The GOP-led Florida Legislature has taken another step to make Gov. Ron DeSantis’ eventual run for the 2024 Republican nomination a bit smoother.
The House on Tuesday passed the Public Records/Transportation and Protective Services bill 84-32 on a party-line vote to shield travel records of DeSantis and other top elected officials from public view. On April 19, the Senate passed the bill by a 23-9 vote. DeSantis is expected to sign the legislation.
On Friday, the Legislature passed a measure reshaping Florida election law that would allow DeSantis to run for president without having to resign as governor. DeSantis has yet to declare his intention to run in 2024 but is expected to do so, and the bill will allow him to remain as governor.
The bill sent to DeSantis’ desk Tuesday would exempt the travel history of the governor and their immediate family, the lieutenant governor, Cabinet members, the Senate president, the House speaker, and the state Supreme Court’s chief justice from public records laws.
DeSantis has had a busy travel schedule the past few weeks, visiting battleground states such as Iowa, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, while traveling abroad to Japan, South Korea, Israel, and the United Kingdom.
State Rep. Jeff Holcomb, R-Spring Hill, who sponsored the House bill, and other backers of the legislation said it's about security and protection. The bill does not impact financial disclosure of the trips, Holcomb told the Tallahassee Democrat. "This is about the methods and means of security protections," he said.
State Rep. Mike Gottlieb, D-Davie, said if it is about security, why does it apply to past travel records? The Tallahassee Democrat reported Gottlieb filed an amendment that kept the security exemptions in place but removed those for such records. It did not pass.
“That information could then, with enough digging, with enough time, with enough effort, might be able to get the security profile of that structure or that incident or that building," Holcomb said.
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