Florida representative signs bill permitting increasingly equipped instructors
Florida Representative Signs Bill: The 7‑Year Journey from Constitutional Crackdowns to Swimming Lessons and Quebec Trade Deals
Let's be honest: if you've been watching Florida's legislative circus for the past seven years, you've probably developed whiplash. One minute, the state is making it nearly impossible for citizens to amend their own constitution. The next, it's expanding swimming lesson vouchers for toddlers and signing historic trade resolutions with Quebec. And somewhere in between, it created an election police force, banned student IDs at polling places, and tried—unsuccessfully—to import cheap prescription drugs from Canada. Welcome to Florida in 2026, where the legislative agenda is a fever dream of culture wars, public health pivots, and the occasional genuinely bipartisan moment that makes everyone say, "Wait, did that just happen?" Grab your sunscreen and your voter ID (but not your student ID—that's banned now), because we're about to take a hilarious and slightly terrifying tour through the bills that have defined the Sunshine State's descent into glorious, chaotic governance.
Back in May 2019, when the original version of this article was first published, the Florida Legislature had just wrapped up a session that felt like a conservative wish list come to life. Governor Ron DeSantis had signed a bill making it dramatically harder for citizens to get constitutional amendments on the ballot—a move that one Orlando attorney described as proof that lawmakers are "basically run and owned by lobbyists". He'd also signed legislation eliminating the "certificate of need" process for new hospitals, creating a state hemp program, and strengthening anti-hazing laws after a tragic fraternity death. And of course, there was the bill requiring felons to pay off all fines and fees before they could vote—a measure critics said gutted a constitutional amendment that 64% of Floridians had just approved. It was a classic Florida session: ambitious, polarizing, and guaranteed to generate lawsuits. Fast forward to 2026, and the lawsuits have only multiplied. But so have the swimming lessons. Let's dive in.
The 2019 Baseline: Hemp, Hazing, and the Death of Citizen Petitions
The 2019 session set the template for everything that followed. DeSantis signed 15 bills in a single day that June, including a hemp legalization measure that Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried—a Democrat, in a rare moment of bipartisan alignment—celebrated as a potential "boon for the state". He signed a telehealth expansion that addressed out-of-state physicians and insurance payments, and a short-term health insurance bill that was backed by the incoming Senate president. But the real headline was the constitutional amendment crackdown. The bill required paid petition gatherers to register with the state, banned paying them per signature, and imposed steep fines for missing deadlines. Republican lawmakers justified it as an anti-fraud measure, though they couldn't point to any actual fraud. What it actually did was solidify Republican control by eliminating one of the last avenues for progressive policy—like raising the minimum wage or protecting environmental lands—to bypass the GOP-dominated Legislature.
The voting rights bill for felons was even more controversial. After 64% of voters approved Amendment 4 to restore voting rights to most felons who had completed their sentences, the Legislature passed a bill requiring them to pay off all fines, fees, and restitution first. Critics called it a modern-day poll tax. Supporters called it "implementing the will of the voters." The courts would spend years sorting it out. And through it all, DeSantis—then a newly elected governor with national ambitions—was learning a lesson he'd carry forward: you can do just about anything if you frame it as "election integrity" or "protecting Florida families." The playbook was written in 2019. The following years would just be variations on the theme.
The 2022 Sequel: Election Police and the War on Disney
If 2019 was the warm-up, 2022 was the main event. DeSantis signed a sweeping voting overhaul that created the nation's first state-level election police force—a 15-person unit within the Department of State tasked with investigating election crimes, plus up to 10 law enforcement officers at the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. The combined program cost $3.7 million. The governor's justification? "I don't think there is any other place in the country where you should have more confidence that your vote counts than in the state of Florida". The irony, of course, was that Florida's 2020 election had gone smoothly—DeSantis himself had said so—and the Secretary of State's office had received just 262 fraud complaints out of nearly 11 million ballots cast. But facts, as they say, are stubborn things, and this was never about facts. It was about signaling to the ultra-conservative wing of the party that DeSantis was their guy. The bill was signed just days after he'd also signed legislation targeting Disney and restricting how schools and businesses could talk about race and gender.
