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Florida's Property Tax Future · Conversations: Special Guests with Preston Scott

0:07
Speaker 1: And so we begin the third hour of the morning
0:10
Speaker 1: show with Preston Scott. First time, I'm announcing it is
0:13
Speaker 1: show fifty four eighty one. We are fast approaching show
0:17
Speaker 1: fifty five hundred.
0:19
Speaker 2: I don't know what to say.
0:23
Speaker 1: I just they said it wouldn't last, and here we are,
0:27
Speaker 1: five four hundred and eighty one shows later. He's ose,
0:31
Speaker 1: I'm Preston, this is sal news of Consumer's Defense.
0:33
Speaker 2: How are you good?
0:34
Speaker 3: And apparently we have faces for radio speak for yourself? Brother,
0:39
Speaker 3: how are you my friend?
0:40
Speaker 2: No, yeah, I got out of TV just in the
0:44
Speaker 2: nick of time. I'm doing well. I'm I'm.
0:48
Speaker 1: I am puzzled by what we're seeing line up for
0:51
Speaker 1: the next legislative session. But let's start a here. As
0:55
Speaker 1: you've heard, we've had the Lieutenant Governor Jay Collins on
0:59
Speaker 1: the program frequently. I'm curious why the interest in getting
1:06
Speaker 1: the new LG out there as much as he is.
1:09
Speaker 3: Well, I think one is and this is not kind
1:13
Speaker 3: of germane to Florida, But very few people really recognize
1:18
Speaker 3: and interact with and engage with their state members, their
1:21
Speaker 3: state House member, their state Senate, even though, as I
1:24
Speaker 3: frequently state, those are the precise people you should be
1:27
Speaker 3: engaging with on a regular basis. But this is part
1:30
Speaker 3: of the kind of narrative that historically in Florida, lieutenant
1:34
Speaker 3: governors who are either interested in or who have run
1:38
Speaker 3: for the big chair have not been successful. And there
1:41
Speaker 3: is an element to this that involves name recognition, that
1:45
Speaker 3: involves kind of the lieutenant governor's responsibilities over the course
1:49
Speaker 3: of the term. And so there has been a concerted
1:53
Speaker 3: effort to get Lieutenant governor former Senator Jay Collins out there,
1:58
Speaker 3: involve him in some very public efforts and initiatives, and
2:02
Speaker 3: so that's what we're seeing as the decision on whether
2:07
Speaker 3: Lieutenant Governor Collins will run kind of comes into the
2:10
Speaker 3: big picture.
2:12
Speaker 1: Is Jay Collins going to run? Was he selected to
2:15
Speaker 1: be the heir apparent? Was he selected to, you know,
2:19
Speaker 1: just be a good strong voice on policy with the governor.
2:22
Speaker 2: What are your thoughts?
2:23
Speaker 3: Well, I think all of that can be true, and
2:26
Speaker 3: likely a good portion of it is. I think he
2:29
Speaker 3: was a and is a great candidate that the governor
2:32
Speaker 3: selected for lieutenant governor. He is aligned with the governor.
2:36
Speaker 3: He has shown his kind of alignment within his role
2:40
Speaker 3: in the Senate. Whether or not he was selected specifically
2:43
Speaker 3: to run for governor. I could speculate on that. My
2:47
Speaker 3: guess is it's it's more likely than not. And a
2:51
Speaker 3: lot of that relates to the dynamics with the campaign
2:55
Speaker 3: as it's unfolded, who's entered the arena so far. Now,
2:59
Speaker 3: there there was a lot of speculation that the LG
3:02
Speaker 3: was going to formally announce a few weeks back, and
3:06
Speaker 3: that did not come, and so now I think there's
3:09
Speaker 3: more speculation on the will he or won't he? And
3:13
Speaker 3: what are the driving factors behind that now that that
3:16
Speaker 3: did not occur.
3:18
Speaker 1: You and I have spent some time over the years
3:20
Speaker 1: talking about the succession process in the House and the Senate.
3:23
Speaker 1: Florida's a little unique, a little They've got a lot
3:27
Speaker 1: of planes stacked up on the runway that have already
3:29
Speaker 1: been selected for flight.
