As Florida lawmakers negotiate the state budget, tensions are escalating between Gov. Ron DeSantis and House Speaker Daniel Perez.
During a press conference Thursday in Madison, Florida, Governor Ron DeSantis expressed his frustration with House Speaker Daniel Perez.
“He is not governing in the best interest of the people of the state of Florida. He has a personal agenda. He has other things that he's concerned about,” he said.
Those frustrations largely stem from Perez pushing back on several issues DeSantis has been championing.
During the special session for redistricting a few weeks ago, the House blocked DeSantis’ efforts to pass bills expanding vaccine exemptions for children and creating protections around the use of artificial intelligence.
Perez said during a press conference at the time he was uncomfortable with children going to school without measles, mumps, polio and chickenpox vaccines. He also said while he understands the need for AI regulation, he wants to leave that to the federal government.
“We have seen very clearly, the president of the United States issued an executive order stating that the federal government should take handle of the AI policies of this country, that this is a national security concern, that this is bigger than just one state or one part of the country,” he said.
Now, Perez’s chamber has continued to stand against DeSantis during the budgeting process. The House has for now blocked an almost $4 million spend on the Florida State Guard, one of DeSantis’ main asks.
Sean Foreman, a political science professor at Barry University, said public fighting to this degree between a speaker and governor from the same political party is unusual.
“Even if they don't like each other personally, you would expect they would temper their comments in public and at least give the appearance that they're working together and that the Republican Party is unified and that they have a common agenda for the state of Florida,” he said.
Beyond the budget, the two men along with Senate President Ben Albritton also have to work together on another issue state Republicans have messaged on: property tax relief.
While DeSantis has pushed for change hard and Perez’s chamber put out its own plans earlier this year. No final proposal has emerged.
To Foreman, the dysfunction has hurt the efforts to get it on the ballot.
“I think they've lost their leverage over this issue,” he said. “When it was first proposed, sounded great. Everybody wants to reduce or eliminate their property taxes, but now the proof is in the pudding. We don't have details, and I think they realize it's going to be hard to pull it off at this point, especially when the Governor and the Speaker are not on friendly terms.”
That’s come as local governments have opposed the property tax changes. Foreman said that has them unified to push back against anything that appears on the ballot.
“There are no Democrat potholes or Republican potholes, and as local governments have to deal with fixing the roads and keeping people safe, they don't care about the partisan fights in Tallahassee. They just want to make sure that their revenue streams are protected,” he said.
The Florida Secretary of State's certification deadline for ballot items is in late August 2026. DeSantis has pledged to call a special session for property taxes over the summer.
Any proposal that does make it to the ballot would still need approval from 60% of Florida voters in November.