Latest / Conversations: Special Guests with Preston Scott / Florida's Future & The New Leadership Coming

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Florida's Future & The New Leadership Coming · Conversations: Special Guests with Preston Scott

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Here we go. It's the third hour. I literally have
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: just turned the rundown page over, and it's now the
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: third hour of the morning show with Preston Scott. Show 5686.
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: He's Jared. I'm Preston. And this is Sal Nuzzo. It's
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: been a minute. He is the executive director of Consumers Defense,
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: the website consumersdefense.com. Is it consumer? Consumers.
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: We defend more than one consumer.
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: I thought so. I thought so.
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: Occasionally we try to defend two.
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: How you been? Been good. How are you doing? Yeah.
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: At my age, I'm grateful. Yep. So we'll just stay there.
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: I ran into a state lawmaker yesterday. I said, what
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  Speaker 1: are your expectations with the leadership change that we haven't
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: had in eight years? We have not had new leadership
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  Speaker 1: in the House, the Senate, and... the governor's office in
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: eight years. I don't want to hear what he had
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: to say because I heard that. I want to hear
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  Speaker 1: what you have to say. What do you think?
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  Speaker 2: I think we are at the precipice of something very
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: monumental in terms of the volume of turnover that we're
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: going to have. To your point, we have not had
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  Speaker 2: this level of turnover since 2018. You have the governor
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: and lieutenant governor who will change. You have both the
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: attorney general and the CFO are running for their first
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: full term. Wilton Simpson, the ag commissioner, likely to win
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: a solid victory, would be the only kind of returning
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: full term cabinet member.
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  Speaker 1: You have the.
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  Speaker 2: Entire state legislature on the House side up for reelection.
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: and a class graduating. Because of term limits, we will
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: have a new freshman class in the 40 to 50
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  Speaker 2: plus new member category. You've got half of the state senate.
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  Speaker 2: In addition, we haven't even talked federal, you've got the
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: redistricted congressional lines, 27 I think we have. And then
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  Speaker 2: in addition, Ashley Moody appointed, running for a full term
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  Speaker 2: for the United States Senate. And this is super important,
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: particularly at the state level for two reasons. One is
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  Speaker 2: the policies and the other is the path. As I
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  Speaker 2: have argued on this show, and I say this in
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  Speaker 2: a lot of speaking engagements when I'm with state policymakers,
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: state legislative chambers, regardless of the state, are the single
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  Speaker 2: most impactful policymaking body on individual citizens' day-to-day lives, bar none.
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  Speaker 2: They are more impactful than Congress, than the president, than
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  Speaker 2: the U.S. Senate, than their local city and county commissions.
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  Speaker 2: They do more. They enact more. They govern more than
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  Speaker 2: any other policymaking body in the United States across the states.
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  Speaker 2: And the other part of this is the path. State
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: legislatures are frequently the farm team or the intermediary. So
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: they're receiving folks from city and county commissions who are
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: running for state legislative seats. And then they are the
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: farm team for many congressional seats that are out there.
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  Speaker 1: But as you said, and I think this is really
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  Speaker 1: important to residents of counties like Leon County and Gadsden
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  Speaker 1: County that are predominantly Democrat-run communities, the state puts guardrails
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: on what local elected bodies can do.
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  Speaker 2: They should. And what you have is a dynamic... where
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: particularly in Florida, because we have this amendment in the
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: state constitution regarding home rule, where there is this tension
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  Speaker 2: between what the states can preempt versus what the locals
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: can do on their own. It is a year-in, year-out
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  Speaker 2: debate and back and forth. I would argue as a Federalist,
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: full disclosure, I'm a Federalist at heart, so the states
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  Speaker 2: created the federal government, the states created the local governments,
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  Speaker 2: the state is supreme in policymaking.
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  Speaker 1: In 30 seconds, what are your personal expectations for the
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  Speaker 1: new leadership, given that we kind of have an idea
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: that it's going to be Republican controlled?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think we're likely going to maintain a supermajority
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: in both the state House and Senate. And I would
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  Speaker 2: see more than anything, I think the most tangible change
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: is going to be attitudinal. I think the last couple
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: of years have been a very big stressor. on the
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  Speaker 2: relationship between the cabinet officers and the legislative leadership, I
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  Speaker 2: think the biggest transformation and change is going to be
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  Speaker 2: in that regard. It's going to be a far smoother
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  Speaker 2: ride than we've had the last couple of years. More collegial.
