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Florida's Session Is Coming ... Will The Drama Continue? · Conversations: Special Guests with Preston Scott

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: And it's great to be with you, and we are
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: we are going to prepare you for the legislative session
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: and joining us from Consumers Defense, where he's the executive director.
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Sal Nuzzo, Hello, friend, how are you sir?
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: Don't you love it that we live in a state
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: with it's so drama free, you know, the everybody gets
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: along and it's just a it's it's it's you know, kumbaya.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: Is the governor? Are the heads of the Senate and
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: the House leadership? Are they all aware of how they
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: are hurting the Republican brand? And I mean, my email
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: box on this rift between the two is very evident
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: that people are siding with Governor desandis not the two
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: of them. Yeah, I think one is.
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: They're likely aware of the dynamic that's happening with public
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: perception and the way that I would kind of differentiate.
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: I think if you for those who pay attention very
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: in depth into the political and policy process in Florida
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: and the legislature and have done so for a long time,
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: while the degree of how it's all transpired maybe a
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: little bit surprising, I don't know that anybody shocked that
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: there was a little bit of.
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: Kind of what's gone on. I think that is this
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: a case of something that's been simmering boiling over? Yeah? Yeah.
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: And so we've got new legislative leadership, there's a you know,
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: an open governor's race, along with all the other cabinet positions.
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: You've got the new administration coming in, and all of
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: this together, I think is kind of Folks in the
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: process are not surprised by this. I think, by and large,
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: if you ask any of the you know, tens of
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: millions of voters or residents outside of the political process,
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: this may be a bit shocking surprising, and the question
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: might be, you know, wait, aren't these all Republicans?
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: And yes they are.
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: And so there is a dynamic at play, and I
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: think you're probably right that the public perception outside of
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: the legislative policy bubble is likely far more in favor
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: of the governor's position.
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: Here. If you do a poll and you put the
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: names of the leader of the Senate, the House, and
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: the governor all on one page, I know who's winning
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: that poll.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, And the governor's writing a very good popularity number
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  Speaker 2: in the polling as it stands right now. He also
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  Speaker 2: has the bully pulpit. He has the ability to leverage
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: a whole lot of national media in ways that the
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: Speaker and Senate President just don't. Now they're getting a
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: little bit of it, but in the week that it
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: all kind of blew up, the Governor was on Mark Levin,
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: Glenn Beck, a whole bunch of those shows, and so
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: that carries with it some ability to generate.
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: But Sally, the only reason the Senate President Ben Albritton
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: and the House Speaker Danny Perez are getting any attention
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: is for a negative. Correct. Desantas has how many years
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: now six years on positives, on building on policy and
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: things happening.
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and I think there's an element of that six
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: year built up political capital that Floridians know of and
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: are comfortable with, and so we gravitate toward that. And
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: so for individuals, like I said, who don't necessarily pay
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: a whole lot of attention to the nuts and bolts
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: and the logistics and machinations of how the legislative process works,
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: that's going to be It's going to carry the day.
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: We got forty five seconds, So I'm going to ask
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  Speaker 1: the question everybody wants to know, why hasn't Governor DeSantis
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: vetoed that immigration bill.
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: And this is a very intriguing quirk because I had
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: a blow there because I had to look this up.
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: There is no requirement of a time window for the
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: legislature to send the bill to the governor. It says
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: in the Constitution whenever practicable. Now there is a time
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: frame for them to send the budget document, but not
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: the bill itself. So they have not transmitted officially the
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: bill to the governor, and therefore he has not had
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: the opportunity to veto it. Now there is talk about
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: there being some kind of a deal worked out this week.
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: They may do something where they come back in on
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: midweek and work out the specifics of it and do
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  Speaker 2: a thing where they send it to him, he vetos
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  Speaker 2: it and immediately they pass something that meets his requirements
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  Speaker 2: and move forward.
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: But that is the reason that he has not vetoed it.
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: Look it up Consumers Defense dot com and you'll learn
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: about what that group does. His organization. Sal Newso's the
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: executive director of Consumer's Defense and our guest, our legislative expert.
