FROM THE DESK OF CHAIRMAN JOE GRUTERS
We’ve all watched the riots, looting, violence and general lawlessness that was allowed to overrun major U.S. cities in 2020. It destroyed communities, was unnecessary and hijacked the peaceful demonstrations that were happening. The peaceful demonstrations represent a deeply held American value, enshrined and protected in the First Amendment under “the right of the people peaceably to assemble.”
Rioting, looting and violence are not peaceful and should never have been tolerated. Florida cities did an admirable job in keeping the peace last year, and now the Legislature and Governor Ron DeSantis have strengthened their position, making it clear in law that Florida simply will not tolerate lawless destruction, nor will we tolerate the people’s right to peacefully assemble to be hijacked by bad actors. There will be consequences.
Governor DeSantis signed into law anti-rioting legislation passed by Republicans in the Legislature that takes the needed steps to uphold the rule of law and defend communities, protecting the cherished Constitutionally protected right to peaceful protests and at the same time standing with those serving in law enforcement. Florida has a zero-tolerance policy for violent and disorderly assemblies and this law puts more strength behind that commitment.
“If you look at the breadth of this particular piece of legislation, it is the strongest anti-rioting, pro-law enforcement piece of legislation in the country. There’s just nothing even close,” the Governor said at a press conference.
Governor DeSantis was joined by law enforcement leaders and other officials who widely support this law, also known as the Combating Public Disorder Act.
Watch Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd on Tucker Carlson’s show explaining that Florida will not allow lawlessness in the streets.
Florida Update
The Florida House passed a bill giving Florida the largest expansion in school choice in the nation — maintaining Florida’s position as a leader in schooling options for parents and students. HB 7045 expands the Family Empowerment Scholarship Program, providing more students with more options on where to attend school.
“This bipartisan legislation provides the largest expansion of school choice programs in our nation’s history, giving our parents and students more options than ever on where to get a quality K-12 education,” Speaker Chris Sprowls said. “Florida’s families will have more choice and more flexibility in where they can send their children to school if sweeping legislation passed in the Florida House today becomes law.”
House Bill 7045, sponsored by Rep. Randy Fine, passed by a vote of 79-36. It expands school choice to allow a family of four earning less than $100,000 to receive full funding of K-12 education costs at a school of their choice under an expansion of the Family Empowerment Scholarship Program. It expands eligibility to children who are not enrolled in a public school, to children of parents serving in the military or those who are adopted and siblings of those already receiving school choice scholarships.
“It’s going to make more children eligible for school choice, it’s going to provide them with more money for their school choice options and it is going to provide more flexibility in how they take advantage of those options,” Fine said.
Florida Republicans have modernized the state’s sales tax system to have online sellers who make a substantial number of remote sales into Florida collect Florida’s sales tax. The new law passed by the Legislature and signed by Governor DeSantis puts Florida retailers on an equal footing with out-of-state retailers.
The actual sales tax for online purchases has been in place for decades, but online sellers were not required by law to collect them. It was voluntary, unlike brick and mortar stores. Florida was one of only two states that did not mandate online retailers collect this tax. Now we do.
This has been an issue of fundamental unfairness for retailers in Florida who must charge the tax while competing for sales with online sellers who do not have to do so.
At the same time, the new law cuts the business rental tax from 5.5 percent to 2 percent. Florida is the only state in the country that levies a sales tax on the commercial use of another person’s real property. Over the last four years, the Florida Legislature has reduced the state tax portion of the business rental tax from 6 percent to 5.5 percent. This rate reduction will occur two months after the State’s Unemployment Compensation Trust Fund is replenished to pre-pandemic levels.
ATTORNEY GENERAL ASHLEY MOODY
Attorney General Ashley Moody is demanding President Joe Biden allow public access to every meeting of the Presidential Commission on the U.S. Supreme Court. According to news reports, the Commission will examine expanding the nation’s highest court — a political power grab known as court packing.
Attorney General Moody sent a letter to President Biden reminding the president that all meetings of the newly created advisory commission must be open to the public in accordance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act, U.S.C. app. 2 § 10(a)(1).
“The potential political takeover of our courts is a threat to the foundation of our system of government and the separation of powers instilled in our Constitution. As Florida’s Attorney General, I will do everything in my power to stand against President Biden’s radical power grab,” Attorney General Moody said.
Florida’s Ron DeSantis: GOP ‘Cannot Be Wedded to Corporate America’
Corporations' War Against Conservatives
