Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) holds a roundtable on property tax relief in Jacksonville, Florida.
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00:00Discussion that needs to happen in this state about providing property tax relief for Floridians.
00:07You know, we've got, if you think about how we're governed, we're ranked number one economy in the country
00:14two years in a row by both CNBC and U.S. News and World Report.
00:20We're ranked number one in higher education.
00:23We've been ranked either number one or number two in education for the last several years.
00:27Number one in education freedom. Number one in parent involvement in education.
00:32Crime rate is at a 50-year low.
00:35If you look at the, yet we're doing a lot of big things to help.
00:40I'll talk in a minute.
00:41But if you look at Florida's budget, we have millions of more people than New York does,
00:48and yet our budget is less than half the size of New York State.
00:51If you look at all the debt that the state of Florida accumulated over 180 years of its existence,
00:58just since I've been governor, we've retired 41 percent of that,
01:01and we have the lowest per capita debt in the entire United States amongst all 50 states.
01:07As a Floridian, your share of our state debt is about 400 bucks.
01:12As an American, your share of the national debt is $105,000 per citizen,
01:18and unfortunately that is going up.
01:21So we're doing right.
01:22And if you look at the size of state government,
01:25we have the lowest number of state employees per capita in the entire United States of America.
01:32And yet within that framework, I mean, would you,
01:37do you think that New York has better roads, schools, or services than we do?
01:41Of course not.
01:42If you look at what we've done just since I've been governor,
01:44we've done record-breaking support for transportation and infrastructure and roads and ports
01:52and all the things that are really important, particularly for a growing state.
01:55In fact, we've put billions and billions of dollars additional to front-load a lot of projects
02:01that weren't even scheduled to be completed or even started until next decade.
02:06Some of these things are going to be completed 15 years ahead of schedule.
02:09If you look at what we've done for conservation, we've established the Florida Wildlife Corridor.
02:14We've done Everglades restoration.
02:16We've done things for springs that no one thought was possible five or six years ago.
02:21And then if you look at education, we have universal school choice.
02:26We've done billions of dollars in increases for teacher salaries.
02:29We have the highest per-pupil spending that we've ever had.
02:33Now, that in and of itself, because you go look around the country, some of the places
02:36that have the worst results have massive high per pupil.
02:39It's a question of, is that going to bureaucracy and red tape, or is it actually making a difference
02:44with personnel and in the classroom?
02:47And we've really worked hard for the latter.
02:49So even as we're paying off debt, cutting billions of dollars in taxes, which we've done
02:55over the last six years, running big surpluses.
02:58You know, we've quadrupled the state's rainy day fund just since I've been governor.
03:03We're close to quadrupling it.
03:05That's not happening in many of these other states.
03:08So we're doing a lot of big things that I think people want to see the state do, while
03:13at the same time really maintaining something that is working very well.
03:18And I'm proud of that.
03:20And I'm proud that we don't have an income tax.
03:22And as long as I have anything to say about it, that will never happen in Florida.
03:25I'm also proud we've been able to cut a lot of taxes.
03:28But the number one thing in terms of tax is that people talk about is what's happened
03:34with property taxes.
03:36You know, if you go back five or six years ago, Florida was fine.
03:40But when COVID hit, we were open.
03:44Some of these states were closed.
03:45People flooded down here, and you had massive spike in real estate values, and which, you
03:52know, on the one hand, like you have your, you know, you have your home.
03:56That's your number one asset for many people.
03:59And, you know, if you bought it for $250,000 10 years ago, then all of a sudden, over a five
04:05year period, it triples in value.
04:07That for you is an asset if you eventually sell it that you would realize, you know, but
04:13with the increase in values, as people are buying homes in particular, you have higher
04:19tax basis to pay property taxes.
04:23And sometimes, like, you know, if a homestead is great, but the homestead is limited in
04:28terms of how much benefits you get.
04:30And so your property goes up three times.
04:32You're paying more.
04:33No question about it.
04:34Then if you have to buy a new home because you're, maybe your family's growing, maybe
04:39your job took you to a different city, you're locked in at a much higher tax basis right
04:45there.
