In response to the Florida Senate passing SB 4B –Statewide Prosecutor and SB 6B– Transportation of Inspected Unauthorized Aliens, Senate Minority Leader Lauren Book (D- Plantation) and other Democratic Caucus leadership members issued the following statements:
Senate Minority Leader Lauren Book (D- Plantation): “Held mere weeks before General Session, this farce of a Special Session was called to clean up the Governor’s messes and fix his legal woes, not to solve issues facing Floridians. Despite Democrats’ best efforts, everyday working people footing the State’s bill are no better off now than when we arrived in Tallahassee, and costly litigation against the Governor’s woebegone migrant relocation program will only continue. Furthermore, changing the Statewide Prosecutor’s jurisdiction will surely now result in greater confusion and fear surrounding voting and restoration of rights. This is not the people’s work.”
Senate Minority Leader Pro Tempore Jason Pizzo (D- Hollywood) said: “With each passing session, we seem to unfortunately be devolving into the Democratic caucus having to defend not only our own constituents, but also the rule of law and constituents for our colleagues across the aisle. They seem to be too consumed with following the orders and directive, the whims and wishes of the Governor and not of their constituents. We found ourselves in a situation this week with the immigration bill where we fundamentally agreed that there is a problem – but all of the resources and attention was not directed towards Florida, it was directed elsewhere. It’s a waste of taxpayer money.”
Senate Democratic Caucus Fiscal Policy Chair Tracie Davis (D- Jacksonville) said: “I’m incredibly disappointed to be here for a seventh special session that has goals beyond actually serving Floridians. Today, the Senate passed bills to retroactively legalize the Governor’s compulsions for creating problems and recklessly spending taxpayer dollars to do so.”