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  Speaker 2: I would hope so. Sal Nuzzo with me once again.
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: For those of you that don't know, when the legislative
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: session hits, it's weekly. When it's not in session, we
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: go monthly and try to keep you up to date
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: on what's going on. We've got David Jolly, Byron Donalds,
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  Speaker 2: of course, a sitting U.S. congressman, David Jolly, a former
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  Speaker 2: congressman who has changed his allegiances, affiliations, and is the
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: candidate for the Democrat Party. Yeah, we've seen this story before,
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  Speaker 2: I think a few years ago, as a matter of fact. Yes,
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  Speaker 2: so Byron Donalds was a state house member, was elected
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  Speaker 2: to Congress, has been serving there, now running for governor,
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  Speaker 2: David Jolly. served in Congress, was a Republican under the
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: Charlie Crist years, turned over, became an anti-Trump conservative. Now
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  Speaker 2: he's a Democrat.
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  Speaker 1: So can I just take a moment and highlight that
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  Speaker 1: because he's running as a Republican, we're not hearing anything.
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  Speaker 1: And I'm refreshed by it. But broadly speaking, it's just
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  Speaker 1: interesting to me that none of the narrative about Congressman
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  Speaker 1: Donalds is that he would be the first black governor
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  Speaker 1: of the state of Florida.
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  Speaker 2: Isn't that an intriguing omission on the part of the
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  Speaker 2: left that champions DEI at every juncture possible, except when
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  Speaker 2: it's a conservative that would be hitting the milestone?
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  Speaker 1: And I watched an old interview with Morgan Freeman when
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  Speaker 1: he was asked about, you know, how about Barack Obama,
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: the first black president? He said he's not the first
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: black president. He's half black. He was very pragmatic about it.
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  Speaker 1: He said he's not. He's mixed. And here we have
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  Speaker 1: a black candidate for governor likely going to win. I
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: don't believe the polling that's out there. And there's nothing.
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and you mentioned the polling, and I think it's
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: important to come back to this, because right now the
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: polling that we're seeing, which was likely in the field
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: pre-Labor Day, so before everyone is paying attention, and is
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: almost exclusively, as I'm seeing, internal polling, has this race
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  Speaker 2: at nearly a dead heat. Now, in order for that
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  Speaker 2: polling to be accurate... roughly 1.5 million Republicans, registered Republicans
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: in this state, would need to be shifting, or I'm sorry,
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: let me back that up, roughly 750,000 registered Republicans in
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  Speaker 2: this state would have to flip their votes and vote
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  Speaker 2: for David Jolly over Byron Donald.
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  Speaker 1: And they would, in fact, have to be then somewhat
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: being misled by his former allegiance as a Republican, thinking that, oh,
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  Speaker 1: he's just a moderate Democrat, When in fact, David Jolly,
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: and I'll say to his credit, has been very forthcoming
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  Speaker 1: in being an extremist on the left. And he is
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: in recent ads that Donald's campaign is releasing are pointing
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: to the, you know, that very fact with visual interview.
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: I mean, they're showing clips of interviews and Jolly going
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: back and forth on abortion and other things. So is
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: property insurance like the big lift for the next governor?
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  Speaker 2: Well, right now, you would think that would be the
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: case because that seems to be taking up a whole
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: lot of oxygen in the back and forth between the candidates. Now,
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: the catalyst for that was David Jolly released what he
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: called his property insurance plan, which unfortunately or fortunately has
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: been examined in years prior when we had issues and
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: was completely... destroyed from an argument standpoint back about five,
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  Speaker 2: six years ago.
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  Speaker 1: In other words, been there, done that, and it doesn't work.
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  Speaker 2: Well, and we can talk in the next segment about
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: what the specifics of that are, why it's a bad
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: idea for Florida. In full disclosure, I have an op-ed
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: that went out last week in the free press kind
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: of talking through the plans so we can dive in
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: the weeds as we get ahead into the next segment
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: on what they're looking to do.
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  Speaker 1: This is the instrumental version of the property insurance blues. Because, look,
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: things are better. Your rates are coming down. But it
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: is going to always be a problem because, oh, by
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: the way, for those of you just moving here, you
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: moved to a peninsula. And although we have been hurricane-free
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: this year, which is lovely... It won't always be that way.
