Weekly Roundup: Entering the Home Stretch
By Ryan Dailey,The News Service of Florida
TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Ron DeSantis this week signed one of his priorities and turned up the heat in his feud with Mickey Mouse, as the Legislature enters the home stretch of the 2023 session.
DeSantis signed a bill Thursday that eliminated a requirement for unanimous jury recommendations before judges can impose death sentences, with the change taking effect immediately. The House voted 80-30 to pass the bill last week, after it was approved by the Senate in a 29-10 vote on March 30.
The bill (SB 450) emerged after Nikolas Cruz last year received a life sentence in the 2018 shooting deaths of 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland. The life sentence came after a jury did not did not unanimously recommend death.
The new law will allow death sentences to be imposed after recommendations from eight of 12 jurors. In touting the legislation, DeSantis pointed to Cruz avoiding the death penalty.
“I’m proud to sign legislation that will prevent families from having to endure what the Parkland families have and ensure proper justice will be served in the state of Florida,” the governor said.
The measure represents a change only to sentencing and leaves what is known as the “guilt phase” of murder cases untouched. Juries will still have to be unanimous in finding defendants guilty before sentencing would begin.
Opponents of the measure have questioned its constitutionality and cited a history of Florida Death Row inmates being exonerated after evidence emerged in their cases.
Sen. Darryl Rouson, D-St. Petersburg, argued last month that “unanimity is the right balance when death is the final penalty.”
“It’s hard to reverse an execution, and I think the current state of the law is sufficient,” Rouson said.
Lawmakers approved the unanimous-jury requirement in 2017 in response to rulings by the Florida Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court. The Florida Supreme Court reversed course in 2020 and said unanimous jury recommendations were not needed, but the unanimous requirement stayed in state law.
COMING DOWN THE PIKE
Another significant death-penalty change could be coming after the Senate this week passed a bill (HB 1297) that would allow death sentences for people who commit sexual batteries on children under age 12.
DeSantis has backed the change as speculation builds that he is gearing up for a 2024 presidential run.
But the bill is at odds with legal precedent from the U.S. Supreme Court and Florida Supreme Court, which have blocked executing rapists. The U.S. Supreme Court in 2008 issued a key ruling known as Kennedy v. Louisiana.
Supporters of the bill hope it could be a vehicle to get the high courts to reconsider. Senate sponsor Jonathan Martin, a Fort Myers Republican who is a former prosecutor, pointed to the Florida Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court becoming more conservative after appointments in recent years.
“We have a completely different (U.S.) Supreme Court makeup,” Martin told senators. “We have a completely different Florida Supreme Court makeup than when Kennedy v. Louisiana was issued. I know everybody in this room hopes that nobody is put to death for this crime. Because if someone is put to death for this crime, it means that a poor innocent child was raped.”
The bill passed this week says the 2008 U.S. Supreme Court decision and a 1981 Florida Supreme Court decision were “wrongly decided.”
Lawmakers also teed up a bill for DeSantis that targets investment strategies that the governor deemed “woke.”
The bill (HB 3) would prohibit consideration of “environmental, social and governance,” or ESG, standards in investing government money. It was a major priority of House Speaker Paul Renner, R-Palm Coast.
Republicans across the country have criticized ESG as an “agenda-driven” effort against investments in fossil fuels, arms manufacturers and prisons.
But the bill’s opponents said it would cost the state money and hinder investment decision-making.
“Remember, the people that we’re trying to attack are not in the business of losing money and giving it away,” Sen. Jason Pizzo, D-Hollywood, said during debate over the bill.
Meanwhile, lawmakers gave final approval this week to a proposed constitutional amendment that seeks to shift to holding partisan school-board elections.
The proposal (HJR 31) will go on the 2024 ballot and, if approved by voters, would do away with a requirement that school-board candidates run without party labels. Partisan elections could begin in 2026.
Similar measures have been considered by the Legislature in the past, but this year’s version came after DeSantis took the rare step in 2022 of endorsing dozens of conservative school-board candidates in the nonpartisan races. Many of those candidates went on to win and in some cases flipped boards to conservative majorities.
DISNEY FIGHT REIGNITED
Proposals intended to nullify development agreements involving the Walt Disney Co. began moving in the Legislature this week, as the rift between DeSantis and the entertainment giant deepens.
The House State Affairs Committee and the Senate Rules Committee approved amendments to broader development bills (HB 439 and SB 1604) that would override agreements Disney reached with outgoing board members of the former Reedy Creek Improvement District. The bills are ready to go to the full House and Senate.
Lawmakers in February gave DeSantis power to appoint a new board for the district, which has long played a vital role for Disney.
Under the bills, special districts would be barred from complying with development agreements executed three months or less before new laws take effect that change how district board members are selected.
STORY OF THE WEEK: Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday signed a bill eliminating a requirement for unanimous jury recommendations before judges can impose death sentences.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “There is no statute of limitations on this crime (for victims). There is no end. It’s always with you.” — Senate Minority Leader Lauren Book, D-Davie, on her support for a measure that would allow the death penalty for people who commit sexual batteries on children
