- 2 years ago
Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) signs new veterans-focused legislation into law.
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NewsTranscript
00:00to be here one of our our state veterans nursing homes and you know named named after uh somebody
00:07who uh won the earned the medal of honor which is our nation's highest military award and that's
00:13very meaningful even after all these years that service was decades ago uh but i think it's really
00:18appropriate that we're memorializing that uh with the uh the namesake here valdemar lopez uh we're
00:26here with uh hammer hartsell who's our executive director of the florida department of veterans
00:31affairs uh and then jenny steniford and you're going to hear about their story her family's story
00:38because what the bill one of the bills we're signing really uh addresses an issue that is
00:43really good that we're addressing in the state of florida uh look as a veteran i will tell you
00:49that i'm proud of what florida does for veterans we're the most veteran friendly state in all of
00:55these united states now now i also remember as in the navy and you know i know we have um
01:10i know we have air force i know we have uh other other services in different parts of the state but
01:15we have some places that were heavy navy northeast florida pensacola and whenever you got assigned
01:23in florida and people that spend their career in the military you go you go somewhere else every
01:28two three years uh they would always maintain that florida residency so you're serving in mayport
01:36you end up in norfolk or san diego you're a florida resident and you know if you're a florida
01:41resident if you're stationed in san diego you don't pay california income tax you get to pay
01:47no florida income tax
01:52so we we have that advantage and so but what happens is is okay do we got all right um so
02:00someone someone leaning up against something i don't know but what happens is is that's that's
02:06a good enticement and so people have been florida residents and then they retire and not even people
02:12that retire i mean sometimes people serve four or five years and then leave the service but for
02:16those who serve their 20 and retire they have to they are fortunate to be able to choose okay
02:21where do i want to go a lot of them come back to florida and uh we view that as a very positive
02:27thing for our state and our communities and we've done things like streamline uh veterans being able
02:34to become teachers and all kinds of stuff to be able to harness this and so we're proud of what
02:39we've been able to do you know one of the things i noticed when i was in the military and like you
02:45know i'm getting out of active duty and look i didn't need anything i was fine but they give you
02:50like like exit stuff and it's supposed to be materials to help it's just bureaucracy you
02:56don't know it doesn't it's just numbing and i'm like man you know that's not really uh what we
03:01want to do so uh so we've worked really hard to to help facilitate this one of the bills we talk
03:07about today is going to be able to do but if you look at what we've done uh just since i've been
03:13governor uh we want to make it so that uh this is good place to be a veteran good place to be
03:21a spouse of an active duty military members and i think those who've been in in that know that
03:28the spouse is serving too because you have the you have the the service member maybe gets deployed
03:35oftentimes they have kids and and this does require sacrifice and service so we understand
03:43that for sure and we've got a lot of different things that we've done to be able to do we have
03:50done things with the department of education to help veterans that i don't think any other state
03:55has done so we have a military veteran certification pathway that i mentioned about teachers
04:03so we believe military veterans have a lot to offer to young people and we've created an ability
04:10for them to get a five-year temporary teacher teaching certificate as they work towards
04:15their four-year degree and you know the thing about this with with teaching and it's not just
04:20with military we've done apprenticeship programs for all would-be teachers you actually learn more
04:26by watching somebody do it and doing it yourself than you do sitting in some of these schools
04:33especially the schools of education which a lot of that is indoctrination at this point
04:37so we believe that you learn by doing uh and certainly with the military to be able to harness
04:44that experience is something good when we did this pathway a couple years ago there was some um uh
04:50some teacher union flunky in some part of florida that said oh well what is uh what does a veteran
04:56have to offer serving in afghanistan who cares like that's what they were saying and i'm like
05:00that just shows you the mindset uh that you have some folks uh and oh by the way in florida uh we
05:07beat those school unions on covid they wanted the schools shut we had them open we beat them on
05:13school choice you now have universal school choice in florida the money follows the student and the
05:18parents make that decision we did a lot of choice for military back before we had universal and they
05:24had probably the best deal in the country for for active duty military and then we now have
05:30no automatic deduction of school union dues so you don't have to have the dues taken out no
05:38automatic if you want to write a check and give it you know they're going to do political advocacy
