>>This week on NewsNight, as the Florida House speaker designate spells out his vision for limited government, we discussed the future balance of power in Tallahassee amid the governor's presidential bid.

Plus, as the issue of felon voting rights heats up around the country ahead of the 2024 election, NewsNight looks at the fight between rights restoration advocates and state leaders.

NewsNight starts now.

[MUSIC] Hello, I'm Steve Mort and welcome to NewsNight, where we take an in-depth look at the top stories and issues in central Florida and how they affect all of us.

First tonight, law making in Florida.

While Governor DeSantis runs for president, the state House now has a new speaker designate.

Daniel Perez won't take over until the 2024 election.

But during his acceptance speech, he laid out his vision for the legislative process in the years to come.

>>Legislation isn't an entitlement.

Every dispute between private parties doesn't require a new law, and every action shouldn't necessarily require a government reaction.

Members, we're in danger of becoming a conveyor belt, passing along every bill, funding every project without ever stopping, thinking and questioning.

Is this the appropriate use of our power?

After the election, someone mentioned to me our supermajority when they said, Danny, we can make people do anything we want.

And that might be true.

But just because we have the power to do a thing doesn't necessarily mean that we should.

And just because we think we are right, it doesn't mean we are justified.

See, the problem with yielding the power of government like a hammer is that people start looking like nails.

>>Some political watchers point to his comments as a rejoinder to policy making so far during Governor Desantis's term in office and a sign that Republican lawmakers may be ready to move in a new direction after this year's blockbuster session.

It follows a recent report in Politico that the governor is losing his clout, citing dozens of lobbyists, political consultants and lawmakers.

The report suggests a nosedive for the governor's influence in Florida as his presidential campaign stumbles.

But the speaker designate says he's not trying to send a message to the governor.

>>The legislature, in my opinion, is the most important part for the success of the state of Florida.

But that being said, the legislature can't work alone.

The legislature works with the governor, and it's been like that since the beginning of statehood.

And so, Gary, I'm sorry to disappoint you, but it is not a message to the governor.

>>To discuss what it all means for the balance of power and the independence of the Florida legislature.

I spoke with political analyst Susan MacManus, distinguished professor emerita at the University of South Florida.

>>A lot of these legislators got a lot of pushback during the last session for you know, for getting the idea of local control, which has long been a mantra of Republicans as decentralization and giving more authority to localities.

And since each of these legislators in the House is up for reelection or new candidates running, speaking those words is a signal to a lot of people that he is interested in really looking at local control and decentralized government.

>>Do you agree that if Governor DeSantis does not beat Donald Trump for the GOP nomination, that he'll be weakened in Florida, or will he return to fight another day or even another race?

>>That's really hard to determine for some people, yes thats a path, but for others, no, because of the fact that if they have an important issue that's going through the legislature or the governor, even though he's a lame duck, still has a very powerful veto pen.

And so I think we don't really know what proportion of the legislature will sense that they can go a different direction or versus others who think, well, I still like him.

And by the way, he does have that veto power.

And I promised my district when I ran for reelection that I would try to get them X.

>>But I wonder how much, just time wise, the governor's going to be involved in the 2024 session.

In setting the agenda, I mean, usually there's a lot of back and forth over bills, right?

What role do you think he'll play, especially as it comes in the midst of the Iowa caucuses and the earlier primaries?

>>It's often the case that someone who's getting ready to run a big race, you want to get your ducks in order, so to speak, and accomplish a lot of your public policy goals before you go on the campaign trail.

So that was one of the reasons why there was such a crowded legislative agenda last year.

And it may be that we have a more limited run in 2024.

>>Susan MacManus from the University of South Florida.

Well, let's bring in our panel now to break it all down.

Joining us in the studio this week, Karla Ray, anchor and investigative reporter over at Channel 9, WFTV.

Thanks for coming in, Karla.

Appreciate your time today.

Curtis McCloud, also an investigative reporter and anchor from time to time over there at Spectrum News 13.

Thanks for being here today, Curtis.

Good to see you.

And Talia Blake, morning host also covers business and the economy at 90.7 WMFE news.

Thanks for being here, Talia.

Good to see all of you guys today.

Curtis, let me start with you on this one.

You covered the most recent legislative session, 2023 lawmakers passed so many bills it's hard to keep track of them all, right?

I mean, hundreds of them.

Do you think there's going to be a desire to slow the pace down a little bit when they gather again in January?

>>I don't think so at all.