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: And a lot of people may have forgotten because obviously
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: immigration got the lion's share of the attention. But when
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: the governor originally asked for the special session, there were
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: some other things he wanted to have addressed.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, he wanted a bill on elections, mainly in tightening
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: up ballot amendment provisions. And then he also wanted the
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: legislature to come in and kind of tweaked the condo
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: bills that had been passed in the last couple of
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: sessions to address some of the side effects of those.
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: When the legislature came in, and this is a weird
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: quirk of the process, they came in for the special
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: they gabbled it in, and then they gabbled it out immediately,
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: so the governor's.
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: Call there wasn't even time for a breath exactly.
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: So the governor's call was completed then, so any of
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: the bills that were proffered or filed and whatnot were
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: dead at that point. Then they gabbled in immediately their
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: own special session, which allowed them to file and take
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: up their immigration bill, which they called the Tackling and
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: Reforming Unlawful Migration Policy the Trump Act.
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: Is there have been a lot of different things, and
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  Speaker 1: I don't want to get bogged down on this, but
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  Speaker 1: I just know where the listeners are. There's a lot
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: of media saying, well, the President weighed in, he talked
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: to the leadership, and this is his bill. A lot
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: of people are saying, well, no, it's really not his bill.
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: He weighed in, but they didn't necessarily do everything, and
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: FHP certainly had a lot to say about it. What's
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: the story.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, the governor or the president weighed in on principles
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: and what he wanted to see from not just Florida,
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: but any state that's looking to enact something to assist
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: with their federal immigration policy. What this really hinges on
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  Speaker 2: now is the enforcement mechanism, and that is really the
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: gulf between the governor and the leadership and the legislature.
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: And what it means is the legislature is looking to
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  Speaker 2: transfer the enforcement of all state immigration policy from the
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: governor where it's constitutionally kind of stipulated now, to the
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: Agriculture commissioner.
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  Speaker 1: Why that is so patently dumb sound? I don't know.
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  Speaker 2: I don't pretend to understand kind of the mode of
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  Speaker 2: thought on why You've had a couple of members try
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: to explain it over the last couple of weeks.
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: Made no sense.
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  Speaker 2: I have not gotten a satisfactory answer for that in
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: my opinion and my kind of deduction of what's transpiring.
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: So the governor is dead set against that, he is claimed,
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: and he does have a veto proof veto on this.
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: I mean he's or rather he's got an override proof majority.
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: In the Senate. In the Senate, it he does.
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: In the House, they could vote to override, and it
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: looks like there is enough votes that would override it.
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: On the Senate side, there weren't enough yes votes on
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: the bill to override his veto, so the veto would
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: likely stand.
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: All right. Speaking of the governor, the Governor's talked about
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  Speaker 1: the budget he's proposed to budget a lot of moving
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: parts and all of that as well.
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and even before the budget proposal from the governor,
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  Speaker 2: one other unique item that the legislature has decided to
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: take up in this is the existing budget. They went
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: and overrode one of his line item vetos from the
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: current budget, and it involves some funding for legislative staffing
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: and things along those lines. But the Speaker has established
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: some budget working groups that he's empowered to look through
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: all of the Governor's light items from the existing budget
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: and determine if they're going to host EVE or hold
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: even more veto overrides votes in the coming weeks or
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: into the run up to the main session. The status
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: of the kind of shifting chairs on the deck of
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: the ship. Here, the dominoes, they continue to kind of
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: fall a little bit. So Ashley Moody is officially a
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: United States Senator. There is an acting Attorney general right now.
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: The governor has indicated he will appoint James Uthmeier, his
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: current chief of staff, as attorney General, but he has
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: not done that yet. I think it likely he wanted
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: James to help get him through this.
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  Speaker 1: He has that clear authority. There's no other steps needed,
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  Speaker 1: no other steps needed.
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  Speaker 2: He also indicated that he will name Jason Wada, who
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: is the current head of the Agency for Healthcare Administration,
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  Speaker 2: as his new chief of staff when James shifts.
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  Speaker 1: Over into the AG role CFO.
