Daniel Perez warns of tough choices in 2026 as House braces for tax, insurance, drug-cost battles

House Speaker Daniel Perez opened the 2026 Legislative Session by casting the chamber’s activities last year as a part of a necessary transition shaped by internal fights, bruising negotiations and a public rupture with Gov. Ron DeSantis.

When he took the gavel in November 2024, he said, House lawmakers entered the subsequent Session “believing that our service here could matter.”

“In the weeks and months that followed,” he continued, “our story took several surprising twists and turns.”

Perez’s message, while reflective, was largely a presaging of what lies ahead this year: a Session dominated by affordability pressures, property tax politics and a budget outlook that could force lawmakers to choose between trimming recurring spending and sustaining popular programs. “Affordability and insurance. Taxes and the economy. Prescription drug prices and the rising cost of public benefits,” Perez said.

“We must ensure Florida stays at the center of our planet’s race for the stars, and that our infrastructure keeps pace with our growth. Every child in Florida, from the unborn to our college graduates, deserves a fair shot at finding their own American Dream.”

The Miami Republican also used the moment to reflect on the volatility of the 2025 Session, when, in his telling, the House “found (its) voice” and “insisted on our independence.”

That included overrides of DeSantis’ budget vetoes, the investigation and dismantling of First Lady Casey DeSantis’ questionable Hope Florida charity, replacing DeSantis’ Special Session on immigration enforcement with one the Legislature devised and, ahead of the 2026 Session, introducing a fleet of bills with concrete property tax proposals while the Governor stalled on issuing his own.

When DeSantis fumed at the House’s open attempt to regain a coequal footing with the executive branch, Perez called the Governor “emotional” and prone to “temper tantrums” while stressing, “I consider him a friend. I consider him a partner.”

Under Perez, the House has also set to follow through on President Donald Trump’s call for mid-decade redistricting — an effort DeSantis and Senate President Ben Albritton also support, but have been slower to act on.

Perez framed the House’s comparative expeditiousness as an alternative to Tallahassee’s transactional culture.

“We learned that words without truth have no meaning. We learned that actions without humility lack consequence,” he said. “We learned that issues we tackle are not easily reducible to a slogan or an idea. … But difficult doesn’t mean impossible, and hard isn’t an excuse for cowardice.”

Those lines land in a Capitol still feeling the aftershocks of 2025, when budget and tax disputes between the House and Senate pushed the 60-day Regular Session into extended overtime. Perez’s friction with Albritton, whom he embraced before the Governor’s State of the State address Tuesday, remains a live factor. The Senate is again pushing Albritton’s “Rural Renaissance” package after it fell apart in the House last year, and Albritton has said he may prefer tackling major property tax relief after the Regular Session, which could collide with House urgency.

Hovering above it all is Perez’s feud with DeSantis, a rivalry that hardened last year and has since only been betrayed by a veneer of civility and common causes. On the most recent flashpoint, redistricting, the Governor this month called for a Special Session in April to redraw congressional lines — markedly later than when Perez views as ideal.

As for what will happen with that undertaking and many other hot-button issues the Legislature faces this year, it’s anyone’s guess, the Speaker said.

“Honestly, I don’t know what is going to happen,” he said. “That’s OK, because the journey is the best part.”