Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) signs a bill into law to make gold and silver legal tender in Florida.
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00:00Live from Apopka, Florida, deep in the heart of Central Florida, it's great to
00:06see everybody here. We've got a great cast of characters here with us today
00:10starting with our state representative Doug Bankson. We also have the CEO of
00:22Freeman Global Holdings and the author of Economic War Room, Kevin Freeman, who
00:27you'll hear from, State Senator Keith Trunow, and then Representatives Booth,
00:39Yakorsky, and Tremont, and I want to thank them for being in attendance, and then
00:49Director of Propel Florida, Sean Keck, is with us here today. So thanks everybody
00:54for being here. We've got a really, I think, landmark piece of legislation that
00:58we're going to sign here today in a minute, and before I get into why we're
01:03signing the legislation, which just so everybody knows what it is, we are going
01:09to utilize our authority under the Constitution in the state of Florida to
01:14make sure that gold and silver are recognized as proper legal tender. So
01:19you're going to be able to conduct transactions in gold, conduct transactions
01:23in silver, and we'll talk about why that's important, but before I get into
01:28that specifically, I do think it's important to point out how Florida, we've
01:32really led the way on protecting your economic independence and your financial
01:38sovereignty, because we've seen over the last particularly five or six years a
01:43coordinated assault on the financial freedom of people here in the United
01:48States, and really throughout the world by some of the powers that be. We were
01:54the leader in the entire country in banning the use of a so-called central
02:00bank digital currency. Now this is something
02:08this was something that was being discussed by the Federal Reserve under
02:13the Biden administration. What it would do is, so the goal of it is to eliminate
02:21cash, force everything into a digital currency. This would be one controlled by
02:26the central bank, and why would they want to do that? Well, they have more more
02:30agency over your financial independence if they do it. So we recognize it as a
02:37frontal assault on your economic freedom. They were thinking about maybe doing
02:42something through an administrative order. We made it be clear in Florida
02:46that'll be dead on arrival. We will not accept that, and Congress really, I think
02:52the idea is almost dead at this point, because we led so forcefully against it.
02:57But why would they want to do a central bank digital currency? Well, it goes back
03:01to other things that we have fought, such as this whole ESG idea. You remember this
03:08ESG environment social governance? This was very popular in elite circles a few
03:14years ago. Not so much anymore, because the state of Florida, starting in many
03:19years ago, we leaned in against this and fought back. And what were they trying to
03:23do with the ESG? They basically have a political agenda, leftist political
03:29agenda. They know that agenda can't actually garner enough political support
03:35at the ballot box to be enacted. And so what they decided to do was to go to
03:40some of the major economic powers in the country and in the world, things like
03:45asset managers, big banks, all these different things, and get ESG policies
03:52put through the economy without ever having to go through a legislative
03:57assembly or anything of the sort. So you saw some banks debank people that had
04:04gun stores. You saw other groups not have access to the same amount of
04:10capital based on political affiliation. You saw them go after agriculture and
04:16traditional practices, even things like raising cattle, because they said that
04:22that was contributing to global warming. And so they wanted to do this through
04:26the economy. If you give the Fed the power of a central bank digital
04:31currency, well that opens up so many possibilities for them. They think, they
04:36bought it, or they could say, you know, you've already bought enough
04:40ammunition this week, you don't get to, we're not going to process anymore.