3:31
Speaker 2: Yeah.
3:31
Speaker 3: Yeah, And I do a lot of public speaking around
3:33
Speaker 3: the country, a lot with policymakers, and even up to
3:37
Speaker 3: last week, I was in Oklahoma and Arkansas, and that
3:40
Speaker 3: is likely the most popular question for me when I
3:45
Speaker 3: say that I'm from Florida and they're like, what is
3:47
Speaker 3: it about? How you guys do your speakers and Senate
3:51
Speaker 3: presidents like, how does that actually function.
3:54
Speaker 1: So who is on deck after Ben Albritton and Danny
3:59
Speaker 1: Perez stepped down because this is their final year.
4:01
Speaker 3: Correct, this is their final year as leadership in the
4:05
Speaker 3: Speaker's office and in the Senate President's office. So recently.
4:09
Speaker 3: On the House side, they designated officially had the vote
4:13
Speaker 3: for designating Sam Garrison, a representative from Clay County out
4:17
Speaker 3: near Jacksonville, as the next House Speaker. It is no
4:21
Speaker 3: surprise at all. As you had mentioned, he was kind
4:23
Speaker 3: of informally designated right after his first legislative session as
4:29
Speaker 3: the class kind of gets geared up. On the Senate side,
4:33
Speaker 3: they designated Jim Boyd as Senate President. No surprise as well.
4:37
Speaker 3: He's an insurance broker senator out of I believe near
4:40
Speaker 3: the Tampas Arisota area. I can't remember the district specifically,
4:43
Speaker 3: but yep.
4:44
Speaker 1: How different or similar are they to current leadership.
4:46
Speaker 3: On the Senate side. Very similar in their approaches. They're
4:51
Speaker 3: not going to be ostentatious. They're going to be quiet,
4:54
Speaker 3: a little bit more quiet than on the House side,
4:56
Speaker 3: which is traditional. They represent smaller areas on the House side.
5:01
Speaker 3: Sam Garrison, I think maybe a little bit of a
5:03
Speaker 3: departure from Danny Perez simply by way of age, demographic,
5:08
Speaker 3: where they're from, who they represent, and whatnot. So I'm
5:11
Speaker 3: really intrigued in how this is going to play out.
5:13
Speaker 3: Editorial comment. One can only hope.
5:17
Speaker 1: Friends, I promise you that this session with Salur was
5:20
Speaker 1: going to be a little different. You know, in the
5:21
Speaker 1: months away from a legislative session, which is the majority
5:24
Speaker 1: of them, obviously, we try to take on topics and
5:30
Speaker 1: do a little bit more of a deep dive. And
5:32
Speaker 1: so in this case, it is the biggest topic probably
5:37
Speaker 1: to be addressed because it is revolutionary.
5:42
Speaker 2: I would, I would, I would concur with that. I
5:44
Speaker 2: have not.
5:45
Speaker 3: I've done a little bit of research, and I cannot
5:47
Speaker 3: find a state that is succeeded in doing what we
5:51
Speaker 3: could conceivably do in the coming session, and that is
5:55
Speaker 3: eliminate property tax. Let's talk about the origination of this
5:59
Speaker 3: or kind of wherever you want to start. Yeah, so
6:02
Speaker 3: I think it may be helpful to kind of table
6:04
Speaker 3: set a little bit. So property taxes if you're kind
6:07
Speaker 3: of if you don't pay attention to your trim statements,
6:10
Speaker 3: you get a statement from the property tax office or
6:13
Speaker 3: the property Appraiser's office that shows your property value how
6:17
Speaker 3: much the taxable value is of that, and it's a
6:20
Speaker 3: little nuanced, but it's almost certainly less than the taxable
6:25
Speaker 3: value is less than what the you know, kind of
6:27
Speaker 3: actual value is. And then your charge what are called mills,
6:31
Speaker 3: and it represents like one one thousandth of a cent
6:34
Speaker 3: of the of the appraised value your taxable value, and
6:37
Speaker 3: then it's divvied up and so you pay it in
6:40
Speaker 3: your likely mortgage payment. If you have a mortgage, it's
6:43
Speaker 3: spread out over the year, so you really it's kind
6:45
Speaker 3: of rolled into your mortgage. If you don't have a mortgage,
6:48
Speaker 3: you pay it once a year usually I think in November.
