Florida began its 60-day legislative session this week as Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis addressed the GOP-led Legislature in his highly anticipatedspeech, which has been widely viewed as an indicator of how he might promote himself as a potential 2024 Republican presidential nominee.
Here are some of the biggest takeaways from what DeSantis is proposing and their implications for Florida, and how the legislation might reflect his potential agenda should he enter the 2024 race.Just minutes before DeSantis addressed the Legislature on March 7, state Republicans filed bills to ban abortions after six weeks of pregnancy.
“This ban would prevent not just the nearly 4 million Florida women of reproductive age from accessing abortion care after six weeks, but would also impact the nearly 15 million women of reproductive age who live in states across the South with abortion bans and would no longer be able to rely on Florida as an option to access care. We know that these bans are already having a devastating impact on women's health,” Jean-Pierre said.said he would approve a so-called heartbeat bill.
“Given overlapping logistical hurdles — including potentially long wait times for an appointment and two in-person trips with a 24-hour waiting period as is required in Florida — getting an in-state abortion may be impossible to achieve,” the organization said.Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed HB 7, known as the Stop Woke bill, in Hialeah Gardens, Florida, on April 22, 2022.
DeSantis has touted the proposal as acting in the name of academic freedom and has said the initiatives drain resources and drive up costs. Under his proposal, there would be mandated courses in Western civilization and the protections of tenure would be limited. Currently, Florida has a universal income and disability-based voucher system in which only certain people qualify for vouchers. The income is capped at 375% of the federal poverty level, which is about $112,000 for a family of four.