Republican Party of Florida Update

Florida’s new election integrity law: Easier to vote, harder to cheat

Florida is leading the way on election integrity because we have a Governor and a Legislature willing to proactively ensure that all legal votes count.

To that end, Governor DeSantis signed into law Senate Bill 90 this morning in Palm Beach County. Florida’s new election integrity bill strengthens voter identification, prohibits the unsolicited mass mailing of ballots, bans ballot harvesting and prohibits private money from administering elections in our state.

“Florida took action this legislative session to increase transparency and strengthen the security of our elections,” Governor DeSantis said. “Floridians can rest assured that our state will remain a leader in ballot integrity. Elections should be free and fair, and these changes will ensure this continues to be the case in the Sunshine State.”

“Safeguarding and maintaining the integrity of our elections is important to all of us,” said Senate President Wilton Simpson. “We all lose when people have no confidence in the integrity of an election. That’s what we want to avoid. We don’t want to backslide. Florida was a model for the nation in November, and that is something we can all take pride in.”

The new law is a win for everyone who wants voting easier but cheating harder.

“Floridians have more options to cast their ballot than ever before. With that variety must come assurance of security, accountability, and transparency,” said House Speaker Chris Sprowls.

Read more here: https://www.flgov.com/2021/05/06/governor-ron-desantis-signs-bill-to-safeguard-the-sanctity-of-florida-elections/

Watch a Fox News clip here: https://video.foxnews.com/v/6252896639001#sp=show-clips

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Charlie Crist has announced for Governor, bringing an endless stream of failures in public office — his biggest being those that failed the people of Florida. Repeatedly.

He claims now to care about jobs. But under his leadership as Governor (when he was a Republican, before he was an Independent, which was before he was a Democrat, which he is at this moment) Florida’s unemployment rate soared to 11.1 percent — triple what it had been. More than 800,000 Floridians lost their jobs under Crist. Bankruptcies and foreclosures soared and Crist steered the state budget deep into debt.

But as the times got tougher under his governorship, he began looking for ways to run away from the problems he created, quitting on Floridians to pursue other elected offices. The job he really cares about is his own.

And now that back-to-back Republican governors in Rick Scott and Ron DeSantis have righted the ship that he nearly capsized and set the state in perhaps the strongest economic and financial position in the country, he wants back in the Governor’s mansion he ran away from in disarray. Apparently totally screwing up the state once was just not enough for him.

Crist is the epitome of the self-absorbed, empty suit politician and Floridians can do much better — and already are under Governor DeSantis.

Senator Rick Scott released an awesome video documenting Crist’s almost innumerable failures and lack of personal character.

Watch Senator Scott’s video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vklOIQsvwdg&ab_channel=OnmessageInc

Helen Aguirre Ferre, Executive Director of RPOF, out out a strong statement on Crist:

“While Governor DeSantis put seniors first, kept our kids in school, and businesses open, Charlie Crist advocated for lockdowns, restrictions on businesses, and backed the teachers’ unions efforts to keep our kids from the classroom. Crist supports defunding the police and has voted 100% of the time for Nancy Pelosi’s radical agenda. He even betrayed those who fled communism when he embraced Castro regime officials in a secret trip to Cuba.”

Legislation

Banning vaccine passports, Governor DeSantis was joined by legislative leaders and small business owners in St. Petersburg where he signed landmark legislation, SB 2006, aimed at stemming the tide of local and state government overreach.

The bill takes aim at arbitrary lockdowns and vaccine passports and enhances emergency preparedness for future emergencies. The Governor also signed Executive Orders 21-101 and 21-102 suspending all local emergency orders until July 1, at which point local orders will be permanently invalidated under SB 2006.

“Over the last year we’ve avoided protracted lockdowns and school closures in Florida because I have refused to take the same approach as lockdown Governors. This legislation ensures that legal safeguards are in place so that local governments cannot arbitrarily close our schools or businesses,” Governor DeSantis said. “In Florida, your personal choice regarding vaccinations will be protected and no business or government entity will be able to deny you services based on your decision.

Read more here: https://www.flgov.com/2021/05/03/governor-ron-desantis-signs-landmark-legislation-to-ban-vaccine-passports-and-stem-government-overreach/

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To ensure Florida children are ready for school, Governor Ron DeSantis signed new laws that will prepare our kids for kindergarten and monitor academic progress through middle school. Catching the children who need help early on will make a big difference in their educational outcomes.

The Governor signed HB 419 that makes historic improvements to state accountability for early learning programs. Additionally, he signed HB 7011 creating a statewide progress-monitoring tool to quickly understand Pre-K through 8th grade students’ academic progress in real-time and rapidly identify any personalized interventions for students that need additional support. The goal is to have 90 percent of Florida’s third graders reading on grade level by 2030.

“As a parent of three young children, I know how important it is that parents have access to high quality early learning programs,” Governor DeSantis said. “Early learning is critical for the lifelong success of our students, and supporting our earliest learners will take the guesswork out of providing personalized interventions and instruction for our vulnerable students that may be falling behind.”

Read more here: https://www.flgov.com/2021/05/04/governor-ron-desantis-signs-groundbreaking-early-learning-and-literacy-legislation/

And here: https://www.baynews9.com/fl/tampa/news/2021/05/05/gov–desantis-signs-literacy–early-learning-education-bills-into-law

Florida Update

A one-time bonus of $1,000 will be headed to 174,000 Florida first responders, including law enforcement officers, paramedics, emergency medical technicians and firefighters, after Governor DeSantis traveled to Satellite Beach, Temple Terrace and Fort Myers to announce the bonuses.

“Supporting our law enforcement and first responders has been a top priority for my administration, and it has never been more important than over the last year. As a state, we are grateful for their continued service to our communities,” Governor DeSantis said. “This one-time bonus is a small token of appreciation, but we can never go far enough to express our gratitude for their selflessness.”

“When the Coronavirus came to Florida, our first responders worked overtime to protect our communities and get people the care they so desperately needed,” said Florida Chief Financial Officer and State Fire Marshal Jimmy Patronis. “They performed with honor and distinction during this global pandemic.”

Read more here: https://www.flgov.com/2021/05/05/governor-ron-desantis-announces-1000-pandemic-bonus-for-floridas-first-responders/

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Florida CFO Jimmy Patronis launched his first digital ad for his re-election campaign this week, called “Let’s Keep Florida Open.”

The spot talks about CFO Patronis’ family restaurant business and the difficulties it endured because of local shutdowns, reinforcing the importance of keeping Florida open. And he highlighted his successes in making nearly 4,000 arrests for fraud and abuse of funds while paying back nearly $200 million in restitution.

Watch his video launch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zonIXiYjx0&ab_channel=JimmyPatronis

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