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  Speaker 2: So Jimmy Patronis won the primary for CD one, So
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  Speaker 2: I believe his resignation is effective at the end of
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  Speaker 2: the month, And so you've got done.
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  Speaker 1: Is the election for that seat? Oh? Is it April?
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  Speaker 2: It may be April, but I think the resigned to
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  Speaker 2: run rule has a has a quirk in the timing
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: or something like that. So the governor will have to
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: appoint someone as CFO as well.
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: Can it Is it safe to say it's likely not
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: going to be Joe Gruder's.
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: I don't necessarily think it would. I mean, just knowing personalities,
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  Speaker 2: I would be surprised if it were.
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: At this point.
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  Speaker 2: Okay, but you do have an indication from both Joe
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: and another state senator, Blazing Goolia, that they both plan
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: to run for it in two years regardless of who's nominated.
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  Speaker 1: Let's take take a look at the budget itself. Sure,
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  Speaker 1: what stands out?
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  Speaker 2: So the governor's budget proposal is one hundred and fifteen
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  Speaker 2: point six billion, and what stands out is that's a
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: sizable reduction from the current year's budget. So you've got
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: at largely the reductions are going to be in some
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: federal pass through dollars and things like that. But you
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  Speaker 2: do have a nine hundred million dollar reduction in the
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: general fund revenue. And that's that's sizable.
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  Speaker 1: But isn't that part of a reflection of a predicted
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: downturn in revenues that the state was going to receive.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, you do have the revenue Estimating Conference, which meets
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: regularly along with some other forecasting that says, you know,
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  Speaker 2: we've enjoyed a huge surge in revenues because of tourism,
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: in migration and whatnot, and that's going to slow down.
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: So the governor is, in my opinion, rightly kind of
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: concentrating on fiscal responsibility. And so you've got the general Fund.
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: He's kind of proposing a nine hundred million dollar decrease there.
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  Speaker 2: He is setting aside eight hundred and thirty million to
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: pay down some debt. The general fund cuts that he's
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: looking at about seven hundred and forty vacant state positions
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: that they can just eliminate. One thing that'll be notable
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: for Tallahassee reducing the overall state university system spending by
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: about two hundred million dollars total. But he does make
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: up for it in some other areas. Six hundred and
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  Speaker 2: nine million dollar increase in K twelve schools.
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: Is that is that pointed in any particular area in
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: K twelve? It's a good question. I don't know the
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: answer to that, but I'd be curious if they're looking
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: at it at being a little bit more robust in
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: their investment and embrace of vocational.
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: It could be the case I'd have to dive in
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: on the line items there, along with an additional half
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: a billion dollars to combat I legal immigration, three hundred
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: and sixty some million to protect the coastlines. But he
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: is increasing some of those sales tax holidays and some
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: other tax cuts along the way. He said he wants
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: the business rent tax to go to zero immediately, as
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: opposed to the glide path over several years. So bear
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: in mind this is just a proposal. The legislature has
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: the authority to submit their own budget to the governor,
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: which is what they do, so this is a part
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: of every year's process. The governor submits something it reflects
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: his priorities. The legislature then sends him something that takes
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: in some of those priorities, doesn't include others. And given
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: the drama, it's going to be intriguing to see how
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: that all lays out. Give some context to this budget
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: its size. Yeah, and this is one where I'm puzzled
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: by some of the legislative pronouncements about how Florida's government
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: wastes money. And this is something where I think it's
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: important to provide some context. Florida has the single leanest
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: state budget in the United States when you look at
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: it per capita, and so that one hundred and seventeen
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: eighteen billion dollars in the current year budget. The state
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: of New York, with about a million and a half
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: fewer residents than the state of Florida, their state budget
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: is two hundred and thirty seven billion dollars. So it
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: is more than double, more than double the size of
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: Florida with fewer residents. And that is an important context
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: as we begin to pick a part where the government
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: is spending money.
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: All Right, we've talked about the special session sort of
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: that wasn't so special. We've talked about the budget. But
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: now we get to the nitty gritty the special sessions.
