Global Courant
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday made a surprise veto when he rejected a popular criminal justice reform bill that received overwhelming bipartisan support in the state legislature.
The move bolstered his efforts to move to former President Donald Trump’s right on a number of issues, including crime prevention.
Criminal justice has become a hot topic in the 2024 presidential campaign in recent weeks. Last month, DeSantis told conservative pundit Ben Shapiro that, if elected to the White House, he would seek to repeal Trump’s First Step Act, a law aimed at lowering recidivism rates.
DeSantis’s campaign has also tried to highlight his tough stance on crime-fighting through a trip to San Francisco to show the Democratic stronghold’s battle with crime, and this week he said he would use “lethal force” against suspected drug traffickers trying to break through barriers on the southern border.
DeSantis voted for an early version of the First Step Act while in Congress, but during his time as governor and now as presidential candidate, he has honed a message that is much more in line with the hardline conservatives who generally oppose policies. were that could be seen as mild to crime.
The latest example came Tuesday night when he vetoed legislation that would allow adults to clear their criminal records — even if their criminal records had previously been expunged as minors — which is not allowed under current Florida law. The proposal, HB605would open the possibility only to people whose charges have been dropped, found not guilty, or arrested but ultimately not charged.
The bill was sponsored in the Florida House by Republican state Representative David Smith, who has endorsed DeSantis’ presidential bid. He said he was ‘disappointed’.
“I was not given any reason for the veto,” Smith told NBC News. year.”
He said he is not reconsidering his presidential approval of DeSantis because of the veto, even though it is the second time the governor has vetoed a criminal justice reform bill. The other was a 2021 bill proposing to expunge juvenile criminal records for those who have gone through a diversion program.
A year later, DeSantis signed a version of the bill that did not contain “violent crimes.”
Criminal justice groups that supported the bill were surprised because it passed with unanimous support in the Florida Senate and only two “no” votes in the Florida House.
“Removal is not a ‘soft on crime’ policy,” said Christian Minor, a Florida lobbyist who was directly involved in advocating for the bill’s passage. It “would have offered Floridians who have never been convicted of a crime the chance to erase their records and live successful lives and become tax-paying citizens.”
In a departure from the norm, DeSantis did not provide any explanation in his veto message Tuesday night. His office did not respond to a request for comment.
However, some of the governor’s advisers said the move was in line with the message he wants to send as a hardline presidential candidate.
“Government DeSantis has always been a leader of law and order. While he means well, he seems concerned about the adoption of a more lenient view of criminal records,” said an adviser familiar with his thinking.
“The opinion of the California prosecutor and Soros is not what he wants for Florida,” the person added, referring to liberal billionaire George Soros who supported progressive prosecutors in elections across the country.
Another DeSantis supporter said signing the bill could have sent mixed signals and “opened him up to criticism since he has spoken out vocally against Trump’s First Step Act.”
In May, DeSantis signed legislation allowing for the death penalty for child molesters, a move that was part of a larger criminal justice reform package passed by GOP lawmakers at his urging. It also reduced the number of jurors needed to recommend the death penalty from 12 to 8.
As a 2024 presidential candidate, Trump has had a somewhat uneasy relationship with the reforms he introduced while in office.
In an interview last week, Fox News’ Bret Baier brought up the First Step Act. The former president, as he has in the past, pointed to a woman named Alice Johnson. As president, Trump granted her clemency and early release from prison after she was convicted of a nonviolent drug crime.
Baier urged Trump that Johnson could be killed under a proposal that has now been put forward to make drug dealers eligible for the death penalty.
Trump seemed confused about the details of his current plan, then simply concluded that Johnson “wouldn’t have done that crime” because extending the death penalty to drug dealers would be a deterrent.
A Trump spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Former Florida State Republican Senator Jeff Brandes, who focused much of his efforts on prison reform while in the legislature, said Florida-based criminal justice reformers have struggled for years to come face-to-face with DeSantis.
“The criminal justice community struggled to find hope, but persevered as this issue affects their friends, family and loved ones,” he said. “Florida still has more than 12,000 pardons pending, the National Guard still patrols our understaffed prisons, and Florida still needs to adopt policies that reduce inmate inaction or provide second chances.”
“We pray daily that God will soften his heart and show him that justice must be tempered by grace,” he added of DeSantis.
Jenna Bottler, president and executive director of the Justice Action Network, the nation’s largest group working on bipartisan criminal justice reform, says she’s seen a change in DeSantis since announcing his presidential bid. had signed that she supported.
“Before launching his presidential campaign, Governor Ron DeSantis and overwhelming bipartisan majorities in the Florida legislature aligned with the Republican Party and red states across the country: They saw that a criminal justice system could not efficiently protect public safety, while failing to use taxpayers’ money wisely,” she said.
“Unfortunately, in recent weeks, we have seen campaign rhetoric that is inconsistent with Republican voters and Governor DeSantis’ record on the matter,” she added.