04:45And that's really tough.
04:46And so it's like, you know, you have people, the median home price is 400 some thousand
04:50dollars, but the median income is like 75, $85,000 for a family.
04:55And so how does it work where you're having to pay 10 grand a year just in property taxes?
05:02And the thing about it is, this is supposed to be your private property, but yet you could
05:07own your home for 50 years, and you still got to pay the government just to live on your
05:12property.
05:13I mean, at some point, when do you own your property free and clear, or are you just always
05:18going to be paying rent to the government?
05:21So I think there's a philosophical debate that we need to have about property tax, but
05:26there's also just the practical debate.
05:28And this is not limited to Florida.
05:31If you look around the country, most of the people in this room, when you bought your first
05:35home, if you did a residential mortgage, you'd look and most of the money you would pay monthly
05:41would go to the principal and interest on the mortgage.
05:44Then you'd have some for insurance and some for taxes, but the principal and interest was
05:48always the biggest.
05:49Now, it's pretty standard across the country that the insurance plus principal and interest
05:55is more than what you're, or excuse me, the taxes plus principal and interest are more than
06:02what you pay on the balance of your home.
06:05You're paying tax, you're paying insurance, and then principal and interest is less than
06:10those two combined.
06:12And so this is difficult for people.
06:13So the tax, you know, we can't control the value of homes in the government.
06:18You wouldn't want us to try to do that.
06:20It wouldn't work.
06:22Insurance, we've done a lot of reforms.
06:24The market has stabilized.
06:25More companies are coming in.
06:26That's very, very tricky.
06:28When you've got six major hurricanes in seven years, our market is the most challenging in
06:33the country.
06:34Government can't just set a rate.
06:36If I could just say you pay a dollar a month, I would do that, right?
06:39But we know that everything would collapse.
06:41It's just not, it's a private market.
06:43But the tax is purely about government, right?
06:45Government can tax or not tax.
06:48We in Florida have the opportunity, even though this is a local issue mostly, to, you know,
06:54do constitutional protections.
06:56There are things we can do in Tallahassee working with the legislature, but I think it's
07:02just, you know, you get locked in, you should not be in a situation where you never have
07:07to give up your home because you can't afford the taxes.
07:11So I'm glad that we're here.
07:12We've got some great folks.
07:13We've got Senator Blaze Angolia, who represents a district north of Tampa Bay.
07:19Jordan Hooten is a realtor here in Jacksonville.
07:22Janelle Flynn is a local resident who's going to talk about this.
07:27But I just think that when you're looking at what can you do to, one, further the free
07:34state of Florida, two, what makes the most difference for Florida residents?
07:40When I became governor, it was typical that we'd get between 80 and 90 million visitors
07:45a year.
07:46That changed a lot over the last six years.
07:49Last year, we had 142 million visitors to the state.
07:52And you see it on the roads.
07:54You see it.
07:55I mean, there's some burdens that come with that.
07:58But, you know, we're fortunate that they pay tax for us.
08:03You know, they pay these sales taxes.
08:05They pay hotel taxes.
08:06They do all that.
08:07Florida first means I want that 142 million and the snowbirds who live here part time but
08:14aren't residents, the Canadians and all that.
08:16I want them to shoulder as much of the burden as possible.
08:19And I want to relieve burden on Florida residents.
08:22We are unique in this country in being able to do that even more so than we've done historically.
08:31And that would be a really, really good thing for so many families across the state of Florida.
08:35So this is something that when I said a couple months ago we want to do, obviously there's
08:41some things we can do at the state level.
08:44But structurally, if you look at Florida's constitution, this is a local.
08:49So your millage rate is not set by the state.
08:52What they do with the revenues coming in is done usually with city and county.
08:58But we have the ability, working with the legislature, to put initiatives on the ballot
09:03that will be able to allow you to vote for relief and for protection in this area.
09:10And I think it could be really, really exciting.
09:12But we need to have this debate.
09:13All your representatives need to know that this is something that you want to see, that
09:19it would make the state better.