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  Speaker 1: We'll bet we'll be hit by storms.
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  Speaker 2: We are 1,300 miles of coastline jutting right out into
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  Speaker 2: Hurricane Alley. neither of which the geography or the weather
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: we have any control over. And the only thing we
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: do have control over, which we maintained some control, is
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: on our litigation environment in this arena. And that has
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: led to the precise point you made, which is that
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: rates have begun to come down. Now, if you remember
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: a couple of years back when Florida, three years back
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  Speaker 2: when Florida implemented those reforms, I said on this show,
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  Speaker 2: it will take at least two premium cycles for that
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  Speaker 2: reform to take hold. Lo and behold, we're in three.
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  Speaker 2: Rates are coming down. More insurers have entered the market,
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  Speaker 2: which brings us into the proposals.
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  Speaker 1: Well, and it's... It's validated and verified by the fact
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  Speaker 1: that citizens' property insurance, which used to be 15% of
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: the marketplace... now only has about 250,000 policies.
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  Speaker 2: Exactly. At its peak, it was close to, if not
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: just around, 1.5 million policies.
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  Speaker 1: And for those of you that don't know, citizens' property
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  Speaker 1: insurance is the state-run property insurance. We don't want them
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  Speaker 1: to have a bunch of policies.
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  Speaker 2: It is the insurer of last resort. And if we have,
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: because you and I remember, was it 2004?
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  Speaker 1: Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: The year of the four massive hurricanes, if we were
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: to have another 2004 and Citizens Property Insurance Corp. were 1.5
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  Speaker 2: million policyholders, we would have a case where every single
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: Floridian would be paying the socialized cost of the damage...
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  Speaker 2: because Citizens is ultimately a taxpayer-run organization. And they're allowed
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: to add to your premiums for others' damages. And that
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  Speaker 2: is how they maintain solvency, because they are a government-run
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  Speaker 2: insurance carrier. And so David Jolly, to bring this back
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: to the candidates, David Jolly wants to, in his proposal,
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  Speaker 2: offload hurricane insurance from private market providers onto citizens.
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  Speaker 1: That's just insane.
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  Speaker 2: Anybody in the state with a home would be able
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  Speaker 2: to purchase a policy from citizens solely for hurricane risk.
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  Speaker 2: What that would do is it would create the socialized
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: state of hurricane insurance in the state of Florida. Now,
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: we talk about Angie Nixon as the DSA candidate. This
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  Speaker 2: is literally a DSA proposal for insurance in the state.
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  Speaker 1: Byron Donalds?
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  Speaker 2: Byron Donalds wisely, in my opinion, is saying, look, the
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: legislature passed these reforms. We're beginning to see the market
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: have some downward pressure on prices. Yes, we still have
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: tort issues. There are still litigation issues that we could
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: work on on the margins, but largely we need to
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: stay the course here.
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  Speaker 1: Data centers, AI and data centers, they are They've become
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: the boogeyman out there, and I think wrongly so to
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: a large extent. We've got two minutes left in this segment.
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  Speaker 1: Where are the two candidates?
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: And I think what we may want to do is
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: kind of frame up where the AI debate is right
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: now and data centers are, and then kind of jump
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: in on them. Because to your point, there is a
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: lot of information, misinformation. A ton of myths. Well, and
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  Speaker 2: I would even argue deliberate psyops.
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  Speaker 1: Disinformation.
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  Speaker 2: Disinformation on this. And so a couple of weeks back,
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: This really kick-started and got on afterburners when a guy
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: left one of the major AI platforms and posted this
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  Speaker 2: thread about how he was scared for humanity. He quit.
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: It immediately went viral. And then all of a sudden,
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: everybody's antenna went up. And they were like, this just
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: seems way too coordinated and immediate. And the New York
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: Times came out with an op-ed. We talked about it.
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: Now you've got Netflix with a documentary on this. And
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: lo and behold, as they pulled back the onion on
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: this particular instance and circumstance, all of a sudden they
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: found all of the layers of coordinated disinformation and the
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: fact that both of the two major platforms clamoring for
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: government control of AI systems because humanity is going to
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: be destroyed if not. are the only ones who would
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: benefit from that government control.
