Florida Politics
Andrade: Legislature Fixed DeSantis’ Flawed Property Tax Plan—And Killed His Ad Campaign
State Rep. Alex Andrade breaks down Day 1 of the special session—what got saved, what got cut, and why lawmakers rejected a $5.5 million gubernatorial advertising blitz.
Florida lawmakers convened Monday for a special session to take up Governor Ron DeSantis’ homestead exemption and property tax proposal.
- By the end of Day 1, the legislature had already rewritten significant portions of it. State Rep. Alex Andrade (R-Pensacola) joined We Don’t Color on the Dog Tuesday morning to explain what changed, what was stripped out, and why he’s comfortable putting the question directly to voters.
Schools Protected, Permitted Uses Expanded
The first major change came at the Senate’s urging, with the House quickly agreeing: school districts will be held harmless under the amended proposal. Andrade explained that the original plan would have threatened local school budgets that depend on ad valorem revenue.
“School’s budgets should not be affected now, at least as far as however much they’re funded by ad valorem taxes.”
Lawmakers also broadened what ad valorem revenues can legally be used for—a significant fix to what Andrade called an unintentional flaw in the governor’s original draft. The revised language allows ad valorem funds to cover constitutional officer salaries and includes a catch-all provision permitting their use for anything a constitutional officer determines serves the municipality or county, so long as it isn’t prohibited by general law.
- “We essentially removed ad valorem from like a restricted fund, which was what the governor’s proposal unintentionally tried to do,” Andrade said.
Trust Fund Eliminated—’Poorly Thought Out’
A provision establishing a trust fund to compensate local governments for lost revenue was axed entirely. Andrade was blunt about why.
“There was no funding mechanism, and there were no guardrails at all. It was essentially the legislature is gonna bail out local governments based on a plan that the legislature will create at some point, we guess.”
Legislature Rejects $5.5 Million Ad Campaign
Perhaps the sharpest exchange of the session involved DeSantis’ request that the legislature appropriate $5.5 million for him to advertise the plan to homeowners. Andrade said the governor also asked lawmakers to waive restrictions passed last year—restrictions enacted specifically in response to his office illegally diverting millions in state funds to campaign against constitutional amendments in 2024.
Context: Andrade noted the advertising would have targeted only homeowners who’d benefit from lower property taxes—deliberately excluding renters, disabled veterans, and others who qualify for existing exemptions and who could face higher costs if the proposal passes.
“The only people that would be campaigned to would be the people who would pay less in property taxes and not everyone else who’d potentially be paying more if this proposal passes,” he said. The legislature said no.
Andrade: Let the Voters Decide
On the broader question of whether Florida should reduce or eliminate property taxes, Andrade said he believes voters deserve to weigh in directly—and that he’s heard inklings that some Republicans are quietly working to kill the proposal altogether, despite publicly supporting it.
“Whether or not it passes in November is up to the voters,” he said. “I don’t think that the government should be putting its thumb on the scale.”