6:50
Speaker 1: Or if you have a mortgage that just excludes the
6:53
Speaker 1: taxes and insurance, you pay those separately.
6:55
Speaker 2: Correct.
6:55
Speaker 3: And so I did a quick breakdown for Leon County.
6:59
Speaker 3: Eight point three to one mills goes to the county
7:02
Speaker 3: point seventy five to ems, the Children's Services Council point
7:05
Speaker 3: three four. The school portion. There are two pieces of that,
7:09
Speaker 3: the state law and the local law. The state piece
7:12
Speaker 3: is three point one one, school locally is two point
7:16
Speaker 3: twenty four. The city gets four point four, and then
7:18
Speaker 3: you get the waste management district with a tiny little portion,
7:21
Speaker 3: so about forty seven percent to the county, twenty eight
7:24
Speaker 3: percent to the schools, twenty three percent to the city,
7:26
Speaker 3: and the rest to special districts. Okay, so that is
7:30
Speaker 3: how our property tax breaks down.
7:33
Speaker 2: Yep. The governor wants to do what.
7:35
Speaker 3: The governor is stated as a kind of his legacy.
7:39
Speaker 3: He wants to eliminate all property taxes from Floridians because,
7:46
Speaker 3: as he is expressed, even if you own your home,
7:49
Speaker 3: if you have to pay the government anything, and if
7:54
Speaker 3: you don't pay that they can come and take your
7:56
Speaker 3: home or slap a leen on it, you truly do
7:59
Speaker 3: not ever own your property in the state of Florida.
8:02
Speaker 3: And so he has led this charge probably since about
8:05
Speaker 3: December January of December of last year January of this year.
8:09
Speaker 3: I have led this charge since March of two thousand
8:12
Speaker 3: and two. And I do understand that because as long
8:16
Speaker 3: as I've been coming on the show, we have been
8:18
Speaker 3: talking about this, as property taxes have been reformed, adjusted,
8:23
Speaker 3: the formulas and so forth, We've talked about everything from
8:27
Speaker 3: truth and taxation to the exemptions. So yes, absolutely, credit
8:31
Speaker 3: to you for kind of tip of the spear on
8:34
Speaker 3: the argument.
8:35
Speaker 1: The baseline though, and what it all comes back to
8:39
Speaker 1: is that you never do own your own property under
8:43
Speaker 1: a property tax system.
8:45
Speaker 3: Absolutely, Like the governor has said, if you do not
8:48
Speaker 3: pay your property taxes to the government, the government can
8:51
Speaker 3: come and take your property. And so that is not ownership.
8:55
Speaker 3: And so his charges to be the state that completely
8:58
Speaker 3: eliminates property taxes is And as you could imagine, given
9:03
Speaker 3: the fact that we do not have a state income tax,
9:05
Speaker 3: there's a dynamic to this that needs to be unpacked
9:10
Speaker 3: delicately back.
9:12
Speaker 1: With sale Newzoh, the property tax and the idea. Just
9:16
Speaker 1: think about it now, because in theory sal if this extends,
9:21
Speaker 1: does this extend to the landlord, the apartment complex owner?
9:25
Speaker 3: Well, and this is where kind of the devil is
9:27
Speaker 3: in the details piece of this comes into play because
9:32
Speaker 3: depending on the tax you take, and anything that is
9:36
Speaker 3: proposed would have to buy necessity, go onto the ballot
9:40
Speaker 3: and ultimately be approved by the voters at a sixty
9:43
Speaker 3: percent threshold. There are some challenging questions to have to
9:49
Speaker 3: unpack as legislators, the governor, we hope work together to
9:54
Speaker 3: formulate what the path ahead is that being one of them,
9:59
Speaker 3: do you extend this only to homesteaded properties, or if
10:05
Speaker 3: you own a second home, or if you are an
10:08
Speaker 3: out of state resident and owns a piece of property.