05:42with that if that's what you want but why not have more in your paycheck so we've done that and as
05:47we're doing that we're also delivering uh the largest increases in teacher salaries that we've
05:53ever done in the entire history of florida so uh that really spoke volumes when they attack this
06:00program i think it's good uh to have i want students to be able to look up to a teacher
06:05i want them to be able to see somebody that has put service above self uh and when they didn't
06:10have to and and they're able to come back and continue service we also and so the we have the
06:16a bonus program that goes with that heroes in the classroom recruitment bonus of four thousand
06:22dollars to veterans who enter the teaching field an additional one thousand dollar bonus who teach
06:28in high demand areas and you know the thing about it is i mean we've got veterans that have very
06:33significant technical expertise in sciences and things like that uh and they apply that in a
06:38military context some of them are doing bomb squads some are doing other stuff uh but but this
06:44is something that i think is met good and then we have the the credit uh or clock hour for military
06:50experience equivalency list so we're guaranteeing service members and veterans college credit for any
06:56military courses or training they have already completed so there's a lot of good training
07:03academic training some people go to the naval war college some people go to this
07:06any type of training you can then apply for college credit uh as you work towards your degrees and
07:13getting a good degree from florida's universities we have the top rated public university system in
07:20america six years in a row and now we had a rough day yesterday at the college world series uh
07:32both florida state and florida they had great runs but uh but they they got eliminated and so
07:38uh they basically were and made it to the final four of college baseball but uh the the finals
07:43is going to be um is going to be tennessee and texas a&m but they had a good run and we're
07:49proud of that but i mean academically you know we've done very well and i'm always reminding people
07:54that we have not raised tuition since i've been governor so in-state tuition averages
08:01sixty three hundred dollars uh for our state universities where can you get that
08:10i mean heck we give more for our uh our scholarships for k-12
08:15it costs the tuitions more in most k-12 schools so so we've held the line on that uh but one thing
08:22that we do offer that that the word hasn't gotten out obviously when we do good when we do good
08:28things some people want to amplify it other people want to muzzle it depending on their political
08:33persuasion particularly in the media but uh you can that's sixty three hundred dollars for in-state
08:38tuition you can qualify grandparents can qualify for in-state tuition on behalf of their grandkids
08:46so this is something where i've i've i run into people that say hey i'm going to florida state
08:53or i'm going to usf uh where are you from oh i'm from ohio from where i was like oh yeah do you
08:58have uh extended any family for all my grandparents i was like well why aren't you getting in-state
09:02tuition oh really yes you get it so we're able to do that but that's something that you really
09:07can utilize and it saves the families a lot of money so i had a mom come in uh to my office who
09:14i knew from from other things and and she's bringing her daughter to florida state and was
09:19talking about uh she was a new york resident talking about they're going to go visit their
09:22grand the grandmother and i think it was the villages or something like that and i was like
09:27oh well you're getting in-state tuition like no i'm like yes you can get it so we made it happen
09:32very quickly so that's something that's really really good and that's regardless of veteran
09:36circumstances or not now the first lady my wife casey she started a program a few years ago now
09:45called hope florida pathway to prosperity and what she started we started doing it on uh with welfare
09:52and the child welfare system department of children's and families and the notion is if
09:58somebody goes in to get a check from a bureaucrat uh and then they leave and then they come back to
10:04get a check if that's the relationship you're likely not going to break out of that or it makes
10:09it much more difficult to break out of that and so how do you actually lift people up and what i
10:15think she believes and i believe is is government oftentimes cannot solve problems uh sometimes
10:22government creates problems oftentimes government creates problems but what could government do in
10:28that role is really uh facilitate connections with all the resources we have in our society
10:36because we have charities we have churches we have businesses we have individual volunteers
10:42who want to help and so she created something called the care portal so if somebody goes in
10:48they have a need maybe it's a it's a single mom with a young kid and they they lost uh their
10:53apartment they need a place to stay instead of having that be just a government problem
10:58it goes into the portal all the churches that are involved all the charities all the non-profits
11:03everyone that's involved they get a notice that that sally needs a place to stay and you know
11:09what happens you're going to have somebody that come to help and when that happens oftentimes
