TALLAHASSEE, Fla.—Hurricane-force winds, torrential rain, and tornadoes pummeled the Florida Capitol and the rest of the panhandle on Jan. 9, but state senators and representatives braved the weather to commence the 2024 legislative session.
In the morning—in what was the only government building still open during the storm—they welcomed Gov. Ron DeSantis back into the House of Representatives to give his State of the State address in the final days before the Iowa Caucus.
“My message is simple,” he said to both chambers of the legislature. “Stay the course. The state of our state is strong. Let’s keep doing what works. Let’s continue to make Florida the envy of the nation.”
Mr. DeSantis recited the list of No. 1 rankings that his state has earned and credited the legislature for almost all of the state’s accomplishments both over the past year and his entire tenure—especially in how they contrast to the federal government and other states and cities across the country.
Those rankings, he said, included education and educational freedom, talent development, higher education, new business formation, GDP growth, and No. 1 for net domestic in-migration for the third consecutive year.
He also said Florida boasts millions of more residents, and more jobs—including manufacturing jobs—than New York, and a lower unemployment rate.
It is the lowest unemployment rate, he said, among all big states.
And while other states like California and Illinois continue to increase spending and run deficits in the tens of billions of dollars as crime runs “rampant,” Florida has a 50-year low crime rate while also having the lowest number of state employees per capita and the lowest cost per person.
“In this time for choosing, Florida has chosen well,” DeSantis said. “We have chosen facts over fear. Education over indoctrination. Law and order over rioting and disorder. Fiscal responsibility over debt and profligacy.
“Our choices have produced results that are second to none.”
He praised the legislature for making Florida “a refuge for freedom and sanity” through the policies they enacted.
Those policies, he said, included education reform, enacting pro-life policies prohibiting abortions after six weeks, allocating billions of dollars to environmental preservation and revitalization, and programs such as Hometown Heroes that make it easier for law enforcement officers to own their own homes.
“Here in the Sunshine State, we have delivered good government that protects liberty and maintains order,” he said.
Standing ovations among the supermajority-Republican legislature were common throughout the speech, but pre-recorded from House minority leader Fentrice Driskell and Senate minority leader Lauren Book shared Florida Democrats’ rebuttal to the speech.
They both criticized Mr. DeSantis for spending more time in Iowa and New Hampshire in the past year than in his state, and they made their case for the need to expand Medicaid, fight back against abortion restrictions, stand with “traditional” public schools and teacher unions, and reject education reforms.
“We aren’t making Florida less safe by rolling back gun safety laws,” said Ms. Driskell, criticizing the GOP’s focus. “We aren’t trying to hide a workplace shortage created by their bad policies by weakening child labor laws. We aren’t wasting time interfering with how parents raise their kids or limiting the books they can read.”
They also highlighted a need to make living in Florida more affordable.
“Despite our booming economy, the foundations of Florida are shaking,” said Ms. Book. “Our seniors—pillars of our communities, whose hard work and dedication have built Florida up to her former glory now face the real possibility of losing their homes.
More Support, Tax Cuts
Mr. DeSantis praised his state’s legislatures’ success in taking steps to increase affordability in homeownership and education for Floridians.He cited instances such as spending $3 billion over the past four years on raising teachers’ salaries, and instituting Hometown Heros and the Live Local Act which provides “record housing funding,” allowing “countless police officers [as well as other staples of the community like teachers and nurses] will now be able to live in the communities they serve.”
He also praised his state for providing education funding available through Bright Futures, and school choice programs.
Most recently, he said, Florida defeated the federal government and can now purchase less expensive drugs from Canada.
Other accomplishments noted by the governor included the passing of a digital bill of rights, working to bring more than 700 Floridians home from Israel after the Hamas terrorist attacks on Oct. 7, 2023, banning China from buying land in the state, and providing “hundreds of millions of dollars in relief for homeowners and instituted long-needed reforms that have, against all odds, attracted new insurance companies into Florida.”
He has also instructed Florida’s universities to waive minimum credit hours and application deadlines for transfers and provide in-state tuition to provide options to Jewish students who will be “returning to campuses that have condoned antisemitism.”
“Over the coming months, they will have a tough decision to make—pack up and leave or stay and endure continued hatred—and if they do decide to come to Florida, we will welcome them with open arms,” he said.
Mr. DeSantis is scheduled to meet former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley on CNN’s debate stage on Jan. 10.
Iowa’s first-in-the-nation caucus is set for Jan. 15.
