After seven productive years in office, Ron DeSantis will give his final “State of the State” address as Florida governor on Tuesday morning at the Florida Capitol.
Mainly because he’s already achieved so much during his two terms in office, this session isn’t expected to be a legislative blockbuster — certainly, nothing along the lines of 2023, when the governor was coming off a 19-point re-election victory and was just a few months away from entering the 2024 presidential race. The Legislature enacted a smorgasbord of conservative policies. “I don’t know that there was any meat left on the bone after this legislative session,” DeSantis summarized afterward.
This year, two of the biggest issues he wants to tackle may not move at all before lawmakers gather for the traditional “sine die” hanky drop on Friday, March 13, ending the regular session.
The governor’s office declined to comment for this story.
Take his proposal to substantially reduce if not outright eliminate property taxes for homesteaded properties. Even DeSantis doesn’t want the Legislature to act yet.
“I don’t know that it necessarily is something that you do in the regular session,” DeSantis said last week during a press conference in Steinhatchee.
It wasn’t an off-the-cuff remark. Speaking in Jacksonville in October, the governor floated the idea that lawmakers could “potentially have a special session on property tax right in the middle of the Republican primary season in July or August.”
Senate President Ben Albritton appears in synch with the governor, saying last week that he was “certainly open” to addressing property taxes later in the year.
The House, led by Speaker Daniel Perez, has other ideas. Members have already held committee meetings advancing four joint resolutions that could end up on the ballot for voters to consider later this year. Tension between the two chambers on policy emerged last session, when Perez pushed for a permanent reduction in sales taxes but Albritton walked away from the deal after DeSantis said such a plan would be “dead on arrival.”
University of Central Florida political science professor Aubrey Jewett thinks the Republican Party ultimately will come together on a plan to reduce property taxes later this year.
“I think that tax cuts are still largely the glue that holds the Republican Party together, and so this thought of offering a big property tax cut in some ways will be a litmus test for Republicans,” Jewett told the Phoenix.
“It doesn’t matter if you’re a Trump Republican, if you’re a DeSantis Republican, if you’re a libertarian Republican — the thought is, you’re going to get behind this.”
DeSantis has already set aside $300 million in his proposed 2026-2027 state budget to support “ongoing policy considerations,” arguing any statewide property tax relief framework must be implemented in a “fiscally sound manner” for all of the state’s counties, including its 29 fiscally constrained counties.
DeSantis has already called a special legislative session for April to concentrate on redistricting Florida’s 28 congressional seats. Albritton has said that timing works for him, but the Florida House has already held two committee meetings on the issue — opening another fissure with the upper chamber.
“He’s now explicitly pointing toward an April special session after the regular session ends,” said former St. Petersburg Republican state Sen. Jeff Brandes, now president of the nonprofit Florida Policy Project, which he founded. “That tells you it’s not a side issue, it’s a priority with national implications.”
Democrats insist any redistricting plan would constitute an “illegal” gerrymander in violation of the Florida Constitution. The governor disagrees, maintaining the state “will be forced to do it” because of an expected U.S. Supreme Court ruling on the Voting Rights Act that could ban districts based on race.
One potential problem with that theory is the timing: DeSantis has called the special session for April 20-24. However, the high court might not rule until it concludes its annual term in late June.
One legislative proposal the governor has been pushing for hard is an AI “Bill of Rights” for Floridians regarding artificial intelligence, which among other things would ensure they don’t get hit with massive electric utility price increases to run AI data centers.
Even after Donald Trump signed an executive order to create a uniform national policy on AI to deter state-level regulations, DeSantis said it wouldn’t stop Florida. “You should read it and see. First of all, an executive order can’t block states,” he said last month. “You can preempt states under Article 1 powers through congressional legislation on certain issues, but you can’t do it through executive order.”
A proposal filed by in the House by Rep. Philip Griffitts Jr., R-Panama City Beach (HB 1007), would create a new regulatory framework for data centers.
Another bill (SB 482), sponsored in the Senate by Tom Leek, R-Ormond Beach, would create the “Artificial Intelligence Bill of Rights.” The legislation includes the right to pursue civil remedies against use of artificial intelligence to “slander, libel or defame.”