04:44You bought firearms, you did this, you did that, you did a lot of gas for your truck,
04:47you did too much. And so it was a way for them to impose limits on what you could
04:53purchase. That's the goal of this. That's what would end up happening. So we
04:57were against that. We were also against ESG. Now ESG was really getting a
05:02foothold in the management of pension funds. So Florida, for example, we've got,
05:08well the markets had some turmoil, but I mean we've got usually, I think probably
05:12in the range of two hundred and forty billion dollars under management in our
05:17state, under our State Board of Administration. What they wanted to do,
05:20and they would have that the asset managers would impose these ESG policies
05:24so they wouldn't invest in companies who the ESG ideology deemed problematic, that
05:31is displacing what's best for the beneficiaries financially in favor of
05:37this ideological agenda. So we were the first state in the country to ban
05:41ESG from use in our pension funds. We moved,
05:47we removed two billion from BlackRock that was managing it. BlackRock is a
05:57massive powerhouse leading in ESG, and we did it. And now it's interesting,
06:02recently the head of BlackRock was asked like, well what about ESG? You were the
06:06main proponent. He's like, no, he's like, you know, the problem with ESG, you know,
06:10it's become toxic because you got people like Governor DeSantis always
06:14lampooning it. But the bottom line is, it was an attempt, whether it's CDBC, whether
06:27it's ESG, to use the levers of the economy to control your behavior, to try
06:33to change society in ways that they could never get support through the
06:37normal political process to do. And we really are happy that we led the fight
06:42against all of those things. And so when you're looking at things like gold and
06:47silver, the same people that push those bad policies, they would not want
06:51you doing things like gold and silver, because this gives you more independence,
06:56you won't need to be wedded to a fiat currency, and it really is very
07:02much in step with what we've been talking about in Florida for many years.
07:06So you have that movement to kneecap your financial independence that is
07:11being done through the economy, but then you also just have the specter of
07:15Congress and a federal government that has been incapable of controlling the
07:20amount of money it's borrowing, printing, and spending. And this has been happening
07:24for many, many years. When I was, I guess I was probably in college, the turn of
07:30the century, the year 2000, the state of Florida's, or the national debt, was about
07:37$5.6 trillion. So we ratified the Constitution in the late 1780s,
07:44George Washington took office in 1789, and so if you count from there till 2000,
07:50they racked up $5.6 trillion in debt. They fought a civil war, they fought two
07:55world wars, they had a Great Depression, they had a lot of stuff. Since the year
07:592000, we've gone from $5.6 trillion to almost $37 trillion in 25 years. And the
08:07trajectory now is for, in 10 years, us to be about $56 trillion in debt. We saw
08:17what happened during the financial crisis when they printed a lot of money
08:23and they said it was emergency, QE, and then they just kept doing it for the
08:28next decade. And then COVID hit, and they did the same thing. And so this is the
08:32Federal Reserve making your money less valuable, this is Congress with its
08:37borrowing and spending. And you know, people will talk about like, you know,
08:41taxes and this. Inflation is a tax. When your money becomes less valuable, that's
08:48that's no different in outcome than if Congress were to simply just directly
08:53tax you. It's less transparent, it's more indirect, but it's having the same exact
09:00impact. And so when they do deficit spending of $2 trillion and they say,
09:05well, you know, we don't want to raise taxes, and I'm not arguing for that
09:08either, I'm arguing for lowering spending, but just understand, that
09:13$2 trillion deficit is a tax on you. It works its way through the economy,
09:19there's no free lunch, and that's what ends up happening. And it's a little
09:23frustrating, you know, Elon Musk went into this Doge effort, he was getting
09:30lampooned. I mean, like, they're firebombing his Tesla dealerships, media
09:35smearing him relentlessly, his businesses suffered, all this stuff, because he
09:41basically said, look, we can't keep doing this, and we need to moderate and reduce
09:46the amount of money that the federal government is spending. And yet, we have a
09:50Republican Congress, and to this day, we're in the end of May, past Memorial
09:56Day, and not one cent in Doge cuts have been implemented by the Congress. That's
10:03one of the reasons why we need a balanced budget amendment to the U.S.
10:06Constitution. It's another reason why we need term limits for members of Congress.
