DeSantis praises sessionhanges, calls special session to finish Florida budget

Governor Ron DeSantis on Monday hailed several bills passed during Florida's 60-day legislative session and said he will call a special session to complete a budget the Legislature left unfinished. Speaking in Jacksonville, DeSantis credited lawmakers for measures on election security, education and consumer protections and warned against deep cuts to Everglades restoration.

DeSantis said Florida was an early adopter of reforms such as banning ballot harvesting and requiring photo identification at the polls, and he touted quick tabulation after elections, noting, "You had the results within 2 hours of the polls closing." He said the Legislature also approved a state version of the so-called Save America Act that tightens voter ID rules and excludes student IDs from acceptable identification.

The governor emphasized several other items he described as accomplishments this year: a provision that directs $1.38 billion specifically to teacher pay; protections preventing hyperscale data centers from shifting electric costs to residential ratepayers; new animal-welfare rules aimed at puppy mills; and bans on diversity-equity-inclusion programs in local governments and on carbon taxes at the state level.

DeSantis singled out Everglades restoration as a high priority and criticized a House proposal he said would reduce funding for that work by two-thirds: "Everglades restoration is the most significant environmental restoration project in American history," he said, urging no rollback while federal partners are aligned with the state.

Despite the bills DeSantis praised, the Legislature adjourned without finalizing the budget. "We are gonna be doing a special session on the budget," he said, adding that he had discussed timing with Senate President Ben Albritton and expected lawmakers to finish the work quickly.

DeSantis also discussed a prospective ballot initiative to shield homestead property from certain tax increases, describing it as a potentially "transformative" option that would go before voters rather than being enacted immediately. He said he and legislative leaders would devise the procedure before placing the issue on the ballot.

The governor closed by thanking local lawmakers and staff and urging prompt completion of the budget and continued work on the priorities he outlined. He did not announce specific dates for the special session or offer final language for the property-tax ballot proposal.