09:20I think the economy would boom tremendously if we were able to do this.
09:25And it would really help people cope with, you know, we've seen a big increase in cost
09:29of living with all the inflation that's happened in the economy over the last three, four years.
09:34We don't know what's going to happen with that.
09:37You look at, you know, home values can kind of fluctuate.
09:40We've seen booms in markets.
09:41But then there's a correction.
09:43But who knows, right?
09:44You just don't know with all this stuff.
09:46And home ownership, I don't believe in, like, some of the programs that federal government
09:50did to, like, try to manufacture loans for people that couldn't afford to pay the loans.
09:55I think that led to some problems in the first decade of this century with the financial crisis
10:00and some of these mortgage-backed securities that were really built off a lot of bogus loans
10:04that should have never been issued.
10:06But at the same time, owning a home is a key portion of the American dream.
10:11We can't, you know, try to subsidize a loan or try to act like, you know, we can get you
10:16a mortgage when you can't afford it.
10:18But what we can do is say, you know, when you're doing that, when you're working hard,
10:22we want to relieve burdens on you.
10:24You know, we don't want you to be burdened down with having to pay all this tax, especially
10:29when we can collect that tax for people that don't even live here.
10:33And that, to me, would be a much better way to go about it.
10:36So I'm excited about the prospects of bringing some significant relief.
10:41It's all about Florida-focused, focus on our residents, put our residents first.
10:46And while we appreciate people that come and visit here, you know, I don't want to be cutting
10:51their taxes.
10:52I want to be cutting your taxes.
10:53Okay, Blaise Angolia.
11:00I'm sure the clapping was for him, not for me, but I appreciate that.
11:04Governor, I want to thank you for leading on this issue.
11:08You've been ahead on a lot of issues.
11:10This is just another one.
11:11Look, one of the reasons why the governor is proposing this and is talking about property
11:15tax relief is because he travels the state.
11:17He talks to a lot of people and he hears directly from his constituents that property taxes are
11:23an issue.
11:23I'm going to give you a little bit of background here.
11:25So in the last five years alone, local governments have taken in so much property tax revenue
11:32that their local budgets have expanded, increased anywhere between 60 to 120 percent.
11:38You know, I moved here from New York City.
11:41And as a lot of people move from northern states, fleeing lockdown states, they come down to the
11:45state of Florida because we are the free state of Florida.
11:47One of the reasons why they move out of those areas is because of high taxes.
11:52But now we're starting to get to the point here where our local governments, by not fixing
11:56their millage rate, not cutting their budgets, they just keep on collecting all of this tax revenue.
12:00We always say, don't New York our Florida.
12:02And we have to say this to our local governments.
12:05So just so everyone understands the context and why this is an important issue and why the
12:10governor has latched onto this issue, let's go through a little bit of the history of
12:14homestead in the state of Florida.
12:17We used to have a twenty five thousand dollar homestead exemption when that was originally
12:22enacted.
12:22That represented about thirty three percent of your value of your home.
12:26So thirty three percent was shielded from taxation.
12:30So in the two thousands, we saw an increase in property tax, an increase in home sales,
12:36increase in property values and a corresponding increase in taxes in the legislature's property
12:42taxes. The legislature's response was to give an additional homestead exemption.
12:46So what we have right now is the original twenty five thousand is exempt.
12:50The next twenty five thousand is taxed and the next twenty five thousand after that is exempt.
12:57But we hold the school board portion of those property taxes exempt from that taxation.
13:03So when you blend it all together, it's about thirty nine thousand dollars is what your current
13:08homestead exemption is. Years ago, it was thirty three percent with the thirty nine thousand dollar
13:14property homestead exemption. It represents about nine percent.
13:17So there's really no efficient way of shielding people from property taxes, but for property tax reform.
13:26And that's what the governor is proposing right now. He's proposing a two step program.
13:30One is to give people rebates off of their taxes right now and send rebate checks for people who've
13:37already sent in their tax bill. And that is just abide the time until 2026 so we can put a constitutional
13:43amendment on the ballot and offer people substantial tax tax exemptions, property tax homestead exemptions,
13:50because without that, governments are going to continue to grow unless an outside force comes in.