I think it's going to be like, you know, hit the gas to continue, especially going into the 2024 election.

I think it's about, you know, keeping up what Florida is doing and especially keeping up what the governor is doing in the state of Florida to keep up that momentum, to show what he can do if elected president of the United States.

So definitely, I think that we're going to see even more laws being passed, especially because it's still a super majority.

And so we're going to see even more and more laws being presented as well as passed.

>>Let's talk about Daniel Perez.

He's going to be the third Cuban-American to take over the Florida house.

I think he's not going to take over until after the 2024 election.

But what do we know about him?

>>Yeah, so like you said, Cuban-American.

So he's the son of immigrants.

He's young.

I believe he's in his mid-thirties.

And the Republican Party is kind of seeing him as a refreshing change or refreshing, you know, fresh note to the party.

It's been a long time coming for him to become speaker.

So, you know, we've been seeing this coming down the pipeline for some time.

>>He's been sort of a rising star in the party.

I guess Perez has vowed bipartisanship.

We had Curtis talking about the supermajority, so he doesn't necessarily need to do that.

But what's he said himself about his legislative priorities?

>>Yeah, well, I mean, people down in South Florida have called him a collaborator on both sides.

So, you know, there are some bipartisan priorities that he has said that he wants to tackle.

I think, first and foremost, the homeowners home insurance crisis that I think we'd all like to see solved here in Florida.

He also said he wants to see relief for those with developmental disabilities to get off this waitlist that the state has for assistance for those folks, which is something that I would say is more of a Democratic priority in in history.

So, yeah, to have him come forward with those two big priorities is bipartisan.

Now, some of the hot button topics like abortion, parental rights-- >>The culture issues.

>>Doesn't necessarily want to take a stance on that just yet publicly.

>>Yeah, and that kind of brings me on to the next question, Curtis.

And something you mentioned before.

I mean, this next session is going to start just days before the Iowa caucuses, right?

I mean, can we expect, you know, just on a sort of a time basis, the governance to be sort of significantly less involved this year?

I mean, there's usually so much back and forth, right, between the the plaza level and the legislature when it comes to sort of putting together bills and getting the passed.

How is he going to be involved?

>>I think it'll be a delicate ba - dance, Steve.

Yes.

His time will be split from the campaign to what's going on in Tallahassee, see, during a legislative session.

But, you know, he can't forget about the people of Florida.

So I do believe, yes, you'll see a presence of him here, but also a presence, obviously, in Iowa with everything going on there.

So when you look at it, it's a kind of a win win thing for him to be in both places, showing his face at the for the legislative session and also still showing his face in Iowa for the caucus.

>>Yeah.

And then New Hampshire and then South Carolina for the campaign as well.

All of those, as he goes along.

>>Absolutely.

>>Doesn't have to resign to run, of course.

>>No, he doesn't.

>>Talia I mean, I mentioned the reporting claiming that the governor sort of losing influence over Florida Republicans.

I mean, but is that borne out by the numbers when it comes to the electorate?

>>Oh, yeah, absolutely.

Right now, a poll is showing that DeSantis has about half of the numbers that Trump has.

I want to say they have Trump at 54% of support, with DeSantis at only 27%.

And, you know, when this started, we didn't think that's what the numbers would be like at this moment.

>>Just finally on this one, Karla, I mean, we're talking about future legislative sessions, but we shouldn't forget 2023 because a raft of new laws that were passed in that session just came into force this week.

>>Yeah, October 1st.

And the most controversial of that likely to see challenges is the death penalty for those convicted of child rape.

That is something that goes against both the Florida Supreme Court statute or precedent, rather, and U.S. Supreme Court precedent, so that one sure to face challenges.

There was also a new law that creates a mandatory minimum of a 25 year sentence and a $1 million fine for adult selling certain amounts of fentanyl to minors.

So that's a big one that just passed.

>>A couple of priorities for the governor for sure.

You can find more for my interview with Susan MacManus from USF on our website, wucf.org/newsnight along the bottom of your screen.

In the meantime, be sure to join the conversation on social media.

We're at WUCFTV, on Facebook, Twitter, and also on Instagram.

Okay.

One of the results of Florida's recent busy legislative sessions has been a busy calendar for the courts, as Karla just mentioned.

Lawsuits have been filed objecting to a wide range of actions taken by the legislature and the governor, ranging from Florida's new bathroom law to abortion, from legislation affecting drag shows and protests to the state's new congressional map.