10:22But I think what you've seen with how, and I kind of said this early on, that
10:29Doge and Elon were on a collision course with the swamp, and the question is, what
10:34would happen? And I don't think there's any question that Doge fought the swamp,
10:39and so far, the swamp has won. And that's just unfortunate, but I don't think you
10:43can look at this any other way. So, this is hardwired into how the people in
10:49Washington are borrowing and spending your money, but it has huge implications
10:54for the viability of our economy, our country, and everything going forward. And
11:00you know, don't tell me it can't be done. When I became governor, so if you look
11:05at, Florida's been a state for 180 years, if you look at all the debt that's been
11:09accumulated over our entire history of statehood, just since I've been governor,
11:13we've paid off 41% of it, and we're doing more every every day. So, that's not
11:19adding to debt, that's reducing debt.
11:23We have the lowest per capita debt of any state in the country, and if you
11:28looked at what your share as a Florida resident is for our outstanding state
11:33debt, it's about $400 a person. What is your outstanding share for the U.S.
11:39federal debt? It's like $105,000 a person, and escalating, ours is
11:45declining. You also look at Florida, we have the lowest number of state
11:50employees per capita, don't have a big bureaucracy. We are also the second
11:56lowest in terms of spending per capita of any of all the 50 states. We have no
12:02income tax, we have the second lowest state tax burden of any state in the
12:07country, and we're even going to take a chunk out of local, because we're going
12:11to give you relief on these property taxes. We're going to get that done.
12:17And yet, even though we have reduced debt, run big surpluses, cut a lot of taxes, I
12:29think we've cut seven or eight billion since I've been governor, we've also done
12:33really big things. We have increased teacher salaries more than has ever been
12:38done in the history of Florida. We've done bonuses for law enforcement up and
12:44down the state of Florida. We've done things like conserve and improve our
12:48natural resources, whether it's things like the Everglades or Florida Springs,
12:51things that are really meaningful, not just to our culture, but to our economy
12:56here in the Sunshine State. We've even done massive infusions of money for
13:02roads and transportation. I don't know if any of you have been on I-4, where we did
13:07the temporary lane expansion, but it's cut commuting times a lot. I know these
13:13things work when people just volunteer to me and tell me, oh, thanks for doing
13:17that, because we're moving better. And we've done video analysis. It's been good.
13:22And we have flooded part of our surplus into these projects because the state's
13:28growing, and we need to make sure we get ahead of it. So on issue after issue,
13:32we're delivering really big things, but doing it within the context of a budget
13:38that is shedding debt for the state, that's cutting taxes for our people, and
13:42that is one of, if not the smallest, footprints of any place in the country.
13:48So it can be done. Now, I don't think it is going to get done in Washington unless
13:51there's structural reform, like a balanced budget amendment, like term
13:55limits. I think the culture in Congress is very much ingrained, and I just don't
14:00see a massive difference in behavior from election to election. Who knows?
14:05Maybe we'll be surprised over the next few months. I would love to see that, but
14:09I don't think we've seen many signs of it now. So we have to assume that the
14:14borrowing, printing, and spending is likely to continue, at least for the
14:19short term. So the bill I'm going to sign today is legislation that is going to
14:24allow Florida to recognize gold and silver as legal tender in our state, and
14:29we have the ability to do that under the federal Constitution. There are only two
14:34states that have done it thus far. They're smaller states. We are the first
14:38large state to step up and to get this done, and this is right out of the
14:43Constitution of the United States. So this legislation will authorize money
14:48services business, like check cashers or PayPal, to transmit and accept payment in
14:53gold and silver. That means these precious metals can start functioning
14:57like real currency again, not just investment vehicles for the wealthy. And
15:02you notice what's happened in recent weeks and months. How has gold gone down?