13:56And then this you guys, the voters would be the outside force, says stop spending.
14:00They will continue to spend. They will continue to grow their their their budget.
14:05So, Governor, I applaud you and I thank you for, again, leading on an issue that all of our constituents want.
14:11I've done we talked about this the other day. I did a some town hall, some speaking at some events in my district,
14:19in the villages and in Hernando County, about three hundred people there when I asked them to raise their hand,
14:24who want a property tax relief. Almost every single one did. So thank you for leading on this issue.
14:29Yeah, no, absolutely. OK, thanks for that. OK, Jordan, floor is yours.
14:37Now, he brought up a lot of the points that that I kind of put in my notes to talk about today.
14:42When you're when you're going to qualify for a loan, you know, they're calculating your mortgage rate.
14:48Well, you're your mortgage. What you can afford is based on your income and you can qualify based on a percentage of your income.
14:56But that rate, which we know interest rates are high right now, it's factored with property taxes, high insurance rate and your mortgage rate.
15:05So it's, you know, disqualifying people that would otherwise be able to buy that property.
15:10So you're eliminating people that could potentially otherwise buy.
15:15So that's for the standard homebuyer. And then, I mean, even with even with people that aren't homeowners, it actually affects.
15:22Because if there's, you know, if there's an investor that has a property that, let's say, the bill goes from five thousand to ten thousand dollars, he's going to pass that expense on to the tenant.
15:34You know, so you've got people that are living paycheck to paycheck that now their rent has to go up because the person that owns that property is not going to become unprofitable.
15:43So he's got to pass that along to the tenant and now they've got to pay a higher rent.
15:47So it's affecting them as well.
15:49Right. Okay. Janelle Flynn.
15:54Yes. Hello. Good morning. I'm a longtime resident here of Jacksonville, Florida, born and raised.
16:03A number of years ago, I found myself in a divorce situation and had to move out of the home I had lived in for 18 years.
16:12I was rented from 2015 and then had the opportunity to purchase my home in 22 at the age of 62.
16:25So I'm very proud of being a homeowner here in Jacksonville.
16:30But with the income that I do have coming in and all these taxes that are presented to me, it's very hard to maintain a lifestyle that you would like to lead.
16:46So I think the governor, what he's proposing is a wonderful thing.
16:53And I got my JEA bill in the other day and I'm kind of terrified to open it.
16:59So if anything you can do to help, especially the senior citizens here in this state with property taxes would definitely most be helpful to us.
17:11And thank you for your leadership here in Florida and thank you for caring about the citizens of the state of Florida.
17:19Absolutely.
17:22What's the real estate market look like here in northeast Florida right now?
17:26It's been a little slower at the beginning of the year.
17:28You're starting to see it pick up a little bit for sure.
17:32And is that pretty much just following the interest rate or what's the – what do you think?
17:36I think part of it's just seasonal, right?
17:38The beginning of the year is always a little slower and as you kick into spring and summer, it starts to pick up a little bit.
17:42Okay.
17:43And you live in what part of town?
17:46I live on the north side out by the zoo on Trout Railroad.
17:48Oh, okay.
17:50And Blaze, just in terms of overall, I know you're involved in home building.
17:57What are you seeing with the economy in Florida?
18:01Obviously, we hear these things the media talks about nationally.
18:04And then I'm always asking people, well, are you doing poorly?
18:08And they're like, no, we're doing good.
18:09But it's like, you know, it's an anecdote.
18:11Yeah.
18:12And thanks to your leadership and good long-term conservative leadership in the state of Florida, we're always situated better, right?
18:19No state income tax.
18:21The state is fiscally responsible.
18:22It is easy to open up a business here.
18:24So the state is in a much better situation, but specifically to real estate and property taxes, we are seeing a little bit of slowing.
18:33And some of those are macro issues.
18:34And to your point, some of those are macroeconomic issues.
