Black history showdown arrives, FPL power broker exits, legislative session agenda emerges

It’s Monday, Jan. 30, and this week is the start of Black History Month. It’s also either the beginning of the next chapter, or the end of the fight in Florida over the College Board’s new high school honors class on African American History. (We’re also awaiting New College’s newly-reconstituted board of directors which will meet this week for the first time.)

But first, let’s look ahead: Last weekend, former President Donald Trump kicked off his 2024 White House bid with stops in the early-voting states of New Hampshire and South Carolina. It’s too early for this to matter, but a recent University of New Hampshire Granite State poll of likely GOP primary voters found 42% prefer Gov. Ron DeSantis over Trump, who ranked second with 30%.

DeSantis leads in Granite State: New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu suggested in a CNN interview that he is considering a run for president. But even he emphasized that if the race were held today, DeSantis “would probably win New Hampshire right now, without a doubt.”

Trumps calls DeSantis ‘disloyal’: In an interview with the Associated Press, Trump made sure to disparage DeSantis on Saturday, suggesting that if Florida’s governor challenges Trump for the GOP nomination, “I do think it would be a great act of disloyalty because, you know, I got him in,’’ Trump said, referring to his 2018 endorsement of DeSantis that catapulted him to victory in the GOP primary. “He had no chance. His political life was over.”

DeSantis staffs up: The Washington Post reported that DeSantis’s political team is staffing up for a presidential race. It named two potential hires for early primary states: Phil Cox, a former executive director of the Republican Governors Association, and Generra Peck, a campaign manager for DeSantis’ re-election bid and one of the key organizers of his inauguration. The Hill reported that DeSantis super PAC, Ron to the Rescue, was collecting signatures at the New Hampshire GOP meeting on Saturday to start building a team of supporters.

In Miami, Suarez hints: After returning from the annual meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors in Washington, D.C., Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, who is the current president of the group, was ready with a quip for his State of the City address last week. “There’s only one job in America that would make you want to stay there long term,’’ he said of the nation’s capital. Speculation has been growing that he is mulling the idea of running for the GOP nomination for president. “I am considering it,” Suarez said after his speech.

WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT

FPL’s Silagy heads to the exit: After what his boss called a year of “distractions,” Florida Power & Light CEO Eric Silagy announced his retirement last week, following months of negative media reports about his secretive role in manipulating state and local campaigns. Reporting by the Miami Herald and other news organizations had revealed FPL’s efforts under his leadership to secretly bankroll a spoiler candidate in a Gainesville state Senate race and a Miami-Dade county commission race, secretly craft legislation to maintain FPL’s grip on the solar energy market, snap up a public utility in Jacksonville, push for rate increases on residential customers, tail a journalist it disliked using private investigators, and secretly take over a supposedly independent news website to attack critics.

The company denied there is any connection between a pending investigation before the Federal Elections Commission over some of the incidents, and Silagy’s retirement.

Seeks to increase bills: All this came the same week that FPL said it will ask regulators to allow it to collect $1.3 billion more from customers’ bills to recoup costs related to Hurricane Ian and Hurricane Nicole and to add $2.1 billion to bills to pay for the high cost of natural gas in 2022.

DeSantis’ race rage: With 2024 wind in his sails, it’s no wonder that DeSantis is firing some hot rounds. The lastest to draw national attention — the Florida Department of Education’s rejection of the pilot program for the Advanced Placement African American History course — has led to widespread criticism that Florida is attempting to turn the clock back on racial progress in the country.

DeSantis warns of ‘indoctrination’: On Monday as criticism mounted, DeSantis issued his first explanation for why the state rejected the course being taught in 60 high schools across the nation, including in Florida. He said the agency rejected the new Advanced Placement course because some of the topics attempted to use Black history to push a political agenda. He accused the College Board, which developed the curriculum, of attempting to indoctrinate students because the coursework addressed “queer theory,” discussions about abolishing prisons, and lessons on intersectionality — the concept that racism, sexism and classism can overlap to affect people in many ways.