Another goal that DeSantis set forth months ago is to eliminate vaccine mandates from Florida statutes. The governor and Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo made the announcement in eastern Hillsborough County in September, before conferring with legislative leaders. Five months later, it’s not certain whether rank and file legislators have bought into the concept.
As of this past Friday, no bills had been filed by legislators addressing the issue. Legislation (HB 917) filed by Rep. Jeff Holcomb, R-Spring Hill, would require every licensed health care provider authorized to vaccinate children to advise parents and legal guardians of the “unique risks, benefits, safety, and efficacy of each vaccine included on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Child and Adolescent Immunization Schedule.”
DeSantis has boasted of his financial support for Everglades restoration and water projects during his tenure in Tallahassee. In his proposed 2026-2027 state budget, he recommends more than $810 million toward Everglades restoration on top of nearly $8 billion overall during his administration to that end.
However, construction of the immigrant detention facility known as “Alligator Alcatraz” atop a mostly idle airstrip in the Everglades prompted a federal lawsuit by environmental groups and the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians, who said it was constructed without environmental reviews as required under the National Environmental Policy Act.
A federal judge in Miami last summer ordered the facility to wind down operations but a federal appellate panel put a temporary hold on that decision.
DeSantis goes into this year with his political future uncertain. Whether he intends to run for president again, he’s certainly young enough (47) to try. Vice President J.D. Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio lead in most early GOP public-opinion surveys.
A Cabinet seat might be available in the second half of Donald Trump’s term — either at the Department of Defense, where public speculation suggested he might have subbed in for Pete Hegseth when his confirmation was looking fuzzy a year ago) or attorney general. And there’s always the possibility of a Supreme Court appointment.
UCF Professor Jewett thinks the congressional redistricting and property tax efforts indicate the governor wants to close his tenure with a bang.
“He can already take some credit with adding four more Republican seats [in the 2022 congressional redistricting.] Florida’s responsible for the current congressional majority and, by redistricting again, if he could get, two, three, four, and maybe five more seats — just really gerrymander like crazy — that could help his political future,” he said.
The bid for property tax reduction in particular would be a big-ticket win to take on the road for a future national candidacy, Jewitt said.
“If he could oversee the first state to actually eliminate property taxes for homeowners — all of those things are not just about policy, right? To me, they’re about him solidifying his legacy as a conservative governor who got a lot of things done and who has a future as a presidential candidate.”
DeSantis technically may be a “lame duck,” said Tara Newsom, a political science professor at St. Petersburg College, but his actions in recent months suggest he has a lot of juice left.
“Floridians and everyone else with their eyes on the White House are watching whether DeSantis can take on property tax reform and mid-decade redistricting. With the setting of the special session in April, it looks like he is still a force to watch,” she said.
“If I were advising him as a legacy play, I’d also put ‘pay down debt, build reserves, and keep the state’s balance sheet strong’ at the top of the list,” said Brandes. “Use this final year to bank wins that look responsible in hindsight, not just loud in the moment. In other words, a victory lap that doesn’t leave the next administration with a structural hangover. This is all setting up for a 2028 run for presidential run.”
Former Hillsborough County Republican Rep. Mike Beltran, who wasn’t shy in opposing DeSantis at times when he served in the Florida House from 2020-2024, believes DeSantis missed his best opportunity to stay active in federal politics when he opted not to appoint himself to succeed Marco Rubio in the U.S. Senate a year ago.
“He does these bold things like sacking [former Hillsborough County State Attorney] Andrew Warren, what he did with the congressional maps [in 2022]. Nobody thought we could have gotten a six-week abortion bill through in 2023. He does a lot of bold stuff — I thought he could sit around in the Senate, fundraise, hang out for 10-12 years and then make another run for president.”
Veteran political strategist Barry Edwards agrees. DeSantis’ decision not to appoint himself to succeed Rubio (instead of choosing Ashley Moody) will likely hurt his prospects for higher office, he said. He suggested the governor use his final last year in office to shore up relations with Republican lawmakers, who won’t be nearly as deferential to him once he signs his final budget later this year.
Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Michael Moline for questions: info@floridaphoenix.com.
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