18:37And some of those are issues where local governments are refusing to cut property taxes.
18:42So from a builder's standpoint, I do see people who try to qualify for homes.
18:47And then they see what the amount will be with their property taxes.
18:51And they're like, I'm sorry, we can't afford this.
18:52And they're usually either downsizing or they just don't become homeowners.
18:55Yeah.
18:56Well, you know, the thing about it is we obviously did much better in COVID than other states did.
19:02We have our economies grown more than every state in the country since I became governor, except Idaho barely beat us.
19:10But, you know, they have like two million people.
19:11So it's a lot easier to grow at a higher percentage when you're that small.
19:14We're there.
19:15We're in a different situation.
19:16And so we're really well situated to withstand whatever happens.
19:21But, you know, if you do have issues that happen, I mean, clearly we got hit with the inflation like every other state.
19:28I mean, when the federal government is borrowing and printing trillions of dollars, you know, you are going to have inflation.
19:34I mean, it's just that simple when you when you shut down supply chains like they did during COVID, that is going to cause disruptions.
19:41And so there is no way to avoid that.
19:43But we handled that better.
19:44And now you hear all these different things.
19:46The media is talking about recession, all this other stuff.
19:48And like, look, I don't know.
19:50But I do know we will weather it better than other states because we've made a lot of good decisions over the years.
19:56I mean, just think about rainy day fund.
19:59When I became governor, the rainy day fund was about one point six billion dollars.
20:03Now it's close to five billion dollars.
20:06And so, you know, they're during the Great Recession.
20:08The legislature and Blaze wasn't there yet.
20:11But and I wasn't around.
20:14But they even raised taxes because of the shortfall.
20:17They had like a one or two billion dollar, three billion dollar shortfall, something like that.
20:21Now, I'm not saying that'll happen in Florida.
20:23But when you have a rainy day fund, you simply just that's when you use the rainy day fund.
20:28Right.
20:28So so we're well positioned to be able to handle whatever comes our way.
20:32But I do think just preserving the viability of the American dream, making sure people can actually own their homes free and clear and not being in a situation where somebody just can't afford to keep paying taxes and could potentially lose their property.
20:49I mean, if we can get to that point where people are able to to prosper under those circumstances, I think it'll be really, really good for the state of Florida.
20:57So we've got a lot of work to do over the next, you know, particularly nine months as we get into next year and where this would ripen to be put on the ballot.
21:07But I think we're going to have an opportunity to give Floridians with a really, really great choice to make sure that the free state of Florida continues to live up to its reputation.
21:16OK, any questions back there?
21:19I do have a question about the allegedly illegal gun registry here in the city of Jacksonville.
21:23Should and could the mayor possibly face any consequences for this taking place under her nose for close to two years?
21:31Having a gun registry is unlawful and it is a violation of people's Second Amendment rights.
21:38There needs to be consequences for it.
21:41And I was surprised to see that that would happen.
21:44But our laws in Florida are very clear.
21:47Our Constitution is very clear.
21:50Doing these secret gun registries is completely unacceptable.
21:54And I know you have Republicans on the city council that are pursuing this.
21:59And I know others will likely pursue.
22:02But there will need to be accountability, absolutely.
22:06Yes, ma'am.
22:07Governor, should long-term homeowners eventually stop paying property tax entirely?
22:13Or is some level of ongoing tax favor?
22:16No, you should own your property free and clear.
22:19I think to say that someone that's been in their house for 35 years just has to keep ponying up money,
22:26that is not – you don't own your home if that's the case.
22:30So, yes, of course, I'd like to see people be able to owe free and clear.
22:35And it's interesting because it's like if I go to Best Buy and buy a flat-screen TV and put it on the wall,
22:42I've got to pay a sales tax on it, right?
22:44But I don't keep paying tax on it every year.
22:46I mean, it's just not – that's not how we do things.
22:49It's like, okay, if you're going to tax something, you tax it at the transaction
22:52and then let people actually enjoy their private property free and clear of the government.
23:00So that, I think, is the vision.
23:01That's the philosophical insight.
