In his time as governor, Ron DeSantis has vetoed nearly four dozen policy bills and slashed billions more from state budgets passed by a Florida Legislature dominated by his Republican colleagues.
Jeff Brandes, the former state senator from St. Petersburg, saw the business end of DeSantis’ veto pen in 2021. That year, DeSantis killed a bill Brandes sponsored relating to civics education requirements. It had passed the Legislature unanimously.
Brandes said that any time a Republican governor vetoes legislation produced by a Republican-led Legislature, there’s been a breakdown in communication between lawmakers and the governor’s team. Lawmaking is complicated, he said. Breakdowns happen.