11:16those are not people going back for government assistance they're on a pathway where they're
11:21involved in the community and are doing it so so it's been very effective we've now taken on hope
11:26florida close to 30 000 people that are totally off government assistance entirely now or very
11:33severely curtailed government assistance and that's usually not the tale of how government
11:39works i mean they did the war on poverty in the 60s and they didn't end poverty they created
11:43dependency and created a lot of social pathology so so this is something that that has been very
11:49successful so the question is how do you harness that in other endeavors so we recently started
11:55doing that with the department of veterans affairs and i'm a big believer and it goes back
12:00to me being in the military getting out seeing the stuff that they gave me and not understanding
12:06a word of what they were trying to tell me and i didn't need help i was good but but i know a lot
12:10of other people could have used a hand there and so you go in in the federal va is really a cumbersome
12:18bureaucracy so you go in and if all the hopes are on those bureaucracies you're not going to be
12:24serving the veterans the way we need to however this is true in a lot of places in our country
12:30but certainly in florida you have huge numbers of charitable groups that are created and their
12:38mission is to help veterans in a variety of different ways uh we had where we uh when i
12:44was a u.s congressman in our district we had a group called canines for warriors they would train
12:50service dogs and pair them with veterans uh suffering from post-traumatic stress huge
12:56reduction in suicides as a result of doing that we tried to get the va to to utilize that and they
13:04drag their feet for years and years and finally the legislation was able to get across the finish
13:10line making them do this but but but that's an example you have uh folks that will build veterans
13:15homes i mean i remember seeing some of these custom homes that i've been able to tour for many
13:20years throughout florida where they're custom built for veterans that may have really serious
13:26injuries maybe they have their amputees you have all this stuff this stuff's being done and and
13:33many more scholarships you name it but veterans got to know it's out there you also have businesses
13:40that want to help veterans a lot of the corporate community uh will will jump at the opportunity to
13:46help veterans in their community then you have the faith-based community uh they want to be involved
13:52to help not just veterans but but certainly veterans when they're when they need something
13:57and thing is a lot of the struggles veterans have particularly in my post 9-11 generation
14:03you know these are not all physical struggles you know a lot of this stuff is emotional it's
14:07spiritual uh and so being able to have uh those faith uh community the faith community involved is
14:14a huge positive then you just have individual volunteers there's people in this this region
14:19of the state that if you said hey we may need to call on you to go help a veteran someday maybe
14:24just bring them dinner or take them out to lunch or something there's people that would jump at the
14:28opportunity on that and so now uh we're working towards you go in and department of veterans
14:35affairs and the state uh and you go into the portal and then now these groups are a part of it
14:41and they are knowing hey this veteran needs um some help for post-traumatic stress this veteran
14:46needs help with housing and it's not just about a government program it's not just about a bureaucracy
14:53it's about linking the veteran with all these tremendous resources that are in society so this
14:59has only been on the VA level we're just months into this and they have already uh served uh over
15:07500 veterans and veteran family members and they have helped 250 overcome a housing barrier 175
15:16with the basic needs barrier uh 75 over 75 with a VA benefit barrier and that that's a cottage
15:23industry in and of itself just trying to get the VA benefits I mean it's like you need to hire like
15:28law firms to be able to do this and you know a lot of these veterans I mean well first of all I
15:33don't think any anybody really understands the bureaucracy of the VA uh so we have that uh around
15:4050 with an employment barrier and either in almost 50 with the legal barrier the success rate for
15:46resolving these barriers for our veterans is right now with this uh a hope florida model applied to
15:53the veterans community uh 85 success rate and resolving problems I mean so when is government
16:00ever bad at 85 on anything not likely to happen right so so that's good so uh we also have under
16:09the first lady's leadership which she launched um about two years ago continued the mission
16:15recruitment campaign in partnership with florida department of children and families and department
16:20of veteran affairs we want to recruit veterans military spouses and former law enforcement
16:25officers who still have a desire to serve their communities into uh service of the state as child
16:33protective investigators adult protective investigators and case managers and our child
16:38welfare system these are difficult issues a lot going on there uh getting good people involved
16:44is a big deal we now have had over 200 almost 250 veterans hired as investigators with dcf
16:52through this initiative so so that's making an impact too and and the quality of the performance