The Disney fight, in particular, would become a defining saga of the DeSantis era—a multi-year battle over the company's special tax district that began as retaliation for Disney's opposition to the "Don't Say Gay" bill and escalated into a full-blown legal and political war. By 2026, the dust had largely settled: Disney scaled back some Florida investments, the district was restructured, and both sides claimed victory while quietly moving on to other battles. But the episode cemented Florida's reputation as a state where culture wars weren't just a sideshow—they were the main event, and every legislative session brought a new front.
The 2025 Blitz: Fluoride Bans, Cell Phone Crackdowns, and the "Free Kill" Veto
If you thought Florida couldn't get any more Florida, 2025 proved you gloriously wrong. The legislative session was one of the longest in recent history—delayed by budget fights—and when the dust settled, 269 bills had passed both chambers. The new budget totaled $115.1 billion, with a $1.3 billion tax cut package that mostly benefited commercial leaseholders. DeSantis line-item vetoed $567 million, including funding for a study on eliminating property taxes entirely. (Apparently, the governor wasn't ready to go that far. Yet.)
Among the bills that did become law: a statewide ban on adding fluoride to municipal drinking water, tucked inside a larger agriculture department bill. A requirement that the Gulf of Mexico be renamed the "Gulf of America" in all state laws—following President Trump's lead. A rollback of the 2023 law that would have prevented high schools from starting earlier than 8:30 a.m., effectively punting on teen sleep. And an expansion of the student cell phone ban to cover the entire school day for elementary and middle schoolers statewide, with a pilot study on high school restrictions in six counties.
But the most dramatic moment of the 2025 session was a veto. The Legislature had passed, with overwhelming bipartisan support, a bill to repeal Florida's unique "free kill" law—a decades-old provision that prevents unmarried adults over 25 and their parents from suing for pain and suffering in medical malpractice wrongful death cases. Florida is the only state with such a law, enacted in 1990 amid fears that otherwise medical malpractice premiums would skyrocket and doctors would flee. Proponents of repeal argued that insurance costs had gone up anyway and the restriction was fundamentally unjust. The bill passed. DeSantis vetoed it. In a press conference surrounded by doctors and healthcare lobbyists, he said the repeal would "lead to higher costs for Floridians" and make it harder to recruit and keep physicians. Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo agreed, calling the veto "the right thing to do" and arguing that "there simply isn't enough justice to go around" without caps on damages. The families who had lost loved ones to medical negligence and had lobbied for years to change the law were devastated. The "free kill" law survived. And the message was clear: even when both parties agree, the governor's pen is the final word.
The 2026 Surprises: Swimming Lessons, Quebec Trade, and the "Show Your Papers" Law
Which brings us to 2026, a year that has somehow managed to be both heartwarming and horrifying. Let's start with the heartwarming. In a rare moment of genuine bipartisanship, the Legislature passed and DeSantis signed a bill expanding the state's Swimming Lesson Voucher Program. The program, created in 2024 to help low-income families get free swimming lessons, previously covered children up to age 4. The new law expands eligibility to children up to age 7. It also requires hospitals and birthing centers to give new parents evidence-based materials on water safety. The bill's sponsors included a Jacksonville Republican and an Orlando Democrat, and it passed both chambers without a single "no" vote. Sen. Gayle Harrell called it a "wonderful feat in bipartisanship". In 2025, 119 children drowned in Florida—the number one cause of death for kids ages 1 to 4. The voucher expansion is a small but meaningful step toward changing that statistic. For a state whose legislative sessions are usually dominated by culture-war fireworks, it was a refreshing reminder that sometimes, government can actually do good things without a partisan brawl.
Less heartwarming but equally significant: Florida has been deepening its trade ties with Canada, particularly Quebec. In March 2026, the Florida House adopted a resolution recognizing the importance of cooperation in trade, business, tourism, and culture between the state and the province. This may sound like a minor diplomatic nicety, but it's actually a big deal. Canada is Florida's largest international trading partner—no other nation buys more of Florida's produce and agriculture-related products, and Canada buys 40% of its seafood from Florida. The resolution comes at a time when trade tensions between the U.S. and Canada have been running hot, with tariff threats and NAFTA renegotiations creating uncertainty for Florida growers and exporters. The Quebec resolution is a signal that, whatever is happening in Washington, Tallahassee wants to keep the cross-border relationship strong. And then there's the long-running saga of Florida's attempt to import prescription drugs from Canada—a program that has cost over $120 million and, as of 2026, has yet to import a single unit of medicine. The FDA has authorized the program, but Canadian officials have repeatedly blocked exports, and the extension is running out. It's a classic Florida story: big ambitions, lots of headlines, and a reality that stubbornly refuses to cooperate.