10:11
Speaker 3: Does it extend there The challenge being, at the end
10:15
Speaker 3: of the day, I would say, even conservatives believe in
10:19
Speaker 3: the strength of local government and believe in the fact
10:22
Speaker 3: that local government is the closest to the community. They
10:25
Speaker 3: have a vital role to play right now, If you
10:28
Speaker 3: were to eliminate property taxes altogether, local governments by and
10:33
Speaker 3: large would be strangled off of the vast majority of
10:37
Speaker 3: the funding that they get to perform services. Now, to
10:41
Speaker 3: his credit, the chief financial Officer is pointing out aggressively
10:46
Speaker 3: that mainly larger right now, local governments around the state,
10:52
Speaker 3: some big cities, counties, what they have experienced is a
10:57
Speaker 3: massive inflation of revenue because of property tax values inflating
11:03
Speaker 3: over the last five to seven years.
11:05
Speaker 1: And he's making the argument that as a result, since
11:09
Speaker 1: twenty nineteen, expenditures have gone up fifty percent. And this
11:14
Speaker 1: is not just Democrat communities, this is Democrat Republican across
11:18
Speaker 1: the board in Florida. And he said, you know, if
11:21
Speaker 1: you roll these levels back, this is doable.
11:23
Speaker 3: Yeah, the equation he's used, which is really really smart,
11:28
Speaker 3: is what's called the Colorado Tabor, the tax payer Bill
11:32
Speaker 3: of Rights equation, which is, you take the population increase,
11:36
Speaker 3: the percentage of that in the county, you take the
11:38
Speaker 3: inflation rate, and they just use CPI and the two
11:42
Speaker 3: of them together. If population goes up ten percent and
11:46
Speaker 3: inflation goes up five percent, your baseline for increase should
11:50
Speaker 3: be fifteen percent. He's pointed out that that baseline of
11:54
Speaker 3: fifteen percent, you've raised your revenues fifty percent, and therefore
11:59
Speaker 3: you have you're wasting money. So he's asking the first question,
12:03
Speaker 3: which is what really should the appropriate level of government
12:08
Speaker 3: revenue at the local level. B. And so whatever we
12:13
Speaker 3: do is going to have to figure out how those
12:17
Speaker 3: questions get.
12:17
Speaker 1: In, how to make local government whole, but also how
12:21
Speaker 1: to make sure that local governments are doing what they're
12:24
Speaker 1: supposed to do, not what they want to do exactly.
12:27
Speaker 3: And so I think there's going to be an ongoing
12:31
Speaker 3: debate dialogue within the conservative realm of this, because in
12:35
Speaker 3: Florida we don't have a functioning opposition party. Basically, Republicans
12:41
Speaker 3: can pass whatever they want, including onto the ballot. And
12:44
Speaker 3: so this is where kind of the discussion and debate
12:49
Speaker 3: is kind of trending toward.
12:50
Speaker 1: In our next couple segments, we're going to get into
12:52
Speaker 1: some of the things that are now starting to bubble
12:54
Speaker 1: out of the legislature that might be considered opposition or
12:58
Speaker 1: alternative ideas. I just want to end this segment with
13:02
Speaker 1: just you know, generally speaking, I would favor homesteaded properties only.
13:06
Speaker 1: That would be my personal thought on that people that
13:10
Speaker 1: live in this state. You have to have some safeguards
13:13
Speaker 1: for the to avoid the Letitia Jameses of the world
13:15
Speaker 1: from taking advantage. But at the same time, I also
13:19
Speaker 1: think that the what the CFO is doing is dramatically needed,
13:23
Speaker 1: you know, a deep dive into local spending.
13:25
Speaker 3: Oh absolutely, And I you know, I think he's doing
13:28
Speaker 3: a yeoman's job of pointing out with very good specific
13:33
Speaker 3: receipts exactly the answer to the question, which is the
13:38
Speaker 3: first one, which is what really should the focus of
13:42
Speaker 3: a county government be and how much money do they
13:45
Speaker 3: need to successfully do that? How much money should this
13:50
Speaker 3: city really need in order to perform the vital functions
13:56
Speaker 3: and move forward? And I mean he's using all of
13:59
Speaker 3: the tools in his kind of quiver or in his
14:03
Speaker 3: toolbox to be able to point out just how bad
14:06
Speaker 3: the situation has gotten in a number of counties around
14:08
Speaker 3: the state.