16:58uh it will certainly go up as a result uh we've done a lot of different uh legislative initiatives
17:04that we've been able to sign our budget that I signed I signed the budget last week so florida
17:12our budget that I signed for for the upcoming fiscal year actually spends less than what we're
17:18spending in the current fiscal year who else is doing that in this country but even though we're
17:24spending less we have record education funding we have record infrastructure and transportation
17:31funding and we've accelerated road projects that need to be done uh we have record funding for
17:38things like conservation florida springs our coastlines all this stuff we've been able to do
17:44so we're doing the things that make a difference in your life we're vetoing uh you know vetoing
17:50pork projects or whatever you know protecting taxpayers uh holding the line overall on
17:55spending but the money that we are spending we're making an impact with and that's really the way
17:59it should be done and even amongst that we got 500 million dollars in the budget for accelerated
18:06debt repayment so you now have the state of florida the lowest per capita state debt in
18:12the entire united states of america this the u.s the u.s government obviously has a 34 plus trillion
18:25dollar debt if you parcel that out amongst each american that means each and every solitary
18:33american would owe over one hundred thousand dollars a pop if you parceled out florida state
18:39debt uh each floridian and it would never come to this but each floridian would owe about six
18:44hundred dollars so that's a much bigger different picture that we're dealing with so we're happy
18:49with that and but we got 500 million to retire debt even more rapidly so even before that goes
18:56into effect we've retired 36 percent of the state's taxpayer supported debt that's from the
19:02entire history of florida till the present we've knocked out 36 percent of it that 500 million
19:08will let us do do even more and that is saving tens of millions of dollars in interest payments
19:14for for taxpayers on these bonds and whatnot so it's good management and we're proud of that but
19:18so it's a good budget then within that you know we got over 80 million dollars across various
19:24agencies for veterans initiatives in the state of florida workforce preparation medical assistance
19:31education opportunities helping veteran homeless veterans get in a stable situation as well as
19:40legal services for veterans we also have 17 million in additional funding for the florida
19:45department of veteran affairs to do among other things provide dental care for low-income veterans
19:52six new veterans claims examiners to assist veterans in obtaining the federal benefits
19:58that they're owed i mean how crazy is this that the state has to hire people to help veterans
20:03get their federal benefits but that's the federal government that we have for you
20:07assisting veterans and translating their military experience to meet state licensure requirements
20:12to ease the transition in the civilian life also money to support equipment and capital
20:18improvements at veterans homes across the state and to begin building a new veterans long-term
20:25care facility in collier county upon approval of a federal grant so that's a really significant win
20:32for the department and i'm pleased to announce that with the addition of the collier county state
20:37veterans nursing home florida will have the most state veterans nursing homes in the entire united
20:45states of america so we're which brings us why we're here today and we've got two two really
20:55good bills the first bill that i'm going to sign is house bill 725 and you're going to hear a minute
21:03a story here about why this is necessary but what it does is it expands the eligibility for
21:10admissions to a veteran's long-term care facility to include spouses and surviving spouses of
21:18qualifying veterans you have situations where a veteran has been separated effectively from the
21:27spouse because the spouse is not eligible to be in a veteran's nursing home we have changed that
21:34with this piece of legislation first of all it's just the right thing to do when you have a
21:40surviving veteran and the spouse you know we want to keep them together but even when the veteran
21:46unfortunately passes on we recognize that that spouse has also served and that spouse deserves
21:54our support as well not really swearing an oath but it's kind of an implicit oath that they take
22:01to do what they can to help the veteran so we're we think that this is something that's
22:07that's appropriate i'm not sure how many other states do this do you know just a very few states
22:13so we're we're on the vanguard yet again on that but this is important there's valuable care that's
22:18provided at our veterans nursing homes we have a bunch of services all the way down to hospice care
22:26and we want to make sure that families are kept together spouses are kept together so you'll hear
22:31a little bit more about that in a second i'm also signing hb 1329 which revises existing programs
22:38and expands benefits for for folks here in florida and these are programs many of which are designed
22:45to help the veteran transition to civilian life and so we've done a lot of good work in this area
22:51this is going to make it even better some of it will be marketing some of it will be providing
22:56awareness some will be providing outreach but i i think that once people know that they have
