Governor's special session anything but [The Palm Beach Post]

State lawmakers will gather in Tallahassee tomorrow for a special session, a meeting typically used to address pressing concerns facing the state. With such issues like the lack of affordable housing, the looming home insurance crisis, the implosion of state prisons and the ongoing jobless claims debacle, a special session would be warranted.

No such luck this time around. Gov. Ron DeSantis called the Florida Legislature back to the capitol to fight President Joe Biden, local schools and localities on mask and vaccine mandates. He's also going after private businesses that require their employees to get COVID-19 shots in order to work. Not exactly a session to resolve critical problems, more like a dog-and-pony show for the governor's far-right political base.

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With an estimated 60,000 Floridians dead because of COVID-19, you'd think the governor and the legislative leadership would take a different approach. Instead lawmakers will convene tomorrow to consider proposals billed as a legislative package that protects Florida's families and Florida's jobs. "Dubious" might be a better description for some of the proposals, especially the ones stripping Florida's surgeon general to mandate vaccinations for individuals during a public health emergency and the requirement for the state to develop a plan to replace the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration as its workplace oversight agency.

"No cop, no firefighter, no nurse, nobody should be losing their job because of these jabs - we must stand up for people and protect their jobs and livelihoods," DeSantis said last week as he announced his agenda. "What the federal government is doing is wrong. It is wrong to kick people out of work; it is wrong to try to micromanage businesses; and it is wrong to deprive key industries of people that we need."

His idea of protection sounds an awful lot like state interference. Do we need new laws against mask and vaccine mandates at a time when infection rates are dropping and vaccines are widely available? Does Florida really want new legal impediments if the virus rates start to increase again, as it's doing in some parts of the country?

The push to protect targets the familiar suspects. If Gov. DeSantis gets his way, school districts will no longer legally be able to require students to wear masks or be quarantined if healthy but suspected of having the virus. Taking a page from the controversial Texas Heartbeat bill, any aggrieved student or parent could go to court and sue their local school district for any violations of the governor's proposed bills.

But it's the governor's allegation about the federal government "micromanaging businesses" that is both interesting and, given what the governor is offering Florida's business community, borders on hypocritical. Firms requiring COVID vaccinations for employment had better provide health or religious opt-outs, exemptions for pregnant women and for employees recovering from the virus, and alternatives to mandated vaccines, like free periodic testing or personal protective equipment. Any private business found not complying would face fines from $10,000 to $50,000 per violation.

It's not clear how laws that weaken proven COVID safeguards will help Floridians. What has become painfully obvious is the governor's intent to ensure that the special session legally fortifies earlier attempts, through questionable bills and executive orders, that resulted in court challenges. Leon County is in federal court challenging a $3.5 million fine for requiring customers and employees to show proof of vaccination. Norwegian Cruise Lines won a ruling from a federal judge that stopped the state from applying that law to its cruises.

Florida has endured its share of state penalties and punishment while fighting COVID-19. Local communities and school districts have endured onerous state fines as they sought to enforce mask and vaccine safety measures.

Cruise lines, a big part of Florida's hospitality industry, have been hauled into court by the state for requiring passengers to show proof of vaccination. Of course, the outrageous pick of Dr. Joseph Ladapo as surgeon general just shows how far down the proverbial rabbit hole the governor has gone in hindering safety procedures.

"No man's life, liberty or property is safe when the legislature is in session," Mark Twain once said. The pandemic remains a problem, but Floridians shouldn't expect much help this week as state leaders prepare to paper over what is still a pandemic.

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