TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida has a new House Speaker who says he’s throwing out the political script and letting lawmakers again make laws.
House Speaker Danny Perez (R-Miami) said earlier this week that next session will target your cost of living and Florida’s affordability. When it comes to affordability, the state lands near the bottom of the list. US News and World Report placed it 39th in the nation and 40th for housing alone.
Its property and car insurance rates are among the highest in America. Miami is in the top 10 for most expensive cities.
“I’m very concerned with the younger generation not being able to plant their flag in Florida,” said Perez.
The 37-year-old Miami attorney and father told us he’s focused on driving down high costs in 2025, whether that’s continuing to work on property insurance or finding ways to make housing more attainable. Perez said he wants to go beyond recent reforms that limited insurance lawsuits and created incentives to build low-income housing. He felt the state’s continued growth depended on it.
“What else can we do in the state that makes it more affordable to keep our talent here?” said the Republican. “I don't want my daughter to go to college in 15 years or so and then eventually have to leave because she can't afford it here.”
There are already some warning signs. Redfin reports Florida home sales are now down about 10% statewide, compared to a year ago. The reasons are familiar to Floridians — high insurance costs, severe weather, and new costly rules for condo owners in the wake of the Surfside collapse.
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How to fix them? Well, the ideas are all over. Lawmakers for years have proposed everything from rate caps to making the state-backed insurer Citizens Property Insurance responsible for Florida’s wind policies.
“We're going to see what potential bills people file and the members file and see if any of those solutions are viable,” said Perez. “But we're also going to allow the membership to decide if those are viable options or not. That's why we have the committee process — and I'm encouraging debate. I mean, I'm encouraging questions and answers throughout the committee process. I don't want to script what those committees or what the 60 days of session look like.”
Lawmakers making laws are somewhat novel as of late. Many of the recent major policies were driven by previous chamber leaders or Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Perez sounded more autonomous, and said he wasn’t not stopping there. A trim-down of the state budget is in the works. That’s after it ballooned $34.2 billion between 2016 and 2024.
“No, there's no specific number,” said the Speaker. “I don't think it's about the number. I think it's about the value. About the value. We have to value value.”
“Sounds like you're kind of describing a DOGE within Florida government,” asked reporter Forrest Saunders. “Is that kind of what you're hoping for, is just to create a process to review everything and just trim the fat where you can?”
“Unfortunately, I don't have Elon Musk money, but we're definitely on the same page,” said Perez. “I think the federal government, over the next four years, wants to make sure that the government is efficient and here in Florida, we want the same thing.”
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When it comes to Democrats, some have found optimism in Perez’s new outlook. Others, like Rep. Anna Eskamani (D-Orlando), have concerns it was just empty rhetoric.
“Oh my gosh — honestly, it’s hard to tell,” she said. “The Speaker has been somewhat vague in their policy agenda. I know for me — it’s going to be focusing on issues like property insurance reform, not allowing the industry to write policy, but really focusing on consumers, housing affordability, and building a tax system that benefits consumers and holds corporations accountable.”
There are a lot of overlapping goals there, in general. Whether the parties will agree on methods when the gavel drops remains to be seen.
Florida finds out when the session starts on March 4 of next year.