23:02these tools at their disposal there's a lot that can be done at that point now and what we want to
23:09do too is help veterans get to preferred markets preferred industries because there are a lot
23:16there's a lot going on in the state of florida i can tell you that i mean i remember when pasco
23:22county i mean i grew up in pinellas county pasco county was considered rural now you've got i mean
23:28like how many people live in pasco county now it's incredible so and you're seeing that all over
23:33um you know i was i ran into somebody that grew up in polk county you know and and that was viewed
23:38as very rural they got over 800,000 people now in polk county i mean like this is just what's
23:43happening to the state so there's a lot of opportunities and we want to make sure that
23:47we're helping the veteran realize those opportunities training programs what have you
23:52now the bill also provides free hunting fishing freshwater and saltwater fishing licenses to all
24:01disabled veterans so you take that we also create and fund the major john leroy haynes
24:13leroy haynes florida veterans history program within the department of state's division of
24:18arts and culture to record the stories of florida's veterans and preserve them for future generations
24:25i when we had the 80th anniversary of d-day i announced and we don't have very many surviving
24:33members and so and we identified some in florida most of them were going over to normandy to do
24:39the the ceremony which is totally appropriate and we said when you get back we're going to award all
24:44surviving d-day veterans the florida medal of merit which is our highest honor for exceptional
24:52meritorious service to either state or country so but we said we're not going to do like a big
24:56ceremony in tallahassee because it's hard to get around it's a big state so when when we're in your
25:01area you know we will do so you know we had a we had a guy a fella down in miami the other day
25:07we were able to present it to him signed up in the navy in 1943 is there in d-day and 44
25:13bringing the tanks ashore then he goes to the philippines then japan and did great service
25:18to the country but um you know the connection to those folks uh has has dwindled because most of
25:26them have passed on at this time so really it's up to us to make sure that that future generations
25:33understand what it means and i think that this program to record these stories and preserve them
25:40i think is really really important and this bill even goes further with that we are requiring in
25:46the state of florida middle and high school students to receive instruction on the history
25:51of veterans day and on the history of memorial day which is good so you know it's like they say the
26:03u.s is laboratory of the states or laboratories of democracy so if you want the schools to be
26:11teaching first graders that they can switch genders like you know california's got that
26:15covered if you want schools teaching students which we do about the evils of communism about
26:22what it means to be an american citizen and about the history and the sacrifices that went into
26:27memorial and veterans day well then florida is the place for you so i think we're doing it right
26:32and i'm proud uh proud that we're able to do that so these are going to be two good bills uh we're
26:37going to hear from uh we're going to hear from hammer then we're going to hear from jenny
26:41steniford uh about what this uh particularly the veterans nursing uh home component means
26:48to them and then we'll sign it and make it official so come on up
26:53hello everybody marine generals don't have a problem following somebody speaking at a podium
27:04difficult right a blessing a blessing so governor it's my distinct honor to be able to say on behalf
27:09of florida's 1.4 million veterans that we sincerely appreciate your strong leadership
27:14of our great free state of florida florida veterans are honored that you're our governor
27:19we're honored because we know that you're the only currently serving governor who has deployed
27:24overseas who made personal sacrifices in the defense of our nation in a combat theater of
27:28a war he's the only one right there
27:35and for everybody here this morning on behalf of my florida apartment veterans affairs your
27:39apartment veterans affairs and the amazing staff at this beautiful compassionate nursing home
27:44welcome we just uh it's the baltimore lopez state veteran nursing home and it's really
27:48fitting as the governor said and it's also honorable that the governor chose this special
27:53location to sign these two veteran related bills this home is named after medal of honor recipient
27:58first lieutenant baltimore lopez who selflessly gave his life for his fellow marines during the
28:03historic 1950 landing in inchon this florida born marine was raised just 20 miles south of here and
28:09for the marines directional it's that way right and we're so honored to carry on his amazing legacy
28:14of service and especially his self-sacrifice in this beautiful veterans home i want everybody to
28:19know that because of our governor's clearly defined commander's intent his desired mission
28:24success and in state for our state's veterans florida continues to be and has been the most
28:29sought after state in the nation for veterans and their families since taking office our governor
28:34and his administration with the full support of our florida legislature have allocated hundreds
