Speaker Daniel Perez, R-Miami, delivers his speech during opening day ceremonies on January 13, 2026. | Florida House/Sarah Gray
Published on April 26, 2026 at 12:45 pm
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An old saying, attributed to various people over the years, is that democracy is two wolves and a lamb deciding what to have for dinner.
It comes to mind when examining the dynamic between the governor and the Florida Senate vis a vis the Florida House headed into this special legislative session, which essentially is the culmination of two years of GOP in-fighting that has frustrated Gov. Ron DeSantis in many ways.
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This week’s return to Tallahassee by legislators puts the House in a no-win situation, one in which it is essentially being compelled to enact the policy preference of DeSantis and his cudgels in the Senate.
On its surface, the special session appears to be about a trio of conservative priorities.
There’s the “bill of rights” about artificial intelligence being carried by Seminole County Republican Sen. Jason Brodeur, who is subbing for our neighbor, Sen. Tom Leek. It’s the same product the Senate passed and the House didn’t hear during the regular session, recall.
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DeSantis certainly won’t let people who listen to him forget, including locals who were tuned into his press conference last week.
“I know the Senate passed it overwhelmingly. It was not something that the House believed required their attention in the regular session. I don’t think that works with voters. I think voters are going to look and say, why are you siding with big tech against the people of this state, particularly on these things that are very common sense?” he said.
In his sales pitch, DeSantis noted the bill protects against big tech appropriating people’s name, image and likeness for AI purposes, against taking “intellectual property” and personal data, and offers guardrails against malevolent chatbots.
Those who believe he’s running for president in 2028 see this bill as essential to his hopes, as he attempts to stake out the tech-skeptic lane. Time will tell, but the House will have to take some position on it this week.
Another thing the House didn’t pick up is back: Jacksonville Republican Sen. Clay Yarborough’s “medical freedom” bill that wasn’t even that popular in the Senate.
Yarborough’s bill would ban officials from mandating shots during public health emergencies and open the door for parents to object to giving kids shots for diseases like measles on the basis of “conscience” in addition to religious conviction. It would also make ivermectin available without a prescription, albeit behind the pharmacy counter.
House Speaker Daniel Perez refused to put it on the floor, for reasons he never explained. Perhaps he should have explained them, since he and his colleagues are headed back to eat their spinach anyway.
“The Florida House passed something similar, in some respects, even more ambitious, the previous year. They didn’t get around to doing it this time. Well, now they have an opportunity to do it,” DeSantis said last week in Jacksonville.
He singled out House members on hand who he said would “want to be able to tell the voters we delivered on this.”
“I think it’s really important. I think people are going to be watching. You know, do you give a damn about your constituents or not? Uh, and none of this Kabuki Theater where one house passes it one year, the others do it now. ‘Oh, we don’t have time.’ No, you have time. You have an ability to do it, and so we have an opportunity to get that done,” he added.
Then there’s the congressional redistricting map, which the governor’s office took its time showing to the legislators expected to vote on it.
Never mind that data point after data point say Republicans should play defense with their current 20-8 map, legislators are headed back to town to vote on a map devised by the governor’s office to “fix” the one he drew just four years ago.
Democrats are licking their chops. Congressional Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries dares Florida to “(fool) around and find out” and pass a map that takes currently safe Republican seats and puts them into play for potential flips.
Some big players in the House tell me they are ready to gavel in, say, “YOLO,” and vote for the map.
This session resembles nothing so much as a three-in-one poison pill, where the House is expected to supplicate to the whims of the other branches.
It’s arguable that they shouldn’t.
Divided government is messy, sure. But it’s in that messiness that genuine debate is created.
It’s notable also that the Perez House is an unapologetic reversal of the Paul Renner era, which saw the speaker and the governor as a functional team.
While other Florida governors, such as Rick Scott, encountered a less-than-cooperative House at times, the complete 180 between the past and present speaker clearly has caught this governor flat-footed.
The sole drama of this special session is in what the House does. There’s not a tremendous amount of upside here for the chamber regardless. Unlike DeSantis, who commands attention from various sycophantic interviewers on the national stage, Perez has no such bully pulpit.
The metaphor that comes to mind is a game of poker. After two years of adversarial positioning, does Perez simply fold? Or does the House push back against the Senate and the governor yet again?
With leaders finally having agreed to allocations on the budget and setting a special session to approve a spending plan starting May 11, perhaps the brinksmanship is a thing of the past. But there’s still room for a surprise or two in the coming days.