Now for the horrifying. In April 2026, DeSantis signed HB 991—Florida's version of the federal SAVE America Act—requiring voters to prove U.S. citizenship with a birth certificate, passport, or REAL ID driver's license. The law also bans the use of student IDs or retirement community IDs at the polls. Within hours of the signing, voting and civil rights groups filed two federal lawsuits challenging the measure, which opponents have dubbed the "show your papers" law. The League of Women Voters, Florida Immigrant Coalition, NAACP, and other groups argue that the law violates the First and 14th Amendments and places an undue burden on vulnerable voters—older Black voters who grew up in the Jim Crow South, naturalized citizens, transgender people, and low-income voters. The law's own sponsors estimate that millions of eligible voters could be affected. "Governor DeSantis just signed one of the worst voter suppression laws in modern American history," said Abha Khanna of the Elias Law Group. The law is set to take effect in January 2027, but the legal battle is just beginning. If the 2019 constitutional amendment crackdown was the opening salvo, HB 991 is the nuclear option—a direct assault on voting access that will almost certainly end up before the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Big Picture: What Seven Years of Florida Legislating Tells Us
So what have we learned from seven years of watching Florida's legislative sausage get made? First, that the culture wars never really end—they just find new fronts. In 2019, it was constitutional amendments and felon voting rights. In 2022, it was election police and Disney. In 2025, it was fluoride bans and the "free kill" veto. In 2026, it's citizenship verification and student ID bans. The playbook is consistent: identify a grievance, frame it as protecting "integrity" or "families," and pass legislation that fires up the base while generating lawsuits from the opposition. It's a formula that has kept DeSantis in the national spotlight and Florida at the center of every political conversation.
Second, that bipartisanship isn't dead—it's just hiding. The swimming lesson voucher expansion passed unanimously. The Quebec trade resolution was a quiet, unflashy bit of diplomacy. Even the hemp legalization in 2019 had bipartisan support. Florida can still do good, practical governance when the issue is removed from the culture-war battlefield. The challenge is that the battlefield keeps expanding, and the number of issues that can be addressed without partisan combat keeps shrinking.
Third, that the courts have become the ultimate arbiters of Florida policy. The 2019 felon voting rights bill was litigated for years. The 2026 citizenship verification law is already facing multiple federal lawsuits. The Disney fight consumed countless billable hours. Florida's legislative aggressiveness is matched only by its willingness to defend those laws in court—and the outcomes are far from certain. For every law that survives judicial scrutiny, another gets blocked or narrowed. The result is a permanent state of legal uncertainty, where the laws on the books are as likely to be enforced as they are to be enjoined.
Finally, that the rest of the country is watching. Florida has become a laboratory for conservative policy—a place where ideas that might be politically unthinkable elsewhere get tested at scale. The election police force, the citizenship verification requirement, the restrictions on teaching race and gender—these are policies that other Republican-led states have copied or are considering copying. Whatever happens in Florida doesn't stay in Florida. It ripples outward, shaping the national conversation and setting the agenda for the broader conservative movement.
When the original version of this article was published in 2019, Florida was already a political bellwether, but few could have predicted just how central it would become to the nation's political identity. Seven years later, the Sunshine State is both a punchline and a prophecy—a place where the absurd and the alarming coexist, where swimming lessons and citizenship tests share the same legislative calendar, and where the governor's pen can veto justice for grieving families one day and expand vouchers for toddlers the next. It's exhausting, it's exhilarating, and it's never, ever boring. Pass the sunscreen. We're going to need it for the next session. And maybe a lawyer. Definitely a lawyer.
Key Takeaways: Florida's Legislative Evolution, 2019–2026
- 2019: The Template Is Set. DeSantis signs a constitutional amendment crackdown, a felon voting rights restriction, hemp legalization, telehealth expansion, and anti-hazing legislation. The playbook—culture-war grievances, "election integrity" framing, and lawsuit-generating ambition—is established.
