Florida lawmakers defy DeSantis in rift over state budget

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Once floated as the heir to Donald Trump’s GOP, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is used to getting his way in Tallahassee. He has wielded power like no other governor in the state’s recent history and enjoys a Republican supermajority in both chambers.

But as the governor approaches the end of his second term, that same supermajority is testing his power and checking his control over state spending and executive agencies, in a way DeSantis hasn't seen since he was elected in 2018.

For six years, DeSantis has kept lawmakers in line with his veto pen, bringing the statehouse’s then-leaders on stage in 2022 to stand behind him as he slashed $3 billion in the Legislature’s prized projects and smiled for the cameras.

“They may not be clapping about that,” DeSantis joked at the time, “but that’s just the way it goes.”

But when DeSantis returned to the Capitol for this year's session, he found an emboldened coequal branch of government willing to check and balance his power.

In recent weeks, Republicans and Democrats alike have grilled DeSantis administration officials on their spending, pushed legislation that would require agency heads live in the county where their department is headquartered, and advanced a proposal that would ban the use of state funds to advocate for or against a proposed constitutional amendment. That measure comes after DeSantis marshaled multiple state agencies to oppose two measures on the ballot in 2024 that would have legalized recreational marijuana and expanded abortion access.

Addressing his colleagues on the House floor Wednesday, Speaker Daniel Perez said “state government has a spending problem.”

“In the past, this House has justifiably called out local governments for misspending and mismanagement,” Perez said. “But we have been reluctant to turn our gaze on ourselves and hold state government to those same standards.”

Then, in another rebuke of DeSantis, the Florida House voted Wednesday to override the governor's vetoes of four items from last year's budget, totaling more than $5 million to help fund local water projects, a payroll system for state prisons and a program for veterans in crisis.

The veto overrides, which require a supermajority vote in both chambers, underscore lawmakers' willingness to push back against the popular Republican governor — and fiercely defend their own constitutional duty to craft the state's budget.

“This session, we have focused on restoring the institutional role of the Florida House of Representatives,” Perez said.

It is the second time that lawmakers have voted to override DeSantis' budget vetoes. The first came in January, when DeSantis called legislators back to the Capitol for a special session on immigration. In a bold act of defiance, lawmakers quickly tossed out the governor's proposals and laid out their own vision — and then voted to override his veto of $57 million for legislative support services, the first time in 15 years the Legislature had taken the move.

Republican state Rep. Michelle Salzman, who chaired one of the work groups overseeing the review of the governor's vetoes, called the process a “great opportunity."

“Many legislatures throughout America do this on a regular basis. So while it's something that we haven't done in a very, very, very long time, it's not something unique,” Salzman said. “It is the checks and balances of the government.”

Also on Wednesday, Perez announced a push that is expected to set up another clash between lawmakers and the governor. Perez is calling for the state to permanently lower its sales tax from 6% to 5.25%, at a time when DeSantis has been pushing to roll back the state's property taxes.

"We have forgotten a fundamental truth: this money isn't ours. Tax dollars don't belong to the government. They belong to the people," Perez said.

Democrats, who have long criticized the governor but are far outnumbered in the state Capitol, have cheered their Republican colleagues' willingness to exercise their independent authority in overriding the governor's vetoes.

“It’s great to see that the Legislature is flexing its coequal branch of government muscle,” Democratic state Rep. Kelly Skidmore told reporters.

The votes send a message to the governor, she said, “that you’re not in charge as much as you thought you were.”

___ Kate Payne is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.