15:07Or has gold gone up? Gold's gone up, big time, because investors are looking at
15:12this and they're hedging against—they see the bond yields have gone up. I think
15:17they moderate a little today, but when people start seeing that, gold is a place
15:22they're going to. So it's not just an investment. It'll be something that
15:25you're going to be able to use, and it's something that is very likely to hold
15:28its value, certainly compared to fiat currency. Now we've seen the downgrade
15:34in the credit rating over multiple administrations. We've seen a lot of
15:38problems with the DC Swamp. This is our ability to give you the financial
15:44freedom to be able to protect yourself against the declining value of the
15:49dollar, and so I'm really appreciative of the legislature for
15:53doing this. I think this is something that shows Florida's continuing to lead
15:57on a lot of the issues that matter to people, and I look forward to signing
16:01this into law momentarily, but before that, we do. I want to bring up our great
16:06state representative, Doug Bankson, and then after that, we'll bring up Kevin Freeman.
16:19Thank you, Governor. Wow, aren't you thankful to live in the state of Florida?
16:23This is great. Now, being a pastor and a politician, I promise this will be brief
16:30and no offerings. You know, when we first went to Tallahassee, one of the
16:35things that they said was, don't fall in love with your bills. So I said, well then
16:39I'm deep and abiding like, because this one, really when this came to me, it
16:44grabbed a hold of my heart because it affects so many lives. For over 190 years,
16:48gold and silver backed our currency. It was our money. However, in 1971, President
16:53Nixon removed the dollar from the gold standard. Since then, we've seen over a
16:5890% decrease in its buying power. One of the illustrations that I've used with
17:03people and used in committee and with different representatives, if you bought
17:06a home in 1979, the average cost was $75,000. Those were the days. If you
17:12bought that same home, that same product now, it would be $531,000. However, if you
17:17had bought that in gold in 1979, it would have been 268 ounces. Today, if you bought
17:23that home, 268 ounces. Why? Because it's a tangible thing that has true value. And
17:30again, as the governor referred, we have a fiat money that has nothing behind it
17:34because in 2023, the oil dollars went away, the deal that Nixon had made.
17:39So fortunately, our founders, they guaranteed each state the constitutional
17:44right to declare gold and silver as legal tender, giving it the same capacity
17:48as the dollar to be used as currency or cash. I love the fact, and this wasn't
17:53anything that I did, but this was called House Bill 999. I thought that was very
17:58fitting. But this basically, it does four key things. Number one, it enacts the
18:03state's constitutional right to declare gold and silver as legal tender. You know
18:07it was the states that formed the federal government, not the other way
18:10around. And I love the fact that our states are stepping up and strong
18:14leadership stepping back up and saying, no, Washington, you work for us. Number two,
18:19it establishes the framework for depositories within the state of
18:29Florida with all the checks and balances, independent auditing, and fully
18:34insured holdings. We've all heard of FDIC. It only insures up to $250,000, but this
18:40structure will fully insure all of those holdings. Number three, it enables gold
18:45and silver as a standard weight and purity to be accessed by electronic
18:50transaction or a debit card, making it a truly functional currency. And finally,
18:55number four, it insures the right between willing parties to transact legally with
19:00gold and silver. So simply put, it brings opportunity without obligation, fiscal
19:06stability and security, relief to the taxpayer. Can I get an amen? And we'll
19:12once again help Florida lead the way, becoming the gold standard for economic
19:18freedom and opportunity. You know, you can't do this without thanking the team
19:23because this is a team sport and I love the team. First of all, I want to thank
19:27publicly Kevin Freeman, Mike Carter, you guys are just champions. And this is
19:32where the idea initially came to me. Someone sent me, Art Alley, I think he's
19:36here somewhere in the room, sent me the transcript to your new book that now is
19:40published. And as I read through that and I saw that we have this opportunity
19:44in the Constitution to enact this, I immediately wrap my heart around it. We
19:48reached out to you and you came and begin to share this with our legislators
19:51here. And so thank you so much. And Marnie, I mean, you're the class of this
19:55act right here. That's Kevin's wife. Thank you for being here and all that
19:58you have done across the nation to put this forward. Senator Rodriguez, she's
20:03not able to be here. I believe her aid is, but it's exciting to work together
20:07across on the other side, you know, with the Senate and see something great
20:12coming. In fact, we've asked two bills. You've already signed one, the tag
20:15flipping bill, if you've heard of that one. I also want to thank Representative
20:19Chip Lamarca. You know, when I came in as a freshman, I look for someone who had
20:23some class and some clout that could help me sell this bill all across the
20:26room. And Chip Lamarca stepped up. He heard about the bill. He believed in it.
