Gov. DeSantis vetoes restrictions on Trustee appointees, prohibition on administration politicking

Gov. Ron DeSantis has vetoed legislation aimed at restricting his ability to name out-of-state pundits as university Trustees.

The Governor, who throughout the Legislative Session criticized similar proposals, killed a bill (HB 1445) that bundled restrictions with limits on who can lead state agencies, and barred public officials from pressuring individuals into political activity.

In its final form, the bill would have required public officials like agency heads to be Florida residents and U.S. citizens. Board of Governors appointees and Trustees for public colleges and universities would either need to live in Florida or be alumni of the schools they would govern.

“CS/HB 1445 attempts to impose additional eligibility criteria by requiring members of the BOG and BOT to be ‘either a resident of this state or a graduate of (a/the) state university,’” DeSantis wrote in a veto message.

“However, the Florida Supreme Court has ‘consistently held that statutes imposing additional qualifications for office are unconstitutional where the basic document of the constitution itself has already undertaken to set forth those requirements.’”

DeSantis has been more heavily involved in oversight of universities than many predecessors, most notably when he appointed out-of-state Trustees working at conservative think tanks to remake New College of Florida as a “Hillsdale of the South.” This year, he similarly appointed controversial nominees at the University of West Florida, many of whom the Senate refused to confirm.

But DeSantis has said efforts to stop his nominees would disrupt his effort to remove liberal indoctrination from higher education. He said in his veto message that the bill passed by the Legislature puts unfair and unnecessary restrictions on who can be a trustee.

“The requirement in Article IX that certain members of the BOG and BOT must be ‘citizens’ has long been understood to mean members who do not hold public office, not members who are citizens of Florida,” he wrote.

The bill also would have expanded a prohibition on public officials using their positions to solicit political donations. That proposal occurred amid a scandal about Medicaid settlement going to Hope Florida, which ended up awarding grants to nonprofits who ultimately donated the money to an anti-pot campaign.

That campaign was run at the time by DeSantis’ then-Chief of Staff James Uthmeier, who the Governor since appointed as Florida Attorney General. Uthmeier has defended the legality of his involvement in communications around that money.

The bill was sponsored by former Rep. Debbie Mayfield, an Indialantic Republican since elected to the Senate.

“This is intended to promote executive engagement, improve accessibility, and encourage organizational stability,” Mayfield wrote in a bill explanation when she filed the legislation.