The Florida Legislature rebukes DeSantis and calls its own special session

Florida legislative leaders quickly gaveled out a special session called by Governor Ron DeSantis Monday morning just moments after it opened, announcing they would be gaveling in their own later that day.

DeSantis called for the special session earlier this month to focus on supporting President Donald Trump’s undocumented immigrant crackdown. He announced several priorities in the following weeks and had several lawmakers file bills aligning with his policy vision.

Senate President Ben Albritton and House Speaker Daniel Perez weren’t having it.

"I believe Special Sessions should be used sparingly," Perez said during his address to the House. "They should not be stunts designed to generate headlines. I dislike Special Sessions because they inhibit the very thing the legislative process should encourage: the push and pull of meaningful conversations that lead to the development of good and better ideas. Special Sessions should be reserved for those issues that truly cannot be addressed in the normal course of the legislative process. Most of the issues raised in the proclamation for Special Session A simply do not meet that threshold," he said.

"We do not have choose between right now and getting it right."

In remarks to Senators Monday, Albritton also criticized several of the proposals DeSantis made, and sent thinly veiled barbs at him.

“As long as I have the honor to serve as your Senate President, I'm not going to sit idly by and allow anyone to ignore the constitutional authority the people of Florida have given the legislature to write the laws of this state. The Florida Legislature matters. Our opinions matter, our voices matter. The Florida Constitution says so, and more importantly, so do our constituents,” he said.

Instead, Albritton announced in front of Florida’s senators that he and Perez would be jointly calling their own special session starting the same day, with a bill sponsored by Sen. Joe Gruters, a close Trump ally who endorsed the president in his Republican presidential primary over DeSantis. That session will be focused on immigration, but will also overturn several line-item budget vetoes DeSantis made during the last legislative session.

Albritton said he trusts Trump’s leadership. He said the bills pursued in their special session were formed by reviewing President Trump's executive orders, guidance and clarification from his White House team, and the thoughts and feedback of many senators and leaders of the law enforcement community.

“Sometimes leadership isn't about being out front on an issue. It's actually about following the leader you trust. For my part, I trust President Trump,” he said.

Just 30 minutes later, the House and Senate gaveled in their own special session. Aside from immigration, they also revoked several of the line-item budget vetoes DeSantis made during the 2024 regular legislative session.

In announcing the veto overrides, Albritton said those vetoes included several things that prevented the legislature from doing its job. Among provisions vetoed were budget allocations for online services to make publicly information details about bills. The allocation was worth $57 million.

“Separation of powers exist for a reason,” he said.

DeSantis reacted to the legislature's actions in lengthy social media posts:

Republican State Sen. Blaise Ingoglia, a DeSantis ally who filed many of his bills, was the only one who voted against reversing the budget veto. He said he doesn't like how it went down.

"I would much rather we work in a collaborative effort in order to get things done. I think that the what the Governor has proposed and the bills that I have filed are are substantive, and they're going to do the job. So it's unfortunate that all those bills are dead now," he said.

Republican State Sen. Randy Fine is cosponsoring the bill legislative leaders are championing in their special session. He was critical of DeSantis calling his special session in the first place and praised the actions of legislative leaders.

"I'm very appreciative of what he had to say for standing up for the legislature and saying that we're not going to go along with these stunts, because that's all this was. Look, if the governor called a 30-day special session, starting on a week that we were going to be here to deal with these serious issues, I would have said it was worthy of consideration, but to call a five-day special session on four topics with no bill, and then not even send the call to the legislators, it was obvious that all this was was a stunt to get on Fox News," Fine said.

Democratic State Sen. Carlos Guillermo Smith said he's not sure the move will lead to any substantive policy changes, but did applaud the move.

"We're seeing the legislature reassert its independence from the executive branch finally, finally, after years of capitulating to everything that the governor wanted, and that's a big step. Yeah, it is a big step, and I applaud Speaker Perez and President Albritton for asserting that independence. Now the question is, are they going to use that newfound independence to actually lower costs and work for the people of Florida and keep us more safe?"

The Florida Legislature will likely pass its own bill Tuesday.