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: In the rearview mirror, there may be something coming. But
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: now we get to the regular session in March. What
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: are we seeing.
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and a number of things are already coming out
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: of bill drafting, getting filed, getting numbered, and so a
• 14:50
  Speaker 2: couple of things that I think would be helpful to
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: unpack that speak to a lot of the big picture priorities.
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: You have a concert effort to take a look at
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: the property tax kind of issue within the state. And
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: we've talked about this in the past, where you can
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: own your home outright and if you do not pay
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: your property taxes, the government can put a lean on
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: your property and therefore, I mean, you really never own it.
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: And so there's a whole lot of kind of tentacles
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: to this, but one in particular that I think is
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: important to unpack from Blazing Goolia. He would like to
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: and he's working with someone in the House on this.
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: He's looking to file an amendment onto the ballot that
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: would up the homestead exemption to seventy five thousand dollars
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: of assessed value on the property. On the House side,
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: Ryan Chamberlain actually has a bill HB. Three point fifty
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: nine which would up the exemption to one hundred thousand dollars.
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: It would also cap property tax revenue growth at two
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: percent per year. And one of the things that he's claiming,
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: and he's got, you know, kind of the data to
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: back this up, is as our in migration and population
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: surges happen, you have property values going up a whole
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: lot as individuals move in, and some of that is
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: not ported in the way that individuals migrating from counting
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: to county can port homestead values. You have local governments
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: that have seen their revenues go up a whole lot,
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: and this is meant to be a check in balance
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: on local governments, and so they need to be managing
• 16:42
  Speaker 2: their own budgets effectively and providing the basket of services
• 16:46
  Speaker 2: that are required and not go off and pursue a
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: whole lot of the agenda that they tend to.
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: Is there any discussion on unelected groups having the authority
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: to tax.
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: And not that I've heard lately, but we do have
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: a few weeks to go before before bill filing.
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: I mean from a principal standpoint, that just seems to
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: run a foul of what makes sense to me.
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Florida has so many I think at one point
• 17:14
  Speaker 2: it was like over ten thousand special taxing districts that
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: are in place, and they run from everything like a
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: Community Reinvestment Act type of thing.
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: But all those are done through an elected body.
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: Well yes, in some cases, but in others there are
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: just these appointed bodies that are putting like the Children's
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: Services Council and all of those things. And I would
• 17:39
  Speaker 2: love to see some clarity and transparency and more accountability
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: and an effort to kind of rain those in.
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: But that's one.
• 17:47
  Speaker 2: The other thing that Blaze has got though, that I
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: want to point out is you have this situation with
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: a state senator down in the East Coast, Debbie Mayfield.
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: She was turned out.
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: She ran, wanted to run for the House instead of
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: the Senate because you've turned out of the Senate now,
• 18:04
  Speaker 2: she wanted to run for the Senate. The state Secretary
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: of State said you're disqualified because of term limits.
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: She's challenging that. So he's pointing to an.
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: Amendment to clarify term limits that would close it out
• 18:16
  Speaker 2: after sixteen total years in office.
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: And that's it. Four terms in the House and how
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: many terms in this set? Yeah, are the two year
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: terms two year term.
• 18:26
  Speaker 2: It's four year terms, but they're staggered. And if it
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: carries over reapportionment, you can get an extra two years
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: depending on when your term comes up. But sixteen years total.
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: That would be the amendment. And so I'm paying a
• 18:38
  Speaker 2: lot of attention to that.
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: The fund starts a month from now, roughly when the
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: legislative session begins. So we've talked about term limits, we've
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: talked about homestead exemptions and what they might look like.
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: What are some other bills floating.
• 18:53
  Speaker 2: Yeah, a few fun items that I'm going to be
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: paying attention to. Senator Nick de Segli has SB four
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: sixty two directing money from the public EV charging stations
• 19:04
  Speaker 2: to a fund that could be used specifically for roads
• 19:07
  Speaker 2: and infrastructure. And I don't own an EV, so I
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: didn't even realize this, but at a public charging station,
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: a lot of them, you have to pay and it's
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: like a time period is so that money, a portion
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: of that would go in to the fund for transportation,
• 19:24
  Speaker 2: because if you're not paying the gas tax, it's an
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: important thing because you are using the roads and you're.
