DeSantis Signs 94 Laws, Vetoes 4 Others

[Charles Hunter]

The judge lifted the stay so SOEs can prepare for the August primary using the judge's districts - which are very similar to the existing lines. The Governor's office will appeal, and the various voting rights groups who filed the suit are petitioning to go directly to the Florida Supreme Court.
https://jaxtrib.org/2022/05/16/florida-judge-orders-officials-to-use-new-congressional-redistricting-map-florida-redistricting-lawsuit/?utm_source=The+Tributary&utm_campaign=f97a5c5aa3-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2022_05_17_06_04&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_7fb175aded-f97a5c5aa3-573209218&mc_cid=f97a5c5aa3&mc_eid=7d0bafa35c

A Tallahassee judge lifted a stay in a Florida redistricting lawsuit, ordering election officials to begin using a map that preserves a Black congressional district in North Florida.

The new map, drawn by a Harvard professor, only affects the North Florida congressional districts, re-instating a Duval-to-Gadsden 5th Congressional District to protect Black voters’ ability to elect their preferred candidates.

Circuit Judge J. Layne Smith ordered the new map last Wednesday, saying that he found “the enacted map is unconstitutional because it diminishes African Americans’ ability to elect candidates of their choice.”

“Fundamental constitutional rights are at stake and time is both short and of the essence,” Smith wrote in his order lifting the automatic stay. “There are no do-overs when it comes to elections; in essence, there is no remedy for a Florida voter once their constitutional rights have been infringed.”

“Here, the issue is the Legislature’s compliance with the state constitution—not some run-of-the-mill executive branch planning decision!” he wrote. “Thus, the Secretary of State is due no deference.”

[MusicMan]

Thank you.

On an unrelated/related note, the appojntment of Cord Byrd to SecofState is extremely alarming. He will be in charge of elections this Fall. He is a hard core, very right conservative, in a position whose very nature needs an individual who is above the fray.

According to AG Gancarski, "DeSantis wants a fighter in place. And if things get weird..., the Governor has his guy, someone who certainly not have gotten to this position any other way and therefore will demonstrate loyalty, and then some." 

He will also be in charge of the "election police". 

[Todd_Parker]

Thank you.

On an unrelated/related note, the appojntment of Cord Byrd to SecofState is extremely alarming. He will be in charge of elections this Fall. He is a hard core, very right conservative, in a position whose very nature needs an individual who is above the fray.

According to AG Gancarski, "DeSantis wants a fighter in place. And if things get weird..., the Governor has his guy, someone who certainly not have gotten to this position any other way and therefore will demonstrate loyalty, and then some." 

He will also be in charge of the "election police".

Republicans have been very successful in using lies about a ‘stolen election’ to put mechanisms in place to actually steal the next election.

Every accusation is an admission.

[BridgeTroll]

https://www.news4jax.com/news/local/2022/05/19/gov-desantis-signs-legislation-cracking-down-on-opioid-dealers-traffickers/

[jaxlongtimer]

DeSantis loses again in court.  Just wasting taxpayer dollars and avoiding the more serious issues this state should be working on.

An appeals court finds Florida's social media law unconstitutional

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — A Florida law intended to punish social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter is an unconstitutional violation of the First Amendment, a federal appeals court ruled Monday, dealing a major victory to companies who had been accused by GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis of discriminating against conservative thought.

A three-judge panel of the Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously concluded that it was overreach for DeSantis and the Republican-led Florida Legislature to tell the social media companies how to conduct their work under the Constitution's free speech guarantee.

"Put simply, with minor exceptions, the government can't tell a private person or entity what to say or how to say it," said Circuit Judge Kevin Newsom, an appointee of former President Donald Trump, in the opinion. "We hold that it is substantially likely that social media companies — even the biggest ones — are private actors whose rights the First Amendment protects."