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  Speaker 1: Anthropic and OpenAI.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, those two. It's a classic case of, I remember
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: this from econ courses in undergrad, regulatory capture. They lock
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: in themselves as the two dominant players eliminate their competition
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: through regulation, and they've used the very platforms to spread
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: the disinformation that leads into that.
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: 35 past the hour, having a very meaty discussion here
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: with Sal Nuzzo. We're talking about the governor's race and
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: its impact on Florida legislative priorities, and we were talking
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: about AI and data centers.
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and I think it's important to articulate something that
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: I mentioned in the break, but I think it's important
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: to be on air for. Two things can be true.
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: The two heads of the biggest AI platforms could be
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: bad actors engaged in disinformation for the purpose of regulatory
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: capture and all of the things that we articulated. And
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: at the same time, they could be partially, if not completely,
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: accurate in what they are stating. AI can and likely
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: does have a very dark downside to it that we
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: are beginning to see in various little examples and in
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: some not so little examples. And I mean, you've pointed
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: out a couple recently. I've come across a couple that
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: have been written on or posted on X and various things.
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: One thing in particular that I found just the other
• 16:22
  Speaker 2: day was This article that articulated how AI in the
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: healthcare space, on one side, hospitals are using AI to
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: scan all of their paperwork on patients and come up
• 16:37
  Speaker 2: with new billings that they can add in to bill
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: the insurance provider on things that potentially were missed. A
• 16:44
  Speaker 2: doctor didn't put something down, but they saw and AI
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: reviewed it. And they're coming up with millions and millions
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: of dollars in new billings for insurance carriers that they're
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: billing insurance providers. Meanwhile, meanwhile, on the insurance side, the
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: insurance providers are using AI to scan all of the,
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: all of the requests for billing or all the billings
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: to find ways to deny claims. So they're both using
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: AI to do the various bidding that they have in
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: the end. Health insurance and healthcare prices are spiking still.
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: And the patient is the only one not using AI
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: and getting caught in between in this tug of war.
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: So there is, it is a multi-headed Hydra. There are
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: bad actors in all types of spheres regarding this. And
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: I wrote this in a newsletter a couple of weeks back.
• 17:42
  Speaker 2: It's sad. And I think it's a, it may have
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: started with Watergate, but it really ramped up in COVID-19.
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: We just have.
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: This void of trust. I'm looking at this like, who
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: can I trust to provide objective information and viable policy
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: and regulatory paths moving forward? I don't trust anybody anymore,
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: and that is a very scary place to be, especially
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: if you're just a layperson not paying attention to policy.
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: As it relates to the gubernatorial candidates, what does David
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: Jolly propose on this topic?
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  Speaker 2: So David Jolly has publicly come out in support of
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: the Bernie Sanders proposal to basically have a federal moratorium
• 18:25
  Speaker 2: on AI advancement absent federal oversight and some kind of
• 18:32
  Speaker 2: governing body. It could be a It could be a
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: congressional group that's established. It could be an executive group
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: that's established. Bill Gates recently came out and said we
• 18:43
  Speaker 2: need some kind of international oversight board.
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: Do you think the CHICOMs and the Russians are doing that?
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: Absolutely not. And that is the salient point in all
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: of this, that geopolitically, and this is where I fall
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: on this. Ultimately, at the end of the day, I
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: think the term is real politic. It was coined by
• 19:06
  Speaker 2: Kissinger back in the day. We have to engage in
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: the world as it exists. And the world as it
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: exists includes the Chinese communists and the Russians who are
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: doing everything they can with technology to to infiltrate and
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: influence U.S.
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: Hegemony, U.S.
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: Super dominance in this arena to a negative degree. And
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: I think that should be the guiding principle behind what
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: we ultimately land on from a policy framework.
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: When you step back and you just look at how
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: the national narrative is filtering down, we comment here frequently
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: about how so many of the national issues don't really
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: belong in local elections, but we have local politicians in
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: communities near and far, certainly in Florida's capital city, trying
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: to nationalize their races.
• 20:04
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and this is one where I think many years ago,
• 20:08
  Speaker 2: was it Tip O'Neill in the Reagan days?
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: All politics are local.
• 20:11
  Speaker 2: All politics are local. Now it seems to be completely
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: flipped on its head. All politics are national. And to
• 20:17
  Speaker 2: that extent, you have circumstances like, I mean, we can
• 20:21
  Speaker 2: use Tallahassee because we're here, a deep, deep blue city
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: electorally in the middle of a deep, deep red state.