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: The argument is that you are putting more burden on
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: the road because the vehicles are infinitely heavier.
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: Yes, there's a whole host of arguments, and even in
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: my days of JMI, we wrote about the need to
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: kind of do this, whether it's on miles traveled or
• 19:43
  Speaker 2: something along those lines. This would kind of skin that
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: cat in a different way ballot amendments. So the governor
• 19:50
  Speaker 2: didn't get his proposal hurt in the special session, but
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: I do expect this one to come back. He wants
• 19:54
  Speaker 2: to tighten up the rules on how signatures are gathered,
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: who can gather them, where they can be gathered, and
• 20:01
  Speaker 2: what the role of those individuals and organizations like the
• 20:05
  Speaker 2: Supreme Court Court are in reviewing the language. And one
• 20:10
  Speaker 2: in particular thing, one thing in particular he wants to
• 20:13
  Speaker 2: do is close the loophole on foreign nationals who are
• 20:18
  Speaker 2: able to give to a ballot amendment process. We had
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: I want to say it was thirteen or fourteen million
• 20:26
  Speaker 2: dollars in foreign money propping up amendments three and four
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: that would close out that loophole. Interesting from Joe Gruders,
• 20:36
  Speaker 2: you mentioned him earlier SB five forty six. He wants
• 20:38
  Speaker 2: to allow anyone with a medical marijuana card to get
• 20:42
  Speaker 2: a permit to grow their own to plants per person
• 20:46
  Speaker 2: out of public view, not accessible by children. But still
• 20:50
  Speaker 2: an interesting take in how that is laying out.
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: Is is there any discussion in committee about just the
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: public aspect of having to smell that crap?
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: Not that I've gotten wind of unintended lately, but I
• 21:11
  Speaker 2: could absolutely see that topic coming up, especially given the
• 21:18
  Speaker 2: fact that we fully expect that amendment to come.
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: Back in a ballot. Now they're already beginning they're.
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: Already beginning, which is also kind of prompting the governor
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: in wanting to make sure that we don't have a
• 21:32
  Speaker 2: replay of what happened where you have one company bankrolling
• 21:38
  Speaker 2: and engaging in a lot of potentially troublesome actions and
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: trying to get the amendment through that. You know, I
• 21:47
  Speaker 2: think that the Governor's proposals are kind of aligned with
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: trying to make sure that this process is transparent moving
• 21:55
  Speaker 2: into the next cycle. Lastly, lastly to appropriately, yeah, Toby
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: file to build a unbanned bump stocks and the Governor's
• 22:05
  Speaker 2: actually putting on a full push for a full open
• 22:09
  Speaker 2: carry bill to get to his desk. Now, the Senate
• 22:11
  Speaker 2: President has claimed law enforcement opposes that.
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: They don't, only the association does, and there's a distinction.
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: Well, yes, and I want to be very clear in
• 22:20
  Speaker 2: this because I looked it up. The Florida Sheriff's Association
• 22:23
  Speaker 2: has said recently they do not have a position on
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: anything right now. They will wait until language comes out
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: and then they will provide their perspective on it. But
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: historically they have been against full open carry.
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: But shouldn't it be distinguished that it's the association because
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: Wayne Ivy says the majority of sheriffs support it.
• 22:45
  Speaker 2: Yes, And Wayne Ivy has said that, and the governor
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: is also intimated that a large number of actual elected
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: sheriffs are in favor of this. So I expect this
• 22:56
  Speaker 2: to come out and in you know, the context of
• 22:58
  Speaker 2: all of the drama, it could hobble up a lot
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: more than it has in prior years.
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: But historically Second Amendment issues they go to the Senate
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: to die. Historically, that is correct. Cannot wait for March.
• 23:10
  Speaker 2: It's gonna be a far wilder ride than I had anticipated.
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: A month or two ago. Thanks for the time, always
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: a pleasure.