20:30And Chip, I know he's with his family celebrating 50 years of his uncle being
20:35a priest. And so they're all doing that today. I also want to thank that that
20:40our House House and Senate leadership both said, Let's go, gave us a green
20:44light to keep moving forward. You know, with all of the things going on right
20:47now, this is about the people, and I believe they saw that. In fact, we ended
20:52up getting 100% support on both sides of the aisle. 100% vote to get this
21:05now. This doesn't happen without staff, and I'm gonna embarrass somebody real
21:08good because my legislative aid, Nicole Kennedy Kennedy.
21:19We get to stand up here, but they're really doing the work behind the scenes
21:22to make it happen. I want to thank my church who allows me to go and serve
21:27the people of things that are important for our state. 22 million people. It's a
21:31responsibility, and I love freedom, and I love liberty. But most of all, I want
21:35to thank my family, my sweet wife, Jerry. She's right there. Give her a hand,
21:40please. I'm nothing without that woman right there. My father's here. Son's
21:46different ones of the family. Sister back there and brother in law. You know,
21:50it takes your family supporting you in this. You know, if you if you're not
21:55ready for the slings and the arrows, you need to do something else. But the
21:58bottom line, what we fight for is worth the fight. There is a cause worth
22:03fighting for, and you have to do what's right. And, you know, of course, I want
22:07to thank our wonderful governor. Aren't you thankful for this?
22:18I'm grateful for the bold leadership, unbending and unwavering in the face of
22:23opposition. If it's right, you do it, and that's the right thing to do. And
22:26finally, I want to thank God,
22:29you know,
22:34it's
22:36it's easy for politicians to use. God bless America as a punch line, you know.
22:41But the bottom line is we are here because he is a good God. He gave us
22:46this good earth. We're stewards on this planet, and what we do will affect those
22:50who follow us. And so I'm grateful. I'm very thankful to God that we live in
22:55the greatest state of the nation, that I get to serve America's governor, and
22:59that we're gonna get this done for the people of Florida.
23:18Well, good afternoon and thank you, Governor. And thank you, Representative
23:22Banks. And it's an honor to be here in the free state of Florida for HB 999, a
23:27new law that can truly bless real people. There's more than 50 years ago
23:34that my father came into my bedroom and said President Nixon took us off the
23:38gold standard, and he warned of inflation. And since then, the dollars
23:42lost 90% of its purchasing power. What cost a dime then cost over a dollar
23:48today? Think of a Hershey bar. It was 10 cents when I was 10 years old. But
23:53there is good news. With this signing, Governor DeSantis will make it possible
23:58for anyone to have their own personal gold and silver standard by making
24:03precious metals transactional under state authority as required by the U. S.
24:09Constitution. Florida enters a new era of economic justice and real
24:14prosperity. This has been a dream of mine since I was 10 years old. This is
24:18why I became an economist. I've spoken about it, debated it, written about it.
24:23And two years ago, I shared this idea with your governor at Liberty
24:27University. Shortly after that, with his encouragement and inspiration, I
24:31wrote the book Pirate Money to explain how it might work. And a literal army
24:35of people came alongside, starting with my wife, Marnie, and my business
24:40partners, Mike Carter and Russell Lake and fabulous pair of teams. Art
24:44Alley of Timothy Plan introduced me to legislators like Representative Banks
24:48at the Governor's Club and the wonderful people of Florida read the
24:52book and advanced the cause, making it happen. I can't take credit for the
24:56idea. It was the founders based on their reading the Bible. You see, God
25:02hates dishonest weights and measures.
