Infighting Among Repbulicans in the Forida House Fails to Protect Kids

The article below is from Florida Citizens Alliance.

Infighting over the budget is also main reason why special session was called.

FL Legislative session for 2025 will prove even worse than failed 2024 session thanks to FL House Speaker Perez and Senate President Albritton along with Senate Rules Committee led by last year’s Senate President Passidomo who killed the top 10 Legislative priority bills in 2024.

This year, they really went after Gov DeSantis’s anti-woke agenda as well as his original support for Trump’s immigration plan producing a very flawed “Trump Act” (Tackling and Reforming Unlawful Migration Policy Act) which did nothing to stop illegals from registering for and voting in elections nor assisting with Trump’s deportation efforts not to mention a $600M price tag including 80 new LE officers for RINO Wilton Simpson’s Ag, Dept, allegedly to “secure FL’s borders” rather than being assigned to DeSantis’s existing election crimes unit.

Bills which favor pro development (in face of lagging infrastructure) and declining rural areas have also passed. Follow the money.

Take a look at the Florida Tracking Report for major 2025 Legislature Bills.

Recommend you take a look at the Republican Liberty Caucuses (RLC) Freedom Index Report for 2025 when it comes out. It will show this session results even worse than in 2024.

Florida Citizens Alliance

Infighting Among The Three Branches in Florida Derail Legislative Session

Infighting among the House, the Senate, and the Governor derailed what could have been a successful legislative session in protecting children’s mental health. Many of FLCA’s priority bills that would have taken steps to empower parents, teachers, and students were also stalled on the Senate Side due to this infighting. Some examples of this were HB 1505/SB 1288 and HB 1539/SB 1692. An important bill amendment that would have taught human fetal development education starting in middle grades was also removed last second by Senator Calatayud (R-Miami Dade) on HB 1255.

Each Branch played a role in this fight, where major priorities for leadership were also stalled. It is truly amazing how all three branches snatched defeat from so many recent years of “Florida First”!

We achieved victories such as the stoppage of multiple bills that would have had bad outcomes and rolling back important steps we have taken over the past several years to protect children and drive better learning outcomes. An example of a bill we were able to successfully stop was SB 370 and HB 219, which would have required certain health screenings for students without parental approval.

Another victory we had was the passage of SB 7016, which changes the rules related to petition gathering for constitutional amendments. This bill will have a long-lasting impact on protecting our constitutional amendment process from bad actors who have taken advantage of it over the past few election cycles.

Also, while typically not in our education or child-focused lane, we also saw the passage of the gold and silver bills that passed both chambers.

For more information on the legislative session, please watch out for our first legislative scorecard. We will be releasing our scorecard early this summer.

Ryan Kennedy

Director of Policy and Advocacy

©2025 Royal A. Brown III. All rights reseerved.