DeSantis gets millions in taxpayer money to fight lawsuits over hard-right policies
TALLAHASSEE − Gov. Ron DeSantis has been fortified with millions of dollars in taxpayer money for legal fights stemming from his polarizing legislative agenda, with the scene now shifting from the Capitol to the courthouse.
Republican supermajorities in the House and Senate tucked an unprecedented almost $16 million into the state’s $117 billion budget for litigation costs to defend policies DeSantis just advanced or to cover battles already underway, like his yearlong clash with the Walt Disney Company.
The state’s largest teachers union, the Florida Education Association, filed the first lawsuit from the recently completed 2023 legislative session Wednesday, a day after DeSantis signed into law a bill imposing new restrictions on public employee labor unions, mostly targeting those allied with Democrats.
FEA and other unions claim in their federal lawsuit that the governor is violating their free speech, among other constitutional rights.
“He’s using taxpayer dollars to fund the legal defense of his poor choices,” said House Democratic Leader Fentrice Driskell of Tampa. “It’s just waste.”
http://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/politics/2023/05/12/ron-desantis-culture-wars-legal-defense-florida-legislature/70210976007/
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