ORLANDO, Fla. – Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis made a hefty declaration at a conference in Orlando on Wednesday — the latest in a series of policy proposals that the governor has pushed for in recent months.
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During a speech before the National Rental Home Council this week, DeSantis brought up what he dubbed Florida’s “achievements,” Local 10 Orlando news partner WKMG reports.
This week’s speech also saw the governor tout Florida’s high ranking in terms of economy, business growth and higher education, as well as the state’s lower tax burden.
“Particularly since COVID, we’ve had really sharp contrast between what Florida has done and some of these other states that are our competitors — California, some of the Rust Belt states, New York, New Jersey and whatnot — and people were able to see that sharp contrast," he stated. “And they’ve responded by voting with their feet.”
A notable theme during DeSantis’ speech was fiscal responsibility, with DeSantis bragging about Florida’s ability to cut spending while paying down 41% its debt since he became governor.
The talk also took a turn toward Florida’s history of hurricanes, particularly the state’s responses to prior storms.
“One of the things that we do in Florida is we pre-stage a lot of our assets and resources. We work with utility companies to have all these linemen scheduled, stationed in different parts (of the state),” he said. “And so literally, you could have a Hurricane Ian, Category 5, hit Fort Myers, and within six hours of the storm passing, you’ve got utility crews that are down there, cleaning debris, reconnecting (power).”
But near the tail-end of his speech, DeSantis broached the topic of FEMA, saying that Florida could handle hurricane recovery more efficiently without the federal agency being involved.
“I think if President Trump wants to block grant money to us and get FEMA out of it entirely, we would do even better,” he announced. “Because a lot of what we do is in spite of the FEMA bureaucracy, not because of the FEMA bureaucracy.”
DeSantis voiced his support for defunding FEMA back in February, defending Trump’s consideration of overhauling the agency.
The governor’s argument at the time was that Florida could receive federal funding and handle affairs at the state level without the need for a middleman like FEMA.
“If a disaster comes, you can take whatever that amount is typically, spend 80% of that block grant to the state, cut the bureaucracy of FEMA out entirely, and that money will go further than it currently does at greater amounts going through FEMA’s bureaucracy,” he stated.
Aside from working with utility companies to better handle power restoration after storms, DeSantis has also activated the Florida State Guard — re-established in 2022 under his leadership — to help with recovery efforts across the state.
Florida’s hurricane season runs from June 1 through Nov. 30.