23:03And if you think about our founding fathers, when they were proposing the Constitution in one of the Federalist Papers,
23:10I think it was Hamilton, he's writing about – because, you know, there was opposition to the Constitution.
23:15They were making a more powerful federal government than under the Articles of Confederation,
23:20and people worried about taxation.
23:22And they didn't have, obviously, a 16th Amendment, which eventually came on income tax.
23:26But basically, you were not effectively allowed to do any direct taxation.
23:31It had to be indirect, meaning you couldn't just – I mean, you could theoretically just apply, like, a tax on land federally,
23:37but it'd have to be a portion among the states, so practically it could never work.
23:41So basically, Hamilton's saying, look, the indirect taxes are the most effective, efficient way to raise revenue for the government
23:49because they basically allow the individual to choose how much tax they want to pay based on how much they're consuming.
23:57And there's a security – there's a protection against excessive tax in that regard
24:02because if the government raises consumption tax too much, it kills the golden goose
24:07because then it causes people to stop purchasing as much.
24:11But he said taxing property is one of the worst forms of taxation
24:16because people don't have a choice in the matter,
24:18and you're just basically drilling these folks over and over again on tax.
24:23And so it's an issue that I think has pinched a lot of people,
24:27but philosophically it was not the way that the federal government was constructed.
24:33Now, I understand local, there was a history of it, and that's kind of been the norm.
24:38But, man, I mean, you talk about family of four having the median home price that is purchased in Florida.
24:45You know, that's a pretty hefty tax bill right there when you come in after buying a home,
24:50when you consider what the average income is throughout the United States of America.
24:54The math doesn't – it just doesn't add up, and I think that's why people want relief.
24:59Governor, do you have a timeline of what those – the tax rebate checks that could possibly go out?
25:04What does that look like?
25:06Well, our proposal was they would go out when the notices went out in November.
25:11So you'd get the notice, and then you'd get the rebate as well.
25:15And I actually had some of these Republicans in the leadership of the Florida House say that giving people a rebate on property taxes
25:26they are currently paying is the akin to, like, Gavin Newsom welfare program.
25:32What has happened to some of these people in the Republican Party that they would equate rebating taxes you have paid
25:42to somebody just getting a handout for doing nothing?
25:47But that's kind of the level that you've seen, unfortunately, take place in the Florida House of Representatives.
25:54And I don't know – I don't know if it's something in the water up there, but we've had – we've been the most successful state in the country
26:02for the last six years, obviously the number one rankings in so many things, number one in people moving here.
26:09Other Republican states, elected officials, have come to Florida to learn about the different things that we're doing
26:16across a whole variety of different issues, and yet you have the leadership there.
26:23They're trying to undo what we've done.
26:27They got elected running on our Florida First agenda, and then they're utilizing their power to sabotage that agenda.
26:38They did not get – first of all, they wouldn't have had a supermajority at all if it wasn't for me in 22.
26:44Let's just be clear about that.
26:45They would not have even come close to getting that.
26:48And so what have they done?
26:51Beginning of the year, I called a special session.
26:54I said President Trump's taking office.
26:56His number one promise was immigration enforcement and deportations.
27:01You can't do that with just federal resources given what Biden did.
27:06The state and local need to be on the team.
27:08So I called a special session.
27:10We had the strongest immigration enforcement package in the country.
27:14The leadership in the House rejected it.
27:17They said it was premature.
27:18They attacked me for proposing it.
27:21They got a lot of blowback from the constituents on that one.
27:24And so then they said, okay, well, we'll do one, but we're not going to do what the governor wants.
27:27So they did this piece of legislation, and they thought that voters would be dumb enough that if they just called it the Trump Act, that you wouldn't realize that it was actually going to make Florida a de facto sanctuary state.
27:39It eliminated all the current immigration enforcement we're already doing and that we even did under Biden.
27:45They eliminated them.
27:46They eliminated the governor from having any ability to enforce immigration law at all.
27:52Why would they do that?
27:55You know, they did it because this is what they do, right?
27:59And so they got backlash on that.