And on Friday, the US Supreme Court said it would take up a First Amendment challenge to Florida's 2021 big tech social media law.

The US Supreme Court is set to hear cases involving the Florida law and a similar law in Texas that have divided lower courts.

The justices will review two specific parts of Florida's law one on notifying users when their posts are altered or removed.

The other dealing with content moderation that would ban platforms from de-platforming political candidates.

Industry groups Net Choice and the Computer and Communications Industry Association want Florida's law overturned completely, saying it violates tech companies First Amendment rights to curate their content.

>>All right, then, Curtis, give us some background on Florida's big tech law, a moment when what was the DeSantis administration's impetus, the genesis for this and pushing it for it in the first place?

And what does it do?

>>A lot of it coming from former President Donald Trump and the situation with the platform known now as X, formerly known as Twitter, though situation on January six, where we saw them saying coming out and saying, hey, we're going to ban him from Twitter.

At that point in time.

So a lot of these a lot of the I should say, legislators got together and said, hey, we're not going to do this here in particularly in Florida, saying now that we want to kind of, you know, make it so that these big tech companies can't censor what people want to say, essentially what they call violate their First Amendment right.

>>Particularly people who are running for office, correct?

>>Particularly people who are running for office.

And that's a lot of them are saying that here what's happening, especially people on the conservative side, are saying here is a lot of what we are messaging is being kind of, you know, monitored, streamed and it's not being it being a put out the way that we want it to be put out.

>>Just too much power in the in the hands of Silicon Valley, I guess.

Karla let's look at the other side here.

I mean, the plaintiffs represent big tech firms like Google, Meta that owns Facebook and TikTok.

I mean, what are their main complaints about Florida's law?

>>It's really interesting, right?

Because on one side, they're saying we have a First Amendment right to put whatever we want on the Internet.

And these big tech companies are saying no, it's our First Amendment right to determine what is posted on our platforms.

So I think it's a battle over the First Amendment in some ways, you know, arguing that they should have control over eliminating potentially harmful, misleading things from being posted on their sites.

>>Much of this comes down to whether a social media company is, as I understand it from reading this, is is simply exercising editorial discretion.

Right.

The First Amendment part of this or whether it's sort of something more when it comes to removing unwanted speech on the on their platforms.

I mean, how have the lower courts ruled on this so far?

I think they're split on this.

>>Right.

They are split on it.

And then when it comes to Florida, they've kind of actually said, hey, with Florida, we want you to kind of go back to the drawing board on all of this.

Texas, they did, you know, let part of the go through.

But I think the big deal here is it comes back to that battle over over the First Amendment here.

But the lower court still trying to figure out exactly what to do here.

And it will be interesting to see what ultimately comes out of.

>>Yeah, ultimately, why the Supreme Court, I guess, is is taking a taken a stab at this one.

Are we likely to see more scrutiny of big tech firms, do you think?

I'll put this one to all of you as we head towards next year's election Karla?

>>I mean, absolutely.

I think that especially now with AI, it's made things very tricky on social media and with everybody worried about the integrity of elections.

We certainly don't want to see misleading information being used on social media in a way that might misinform voters or, you know, disenfranchize people as well.

And it's not just here in the US.

I mean, there are some major elections around the world in 2024, an estimated 2 billion people are set to vote in elections next year.

So this is a world wide issue, not just one here in the US.

>>It is, and going off of what you said, Karla, I think AI is going to be a very big thing going into 2024, especially when you talk.

I mean, we talk about-- >>Deepfakes.

>>Deep fakes we talk about it in the newsroom all the time about A.I.

and the the know the catalyst of change.

It is for across society now.

So it will be very interesting to see how it how it has a has an impact on social media and the election and getting those messages out.

>>Remarkably easy to generate a fake video or two to clone somebody's voice or something like that.

Talia, what do you think the role of media is going to be?

>>You know, for me, the Internet is forever changing.

I mean, social media, most social media sites, there's actually a great book that recently are coming out about this.

Most social media sites didn't start off for what they're used for now.

I mean, YouTube started off as like a dating platform and it turned into this big video platform.

So the Internet is always changing.

So I don't see this problem stopping here.

>>No, no, no.

>>I think that is definitely true for sure.

You can find a link to the text of Net Choice v. Moody that will be decided by the US Supreme Court on our website.

wucf.org/newsnight.

Okay.

Next tonight, another court challenge to the state, this time on felon voting rights.

The Florida Rights Restoration Coalition filed a lawsuit this summer, arguing the state is making it too difficult for former felons to vote or even determine their eligibility.

