Politics
Paul Renner rolls out ‘Florida First’ proposals to cut costs
Gubernatorial candidate Paul Renner is releasing his plan to tackle affordability issues.
“Florida stands at a pivotal moment. Families across this great state are working harder than ever; yet, financial freedom seems unattainable. They are crippled by the higher costs of everyday goods, record housing prices, and incomes that can’t keep up. The Florida First Affordability Plan seeks to deliver real relief and chart a path toward a stronger, more affordable Sunshine State— where hard work is rewarded, government is accountable, and the ‘Florida Dream’ is within reach for every resident,” Renner said.
The Palm Coast Republican and former House Speaker is focusing on property taxes, insurance and litigation abuse,
healthcare, education, and creating more jobs with better incomes, according to a release from his office.
On property taxes, he’s looking for legislative cooperation to roll them back.
“This will ease the financial burden of hardworking taxpayers across the state while we await long–term reforms that require
constitutional amendment a year from now,” Renner said.
He also wants breaks for senior citizens, for first-time home buyers, as well as caps on future increases and supermajority requirements for tax hikes imposed via referendums. Additionally, he wants voters to get a chance to vote for property tax abatement without cutting funding for schools and first responders.
Renner also would like to stop private equity from buying homes.
Among other planks of his plan, the candidate also proposes to rein in home insurance premiums by ending “nuclear verdicts and lawsuit abuse,” while expanding home hardening programs and keeping insurers accountable.
Renner also wants to end the Affordable Care Act and reduce health costs, to stop college admissions for students from countries of concern such as China, and to end H1B visas for state employees and contractors.
“Our Florida First Affordability Plan is built on fiscal responsibility, consumer protection, and job creating policies. Floridians deserve a Florida First governor with a real leadership background and proven results who can turn promises into reality. Endless social media posts and interviews from other candidates won’t get it done. Our plan will lower costs, strengthen
communities, and open doors for every Floridian to succeed,” Renner said.
Mills was a day-one Byron Donalds backer in the gubernatorial race.
A former House Speaker and current candidate for Governor is leading the charge for Republicans as scandal swirls around a Congressman.
Saying the “evidence is mounting” against Rep. Cory Mills, Paul Renner says other candidates for Governor should “stand up and be counted” and join him in the call for Mills to leave Congress.
Renner made the call earlier this week.
But on Friday, the Palm Coast Republican doubled down.
He spotlighted fresh reporting from Roger Sollenberger alleging that Mills’ company “appears to have illegally exported weapons while he serves in Congress, including to Ukraine,” that Mills failed to disclose conflicts of interest, “tried to fistfight other Republican members of Congress, and lied about his party stature to bully other GOP candidates out of primaries that an alleged romantic interest was running in,” and lied about his conversion to Islam.
The House Ethics Committee is already probing Mills, a New Smyrna Beach Republican, over allegations of profiting from federal defense contracts while in Congress. More recently, the Committee expanded its work to review allegations that he assaulted one ex-girlfriend and threatened to share intimate photos of another.
Other candidates have been more reticent in addressing the issue, including Rep. Byron Donalds.
“When any other members have been involved and stuff like this, my advice is the same,” said Donalds, a Naples Republican. “They need to actually spend a lot more time in the district and take stock of what’s going on at home, and make that decision with their voters.”
The response came less than a year after Mills, a New Smyrna Beach Republican, spoke at the launch of Donalds’ gubernatorial campaign.
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Staff writer Jacob Ogles contributed reporting.
The cold war between Florida’s Governor and his predecessor is nearly seven years old and tensions show no signs of thawing.
On Friday, Sen. Rick Scott weighed in on Florida Politics’ reporting on the Agency for Health Care Administration’s apparent repayment of $10 million of Medicaid money from a settlement last year, which allegedly had been diverted to the Hope Florida Foundation, summarily filtered through non-profits through political committees, and spent on political purposes.
“I appreciate the efforts by the Florida legislature to hold Hope Florida accountable. Millions in tax dollars for poor kids have no business funding political ads. If any money was misspent, then it should be paid back by the entities responsible, not the taxpayers,” Scott posted to X.
While AHCA Deputy Chief of Staff Mallory McManus says that is an “incorrect” interpretation, she did not respond to a follow-up question asking for further detail this week.
The $10 million under scrutiny was part of a $67 million settlement from state Medicaid contractor Centene, which DeSantis said was “a cherry on top” in the settlement, arguing it wasn’t truly from Medicaid money.
But in terms of the Scott-DeSantis contretemps, it’s the latest example of tensions that seemed to start even before DeSantis was sworn in when Scott left the inauguration of his successor, and which continue in the race to succeed DeSantis, with Scott enthusiastic about current front runner Byron Donalds.
Earlier this year, Scott criticized DeSantis’ call to repeal so-called vaccine mandates for school kids, saying parents could already opt out according to state law.
While running for re-election to the Senate in 2024, Scott critiqued the Heartbeat Protection Act, a law signed by DeSantis that banned abortion after the sixth week of pregnancy with some exceptions, saying the 15 week ban was “where the state’s at.”
In 2023 after Scott endorsed Donald Trump for President while DeSantis was still a candidate, DeSantis said it was an attempt to “short circuit” the voters.
That same year amid DeSantis’ conflict over parental rights legislation with The Walt Disney Co., Scott said it was important for Governors to “work with” major companies in their states.
The critiques went both ways.
When running for office, DeSantis distanced himself from Scott amid controversy about the Senator’s blind trust for his assets as Governor.
“I basically made decisions to serve in uniform, as a prosecutor, and in Congress to my financial detriment,” DeSantis said in October 2018. “I’m not entering (office) with a big trust fund or anything like that, so I’m not going to be entering office with those issues.”
In 2020, when the state’s creaky unemployment website couldn’t handle the surge of applicants for reemployment assistance as the pandemic shut down businesses, DeSantis likened it to a “jalopy in the Daytona 500” and Scott urged him to “quit blaming others” for the website his administration inherited.
The chill between the former and current Governors didn’t abate in time for 2022’s hurricane season, when Scott said DeSantis didn’t talk to him after the fearsome Hurricane Ian ravaged the state.
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