Protesters gather at Philly event: Critics blasted the explanation and by Monday evening, as DeSantis arrived in Philadelphia to receive an award from the conservative and prestigious Union League, a squad of police cordoned off the perimeter of the building as more than 100 people protested his stance on race-related issues, including members of the League.

Changes released Feb. 1: On Tuesday, the College Board issued a statement saying that on Feb. 1, it would release the alterations it is recommending to the curriculum of the pilot AP class, which is uniform across the country. It did not say whether it would address the complaints of the DeSantis administration, or whether the changes would be the result of the teacher feedback the board has been receiving from educators across the country since March.

Illinois gov issues warning too: On Wednesday, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker sent a letter to the College Board urging it not to appease DeSantis and his “political grandstanding.” Pritzer, a Democrat who like DeSantis is considered a potential candidate for president in 2024, urged the board to “refuse to bow to political pressure.” He warned that his state would “not accept this watering down of history.”

Lawsuit threats: Finally, attorney Ben Crump and Black leaders from across the state gathered in Tallahassee to accuse the governor of trying to “eliminate Black studies,” and issued a warning: If state officials reject the final curriculum for the AP class, they have three high school students ready to sue the state to stop them.

DeSantis swings at RNC, misses: DeSantis entered the contest over who should be the next head of the Republican National Committee last week when he said in an interview that the party needs a change in leadership after a series of disappointing recent elections. Despite his endorsement of a rival to Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, McDaniel won a fourth term.

WHAT WE’RE WATCHING

Session priorities: The drip of legislation for the 60-day legislative session that begins March 7 has already started to emerge and we’re watching for education, criminal justice and housing issues to draw the most heat.

First up is education: Parents would have access to up to about $8,000 in state-funded vouchers to be used to pay for private school tuition and a wide variety of school-related expenses, under legislation being pushed by House Speaker Paul Renner, a Palm Coast Republican. Lawmakers have produced no price tag for the program but it is expected to cost Florida public schools between $600 million the first year to $4 billion within five years.

The program would also vastly expand the existing private school voucher program and significantly change the complexion of Florida’s public schools.

Union busting and bonuses: Another plan, to invest an extra $200 million annually toward salary increases for teachers, bringing the yearly total to $1 billion, comes with a catch. The bill, announced by the governor last week, also requires that teachers’ unions represent at least 60% of eligible employees and no longer be allowed to automatically deduct union dues from their paychecks.

Shortening school board terms: DeSantis also proposed reviving a years-long effort by Republicans to impose term limits on local school board members, a change that may not be constitutional. The governor said he’d also like to see a constitutional amendment that shortens terms from 12 to eight years and continues his effort to politicize school boards by allowing them to also be partisan positions.

Workforce housing hopes: Senate President Kathleen Passidomo, a Naples Republican, unveiled sweeping legislation last week aimed at bringing more affordable housing to workers so they can live where they are employed. The wide-ranging proposal (SB 102), dubbed the “Live Local Act,” would inject millions of new money into incentives for private investment and order revisions to local housing regulations to encourage mixed-use development in struggling commercial areas. But in areas facing soaring rents and scarce rental units, the measure would also preempt local rent controls.

Cracking down on hate: Legislators are ready to respond to the wave of antisemitic messages that have emerged across the state. They unveiled a plan last week to make it a felony to project antisemitic images onto buildings after an antisemitic message was projected onto a stadium after a college football game in Jacksonville.

Penalties for death, drugs and sex crimes: DeSantis announced he wants legisators to adopt proposals to expand the death penalty to certain types of sex crimes, mandate life sentences for people convicted of selling fentanyl that looks like candy, and, citing Nicholas Cruz, wants the state to remove the requirement of a supermajority vote to convict someone to death.

Cruz, convicted of the shooting spree that killed 17 and injured 17 others at Marjorie Stoneman Douglass High School in Parkland, was given life in prison after three out of 12 jurors voted against the death penalty. DeSantis said death penalty verdicts shouldn’t be “vetoed” by one juror, and said he preferred a super majority vote.