It says the state is failing to properly implement a voter approved constitutional amendment passed in 2018, restoring the voting rights of returning citizens who served their sentences.

There are exceptions for those convicted of murder or sexual offenses.

NewsNight's Krystel Knowles reports.

>>You know, got caught up in drugs.

>>Gregory Boykin enjoys the simple things in life cooking for his family and raising his kids.

But things weren't always this way.

>>Yeah thats me in prison.

>>How old were you in that photo?

>>30.

>>At an early age he fell in with the wrong crowd, and by the age of 29, he was sentenced to eight years in prison for selling drugs.

>>Clean as you go.

>>He realized things had to change.

And says he wanted to start voting in elections, but ran into roadblocks before Amendment four passed in 2018 with the support of more than 65% of Florida voters.

Casting a ballot was illegal for people who had prior felony convictions.

>>The people inside change the laws and structures designed for them to fail.

>>Now, he says with his rights restored, he's glad to be able to vote.

But he says many others are still afraid of being arrested.

>>Look what they're doing.

They're coming after people for voting.

When the government gave them their ID to vote, they told them that they had the right to vote.

>>In 2019, lawmakers passed legislation requiring that all fees and fines have to be paid prior to being eligible to vote.

But as Florida Rights Restoration Coalition President Desmond Meade explains, the lawsuit they filed this year was to put the state on notice that they have to create a centralized database to let people know who is and is not eligible to vote.

>>This job that we're asking the state to do is to take ownership over verifying, you know, whether or not a person is eligible to vote.

You know, there's a lot of talk over the years about election integrity.

And we believe that election integrity starts and stops with the state or with the local government.

>>In 2022, the state arrested about 20 people, mostly black former felons, who were issued voting cards.

Some said they were told by officials they could vote and were unaware they were ineligible, either because they had unpaid fees and fines or convictions for offenses exempted in Amendment four.

>>For us, it was it was an embarrassment, you know, that the state of Florida would resort to arresting people and charging people for something that they made a mistake on.

>>Meanwhile, Gregory Boykin says although he will always be judged for his past, things like voting give people like him a small sense of normalcy.

Now, he hopes the state will do more to help former felons become full participants in the democratic process.

>>Krystel Knowles reporting there.

Okay, This is an important one guy.

So let's get into it, Curtis.

I mean, how do activists argue?

What points are they making there to say that the the state has failed to implement this constitutional amendment correctly?

>>Well, Steve, essentially they are saying that there have been processes and rules put in place, I should say more so procedures when it comes to voting of returning felons who are trying to register to vote or who to go cast their vote.

They want a database created as well so that there aren't any discrepancies or any mistakes, some of them being even, you know, afraid to go and vote because they're afraid of retaliation or or or breaking the law if-- >>Accidentally.

>>Exactly.

You know, accidentally breaking the law.

So I think it comes to that.

What they're asking for here is for the state and for some of these election officials to put in some rules and regulations so that they can safely do so safely vote.

>>It seems like it would be a fairly simple fix.

They they know all of our information.

They know who is a felon.

So they should be able to cross-reference those databases.

And in addition to what Curtis said, one of the arguments is that this amendment four was supposed to be automatic.

It was not supposed to have, you know, conditions put on it.

The will of the people, the voters, 65% almost, who voted for it, expected that this would be an automatic return to rights for these convicted felons.

>>Well, the state would argue, of course, that it's about election integrity and that Florida is sort of the gold standard when it comes to election integrity.

Efforts to date in the courts to to challenge this, Karla, have so far failed.

>>Right.

And it gets even more frustrating for those groups, Right.

Who are trying to advocate on behalf of these disenfranchized voters.

And they estimate that it's three quarters of a million people impacted by this here in Florida.

It's really staggering.

And again, they they feel that this should have been automatic, that the fines and fees came later, as you know, almost an amendment-- >>That was like a year later in 2019 when the legislature.

>>And that was not the intent of Amendment four back when it passed.

So it's it's very frustrating, I think, for these groups to just keep spinning their wheels and trying to get a clear answer on where to go next.

>>Talia, there's also a complaint in the suit, right, that there's the state's new Office of Election Crimes and Security is simply there to intimidate voters.

>>They really look back to that.

It was August of last year when about 20 people were arrested saying that they illegally voted in the 2020 election, even though they were told that they were okay.

So there's just a lot of confusion, like why do we need a police unit specifically for voters is kind of what they're getting on.