25:06He wants money to be fair for all people. And with the way the federal
25:10government racks up debt and creates money from nothing, it has been far
25:14from fair. This law, once signed, will give people a choice in how they hold
25:20their money and how they spend their money. It's gonna open amazing doors
25:23for Florida, and it will provide security for all Americans. Arkansas
25:28and Missouri have passed similar legislation, and the Texas Senate is
25:32voting today with Louisiana and Ohio and others possible. But this
25:37legislation is groundbreaking. It's comprehensive, and it's powerful. Every
25:42state can make gold and silver legal tender, and with modern technology,
25:46you can spend it with a debit card, allowing for use for everyday
25:49transactions. Governor DeSantis, you're a true leader, and this legislation
25:53is groundbreaking. This is patriot. It's a patriot money movement that
25:58may answer the question. What's in your wallet
26:05for me and many of you Floridians? We can now say gold and silver. This is
26:10pirate money. Congratulations. Arrgh!
27:11All right.
27:26I got one more for the peanut gallery. Anybody?
27:33Here we go.
27:51Well, this is exciting. It's Florida leading again on something that I
27:56think I know is very important to a lot of people. And I mentioned in my
28:01opening remarks, but we have an opportunity. Well, now, temporarily,
28:09but certainly as we go to the ballot next year on protecting, giving people
28:14constitutional protections for their own property on really strong
28:18protection with this whole property tax situation. So we're working hard
28:23on it. It can absolutely be done. Don't let anyone think to tell you
28:26otherwise. And I think that's the best way that we can relieve the burden on
28:31folks. It's been a lot of increases in prices over the last four years plus,
28:36and we know there's a lot of reasons for that. The housing situation is one
28:41where there's a lot of people that wanted to move to Florida. Part of it
28:43was inflation. There's a lot going on, and you could be living in your house,
28:48and all of a sudden they're telling you it's worth twice as much and that you
28:51have to pay more tax. And that's not easy for people, and they never they
28:56will never assess it lower if the housing market tanks. They'll only
29:00assess it higher if they can get more tax money from you. So we're on to that
29:05and we're gonna do something about it. So we'd appreciate your support for
29:07that. And you got great legislators here who I know want to do it, but we
29:11need to make sure everyone in the Legislature is on board for property
29:14tax relief. Okay, we got any questions back there.
29:18Governor, you have been pretty in tune with the situation involving the San
29:22Jose Rays and the Orlando Dreamers. We're wondering if MLB has been in touch with you and made any requests out of you, or if it's the opposite of the truth, you've asked MLB for anything as this plays out?
29:33I have not asked them for anything. I have been in touch with them, not
29:36necessarily recently. I mean, probably a couple months ago, but I think I can
29:42say publicly they told me we are not allowing this team to leave Florida
29:47because I think they understand that this is the fastest growing state.
29:51It's the third largest state in the country. To have a major league team
29:54leave like that's not something we want, obviously, but actually is bad for the
29:58league, makes baseball look poorly, that they couldn't hack it in in really big
30:02markets. And so this is what I've said on the state. We are not taking your
30:07tax dollars to do any stadiums at the state level. It's not gonna happen.
30:17Now, having said that, you know, there are things that that is appropriate
30:21for the state to do. For example, if someone buys the team on, they want to
30:26build a nice new stadium, they can work with whatever local city and county if
30:30they want. But, you know, we help with like roads and exits and some stuff
30:35like that. But that's that's the proper role of government. So I think we'll be
30:39helpful within the confines of what's appropriate for taxpayers to be doing.