Not a likely priority — Medicaid: Although 900,000 Floridians are expected to lose medical coverage through the state’s Medicaid program beginning April 1, Florida’s Republican legislators are not likely to do much about it. More than 5.6 million Floridians receive Medicaid, a large share of them poor children. The rolls have swollen by nearly 1.8 million people since 2020, when the federal government paid states extra money to keep people covered during the pandemic even if they were no longer eligible. When the federal government ends the emergency coverage, one in 22 Floridians are expected to lose health insurance.

Medicaid expansion would draw down additional federal dollars to pay for the uninsured under the federal Affordable Care Act. But the GOP-led Legislature opposes the cost it will add to the state. Florida is one of only 11 states not to take advantage of the explansion program.

Record enrollment for Obamacare: Florida may on paper be a red state, but residents are breaking records when it comes to signing up for Obamacare, the federal health insurance exchange Republicans vigorously opposed. Florida had the highest number of people in the country applying for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act during the open enrollment period, which began Nov. 1 and ended on Jan. 15, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services reported last week.

With more than 3.2 million people enrolling, Florida’s residents comprised 20 percent of the country’s total. As the third most populous state, Florida accounts for only about 7 percent of the U.S. population. The increase, 19% over last year’s open enrollment numbers, is even high for Florida.

Abortion ruling? Legislators say they need to wait for the Florida Supreme Court to rule on the challenge to the state’s ban on abortions after 15-weeks of gestation before they take up any new legislation. A ruling doesn’t look like it’s coming any time soon, however. The Florida Supreme Court last week rejected requests to halt the law but agreed to hear the case and gave both sides months to complete their briefing schedule.

Shielding books: Meanwhile, across the state, classrooms continue to feel the impact of the governor’s culture wars. “Farewell, classroom library,” said one Manatee County teacher as schools were told to cover the books normally made available to students in their classrooms to avoid violating a new law that requires all reading material in classrooms and libraries to be approved by each district. The county is relying heavily on volunteers to vet books and get approved titles back on classroom shelves.

New College gets Rufo visit: The newly-appointed Board of Directors of New College will meet for the first time on Tuesday and the school last week got a preview of what’s to come. In an unusual visit to the campus of the Sarasota-based college, two of the six people appointed by the governor told faculty and students they have a mandate to rescue an institution they described as failing and in need of a turnaround. Christopher Rufo, a conservative journalist and commentator, called himself “a drastic solution to a crisis.” He was accompanied by Jason “Eddie” Speir, the founder and superintendent of a private Christian high school in Bradenton. They were greeted by skeptical students and wary staff.

Bail plan backfires: Before Miami-Dade County could get its plan off the ground to allow certain low-level offenders to be released from jail without posting bond or seeing a judge, some cities announced they would preemptively oppose the idea. The proposal under development by the Public Defender’s Office, the State Attorney’s Office, the Miami-Dade Homeless Trust and Miami-Dade Corrections and Rehabilitation would use computer software to help determine whether people arrested for certain low-level crimes could be released immediately.

But hours after DeSantis announced in his news conference that he would block “rogue” judges pursuing bail reform, leaders of Miami-Dade County’s justice system announced they would delay new rules to make it easier for people with low incomes to leave jail while they await trial.

Nursing scam: Florida has a massive nursing shortage. Now it has a massive nursing scam. Federal agents last week arrested about 25 suspects in South Florida and accused them of selling fabricated nursing degrees to thousands of students who then used the bogus diplomas to take licensing exams in several states, including Florida, New York, New Jersey and Texas.

State ‘cherry picked’ transgender data: An email from an analyst with the Agency for Health Care Administration said that Florida did not “present an honest and accurate assessment” of available research on treatment for gender dysphoria when it blocked Medicaid from covering the treatment, according to documents that emerged as part of a lawsuit from groups suing the state for discriminating against transgender individuals.. The analyst accused the state’s final report of “cherry picking data.”

DeSantis read study wrong: As he proposed to extend the state’s ban on mandates for COVID vaccines and face masks last week, DeSantis lobbed a flurry of criticism at President Joe Biden and “the medical establishment” and then suggested the bivalent booster is ‘more likely’ to cause COVID infections. Several scientists and one of the researchers that wrote the study told PolitiFact they disagreed. DeSantis’ “statement is incorrect,” said one expert. “That conclusion cannot be drawn from that study, and the authors state that it is not designed to evaluate that association.”

