Measures that would see Florida adopt the “Gulf of America” name in state law and teaching materials are positioned for House votes.

The legislation would change 92 statutory references in Florida law to refer to the body of water along Florida’s west coast as the new name (HB 575) and put “Gulf of America” in K-12 instructional materials (HB 549). The bills, sponsored by Rep. Tyler Sirois and Rep. Juan Porras, respectively, look to align state standards with federal guidelines promulgated by the Donald Trump administration.

Democrats had their say before the inevitable outcomes, with Sirois’ bill passing 78-27 and Porras’ passing 78-29.

Rep. Anna Eskamani said voters didn’t want Sirois’ statutory revision bill and it played into a “hostile political climate.” Rep. Ashley Gantt said both the Sirois bill and the Porras bill about academic materials represented an unfunded mandate on local governments. Rep. Mike Gottlieb spoke to the need to teach “unvarnished history.”

However, Republicans made their own arguments affirming the bills.

Rep. Meg Weinberger framed Sirois’ bill as a blow for the “America First agenda.” And Porras framed his own bill as a sign of a “new era of American exceptionalism.”

The companion bills are coming in for a landing in the Senate as well. SB 608 and SB 1058 both are on the Second Reading Calendar.

Tallahassee Republicans have quickly embraced the new name for the body of water that was called the Gulf of Mexico without controversy until earlier this year.

Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson is backing the President’s preference regarding government documents, pushing for changes on behalf of the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

Simpson’s goal is to rename the body of water as the Gulf of America “as quickly as possible … in all department administrative rules, forms, maps, and resources.”

Gov. Ron DeSantis was the first state official to use the new name in an executive order declaring a State of Emergency over a Winter storm last month. That order said the inclement weather was headed to Florida across the “Gulf of America.”

The declaration came the same day Trump made the name change official in his own executive order.

While there’s more controversy outside Tallahassee (The Associated Press and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum haven’t accepted the Gulf of America designation), that’s not germane to the legislative process in the Sunshine State.

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House Speaker Daniel Perez isn’t holding back after Gov. Ron DeSantis criticized him and his Republican colleagues. But he also says he sees DeSantis as a “friend” and a “partner.”

In remarks in recent days, DeSantis blasted “petty” legislators in recent days for taking away U.S. Sen. Ashley Moody’s office space in the Florida Capitol, considering “carbon sequestration” instead of “open carry,” and overriding vetoes on local projects DeSantis nixed last year.

On Thursday, Perez had his say, saying the Governor has become “emotional” recently, but that they’ve generally had “cordial” conversations that usually “end up in some sort of agreement,” even if it’s to “disagree.”

“It’s interesting because we’ve spoken many times over the last several weeks and every time we speak the meetings are cordial. The conversations are cordial. Any concern that he’s had, we’ve been able to answer. We haven’t surprised him with anything. Everything he is upset about, he knows in advance,” Perez said.

The Speaker does recognize the change in tone, but he’s not sure why it’s happened.

“For some reason it seems the last week or so the Governor has been a little more emotional and has been upset and has gone on his videos to voice his opinion in another way. He has every right to do so,” Perez said.

“I consider him a friend, I consider him a partner. But if there’s a specific question that he has that he needs an answer to, my door has always been open and I’m always open to having a conversation on any issue that he may disagree with.”

The two last talked on Monday, a day where the Governor gave a 20-minute speech to the Republican Party of Florida and accused Perez of being too closely linked to trial lawyer John Morgan.

Perez defended current tort bills, saying trial lawyers aren’t backing the bills. And he also rejected DeSantis’ claim that the House is “favoring the Democrats,” saying the goal is big-tent conservatism.

“There is nothing wrong with the tent of the conservative movement growing,” Perez said.

“I believe in the conservative movement. I think that’s in the best interests of this country. President Trump believes it’s in the best interest of this country. Because there are Democrats that are starting to want to join the tent of the Republican Party, of the conservative movement, that doesn’t make us liberal. That doesn’t make us RINOs.”

Perez pointed out that DeSantis himself picked career Democrats Jared Moskowitz and Dave Kerner for roles in his own administration.

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After an emotional two-hour debate, the House passed a bill with a 76-31 vote that would add new hurdles to citizen-led ballot initiatives, including requiring advocacy groups to pay a $1 million bond.

Republicans argued these reforms are needed to protect the process of changing the state constitution.

“We can’t ignore that evidence the initiative process is broken,” said Fort Myers Republican Rep. Jenna Persons-Mulicka, who sponsored the bill (HB 1205) prior to a committee substitute. “We have a duty to fix it. We have an obligation and a duty to protect our state constitution.”

Meanwhile, Democrats accused the GOP of trying to dismantle the amendment process to block the people’s voice.

“Let’s be honest, members. This bill is not about integrity or transparency. It is about control,” said Rep. Anna Eskamani, an Orlando Democrat. “It’s about making it harder for the people of this state to challenge the status quo, to pass initiatives like environmental protection, minimum wage, defending abortion rights, reforming cannabis laws.”

HB 1205 comes following November’s defeat of the abortion rights and legalizing marijuana campaign. Both issues became targets of Gov. Ron DeSantis, who was the public face against them and accused the political committee behind Amendment 4 of collecting fraudulent petitions.

Other provisions in HB 1205 would shorten the deadlines to submit signed petitions from 30 days to 10 days and raise fines for groups violating the new rules. It would ban out-of-state residents from collecting petitions and require petition sponsors to pay a $1 million bond after 25% of the necessary petitions to get an issue on the ballot have been collected.

Another provision in the bill would strip the state’s top economist’s voting rights from the panel that determines ballot initiatives’ financial impact.

Currently, economic chief Amy Baker joins with representatives from the Senate and House, as well as the Governor, to vote during the Financial Impact Estimating Conference.

Last year Baker was the lone dissenting voice during the conference’s debate on Amendment 4 abortion rights initiative as she sparred with a DeSantis staffer and a Heritage Foundation employee who had been brought to the table by the House.

Under HB 1205, people signing petitions would also need to include their driver’s license number or the last four digits of their Social Security numbers, which Democrats said could put people’s personal information at risk in the wrong hands.

The bill also included a Republican-led effort to prohibit state money from being spent on ballot initiative “communications.” That could limit DeSantis from repeating his efforts last cycle, which reportedly included spending millions of dollars in his fight against Amendments 3 and 4.

Ballot initiatives in Florida already face a tough road to pass since they need at least 60% of the vote.

Democrats said grassroots ballot initiatives sparked positive change over the years, such as universal free pre-kindergarten in a state where Republicans control the Legislature and are unwilling to bend to adopt progressive proposals.

“The Florida Constitution enshrines our right for constitutional amendments. So why are we putting up these hurdles?” asked Rep. Robin Bartleman, a Weston Democrat. “If we really are about the Free State of Florida, which we always like to say we are, then it’s our duty to make sure that the power remains in the hands of the people.”

Rep. Linda Chaney, a St. Pete Beach Republican, seized on a report by the Florida Department of State released less than a month before the election that said the abortion rights political committee committed widespread petition fraud.

In response, the ACLU of Florida said last year, “The Secretary of State’s unprecedented and suspiciously-timed report makes nonsensical claims about a few hundred petitions, which would have had no effect on the campaign meeting the statutory requirements.”

But Chaney argued the report stood as evidence to support HB 1205.

“It is not an emotional issue. It is a fact-based issue to protect the petition process no matter what you are petitioning for,” she said Thursday.

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