Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Wednesday that a special legislative session is expected to implement Amendment 3, the voter-approved measure expanding homestead property tax relief. The amendment must be implemented by Jan. 1. DeSantis said the legislation would set a schedule for further relief and seek to prevent local governments from offsetting homeowners’ savings with other taxes or fees.
DeSantis said he would work with legislative leaders to determine when lawmakers should return to Tallahassee before he leaves office in January. He wants lawmakers to establish what he called a “taxpayer bill of rights” and is considering state grants to help local governments cover essential services. That assistance could total tens of millions of dollars, particularly for rural communities facing funding shortfalls for core services such as sheriff’s departments, he said. “It's not going to be a tax shift,” DeSantis said. “It's going to be a reduction.”
Amendment 3 does not apply to school districts, and DeSantis said the implementing legislation would preserve that exemption. He suggested lawmakers could eventually revisit Florida’s education funding formula as they consider additional property tax relief for homeowners without reducing support for public schools. His ultimate goal is to move Florida closer to making homesteaded property tax-free, though he said that would require additional action after his term ends. “The more we can get the homestead to just be tax free, I think that's the better,” he said.
Speaking the day after the Nov. 3 midterm elections, DeSantis also credited Amendment 3 with helping Republicans withstand major Democratic gains elsewhere in the country. He argued that the measure drew voters who then supported Republican candidates further down the ballot. “Had Amendment 3 not been on the ballot, I don't know that we turn out the voters that we ended up turning out,” he said.
DeSantis described the national results as “close to an extinction-level event” for Republicans but said Florida’s results reflected voter trust in the party’s record during his two terms. He urged Republicans nationally to pay greater attention to economic concerns, including inflation, mortgage rates, gas prices, and grocery prices, rather than emphasizing issues he believed had been more effective in earlier elections.