• 20:32
  Speaker 2: And that's pretty much understood. But that is an anomaly
• 20:36
  Speaker 2: of anomalies in this nation. I mean, Portland, Oregon, Seattle, Washington,
• 20:42
  Speaker 2: pick a city, California. Tallahassee could be socialist-run in a
• 20:49
  Speaker 2: matter of weeks. Absolutely.
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: In as red a state as there is in this country.
• 20:55
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and there are, to your point, there are only
• 20:57
  Speaker 2: a couple of other examples that I can think of,
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: one being Charleston, South Carolina, Deep Blue City.
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: Very red state. Didn't think of that. Austin, Texas.
• 21:08
  Speaker 2: Super deep, deep, deep blue. If anything, they are even
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: a little bit further to the left than Tallahassee is,
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: although I think Tallahassee may strive for that.
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: I think because of size alone. Yes.
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely. But to your point, yes, that is an anomaly.
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: And how that plays out is something that I see
• 21:28
  Speaker 2: when I look at Charleston or Austin. I fear for
• 21:32
  Speaker 2: what Tallahassee could do post-November if the, in our opinion,
• 21:38
  Speaker 2: the nightmare scenario were to pop where we have a
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: 4-1 situation. socialist majority. You can't even call it Democrat
• 21:47
  Speaker 2: because you currently have what would be considered a Democrat
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: majority on the city commission. It's 5-0. But you have
• 21:55
  Speaker 2: this intra-party conflict between the far, far, far left and
• 22:01
  Speaker 2: the center, moderate center left.
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: What are your thoughts on the whole property tax debate
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: and where this is going to end up? I'm shocked
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: that it's polling the way it is because there's nobody
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: really advocating for it.
• 22:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah, the only, in fact, I moderated a panel, a
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: virtual panel on this for a Jacksonville group just last night,
• 22:20
  Speaker 2: and it was all conservatives discussing it. And I believe
• 22:24
  Speaker 2: the Florida Realtors are the only organized group that have
• 22:28
  Speaker 2: come out with a defined ad buy in support of
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: Amendment 3. I think they put $ 10 million.
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: It'll help hold home sales.
• 22:35
  Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely. You can understand why the Florida Realtors would
• 22:39
  Speaker 2: be in favor of this. But on the other side
• 22:42
  Speaker 2: of this, traditionally Republican cohorts, the law enforcement community, a
• 22:48
  Speaker 2: number of other conservative groups have arguably come out against
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: the amendment from various angles. And so it's one where
• 22:58
  Speaker 2: if I were to predict it, I think it would
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: be a very close coin flip at the 60% range
• 23:05
  Speaker 2: right now. But between now and November, there's going to
• 23:09
  Speaker 2: be a flurry of negative ad buys on this one.
• 23:12
  Speaker 2: So it's arguably going to have an uphill battle.
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: I think it's important to point out that all of
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: the scare tactics that will be employed and have already
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: been partially employed opposing the property tax, well, I think
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: everyone would agree those that are proponents of it know
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: it's not perfect. We're going to step back and say, well,
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: there's legislative fixes to make sure that there's enough money
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: for communities. There are. There are.
• 23:35
  Speaker 2: If the amendment were to pass, it would have to
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: have implementing language that would put those guardrails. But a
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: member of the state house pointed something out that I'd forgotten.
• 23:46
  Speaker 2: In one year, the new governor and the speaker and
• 23:49
  Speaker 2: Senate president will name appointees to the Taxation and Budget
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: Reform Commission, which which meets every 20 years, which will
• 23:56
  Speaker 2: happen in 2028. And they can put things on the
• 24:00
  Speaker 2: ballot immediately without going through the legislature or the governor.
• 24:04
  Speaker 2: And should the amendment fail, that would be another crack
• 24:09
  Speaker 2: at achieving reform. So I had forgotten all about that.
• 24:14
  Speaker 2: It functions similar to the Constitutional Revision Commission, just in
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: 10-year increments there. And so that is another option for
• 24:23
  Speaker 2: folks who want reform to recognize.
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: Good to see you. Thanks for coming by. Always good
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: to be with you. Thank you. Sal Nuzzo, consumersdefense.com. That
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: is the website. He's the executive director and our guest
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: here on The Morning Show.