30:44But it will not involve at our level giving money for the construction of a
30:48stadium. Now, the Rays do need a new stadium. I think everybody understands
30:51that. I know that the current owner is is is basically not not got a path
30:57forward in Pinellas County. I think that there's the goal would be if there's a
31:02new owner, uh, to then have an ability to to do a stadium in a place that would
31:07be that would be economically viable. And I think you can do it. I absolutely
31:11think it can work. You know, we've now become the hockey capital of the world
31:16in the state of Florida. I mean, it's incredible. So you got the Panthers, you
31:22know, they're lighting it up. I think they're up with 3 to 1 or they're up in
31:25that series. Big. The lightning have had a great run in. But what's happened is
31:29as someone that grew up in the Tampa Bay area, there were probably 10 times more
31:33baseball fans and hockey fans when I was a kid. And yet those hockey games do
31:38very well because one, I think they had an owner that leaned in and really
31:43wanted to make this part of the community to. It was in an area where
31:46there's other things to do. So it was kind of like the place to be. And
31:49people would want to go even if they weren't huge hockey fans. People liked
31:53it. I think you can absolutely do that with baseball. Look what Atlanta did
31:56with this battery that they have around the stadium. People go because there's
32:00like bars and restaurants and shops and stuff like that. And they really made it
32:05an experience for folks. And so that I think is the goal. So I don't know
32:09what's gonna happen. You know, I've been being told for years that the rays
32:12were likely to be sold soon, and it hasn't really happened. You know, maybe
32:16we're getting closer to that now, but I'm confident that the team's not
32:20gonna leave Florida. Obviously, the Tampa Bay area has has had it for a
32:25long time, and I've told people I'm not saying, you know, it should be in ST
32:28Pete, Tampa, Orlando or any of that. My job is governor is just there. If I can
32:33be helpful to keep it in Florida, then I'm gonna do that.
32:38I did an article on this issue for the Epoch Times, and one concern that I
32:41talked to a lot of people is that the IRS still likes to tax these fictional
32:45games on gold or silver. Can you speak to how states deal with the Trump
32:49administration to try to remove that issue? Yeah, I mean, for one, um, this
32:54make sure there's no sales tax in Florida on it, which I think is
32:57important. And I think this is in keeping with a lot of what the Trump
33:01administration's policies have been. They've been they've embraced things
33:05like Bitcoin, for example, which is also a hedge against against the fiat
33:10currency. So I don't think it would be something that would be out of
33:13character for where they've already gone. And I think as more states do
33:17this, I think they likely will be in a position where they probably want to
33:20act. So I feel good that that they we could probably get the feds to clear
33:24the way on this under current arrangements.
33:30What's the next step in the state to make it fractional, transactional and
33:34so on?
33:36Do you want to address that? So basically, I mean, Doug, you want to
33:39come and talk about the bill? I mean, we have toe. We have to do a
33:42regulatory rule on this, and so that will be done. And then these guys in
33:48the House and Senate have to approve that, which they will likely do, you
33:52know, next January. And so we're looking at this being live, um, no
33:58later than July 1st of 2026. But there will be some things that go into that.
34:02Yeah, you basically hit it. Their bottom line is we gave within the bill
34:06the guidelines for Office of Finance Regulation. And what the bill requires
34:11is for them to give us then their framework, bring it back to us that
34:14then we can ratify this next fall when we're back. And then from there, yes,
34:18there's a runway to allow for the technical side of things to work out
34:22all the bugs before it goes live. At the same time, at that point, we may
34:26have the ability to pull that back. I'm hopeful, Governor, to move that back
34:30to at least April 15th. That day might be a good day to move this back. So
34:36higher education
34:38at the national level. We're hearing about Harvard people. You're very
34:41concerned about our education institutions here in Florida. Very
34:45controversial. We want to hear your thoughts on what's happening here with
34:49the situation of higher education in Florida. Well, I can say we are number
34:53one in the nation eight years in a row in public university system. That's
34:58what you want to be.
34:58We've done a lot of things that have been pathbreaking. And now I think
35:07you're saying the Trump administration really lean in. And there have been
35:10articles, Wall Street Journal, I think a month or two ago, and then even the
35:15New York Times saying, you know, if you want to see the direction, look to
35:19Florida and look what we've done. And in New York Times is kind of like
35:22pointing out these things like and they're trying to say how bad it is.