28:39of millions of dollars to address and improve florida veterans issues and needs today he'll
28:44be signing two key veterans bill legislation pieces that reinforce and build on that success
28:50the first bill as the governor mentioned expands resident eligibility in our florida veterans homes
28:54to include spouses and surviving spouses who need skilled nursing care themselves
29:00this is the honorable thing to do and it's the compassionate thing to do and because of that
29:05it's going to be well received by our veterans and every other citizen our great state the second
29:10bill the governor will be signed today will record the stories and the history as he said
29:14of florida's veterans it'll preserve them for our future generations right over there through a new
29:20state veterans history program named after the late marine major john laroy haynes who served
29:25in world war ii korea and vietnam he didn't get enough he a great american who is a lifelong
29:32veterans advocate and is so honored fitting and honorable that we're going to be naming this
29:36historical program after him because of who and what he was additionally the same bill reinforces
29:41veterans florida as the initial point of transition assistance for service members leaving active duty
29:46who decide to come to florida and raise their families secure meaningful employment for
29:51themselves and their spouses of special appoint importance personal heartfelt importance to me
29:59as a veteran and as a grandfather this bill encourages the instruction on the history and
30:04the significance of veterans day and memorial day and are now nationally recognized best in
30:10class florida schools there's none better and i'm glad they're going to be there in fact florida is
30:15the most veteran sought after state in the nation and it's the most veteran friendly state in the
30:18nation we passed california last year to be the second most populated veteran state why because
30:23veterans are moving here they're choosing to move here i hear from veterans all the time
30:28why did you move to florida why did you leave california why did you leave new york they said
30:34it's because of this combat veteran right here that's what they tell me they said because of his
30:38common sense leadership during the pandemic his leadership to ensuring that our florida economy
30:44is both vibrant and resilient for the future his leadership in advocating and for protecting
30:48parental rights his respect for law and order and respect of our law enforcement officers
30:54his unquestionable patriotism and love for our country and his strong commitment to make florida
30:59and america a better place for future generations than what it currently is today that's why they're
31:05moving here one of those veterans who recently moved here i met monday just this past monday
31:10and when i see a veteran with a ball cap it said korean veteran i walked up and i say hey sir
31:14you know when did you serve what service i was in the air force and he said we actually were the air
31:19force at that time in korean war it was 1950 he was running for his life to the pusan perimeter
31:25he said you know what general you're a marine right i said yes i like marines you know why
31:29he said because they were the ones who were turning around and shooting their weapons toward
31:31the enemy while everybody else was running right i said yeah that's the marines but this gentleman
31:36so he was looking he was i was at a clinic and i was doing a tour of people who want to help
31:40veterans mental health and i said sir how old are you he paused he stood up a little bit taller he
31:45gave me a fist bump he said i'm 95 i said no way no way sir you're 95 jack morris he said yeah i'm
31:5395 and i said well how long have you been in florida i just assumed he'd been here forever
31:57he goes i just moved here i said oh 95 where'd you move from
32:03he didn't say a state his quote was i left gavin newsom
32:09so then i said being a marine idiot marine i said oh you left california
32:14general i said i left gavin newsom i came here for ronda santos 95 years old okay
32:21and he drives himself he's brilliant he sent me a great follow-up email and i told him i'm
32:30going to use you sir i want you got your permission i want to he said absolutely general
32:33i like marines he said so and i said i said well and i talked talking about nursing homes
32:39he said i'm not ready for that yet and i said well if and when you get there we've got the
32:44best in class in the nation he said i don't need that i just met an 85 year old in the villages
32:49and we're doing good jack morris so from 95 and i said and i so then i'm talking i said jack why
32:58did you move here honest he goes because i want to finish the rest of my life in this state not
33:03in that state that's why he's here one of the other veterans who recently moved here is my marine son
33:10sitting right there with my grandsons last year he moved to florida with his family and i want
33:15to thank both you sir and the first lady for your instrumental leadership and bringing our
33:20two amazing grandsons to the state of florida thank you sir
33:27governor thank you again for your strong focus leadership of our state for your personal
33:30understanding and commitment to support our veterans and their families governor sir
33:35sir fidelis and urah
33:43what's you guys are you in school where you go
33:47where okay good okay nice nice great okay all right jenny jenny steniford come on
