Florida House again rejects Gov. Ron DeSantis' AI, vaccine measures during special session
Two key priorities of Gov. Ron DeSantis that failed to advance in the regular legislative session were discarded as the House opened a special session on Tuesday.
House Speaker Daniel Perez, R-Miami, said the House remains "fairly clear on our position" against the proposals to expand vaccine exemptions for public K-12 students (SB 6D) and to protect consumers' interactions with artificial intelligence (SB 2D and SB 4D).
"I feel confident that the position of this body on not moving on either of those issues was the right issue," Perez told reporters after the after the quick floor session to begin the special session.
DeSantis was quick to criticize the House, posting on X that "voters elected Republicans to protect freedom against both the Big Tech cartel and the medical industrial complex."
He noted that not a single House member filed a bill on either issue since he added the two issues to his call to redraw congressional district lines in a special session on April 15.
"Will be interesting to see these guys campaign as Big Tech enthusiasts and guardians of the medical industrial complex," DeSantis posted.
After the House move, the Senate on Tuesday opted not to advance the vaccine exemption proposal. In the regular session, the measure (SB 1756) was approved by the Senate in a 23-15 vote, and it was expected to draw numerous speakers this week when presented in committee.
But the Senate still voted 37-1 in support of the AI bill. Sen. Erin Grall, R-Vero Beach, was the only no vote.
Grall maintained the measure "weakens protections for parents." And she called it "despicable" that advertising around this bill, which was retweeted in the morning by DeSantis, painted those opposing the measure as "somehow a Jeffrey Epstein sympathizer."
"We have lulled parents into believing that we are actually protecting children when we are not," Grall said.
The bill allowing for more exemptions to vaccine requirements for children attending K-12 schools garnered more opposition, including from Republicans.
Perez said he has concerns about students being in school who aren't vaccinated for diseases, including measles and chicken pox, "that have kind of been working for decades."
"That was something that I was uncomfortable with, but I stated that very clearly over the last couple of months," Perez said.
Regarding the AI bill, Perez maintained that the federal government should handle the issue and anticipates Congress will address it "soon."
In December, President Donald Trump issued an executive order seeking to limit state-by-state regulation of the fast-growing technology. But rather than preempting state laws, Trump's Dec. 11 directive required the U.S. Department of Justice to create an "AI Litigation Council" to review "onerous" state laws that don't align with the White House's positions. States not in alignment could become ineligible for money intended to expand high-speed internet or face lawsuits.
"I understand the governor's concern of wanting to protect children. We want to protect children too. He is not wrong for wanting that," Perez said. "But we have seen very clearly, the President of the United States issued an executive order stating that the federal government should handle the AI policies of this country, that this is a national security concern, that this is bigger than just one state or one part of the country," Perez continued.
Rep. Sam Garrison, R-Fleming Island, who is poised to take over as House Speaker after the 2026 elections, agreed with Perez on AI, stating, "our hope and expectation is that the federal government can take the lead and get something passed."
State Rep. Anna Eskamani, D-Orlando, voiced support for regulations to protect consumers from AI, but expressed skepticism that the federal government will establish firm guardrails.
"The federal government is not going to move on it. Part of it is the influence of these tech companies and the White House," Eskamani said.
The "AI Bill of Rights" sought to establish a right for parents to control children's interactions with AI chatbots.
The proposal also declared that people have a right to know when they're communicating with a human or an AI system or chatbot, and set rules about the unauthorized use of people's names, images or likenesses.
The measure also says people have a right to know whether political advertisements were created in whole or in part with the use of AI and would prohibit government agencies in Florida from contracting with AI firms tied to what is known as a "foreign country of concern," such as China or Russia.
The Legislature in the regular session did approve a separate measure that in part will require companies looking to build AI-supporting massive data centers to pay for their own electric and water utilities.
--- News Service Assignment Manager Tom Urban contributed to this report.