Gray Rohrer
Gov. Ron DeSantis signed six bills Thursday aimed at increasing access to higher education and employment for military veterans and streamlining state licensing and credentials for active-duty military members and their spouses.
He also reiterated his reasoning for pushing to reestablish the Florida State Guard, a state-level force similar to the Florida National Guard but answerable only to DeSantis, that will be able to help respond to natural disasters. The U.S. military’s requirement that troops receive a COVID-19 vaccine meant Florida needed its own force without a mandate, DeSantis said.
“Part of what precipitated this was you had the federal government imposing these mandates on the military as a whole but even on the National Guard, which they have some administrative control over,” DeSantis said at a bill signing event in Fort Walton Beach.
“So we wanted to have our Guard that could perform similar functions but that would not be captive to some of these misguided federal mandates. They are kicking people out of the military who served with honor and distinction over these COVID shots.”
DeSantis noted the new Florida State Guard will have 400 members and received $10 million in the upcoming budget year. He said applications were coming in and there would be another announcement soon on the Guard. His administration recently put out ads to recruit applicants to lead the new force.
The bills he signed include HB 45, which will waive tuition and fees for universities, colleges and technical education centers for disabled veterans if federal scholarships don’t pay the full amount. Another measure (SB 430) renews a federal compact among states to expedite school and records transfers for the children of military members deployed to a new state.
State agencies will now be able to accept military experience as a substitute for higher education degrees in evaluating job candidates after DeSantis signed SB 514, and veterans can do the same when applying for a temporary teacher certificate because of SB 896.
Spouses of active-duty military members seeking occupational licenses will have their applications expedited because DeSantis signed SB 562. And SB 438 updates state laws to include service in the U.S. Space Force, a new branch of the military begun under former President Donald Trump, in the definition of “uniformed service.”
All of the bills passed unanimously.
8 comments
Jim
June 9, 2022 at 3:05 pm
So $2MM to create his ‘election’ police and $10MM to build his own private army. This is how it begins I guess. Florida is becoming an autocracy.
Impeach Biden
June 9, 2022 at 3:22 pm
I believe there are roughly 20+ states that have this “so called” army as well. Even some Blue States. But please go on with your wacko conspiracy theory.
Jim
June 9, 2022 at 4:51 pm
Conspiracy theory? $20MM because the National Guard is required to be vaccinated so we’re building an army of the unvaccinated? This seems reasonable to you? I don’t much care what blue states do but this just strikes me as ludicrous.
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garrett
June 12, 2022 at 5:57 pm
Im currently a first responder in NYC and the hospital has been empty for this entire thing. I also serve, ive been abroad 7xs and the world is not how the media is portraying it. theyre conflating this experimental MRNA injection with traditional vaccines. even adjusting the definition of vaccine to push it. theres a constant oversimplification of ” oh youre required to take vaccines” – yet a constant altering of “vaccine” . my friend died of a heart attack after receiving the vaccine and complaining of fluttering, other troops have died- which has been widely ignored. you can cry conspiracy but some people don’t work at Costco in some fly overstate. the Javits center quietly closed, along with the USS mercy- from not being used.
Anyone
June 10, 2022 at 10:13 am
Anyone could win against your state lol
Valid Point
June 14, 2022 at 5:35 pm
You’re actually insane broski. Political views aside, people are being forced out of their careers due to wanting to have some control over their bodies. It’s no different than abortion rights.
Except soldiers are being actually put out of their careers and having their benefits terminated over it.
So yeah being given the opportunity to utilize education benefits and get a career after the fact is pretty reasonable for those who serve and protect our country if you ask me.
Dave
June 10, 2022 at 5:28 pm
Do you think vaccinating our whole military is reasonable when there are other cures that are safe and not experimental? When the survival rate of this flu is 99%?
Its batshit crazy to mandate this fake vaccine to our whole military or anyone. Are you not hearing about heart attacks, blood clots and strokes in 20 year olds? Sudden adult death syndrome (SADS)?
Doctors are supposedly baffled by all of these new sudden unexplainable deaths. Really? Wake up and smell the Ivermectin.
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