- 2022: The Election Police Arrive. Florida creates the nation's first state-level election police force with 15 staff and up to 10 law enforcement officers, at a cost of $3.7 million. The Disney fight begins, and restrictions on race and gender discussions in schools and businesses become law.
- 2025: Fluoride Bans and the "Free Kill" Veto. A $115.1 billion budget passes with $1.3 billion in tax cuts. Fluoride is banned from municipal water. The Gulf of Mexico becomes the "Gulf of America" in state law. Cell phones are banned all day for elementary and middle schoolers. And DeSantis vetoes a bipartisan repeal of the "free kill" law, preserving Florida's unique restriction on medical malpractice lawsuits.
- 2026: Swimming Lessons and "Show Your Papers." A bipartisan bill expands swimming lesson vouchers to kids up to age 7 and requires water safety education for new parents. Florida deepens trade ties with Quebec. And DeSantis signs HB 991, requiring proof of citizenship to vote and banning student IDs at the polls—a law immediately challenged in federal court as "one of the worst voter suppression laws in modern American history."
- The Courts Are the Final Arena. Nearly every major Florida law of the past seven years has faced litigation. The result is a permanent state of legal uncertainty, where the laws on the books are as likely to be enjoined as enforced.
- Florida as National Laboratory. From election policing to citizenship verification, Florida's policies have been copied or considered by other Republican-led states. What happens in Tallahassee doesn't stay in Tallahassee.
Sources & Further Reading
- WTXL (2019): "Gov. Ron DeSantis signs health, hemp, hazing bills" — Certificate of need repeal, telehealth expansion, hemp program creation, anti-hazing law
- Tampa Bay Times (2019): "Ron DeSantis signs crack down on constitutional amendments" — Citizen petition restrictions, paid circulator regulations, fines
- CNN (2022): "DeSantis signs bill creating new Florida election police force" — Office of Election Crimes and Security, 15 staff, $3.7 million cost
- Stateside (2025): "2025 Florida Legislative Session Key Takeaways" — 269 bills passed, $115.1B budget, cell phone ban, disability history mandate
- CBS News Miami (2025): "Dozens of new Florida laws now in effect" — Fluoride ban, Gulf of America renaming, school start time rollback
- Florida Politics (2026): "Gov. DeSantis signs legislation on swimming lessons, water safety" — Voucher program expansion to age 7, water safety education for new parents
- Courthouse News (2026): "Lawsuits fly as Florida governor signs new elections law" — HB 991 citizenship verification, student ID ban, immediate federal lawsuits
- Muck Rack (2026): "Historic agreement between Quebec and Florida" — Florida House resolution on trade, business, tourism, and cultural cooperation
- Florida Politics (2025): "Controversial 'free kill' law to survive with Governor's veto" — DeSantis vetoes bipartisan repeal, maintains medical malpractice restriction
- Palm Beach Post (2025): "Florida and Canada are tightly entwined by trade" — Canada is Florida's top produce buyer and buys 40% of its seafood
- Safe Medicines (2026): "March Drug Importation Madness" — Florida's $120 million Canadian drug import program still hasn't imported any medicine
- CBS Miami (2019): "Florida Governor Ron DeSantis Signs Controversial Petition Bill" — Constitutional amendment crackdown signed with 38 other bills
- News4Jax (2026): "Florida Gov. DeSantis signs 7 more bills into law" — Farm equipment defect remedy, environmental and agricultural laws
- WESH (2026): "Drowning prevention legislation signed into law in Florida" — Bipartisan water safety bill, 119 child drownings in 2025
- HuffPost (2019): "Florida Governor Signs Bill Requiring Felons To Pay Off Fines Before They Can Vote" — Amendment 4 implementation, poll tax accusations
Note: This article draws on reporting from WTXL, Tampa Bay Times, CNN, Stateside, CBS News, Florida Politics, Courthouse News, Muck Rack, Palm Beach Post, Safe Medicines, WESH, News4Jax, and HuffPost. All data and quotations are attributed to their original publications. For more legislative analysis and Florida news, visit Top Economic News and Trendao.
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