14:09
Speaker 1: For many of you listening that own property that you own, well,
14:14
Speaker 1: you sort of own your property at this point, you
14:16
Speaker 1: don't really own it. If it's rolled into your p
14:20
Speaker 1: I T I. You're gonna save a few hundred dollars
14:22
Speaker 1: a month for most of you. If you're if you're
14:27
Speaker 1: not paying each month in your mortgage payment, then you're
14:30
Speaker 1: going to save a lump sum of a few thousand dollars,
14:33
Speaker 1: give or take.
14:34
Speaker 3: Well, and this depends on exactly what's get what gets
14:38
Speaker 3: put onto the ballot, because you're talking about the results.
14:43
Speaker 3: If we were just to abolish property taxes altogether, you
14:47
Speaker 3: do no glide slope, no glide slope, that would be
14:49
Speaker 3: the case. What the legislature has begun putting forward are
14:54
Speaker 3: a series of proposals that do reforms but don't do
15:00
Speaker 3: what specifically the governor has called exactly. So I think
15:04
Speaker 3: what we want to do is kind of unpack those
15:06
Speaker 3: and then kind of analyze them independently.
15:08
Speaker 1: We're talking about property text. For those of you that
15:10
Speaker 1: are just tuning in, the governor wants to eliminate it. However,
15:15
Speaker 1: we have a process and the governor cannot automatically place
15:23
Speaker 1: an amendment on the ballot for voters to consider. So
15:26
Speaker 1: the House and the Senate have to pass it on
15:28
Speaker 1: to the ballot or do the citizens' initiative petition.
15:32
Speaker 3: So the House has put forward seven different proposals. Now
15:37
Speaker 3: they have not been voted on. We have not gotten
15:39
Speaker 3: to session.
15:40
Speaker 1: So when you say the House, you're saying individual members
15:42
Speaker 1: of the House have advanced these things.
15:44
Speaker 3: Well, they have been put forward as House joint resolutions. Okay,
15:49
Speaker 3: So because of the procedural thing, it will be a
15:52
Speaker 3: resolution that then gets passed by the chambers that then
15:55
Speaker 3: gets put on the ballot.
15:57
Speaker 2: In it can it happens, Yeah, it can be amended it.
16:00
Speaker 3: So, uh, we've got seven of them that have been
16:03
Speaker 3: put forward publicly by the House, so you have and
16:06
Speaker 3: we can kind of walk through them individually.
16:08
Speaker 2: So you've got hjr. Two to five.
16:11
Speaker 3: This one would eliminate non school taxes for seniors, So
16:16
Speaker 3: it would exempt residents sixty five and older from the
16:20
Speaker 3: non school homestead property taxes.
16:22
Speaker 1: So if a married couple has won at sixty five
16:25
Speaker 1: and one at sixty and they're co owners of the property.
16:29
Speaker 3: I have not read all of the language of this one,
16:32
Speaker 3: but I immediately think, oh, I am imagining that as
16:37
Speaker 3: it works through the committee process, it will attempt.
16:39
Speaker 2: To figure out all of those, Okay.
16:42
Speaker 3: But it does keep in place these school based taxes.
16:47
Speaker 3: So if you remember back a couple of segments ago
16:49
Speaker 3: in Leon County, you've got three point one to one
16:52
Speaker 3: mills for the state, two point twenty four mills for
16:55
Speaker 3: the local.
16:56
Speaker 2: Uh.
16:56
Speaker 3: And so you would, even if you're a senior, continue
16:59
Speaker 3: to pay those and if you don't, and if you don't,
17:02
Speaker 3: we have the issue that we have currently status and
17:05
Speaker 3: if you're under sixty five, it's no reform at all.
17:09
Speaker 3: Number two phase out non school taxes for everyone, gradually
17:13
Speaker 3: eliminating on homesteaded property over a ten year period. So
17:19
Speaker 3: what they would do is increase the exemption. Yeah, whatever
17:23
Speaker 3: it is. And that one's h JR. Two three. So
17:27
Speaker 3: again it would impact everybody if you own a homesteaded property,
17:32
Speaker 3: but you're still in the realm of school taxes.