28:00So we finally got it across the finish line.
28:03And now if you look, of all the agencies, law enforcement agencies in the country, there's hundreds of them that have agreements with ICE for immigration enforcement.
28:14More than half of them are in Florida.
28:16In the entire country, more than half of that.
28:19That would not have happened had the leadership in the House got their way and killed immigration enforcement.
28:25And certainly if they were able to get away, you know, with making Florida a de facto sanctuary state.
28:32What else have they done?
28:33You know, we've worked hard to do tort reform and litigation reform because you could look at any metric.
28:40Florida, Floridians pay more for things as a result of our lawsuit culture.
28:46And we had one of the worst lawsuit cultures.
28:48And it's like, look, if someone harmed you, you have every right to go in.
28:50But what happens is these guys will sue everybody and just see what sticks.
28:55But even if you're 100 percent innocent, if someone sues you, it's expensive to be able to defend.
29:02And so you're able to manipulate the system and then extort settlements.
29:06And it causes costs to go up, insurance rates, prices, all that stuff.
29:09So we did major reforms.
29:12And since you've done major reforms, last year, after many years of increase, property insurance was stable.
29:18So far this year, the rates are stable.
29:21Auto insurance in Florida.
29:23This year, the major carrier's average decrease is 5 percent.
29:27It's not decreasing anywhere else.
29:29The only reason that's happening is because of the litigation reform.
29:32Well, the House of Representatives leadership, they didn't run on this, but they actually tried to repeal these reforms.
29:41And their own analysis in the bill said it would have caused insurance rates to go up 50 percent.
29:46Why would they do that?
29:48They didn't campaign on it.
29:49Well, it would benefit a lot of lawyers, and they're trying to benefit the lawyer class.
29:54You know, that is not what they ran on.
29:56And then you look at higher education.
29:58We've really worked hard in Florida to say our universities, there's no place for woke indoctrination.
30:07We want classical education.
30:09We're the first state in the country to eliminate DEI from our public universities.
30:14Now it's on the defensive.
30:16You know, I think the Trump administration's done admirable work to go against it.
30:20And now corporate America and the universities are backtracking.
30:24When we leaned in against DEI, we were going against the tide.
30:27I mean, it was sweeping, academia, corporate America.
30:30We dug in, and we fought back on that.
30:33We have in Florida, all tenured professors have to undergo review every five years and can be terminated for poor performance.
30:40I mean, so many of these professors, they get tenure, and rather than do research and teaching, they want to do political activism.
30:47Well, look, if that's what you want, go to Berkeley.
30:49We don't want that here on your dime, right?
30:51So we've done a lot to really draw a contrast with the Columbia universities and the Harvards in terms of their campus culture, their ideological extremism, and saying, you know what, parents?
31:05You're going to get a very rigorous, high-quality education, but it's going to be divorced from the woke agenda.
31:11And that's been very positive for us.
31:13And yet, the House of Representatives leadership put forth a bill that the House passed, it died in the Senate, to undo our anti-woke education reforms effectively.
31:27And I'm just thinking to myself, did any of these guys campaign on that?
31:30Is that what they told you they were going to do when they got in?
31:33And so I think you've had a lot of problems with truth in advertising here.
31:39Are you, when you run on a certain agenda and then you turn around and sabotage, you know, that's committing a fraud against the voters that put you there.
31:47They assumed power based on the good work of other people, not them.
31:53And they've assumed this power and this leadership, and they're weaponizing that against the voters that sent us there in the first place.
32:01And that's why they've had trouble.
32:03That's why it's been an ineffective run for them.
32:06They don't even have a budget.
32:07I mean, literally, the session ended.
32:11Since I've been governor, sometimes it goes a day or two to tie up the loose ends.
32:15They don't even have an agreement on what the level should be.
32:21They're not even close to any of this stuff.
32:23And I'm just thinking to myself, like, you know, you had a pretty good blueprint on how to just do effective conservative governance.
32:32And, you know, Blaze and a lot of his colleagues in the Senate, you know, have, I think, worked to continue the success.
