The art of distraction – as practiced by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis over the past four years:
1. On June 28, 2019, DeSantis signed a bill you probably heard a lot about at the time: SB 7066. That was the controversial elections bills that forced former felons to pay off all their fees and fines before they regained the right vote
tallahassee.com/story/news/201…
But that same day, DeSantis also signed HB 7127. That bill cut Florida's tax on corporate profits by $2.7 billion. It was the biggest tax cut of DeSantis’ first term – and it saved money ONLY for the top 1% of businesses. Small biz didn't save a dime
jasongarcia.substack.com/p/the-desantis…
2. On June 29, 2020, DeSantis held a press conference in Tallahassee to sign that year's state budget and announce $1 billion in budget vetoes. The budget signing and vetoes drew lots of media coverage around the state:
miamiherald.com/news/politics-…
2. That same day, DeSantis signed HB 1095. That bill forced out the state’s Public Counsel – the person who represents the public when power companies try to raise rates. Ousting the public counsel paved the way for FPL to raise rates by $5 billion.
jasongarcia.substack.com/p/how-ron-desa…
3. On April 19, 2021, DeSantis, flanked by a bunch of police officers in Polk County, signed HB 1. That was the “anti-riot” or “anti-protest” bill, and it increased penalties for acts of civil disobedience like blocking traffic.
wtsp.com/article/news/l…
Later that night – just before midnight – DeSantis also signed SB 50. SB 50 *increased* taxes on Florida consumers by more than $1 billion a year – and used all that money to cut more taxes for businesses.
jasongarcia.substack.com/p/in-his-first…
4. On June 29, 2021, DeSantis signed 94 bills. One of those bills was HB 241, the “Parents’ Bill of Rights” which was used as the basis for DeSantis’ executive order banning mandatory masks in schools (and was later expanded w/the “Don’t Say Gay” bill)
jdsupra.com/legalnews/cont…
Another of those bills was SB 1194, which wiped out a voter-approved referendum in Key West that had blocked big, environmentally destructive cruise ships from docking in the tiny barrier island town:
sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/…
By the way, DeSantis decided to overturn the will of Key West voters after taking $1 million from a developer and Key West pier operator who had opposed the referendum restricting cruise ships:
miamiherald.com/news/politics-…
For more on how all this works, check out Episode 1 of Seeking Rents – The Podcast:
jasongarcia.substack.com/p/podcast-ron-…