17:36
Speaker 2: Okay.
17:37
Speaker 3: Number three new exemption based on assessed value. This one
17:41
Speaker 3: would replace your current exemption with a new one equal
17:45
Speaker 3: to twenty five percent of the home's assessed value. That's
17:49
Speaker 3: two seven. I was trying to figure out exactly what
17:53
Speaker 3: that one might do.
17:54
Speaker 2: Nothing.
17:56
Speaker 3: Number four insurance related Exemption HJR. Two nine and creates
18:00
Speaker 3: a one hundred thousand dollars exemption for nonschool taxes on
18:05
Speaker 3: homesteaded properties that have property insurance. So those would be
18:09
Speaker 3: likely the ones with a mortgage because that's where it's required,
18:13
Speaker 3: and it would probably net in about I'm thinking eighty
18:18
Speaker 3: somewhere between eighty and ninety percent of homesteaded properties in
18:21
Speaker 3: the state.
18:22
Speaker 1: Sound news are with me from Consumer's defense? All right,
18:24
Speaker 1: we've got four of the seven, YEP, so let's go
18:27
Speaker 1: to five. Improving the portability. With the Save our Homes benefit,
18:31
Speaker 1: you currently have the ability to port a certain portion
18:35
Speaker 1: of your tax savings if you buy another home. This
18:38
Speaker 1: would completely eliminate that cap. So you could have a
18:42
Speaker 1: situation where someone is moving to a home where they.
18:47
Speaker 3: Would not pay property taxes because that cap has been released.
18:52
Speaker 3: Number six, change the assessed value growth caps, which is
18:56
Speaker 3: again in the Save our Homes amendment. With that three percent,
18:59
Speaker 3: it would modify the limits on how much the assess
19:02
Speaker 3: value can increase each year. Yeah, we're getting in the weeds.
19:06
Speaker 3: And the last one would require a two thirds of
19:09
Speaker 3: vote by any governing body to increase the millage rate
19:14
Speaker 3: in a local government. Now, the challenge with this is
19:18
Speaker 3: is that this is not what we would call truth
19:20
Speaker 3: and taxation, because if the assessed values and the tax
19:23
Speaker 3: leable values go up, they can hold the millage rate
19:26
Speaker 3: constant and still get more money.
19:28
Speaker 1: Well, that's why there was a change a few years
19:30
Speaker 1: ago that required them to announce that it was an
19:33
Speaker 1: increase in taxes when the millage stayed the same, but
19:35
Speaker 1: the values went up exactly.
19:37
Speaker 3: And so what we would call truth and taxation, which
19:40
Speaker 3: is if an individual is paying more money, they are
19:43
Speaker 3: being increased in taxes. And so this one would not
19:47
Speaker 3: get at that.
19:48
Speaker 1: All right, Sal, I'm not the sharpest knife in any
19:51
Speaker 1: drawer of knives. That said, I don't observe that any
19:54
Speaker 1: of these seven do anything remotely close to eliminate property
19:59
Speaker 1: tax wouldn't go as.
20:01
Speaker 2: Far as remotely close.
20:02
Speaker 3: None of them completely get at the governor's request of
20:08
Speaker 3: eliminating property taxes. Of the seven, a couple of them
20:12
Speaker 3: get a little bit closer to that goal. I don't
20:16
Speaker 3: think that any of them do it nearly with the
20:20
Speaker 3: level of kind of speed or consistency that is gonna
20:26
Speaker 3: warm voters' hearts. Procedurally, what's this all about? So procedurally,
20:31
Speaker 3: any or all of these, if they pass on to
20:34
Speaker 3: the ballot, would get voted on in the November twenty
20:37
Speaker 3: sixth election, and they need to pass it to kill
20:39
Speaker 3: them all. A sixty percent threshold, as we know, is
20:42
Speaker 3: very hard to achieve. The question in my head is,
20:46
Speaker 3: all right, let's just say they pass all seven onto
20:49
Speaker 3: the ballot, which is what Speaker Pereza said. He said
20:52
Speaker 3: he wants the voters to choose what happens if what
20:55
Speaker 3: happens if they select all of them, what happens if
20:59
Speaker 3: they select two of them then? And what happens if
21:03
Speaker 3: they select two that conflict with one another, i e.
