Gov. DeSantis vetoes law that would make parole system ‘more lenient’

Among the four Gov. Ron DeSantis vetoes Friday was a piece of legislation that would have benefited inmates looking for early release from prison.

HB 181, introduced by Democratic Rep. Dianne Hart and passed unanimously by the Senate and  House, would have compelled the Florida Commission on Offender Review to consider how an inmate worked on improvement while imprisoned through vocational training, substance abuse treatment, educational programs, and other self-help programs when deciding on early parole.

While Hart said her proposal helped to give potential parolees “a fair shot at the second chances they deserve,” DeSantis argued the bill imposed unnecessarily duplicative burdens on the law and the parole board.

“Current law does not bar the consideration of these factors,” he wrote. “The proposed legislation appears to require FCOR to assign weight to these factors. Therefore, this likely would result in making Florida’s parole system more lenient.”