32:37But for whatever reason, these guys, you know, in the leadership in the House, they just decided, you know, that they're going to, you know, try to pursue this.
32:46This really, I think it's like a foreign agenda to Florida in terms of Republicans and what we've done.
32:52This is not anything that people have been talking about.
32:54So let's make sure that you're informing your representatives that they need to be on your side.
33:04They need to be putting Floridians first.
33:06They need to be supporting conservative policy.
33:10They need to be supporting property tax relief.
33:12And particularly when that comes time to put it on the ballot, you know, now now is the time to really.
33:17And I just think that the sense I get when when people find out, because, you know, a lot of people don't follow what's going on in Tallahassee.
33:25And there's a lot of other stuff going on.
33:26And there's obviously a lot of stuff going on in Washington.
33:30And so a lot of times, but when they do see, they're really they're almost floored that this could be going on.
33:37They're just like, what?
33:38What the heck?
33:39Who do these people think they are?
33:41But the more you tell people, they're not OK.
33:44And I think the issue is, is so many people just thought Florida was on autopilot, like where this like super red state, you know, don't worry about it, all this.
33:53But it's like you have the biggest majorities in the Florida House we've ever had for Republicans.
33:58And yet the agenda has really been they've been more interested in throwing a lifeline to the left and attacking me than they have been in doing the work that you sent them there to do.
34:10So that's just wrong.
34:11That's not the way you do business.
34:13And but ultimately, the people have the power to to make sure this all gets right.
34:20Yeah, I want to piggyback on what the governor says, because this is a little frustrating.
34:23I'm a member of the Senate, and I will say that there's a lot of people in the Senate who agree with with the governor's positions.
34:30But we have a super majority in the legislature.
34:32I mean, it is an overwhelming super majority, and that is a mandate to not only continue to do what we're doing, but I would argue to put their foot on the gas and keep on doing it.
34:41And what a lot of policies that we see trying to get through that we do not agree with is trying to undo all of the work that we've already done.
34:49So I don't understand.
34:50There's a reason why everyone wants to move to the state of Florida.
34:53There's a reason why when I'm in a cab in another in another part of the country and they ask me where I'm from and I say I'm from Florida.
35:02It's like, oh, you got Ron DeSantis.
35:04There's a reason for that.
35:05So why we're trying to undo that, I don't understand.
35:08And another thing that I just don't understand is like we are the super majority.
35:11That means our ideological opposition is in the super minority.
35:15I mean, why are we taking and copying, pasting some of the stuff that the super majority is doing then regurgitating it as talking points against the agenda that all Floridians want?
35:24I just don't get it.
35:25It's very, very frustrating.
35:26Well, you know, so the House, because I wanted property taxed, the leadership, you know, said, oh, they're not going to do it.
35:32But I think a lot of citizens were like, well, why?
35:34Why not?
35:35Right?
35:36So the last day of the session, they convene a 37-person committee on property tax.
35:42And I'm just so first of all, like if you want to actually get something done, you wouldn't do a 37-person committee.
35:49You do a 37-person committee when you're trying to stop something from getting done.
35:53Let's just be clear about that.
35:55But put that aside.
35:56They stack the committee with very leftist Democrats.
36:01So you have basically this party is dead across the state of Florida.
36:05They have almost a three to one Republican majority.
36:08Why are you putting people on the committee who don't believe in property tax relief?
36:13You don't need to do that.
36:15And so that's a deliberate choice.
36:17So we're seeing this time and time again.
36:20And the issue is, is that's not what the people wanted.
36:24That's not what the people voted for.
36:26And ultimately, we're going to make sure that we continue to do the work that the people of Florida have sent us here to do.
36:33You guys can be a part of that by being very, I mean, obviously be polite and everything, but just being very frank with your representatives about what you want to see.
36:45Do you want to see Florida build off its success?
36:48Or do you want to hand a junta in the Florida House to sabotage that success?
36:56I think I know where most people are going to come down on that.
37:00Thanks, everybody.
37:01God bless.
37:01I appreciate you.