33:56hello everyone i'm jenny steniford the daughter of ken and josephine sizemore and he has been here
34:01my dad has been a resident here at this great va facility i first need to say who would have
34:06thought i would speak after our great governor and this general so i'm gonna do the best i can
34:12um so over over 62 years ago my dad was serving in vietnam and then they assigned him to bangkok
34:22thailand and we have heard this story so many times and it's um one of my favorites dad was
34:28walking down the street with his gi buddy as he says bob morrison and he looked through the window
34:35of a jewelry store and grabbed his arm and said oh my gosh that's the prettiest woman i have ever
34:40seen that was my mom so um as he went into the jewelry store pretending to be buying jewelry
34:49he got to know mom and they had this beautiful courtship and then they were married there
34:55so mom is the youngest of nine children she left all of her siblings her parents her country
35:04to join her life with my dad and trusted him and they went on and started their life together
35:11so through the course of that i was born fort campbell kentucky my brother fort bragg north
35:17carolina and so um you know he took a few of my speaking notes our great governor because i was
35:27going to say though mom wasn't in the military she did help serve the military packing up every
35:34time dad was restationed um getting us ready he did a second tour in vietnam and she took care of
35:41us so um she was a part of the military and then you um fast forward and aging happens and um
35:54dad has some falls and then he is disabled so we are grateful for this facility my family and i
36:03but they've had to be separated and after that many years of marriage mom and dad were never
36:09separated except when he served our country overseas um he's been a big protector of my mom
36:16she's never even put gas in her car dad has always done that and he has been there for her
36:23so this bill just means so much to us um we thank you governor for this um because of this my mom
36:31and dad are going to be able to live the rest of their lives together and not only for our family
36:37though it means so much but all the other veterans and their spouses and we are eternally grateful
36:49so everyone who's going to participate in the bill signing we'll get you over here and uh
37:07we'll go on this side so y'all okay
37:38do this
37:45all right all right are we good
37:50okay let's uh clear clear the way again okay so this one is um hb 725
38:07you
38:22i got you guys here well they're raised by marie's they're here with
38:24Alright, and then now here's the standard veteran's bill that we have all the goodies
38:41in, including the fishing and hunting licenses.
38:45Alright, who wants one of these?
38:49I've got three more.
38:51Anyone?
38:53One more?
38:55Alright, number five.
38:57Alright, so, both of those.
39:00Well done.
39:02Well done.
39:11Alright, great job.
39:13Congratulations.
39:15Congratulations.
39:17Thank you.
39:19Thank you.
39:21Thank you.
39:41And y'all know what this should say?
39:43It should say Governor DeSantis supports veterans.
39:52Well, we're excited.
39:53I think these bills will make a difference, and we're going to continue to lead the way
39:59on veterans' issues, and I think with some of the stuff that we've done with the portal
40:04and the First Lady's initiative, I mean, that's just in the infancy.
40:07I think you're going to see that explode.
40:10We have, like I said, throughout our country, we've got a lot of people who want to help
40:13veterans, but in the state of Florida, I mean, up and down the state, we've got great folks
40:19in the community who put their money where their mouth is, either through charitable
40:22groups that they have formed, businesses, you name it.
40:26I think the potential is really unlimited with what we can do by linking the veteran
40:31with all that's out there, so I'm really excited about what we're going to be able to accomplish
40:35in the years ahead.
40:37And with that, I'm happy to take a couple questions.
40:39Governor, you talked about reducing the state's debt in a post on X that you just, before
40:45you got here, you also talked about it here.
40:47However, with some homeowners getting ready to pay more for items like TECO and due and
40:52citizen property insurance, how does reducing the state of debt directly impact those today
40:58who are some people who are going to be paying more to live right here in the state of Florida?
41:03Well, one, I mean, being, doing fiscal mismanagement is not going to help anyone pay their electric
41:09bill.
41:10I mean, like, that's just, it's not the right thing to do.
41:13Two, within that, that we've done, that budget that's spent less than last year's reducing
41:19debt, we did $1.5 billion in tax relief, all geared directly to help Floridians who are
41:28struggling with the Bidenflation.
41:31For example, all the sales tax holidays, back to school, we have that again.
41:36Disaster preparedness, we had one that ended in mid-June, we've got another one starting
41:41in the third week of August.
41:42All the supplies you need, tax-free.
41:45We're also doing July Freedom Summer Month, outdoor recreation items, tax-free, save money
41:52here in the summertime, and we even have the tool tax holiday.
41:56Then we did $500 million to reduce taxes and fees on homeowners insurance policies, and
42:03so we obviously can't control, you know, how much with the inflation, but we can provide
42:08that relief, and that's going to be good.
