Florida Governor Ron DeSantis this year ticked many boxes on a far-right wish list of laws restricting abortion rights, providing gender reassignment services for minors, and teaching about sexual orientation.
Extension of the death penalty and who is allowed to carry a concealed firearm in their state? Account. Target Disney? Account.
And he could soon remove a requirement that he step down as governor to become president.
The frenzy of bill signing and a culture war agenda laid the groundwork for the candidacy of Mr. DeSantis, who is trying to position himself as a viable alternative to former President Donald J. Trump, the GOP frontrunner and one-time ally.
Here are the bills Mr. DeSantis signed this year:
Six-week abortion ban
In April, Mr. DeSantis signed into law a law banning abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, making Florida one of the most restrictive states in the country on reproductive rights. As a result, the state will no longer be a destination for women from all over the Deep South seeking abortion.
Emboldened by last year’s Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade, Republicans used their supermajority in the Florida legislature to push the measure forward. It replaced a 15-week abortion ban signed by Mr DeSantis in April 2022, before the country’s Supreme Court waived 50 years of legal precedent on abortion.
But unlike the earlier ban, which Mr. DeSantis promoted by signing a bill into law in a church, he ushered in the six-week ban late at night in his office without public notice, except for a group of supporters who joined him.
The law contains exceptions for rape, incest and to save a mother’s life. It will not go into effect until the Florida Supreme Court decides to challenge the 15-week restriction.
Prohibited transitional care for minors
In mid-May, as he was finalizing his candidacy for president, Mr. DeSantis passed a measure that banned gender transition care for minors and restricted it for adults, Republicans’ latest move this year targeting Florida’s LGBTQ communities.
It imposes a jail term of up to five years for doctors who violate the ban and requires adults seeking gender reassignment care to sign a consent form.
Teaching “identity politics,” a long-standing concern of right-wing Republicans, has been banned by law in public institutions, which also weakened property protections.
In March, Mr. DeSantis presented the Conservatives with another trophy, creating a universal school voucher program. Critics said the $8,000 per year per student allowance would undermine public schools and further enrich wealthy families because there is no income limit.
Capital punishment
Abortion wasn’t the only issue Florida took a sharp turn on this year: the death penalty was another.
In April, Mr. DeSantis introduced a bill that significantly lowers the threshold for imposing the death penalty. It no longer takes a unanimous vote of 12 jurors to sentence someone to death. An 8 to 4 majority would suffice under the new law, which is expected to face legal challenges from criminal justice reform groups.
The vast majority of the 27 states that allow the death penalty require unanimous votes by juries. Alabama is one of the exceptions: a 10 to 2 majority will suffice. In cases of deadlocked juries, judges are allowed to decide in Indiana and Missouri.
In Florida, Republicans pushed for the death penalty to be expanded after a jury last year handed down a life sentence to the man who killed 17 people in the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Nine of the 12 members of the jury voted for the death penalty.
Wear concealed
Around the same time that a super PAC backing Mr. DeSantis labeled Mr. Trump a “gun grabber,” the governor signed into law in April allowing Floridians to carry concealed weapons without a permit.
As of July 1, gun owners will no longer be required to complete a safety course and background check, a move away from calls for stricter gun laws in the state following mass shootings in 2018 in Parkland and in 2016 at Orlando’s Pulse nightclub.
Mr. DeSantis and his allies have tried to make Mr. Trump so soft on the Second Amendment, with the super-PAC suggesting that the former president “cut like a coward and ran” on gun rights issues when he was in the White House.
Disney surveillance and immigration
In an escalation of hostilities between Mr. DeSantis and Disney, who have been turned by Republicans into an avatar of “woke” culture, the governor signed a series of bills targeting the company and its autonomy over a special tax district that is home to Disney World.
The measure, which Republicans and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement claimed was necessary for security reasons, will create a shroud of secrecy over who pays for Mr. DeSantis’ travel and how he divides his time as governor and presidential candidate.
Even Mr. Trump has latched onto the issue, saying in a statement released by his campaign in April that Mr. DeSantis was not transparent about how much taxpayer money he spent on travel.
Yet another bill awaits Mr. DeSantis’ signature that is intertwined with his political ambitions. It would immediately end the requirement that he step down as governor to run for president. He may not even need a pen: it takes effect automatically if it’s not signed.
Reporting contributed by Nicholas Nehamas, Patricia Mazzie, Trip Gabriel, Nick Corasaniti And Brooks Barnes.