The ruling upholds a similar decision by a Florida federal district judge on the law, which was signed by DeSantis in 2021. It was part of an overall conservative effort to portray social media companies as generally liberal in outlook and hostile to ideas outside of that viewpoint, especially from the political right....

https://www.npr.org/2022/05/23/1100831545/appeals-court-florida-social-media-law-unconstitutional-desantis

[jaxlongtimer]

Disney announces that they are now holding back moving 2,000 jobs to Florida until at least 2026.  Connect the dots .

Disney Delays Relocation of Thousands of Jobs to Florida Until 2026

Disney has pushed back the timeline to relocate thousands of jobs from California to Florida amid its fight over Florida’s so-called “Don’t Say Gay” bill.

The company’s timeline to move around 2,000 workers in its parks, experiences and products division — which includes a number of Imagineering workers, who are responsible for designing and engineering the company’s theme parks and rides — has been pushed to 2026, the company confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter on Wednesday. The Los Angeles Times had previously reported that the move was expected to take conclude by the end of 2022 or early 2023.

In a statement, Disney spokesperson Jacquee Wahler said that though “a growing number of employees” whose roles will ultimately be based at a campus in the Lake Nona region in Orlando have already made the move, “we also want to continue to provide flexibility to those relocating, especially given the anticipated completion date of the campus is now in 2026.” Wahler added, “Therefore, where possible, we are aligning the relocation period with the campus completion.”

The news arrives just a few months after Republican legislators in Florida passed a bill ending the company’s special purpose district in June 2023, which effectively allows Disney to self-govern on land occupied by the Walt Disney World Resort. In late April, that special purpose district, the Reedy Creek Improvement District, argued that Florida can’t dissolve the district until bond debt is paid off and that it “expects to explore its options while continuing its present operations.”

Disney has not filed a lawsuit, but in early May taxpayers who live near Walt Disney World sued Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for the move. A judge dismissed the taxpayer lawsuit in mid-May, but a similar case was refiled in May in state court.

Florida lawmakers’ action to end the district for Disney followed soon after the company took a stand in opposition to a Florida law banning discussion in the classroom of sexual orientation and gender from kindergarten through the third grade, and has been largely seen as retaliatory. Disney’s delay in making that statement caused its own internal issues, prompting employee organization and a walkout in late March. One of the demands of walkout organizers to Disney leadership to “regain the trust of the LGBTQIA+ community and employees” was to end “any efforts to move employees to Florida office locations, ensuring employee safety and employment retention.”

News first emerged of the relocation of Disney jobs in the parks, experiences and products division in the summer of 2021. The Orlando Sentinel has reported that Disney could receive $570 million in state tax breaks with the construction of its new campus in the Lake Nona region.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/disney-delays-relocation-thousands-jobs-2026-1235166514/

[MusicMan]

DeSantis always puts his base first, no matter the effect on the rest of us.   

[BridgeTroll]

DeSantis always puts his base first, no matter the effect on the rest of us.   

Pretty common trait amongst politicians...lol...

[jaxlongtimer]

To BrigdeTroll, showing my open mind, !

DeSantis vetoes this bill today and I agree with him:

— Allowed businesses that have been established for at least three years to sue local governments over ordinances if they cause a 15% or more loss in profit. If a business did sue a city or county, the ordinance would have been suspended until the case is settled. Judges would have had the option of requiring governments to pay the business’s legal fees if the court strikes down an ordinance.

https://news.yahoo.com/desantis-signs-nearly-3-dozen-164500967.html

He also approved a few bills I agree with, at least based on the superficial summary given.  Of course, most were "Mom and Apple Pie" issues that few would oppose (such as prohibiting someone sharing of an unauthorized sex video of others).

To be clear, DeSantis is nowhere close to winning me over otherwise.  Just noting a rare 5% of the time we might find common ground.

[BridgeTroll]

Lol… I doubt he is trying to win over you or even me at this point. While you may agree with 5-10% I am probably in the 30-40% but regardless… he has a base who elected him because of his “conservatism”. If I were still in Florida I probably would abstain from voting for a governor or write my wife in as I did for the past two presidential elections…