>>Some groups are worried that these voting law changes, whether it be this or other things like redistricting, unfairly affect people of color.

What is the concern that why do they feel that sort of tightening up restrictions aimed at voter fraud unfairly target those minority communities?

>>You know, I think a lot of it has to do with, you know, the the disproportionate number of African-Americans who may have found themselves on the wrong side of the law.

And it goes back to that.

And, you know, it goes without saying.

We've seen that, seen that, and we've looked at those numbers and it's a way to some believe, to target those individuals of color by saying, hey, we can put another roadblock in the way or another way to not get those votes out there, because we already see what's going on with the gerrymander, the gerrymandering, gosh.

>>Gerrymandering.

>>Gerrymandering.

I know.

Write a tongue twister for that.

We already see what's going on with that.

And then now you have this happening as well, because with this lawsuit here with with the restoration of rights, people are saying here what we want is the process is Karla mentioned, you know, this was supposed to be immediate.

We we didn't want a slow effort to this.

And now you have roadblock up roadblock after roadblock after roadblock to finally see it come to fruition.

And they're still waiting.

>>And, of course, the fact that African-Americans are represented more when it comes to felony convictions speaks to that sort of deeper systemic, systemic problem.

>>Absolutely.

I mean, look at who's the majority of the people making up our prison systems right now.

If you just break it down to that one simple, simple foundational brick right there, it kind of tells you where why people are feeling the way that they're feeling now.

And then also with the redistricting case wrapping up in Tallahassee this week, I mean, it's just a constant reminder right there that we're not where we're supposed to be.

>>Right.

>>For many people.

>>And if a group of people have been disenfranchized forever, you know, one more challenge in front of them, it becomes very discouraging.

I think that some people feel like they lose hope.

And why do I even bother?

Why do I even bother casting a ballot if they are going to make it so difficult for me?

So I think that there's an element of that as well.

>>Absolutely.

>>Thats an excellent point Karla.

This year, the legislature gave the statewide prosecutors office more power to go after voter fraud.

Some of those cases that we mentioned earlier were were tossed out because of sort of jurisdictional concerns by the lower courts.

Remind us of the most recent steps that lawmakers took on elections this year.

>>Yeah.

So now the statewide prosecutor has much more wide jurisdiction on investigating these allegations, as long as it has occurred in two jurisdictions, which is actually a lower threshold than what they were held to before.

So which has drawn concern from from the system of why does this need to go to the statewide prosecutor's office?

Why is this need to be a state issue?

Instead of having local control over these investigations?

And of course, you mentioned it earlier, the bill to allow Governor DeSantis essentially to continue in his position without resigning to run for president.

That was a major one.

You know, and then there have been some other things that require voter registration groups to jump through more hoops.

Again, going back to making it more difficult to get people to get out the vote.

>>Yeah, just finally on this, Talia, I'm just curious as to how this issue looks in other parts of the country.

Is is is the issue of felon voter rights being something that other states have looked at and dealt with?

>>Absolutely.

And the thing is, it really varies from state to state.

So if you're a felon in Florida, you're not going to go to another state and just think automatically you can get your rights back, because it really varies from state to state.

So, for example, all felons can vote in states like Maine or Vermont and D.C., but just like here in Florida, Wyoming, Iowa, Connecticut, Virginia, states like that, those voting rights are permanently taken away for, you know, big felonies like murder and rape.

But then in Tennessee, felons can only get their voting rights back if they're pardoned, which is just when I found that out-- >>The clemency board.

>>Yeah, it just it sounded so strange to me.

So it really just depends on what state you're in.

The rules really vary and you just really have to be up on the information.

But just like we've been talking about, sometimes that information is murky and it's a very gray area that people are still trying to figure out.

>>And of course, in very close elections, those small numbers of people can certainly change so much.

>>I'm telling you, in Florida, elections are almost always very close.

>>You're right.

>>I'm telling-- >>Dont we know it.

Right.

You can find more on the stories we've covered tonight on our website, including more from our interview with Desmond Meade from the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition.

It's all at wucf.org/newsnight along the bottom of your screen.

That is all the time we have for this week.

My thanks to Karla Ray, WFTV Channel 9.

Curtis McCloud from Spectrum News 13.

Talia Blake 90.7 WMFE News.

Thank you so much, guys, for coming in.

Much appreciated.

We'll see you next Friday night at 8:30 here on WUCF from all of us here at NewsNight, take care and have a great week.