42:10Then we did almost a half a billion in toll relief, so you go, if you're a commuter, once
42:16you hit a certain number of tolls on your pass, you don't have to do anything, you just
42:21get 50% debit at the end of the month, and that saves people hundreds of dollars in some
42:27cases, depending on where they're doing.
42:28You know, you do have tolls in the Tampa Bay area, you have a lot of tolls in, like, Miami,
42:34a lot of tolls in Orlando.
42:36So some people spend $100 a month on tolls, because if you have a job where you've got
42:42to get in different parts of a region, you're going through all the time.
42:46So that's something that's very, very meaningful.
42:49And then I think the 2000, the last year's tax bill was $2.5 billion.
42:54Now, some of that, we don't count it towards this, but some of it is still there.
42:58These were permanent tax cuts.
43:00For example, in Florida, all baby items are tax-free.
43:04Diapers, wipes, strollers, cribs, you name it, anything you need to raise a baby is now
43:10tax-free.
43:11So we have taken action, particularly over the last few years, to provide relief for
43:17consumers and Floridians.
43:19Given what's going on in Washington, there doesn't seem to be an end in sight.
43:22I think they're going to run a $2 trillion deficit this year, and their deficit on a
43:28monthly basis is like $150 billion, $160 billion, just to put that in perspective.
43:34That's the monthly federal deficit.
43:37Our entire state budget is $116.5 billion.
43:41So what they're doing has had big costs.
43:45So I think that the debt repayment is something that is part and parcel of having a
43:51state that is in good financial shape.
43:55We have a AAA credit rating, higher rated than the federal government.
43:59And then doing the things that we need that will make a difference for people.
44:02The stuff we're doing with tax relief, that makes a difference.
44:05What we're doing to increase teacher salaries makes a difference.
44:08What we do when we do law enforcement recruiting bonuses of $5,000, that's in the budget
44:13again this year.
44:14That really makes a difference.
44:16What we're doing for conservation and making sure our springs have clean water and our
44:23beaches, all that contributes to the economy and our way of life.
44:27So these things all go together.
44:29But I think if you're doing things and you're not in a sound fiscal posture, the reality
44:35is the wheels will come off.
44:37And in Florida, we are the best managed state fiscally of all 50 states.
44:43And I don't even think it's close if you look at the numbers.
44:46We just heard about how your bill will bring spouses back together.
44:55Are you able to quantify how many families are actually going to be impacted by this?
44:59I don't know that we can directly.
45:01I mean, I know we think that there's definitely a demand for this.
45:05A lot of it depends, of course, on who's going to be entering the system over the next few
45:09years.
45:10But the notion that we would want to have a barrier in this situation, that's just not
45:15right.
45:16Yeah, I mean, it's a relatively small number, but we don't want to have a barrier.
45:20I think this is a good example of doing the right thing for the right reasons.
45:24I think the veterans will appreciate it.
45:26The spouse will appreciate it.
45:28And look, I've said for years that spouses serve and need to be appreciated.
45:34I mean, even apart from this, I remember when I was in Iraq, we had people there with the
45:41Army who were there 15 months.
45:45Literally, there was a deployment, because this was when they surged forces in Al-Anbar
45:49Province.
45:50They get there in early November, I think it was like 2006, miss Thanksgiving, miss
45:56Christmas, miss probably all the birthdays and everything.
46:00They did get, I think, a week where they could go back at some point during that.
46:04Miss Thanksgiving again, miss Christmas again, miss the other holidays again.
46:09And it's like, you know, that takes a toll.
46:12That's something that's really, really difficult.
46:14And not take anything away from previous generations, but we don't have a draft.
46:18So you're talking about a relatively small number of people that would do 15 months,
46:23and then they come home, then they deploy again and again.
46:27And that is really difficult.
46:29And of course, I mean, that creates strain to where families break up over that.
46:35That was not uncommon in the military.
46:37It's a tough thing.
46:40So when those spouses are there holding down the fort, that is a huge thing.
46:45It helps our warfighters to have the peace of mind to know that their family is doing well.
46:51And if they don't have that peace of mind, they're not going to perform as well in battle
46:55and in combat.
46:56So I've long believed this.
46:58I think it's just really, really important.
47:00And we're one of only a few states that are doing this, but it's the right thing to do.
47:06And I think it's keeping in character with the state of Florida
47:09being the most veteran-friendly state in these United States.
47:12Thanks, everybody, God bless.
47:14Thank you.
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