21:07
Speaker 3: The over sixty five and non over sixty five. I'm
21:12
Speaker 3: struggling to figure out. And no one's ever going to
21:17
Speaker 3: accuse me of being the most brilliant policy or political
21:19
Speaker 3: mind in the world, but I'm struggling to figure out
21:22
Speaker 3: technically and procedurally how how this occurs as it moves
21:29
Speaker 3: into the ballot and then beyond.
21:31
Speaker 1: All right, final couple minutes here, let's offer a political
21:34
Speaker 1: analysis of this, because from my perspective, and this is
21:38
Speaker 1: just me, I look at this as an effort by
21:40
Speaker 1: the Florida House Speaker, Danny Perez to just torpedo the
21:43
Speaker 1: idea because he didn't like it from the very beginning.
21:47
Speaker 3: It's possible I would I would be speculating on that completely.
21:51
Speaker 3: I was of the opinion that the acrimony and the
21:56
Speaker 3: challenge of the twenty twenty five legislatives, and I've said
22:00
Speaker 3: this in our shows in prior months, Yeah, we're about
22:05
Speaker 3: to enter a major election year for Florida, and I
22:09
Speaker 3: had it in my head. At least my speculation was
22:12
Speaker 3: I thought the acrimony would subside because everybody really needs
22:18
Speaker 3: to concentrate on what's ahead in the campaign in twenty
22:22
Speaker 3: twenty six. I am not so sure that I was
22:25
Speaker 3: correct in that respect, and this here because the governor
22:29
Speaker 3: has come out publicly over the last several days blasting
22:33
Speaker 3: these proposals as not as basically stating what you did.
22:38
Speaker 3: They do not get even remotely close to what his
22:42
Speaker 3: request is. And I just am struggling to see the
22:48
Speaker 3: political maneuvering on the House and how this works out
22:51
Speaker 3: in their favor.
22:52
Speaker 1: It doesn't surprise me though, because historically speaking, when one
22:57
Speaker 1: party becomes a super majority over a period of time,
23:00
Speaker 1: they just have a tendency to torpedo themselves.
23:02
Speaker 3: Well, and we've talked about this from a political lens.
23:06
Speaker 3: When we have a state like this, which with such
23:11
Speaker 3: a over abundance of Republican concentration, a lot of members
23:18
Speaker 3: aren't necessarily as concerned about being challenged from the opposition party.
23:24
Speaker 3: They're concerned about getting primaried from in this case, they're
23:27
Speaker 3: right flank, and so that has to factor into the
23:31
Speaker 3: political maneuvering that's going on with all of these amendments
23:35
Speaker 3: proposed amendments that they're going to be putting on.
23:37
Speaker 1: There As always, there's so much more to talk about,
23:41
Speaker 1: but at least we got started.
23:43
Speaker 3: We have gotten started. I as a political observer and
23:47
Speaker 3: a policy wonk, I absolutely love this debate. I think
23:52
Speaker 3: it is fantastic for the state of Florida. I think
23:54
Speaker 3: it's something we should all be engaged in. I'm glad
23:57
Speaker 3: it's happening. It's better than what's happening in Illinois and
24:00
Speaker 3: York and New Jersey and so well, maybe not New Jersey.
24:03
Speaker 3: We stand a chance of taking that state back, but
24:06
Speaker 3: we'll still be better, but it would still be a
24:08
Speaker 3: ton better. I'd rather be here than in any other
24:12
Speaker 3: state in the United States and buckle up completely agree.
24:16
Speaker 1: I just hope that people can get rational and big
24:20
Speaker 1: picture and I think the big win on all of
24:23
Speaker 1: this is the cfo's response and going across the state
24:26
Speaker 1: and saying what are you spending money on?
24:28
Speaker 3: Without question, he deserves the up arrows, two thumbs up,
24:32
Speaker 3: a million percent. That man is a stalwart warrior for
24:36
Speaker 3: Florida and for taxpayers, and so maybe Governor's best appointment.
24:41
Speaker 2: Thanks so much, Always a pleasure.