Randy Fine wants his bill on ending benefits for undocumented students to be heard in Special Session

Brevard County Sen. Randy Fine doesn’t want to wait until March to nix tuition benefits for undocumented immigrants.

With a Special Session on illegal migration coming Jan. 27, Fine said he’s retooling legislation (SB 90) on the matter that he filed in December for the Regular Session to instead be heard this month.

If passed, the bill would repeal a decade-old law that allows undocumented students brought to the country as children to pay in-state tuition rates at Florida’s state colleges and universities. Fine says the measure would save an estimated $45 million in annual taxpayer funds.

“Gov. DeSantis and I have had our differences, but one thing we have both wanted to do for years is end the $45 million handouts for illegal immigrants that attend our world-renowned colleges and universities,” said Fine, who is running to replace Mike Waltz in Florida’s 6th Congressional District.

“I am excited that as I prepare to leave the Legislature for Congress, we will be able to work together to get this done. It is immoral that Americans from the other 49 states pay more to attend Florida’s colleges and universities than illegal immigrants. And it is appalling that we ask Floridians to pay $45 million a year to facilitate it.”

Fine’s proposal, co-sponsored by Republican Sen. Don Gaetz of Pensacola, takes aim at legislation Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nuñez passed as a state lawmaker in 2014. She said at the time that the measure supported “upward mobility” for young adults on whom the state had already spent “tens of thousands of dollars to educate in public schools.”

Holding the youths down, she said, “doesn’t make sense.”

But the tuition accommodations have since fallen under the crosshairs of DeSantis, Fine and others who tried, but failed, to repeal the provision in a sweeping anti-illegal immigration bill the Governor signed last year.

A press note from Fine’s Office said students from 49 other states and Puerto Rico pay full price to attend higher ed institutions in Florida, which averages nearly three times the subsidized Florida resident rate.

Some schools charge far more. According to U.S. News & World Report, tuition at the University of Florida is $6,381 for in-state students. For out-of-state students, it’s a whopping $28,658.

“This is a no-brainer way to reduce the size of government and free up resources to help Floridians in need,” Fine said. “We must put Floridians first, and I am proud to do my part to rebalance the scales for our citizens”

As of 2021, Florida only ranked behind Texas and New Jersey in terms of the number of illegal immigrants attending college in the state.

Fine’s bill, if passed as written, would strike provisions from Section 1009.26 of the Florida Statutes that cater to any student who attended Florida high schools for at least three years before graduating in the state, and who applied to an in-state institution of higher learning no more than 24 months after graduating.

The waiver is currently “applicable for 110 percent of the required credit hours of the degree or certificate program for which the student is enrolled.”

No House companion has yet to be filed. Fine told Florida Politics on Dec. 9 that multiple members want to file this legislation and that a House version would appear soon.

As of Jan. 13, a House companion was still pending.

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A.G. Gancarski of Florida Politics contributed to this report.