion but requires avoidance of theories on oppression, racism and sexism.
But the mere introduction of the two measures had far-reaching repercussions for organizations like OneJax and the diversity programming it operates through the University of North Florida, Reese said.
“We were in the crosshairs just because of the finances. Even though we raise our own budget, the university had to report those funds as their own and our staff had to turn over emails to the state.”
The OneJax board saw the writing on the wall and recently voted to leave downtown office space provided by UNF, he added.
The organization and others like it also have been affected by the “Stop the Wrongs to Our Kids and Employees (WOKE) Act,” which DeSantis signed into law in 2022. It forbids public schools from using theories of oppression and privilege to discuss racism, sexism and gender bias in American society.
“No one should be instructed to feel as if they are not equal or shamed because of their race,” DeSantis said after signing HB-7. “In Florida, we will not let the far-left woke agenda take over our schools and workplaces. There is no place for indoctrination or discrimination in Florida.”
“We were disinvited from a school … where we were going to teach a course on empathy.”
That legislation affected OneJax and organizations like it by making school districts think twice about hosting planned courses on civility, diversity and understanding, Reese said. “We were disinvited from a school in St. Johns County — from the entire county — where we were going to teach a course on empathy.”
Nonprofit and school leaders across the state are all too familiar with such disappointment lately, he said.
“It’s frustrating, but there are a lot of good people trying to do good work. That’s really where your faith comes in. Darkness lasts for a while, but the morning is coming, and you just kind of hang on to that,” Reese said. “I think this is momentary. Banning books in the information age is different than banning books in 1937 Nazi Germany. You can try, but there’s going to be a huge push-back, and it’ll be interesting to see how it turns out.”
At the moment, it’s not turning out all that well for DeSantis where his presumed presidential aspirations are concerned. A Quinnipiac poll released in March showed former President Donald Trump outpacing his potential Florida rival 42% to 36%.
Yet, the governor and his allies in the Legislature are plowing ahead with a broad range of right-wing initiatives to follow those that already have been signed into law.
Among those:
Concealed carry. Beginning July 1, Floridians may carry concealed firearms without a government-issued permit, training or additional background screening. DeSantis signed House Bill 543 into law April 3, claiming the measure enables state residents to more fully exercise their Second Amendment rights. Critics say the law endangers the lives of Floridians by circulating more firearms throughout the population.
Rachel Gunter Shapard
Universal school voucher system. On March 27, DeSantis signed House Bill 1 into law, granting all school-age children in Florida access to taxpayer-financed educational vouchers or savings accounts. The law, which takes effect July 1, transforms the state’s voucher program into one of the largest in the nation. But Rachel Gunter Shapard, a cofounder of Pastors for Florida Children, testified in the House and Senate that the program will disproportionately benefit families who can afford to supplement the limited funds the new system provides. “This bill is being discussed as freedom for all, but it is really freedom for a small few which could result in the utter devastation of our public education system.”
Criminalizing ministry to immigrants. Faith leaders across the state have urged Florida lawmakers to drop or at least reword SB-1718 and HB-1617, which would make it a third-degree felony to knowingly transport undocumented immigrants into or within the state. If enacted, such activity, even in the context of worship and ministry programs, would be punishable by up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine. “This bill not only goes against our Christian values of hospitality and compassion, but it also threatens our religious freedom,” Women of Welcome said in an e-mail alert about the legislation.
Outlawing transgender medical treatment. The Florida Senate recently passed SB-254 to deny medical care for gender dysphoria in minors. HB-1421 is still under consideration in the House. The Human Rights Campaign skewered the legislation for seeking to block Medicaid coverage of gender-affirming care for children and adults and for allowing “the state to remove trans children from their parents if they are receiving transition care.”
The bill allows the state to “remove trans children from their parents if they are receiving transition care.”
One of the strictest U.S. abortion bans. Senate Bill 300, already approved by the Senate and awaiting action in the House (HB-7) will prohibit most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy. Exceptions include pregnancies of up to 15 weeks that result from human trafficking, incest or rape. A White House spokeswoman said the ban would be devastating for millions of women in Florida and in neighboring states with harsh restrictions on abortion.
Strict voter registration controls. Newly introduced SB-7050 includes provisions that would deny some voters eligibility to vote by mail and would subject third-party registration groups — including churches and nonprofits — to increased scrutiny and potential fines for registration activities. It also would allow political action committees to disclose contributions less frequently.
Expanding the State Guard. According to critics, one of the governor’s more outlandish and sinister initiatives is to expand the size and scope of the Florida State Guard from 400 to 1,500 members. Created during World War II to cover for globally deployed National Guard members and later disbanded, the unit was reactivated last year. If enacted, HB-1285 would equip the force with maritime and aviation assets and provide DeSantis with what some say is a personal military unit. “Gov. Ron DeSantis already abuses so many of his powers that he should not be given any more,” the South Florida Sun-Sentinel opined.
Media in the crosshairs. DeSantis is pushing the Legislature to advance legislation (SB-1220, HB-991) to make it easier for public officials to sue journalists and news organizations for slander. The governor claims professional media outlets are biased against conservatives. The proposal is an effort not only to curb press freedom in Florida but to overturn New York Times v. Sullivan, the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1964 decision placing limits on politicians’ ability to sue for defamation. But even some of the governor’s conservative supporters are opposed to the legislation. “I’m not an anti-DeSantis guy. He’s my top pick for president right now, but this legislation is moving in exactly the wrong way,” Marc Randazza, an attorney who represents right-wing media outlets in libel suits, said in an article by The New York Times.
The proposal is an effort not only to curb press freedom in Florida but to overturn New York Times v. Sullivan.
Skye Perryman
Screening school books. Vowing to let Florida parents be involved in their children’s public education, DeSantis signed HB-1467 into law in 2022. The measure requires all books used in public schools to be screened for pornography or for Critical Race Theory and certain other race-based teachings. The Florida teachers union joined other groups to sue the state Department of Education over the application of the law. “What has happened here is Florida officials under the DeSantis administration have flagrantly and unlawfully exceeded the quite narrow authority that HB-1467 provided the Department of Education,” Skye Perryman, president of Democracy Forward, said in a story by WUSF Public Media.
Crackdown on public protests. In 2021, DeSantis signed the “Combating Public Disorder Act” into law, creating harsher penalties for participation in violent public protests. But the law was quickly suspended by a federal judge as a three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals tries to define what constitutes a “riot” in the language of the statute.
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