35:25And like our voters were like, Yes, thank you for doing that. But some of
35:29the things we did is is one. We just laid down a marker. The goal of our
35:34university system is education, not indoctrination. We're not going to go
35:39down
35:41the road
35:43of a Columbia University or some of these places which their whole
35:48academic programs have really been corrupted by ideology. We were the
35:53first state in the nation to eliminate D. E. And I from our public university
35:58system. We did that years ago.
36:02We did that a couple years ago. And when we did it, that was like going into
36:06the teeth of the monster. Because, like every elite institution, not just
36:11higher ed, corporate America, union government, federal government, they
36:14were all for this. And obviously, I think people have seen seen it for what
36:18it is. Eso we really led. But in 23 2023 for us to do that, that was we
36:24were standing alone at the time. Now the winds have shifted, and we've got
36:29the window are back on that. We've also recognized that universities, public
36:35universities need to serve the interests of the people of the state
36:39of Florida. It's not just they have a right to just do whatever they want,
36:43and these faculty can do whatever they want and then get money from the
36:47taxpayer without any accountability. That doesn't work. If you want to start
36:51your own private university and do that, that's fine. But in a public
36:55university, our goals are we want people we want academics folks focused
37:00on the pursuit of truth. We want to make sure that the programs are
37:04rigorous, and we want to make sure we're preparing our students to be
37:08citizens of this republic. Now, that was really what higher education was
37:12always through most of Western history until relatively recently, maybe the
37:17last many decades. And so we said that's that higher education has gone
37:22off kilter, and we're gonna get it back on track. Now, part of the way you
37:26do that is to recognize that, ultimately, you can't have a situation
37:32where good professors who reject the prevailing campus leftism are
37:38blackballed by the existing faculty and not allowed to come in and get a
37:42tenured position. So what we did is two things. One, we now have law in place. All
37:47tenured professors must undergo review every five years and can be let go for
37:53poor performance. Now, no one thought that was possible just a few
37:57years ago. The other thing we've done is we have taken the hiring and put it
38:08into the hands of the boards of trustees and the university presidents.
38:12So, for example, you can now go, Florida State, as president, can go, if you want
38:18to hire somebody from Georgetown, you can do it, the board can do and approve it,
38:23and the faculty aren't allowed to blackball somebody who doesn't have the
38:27right. Because, basically, academia, if you say what you really believe
38:33and it conflicts with orthodoxy, you're in trouble. And so you either got a
38:37bottle it up, you got to tow the party line, or whatever. So we've
38:42transcended. So they brought in a lot of great faculty. They've processed out
38:46through the post-tenure review a lot of unproductive tenured faculty. And, you
38:50know, the professors that are the most political and activists tend to be the
38:54least productive on the core academic things. And I remember when the
38:58post-tenure review started, this is probably like a year ago, there was
39:02articles, oh, there's a brain drain from Florida as professors are shown the door.
39:07And I'm thinking to myself, wait a minute, if Marxist professors are leaving
39:11Florida, that is not a bad thing for Florida, that is a good thing for Florida.
39:21So we, but, we've, so we've, we've done major reforms, we have very clear
39:28expectations, and people that are involved in the universities have to
39:32meet those expectations. You know, when they had the October 7th, 2023 attacks,
39:36and the aftermath from those attacks by Hamas and Israel, and what Jewish
39:41students were facing on many college campuses around the country, was
39:46disgusting. It was appalling. Yeah, you didn't see that in the state of Florida.
39:50You didn't see Columbia University in the state of Florida. And, and the reason is
39:59very simple. It wasn't luck that we didn't have it, it was just the simple
40:04fact that if any university president in our state allowed their university to
40:10turn into another Columbia, they would no longer be president of one of our
40:14universities, and we would make sure of that very quickly. So, well, thanks
40:19everybody. It's great to see you. We'll be back soon. God bless you. God bless the
40:24free state of Florida.