March 28, 2024

Politics

Florida's New Governor, Ron DeSantis

And now, the details: Here's what to expect from Florida's new governor

Jason Garcia | 12/27/2018

Health care

An important moment in DeSantis’ campaign for governor happened in June. Still trailing Putnam in polling and money, DeSantis stopped at an Orlando coffee shop to meet with state Rep. Jose Oliva, a Miami Lakes Republican slated to take over later in the year as Speaker of the Florida House. The two didn’t know each other well, and it was supposed to be a quick meeting; they ended up spending more than an hour together. A short time later, Oliva endorsed DeSantis — becoming by far the most powerful Florida politician to take DeSantis’ side in the GOP primary.

One of the things they bonded over? A distrust of hospitals.

Oliva has vowed to make hospital reform — specifically, eliminating the certificate-of-need regulatory process, which limits when and where medical facilities can be built — a centerpiece of his agenda as Speaker. And he expects DeSantis to be a key ally in that fight. Oliva says he has already spoken “at length” with the incoming governor about the issue.

“In the health care system, where regulation and monopolies have run rampant, he knows the solution is not spending more money — it’s figuring out a way to lower the cost of what we’re spending it on,” Oliva says. “I think you will see a great deal of action in trying to extricate government from the free market, and I think one way in health care is the tremendous regulation and government-granted monopolies that are given to hospitals.”

He’s not the only one who expects DeSantis to take sides in the battle to end certificates of need. The Florida Medical Association — which represents doctors and would love to see more hospitals and medical facilities open — also chose to endorse DeSantis in the primary. The doctors group was the first major business lobby to back DeSantis; it did so about a month after Oliva endorsed him.

The certificates-of-need fight already seems likely to become one of the biggest turf wars of the 2019 session, with the hospital-friendly Florida Senate expected to resist the legislation.

The certificate-of-need issue is not the only reason that hospitals are wary of DeSantis. The incoming governor says he also intends to push regulatory changes that would force hospitals to publicly post prices for various procedures. The “transparency” changes were begun under Rick Scott, over opposition from hospitals.

“What we would do with this information is try to enact some sort of right-to-buy, right-to-shop type of reforms,” DeSantis says. “Where people who have an insurance policy and are actively looking for the best deals, if they’re choosing deals that are cheaper than at other places, then they’re getting rebates.”

Economic development

DeSantis campaigned on the promise of continuing Scott’s economic policies, with general promises to continue reducing taxes, eliminating regulations and promoting Florida as a destination for business relocation and expansion. But he’s also a Freedom Caucus Republican who rose to prominence at a time when many conservative activists began condemning the use of economicdevelopment incentives.

During the campaign, DeSantis attended a Colorado retreat hosted by an organization established by the Koch brothers, who have been among the sharpest critics of “corporate welfare.” He was also endorsed in the primary by a Koch-backed super PAC.

Still, the new governor says he intends to make use of Enterprise Florida and public incentives as businessrecruitment tools. He says diversifying Florida’s economy beyond tourism and construction will be a priority, citing financial services, manufacturing and technology as sectors he expects to target.

“I see using Enterprise Florida as trying to recruit businesses, being ambassadors for Florida,” DeSantis says. “In terms of like an Amazon-type package, I’m not sure that’s necessarily the way we’re going to be able to do that. I do think there’s going to be some funding, but I think it’s going to be in the governor’s Job Growth Fund. We’ll use that.”

While DeSantis hasn’t fleshed out a detailed economic agenda yet, one specific policy he’s expected to pursue: Continuing to reduce the sales tax charged on commercial leases, a longstanding priority for the state’s business lobby, which has persuaded legislators to lower it from 6% to 5.7% in recent years. “We want to continue to chip away at that,” says Jeanette Nunez, DeSantis’ lieutenant governor. “I think the business community can certainly breathe a huge sigh of relief that we have a Gov. DeSantis instead of a Gov. Gillum,” Nunez adds. “They’re going to have a friend in him.”

Education

As they campaigned this fall, Nunez says she and DeSantis heard repeatedly from business owners who complained of being unable to find workers with the skills they need. “One of the things you hear is that Florida’s workforce is not up to par,” Nunez says.

That is at the root of DeSantis’ top education priority: Adding more career- specific training programs that ultimately better match graduating students with the needs of employers. DeSantis says he will propose changing Florida’s school-funding formulas to better incentivize things like vocational training and apprenticeship programs.

“We need to expand the number of industry certifications,” he says. “Particularly the high schools — they need to be working with the businesses in their area.”

DeSantis also says he wants to continue expanding the use of privateschool vouchers and other schoolchoice programs. He says he’ll call for more funding for the state’s Corporate Tax Credit Scholarship. More significantly, he says he wants the state to shift toward pure education savings accounts, in which parents are given a set amount of money for their child’s education and are free to use it however they see fit — whether at a different public school, a charter, a private school or for home schooling.

“That would really empower lowincome families,” he says.

Tags: Politics & Law, Government/Politics & Law

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