Confederate monument vote delayed: The Manatee County Board of Commissioners was poised to decide whether to restore a Confederate monument to downtown Bradenton on Tuesday but the vote, expected to unleash a fury of backlash, has been postponed. First installed in 1924, the 22-foot-tall memorial featured the names of Confederate leaders, including Stonewall Jackson, Robert E. Lee and Jefferson Davis. It stood for decades outside the historic courthouse when the commission voted to remove it on 2017 following a wave of protests.

Commissioner fined for vaccine favoritism: Manatee County Commissioner Vanessa Baugh organized a February 2021 COVID-19 vaccine event featuring DeSantis at two exclusive communities with large Republican constituencies. Guest would get early access to the limited vaccine doses, even though more than 100,000 people were on the county waiting list. County staff said Baugh also put herself on the list to be among the recipients of the vaccine.

The Manatee County Sheriff’s Office conducted an investigation and concluded that although Baugh “clearly” attempted to benefit from the event, she did not commit a crime. The case was referred to the Florida Commission on Ethics. On Friday, the commission ordered Baugh to pay a $8,000 fine and accept a public reprimand from the nine-member county commission.

Political ousting? “Come to your own conclusions,” said Broward County School Superintendent Vickie Cartwright after the school board unanimously voted to part ways with her by mutual agreement last week. The vote ended a three-month saga that included the board scolding her in October, dismissing her in November and rehiring her in December.

Penalties against guns laws stand: In a case stemming from the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, the Florida Supreme Court last week rejected a challenge to a state law that threatens stiff penalties if local officials pass gun-related regulations. The 5-1 ruling was a blow to 33 cities and counties and dozens of local officials who argued that penalties in the 2011 law were unconstitutional. It was a victory for state Republican leaders and Second Amendment advocates such as the National Rifle Association.

Comments lead to café closing: Fox News analyst Gianno Caldwell was booted from Paradis Books and Bread in North Miami last week after cafe workers said they found his loud comments troubling. The dispute between the cafe owners, which is Black-and-women-owned, and Caldwell incited such a deluge of online harassment that the café said it would shut down operations until next month. According to the cafe’s statement, Caldwell and others in his party spoke about “women in degrading ways” and used “eugenic arguments around their thoughts on Roe v. Wade.”

Freeing fresh water: The latest step in righting the wrongs done to the Everglades centuries ago kicked off last week with shovelfuls of ceremonial dirt flung into the air. The South Florida Water Management District announced a new project to uncork the flow of much-needed freshwater south, into the thirsty Florida Bay, by cutting holes into a long abandoned highway winding through Everglades National Park.

Coast Guard says migration plan is working: The United States has a mass migration plan in place in Florida to address migrant surge, the head of the Coast Guard for the seventh district told the Miami Herald. The Coast Guard had been making between 100 to 200 repatriations a day, the official said, but problems over the holidays occurred because the Cuban government temporarily stopped taking migrants back. The Task Force has interdicted 1,445 people between Dec. 30, 2022, and Jan. 2. State and federal officials said last week there are signs the exodus is slowing.

Crypto giant’s celebrity debt: FTX, the crypto giant that became a massive Ponzi scheme and has left billions of dollars in losses, owes money to a scores of local businesses and individuals all over South Florida, according to new federal bankruptcy court records. The company’s potential creditors include South Beach restaurant Carbone and LIV nightclub, charities belonging to Miami Heat star Udonis Haslem and Baptist Health South Florida, as well as law firms and financial institutions.

Head to the Frost: Take a walk into history this month at Miami’s Frost Art Museum as it presents An Elegy to Rosewood, an exhibit that commemorates the 100-year anniversary of the massacre.

Miami Herald Capitol Bureau Chief Mary Ellen Klas curates the Politics and Policy in the Sunshine State newsletter. We appreciate our readers, and if you have any ideas or suggestions, please drop me a note at meklas@miamiherald.com.

Please subscribe! Know someone who’d like to get this free newsletter? Send this to a friend to receive it weekly.