DeSantis scrambles meeting to pass sanctions against Iran

TALLAHASSEE - Governor Ron DeSantis will call on state lawmakers in Tallahassee next month to pass additional sanctions against Iran over Hamas' attack on Israel. DeSantis spokesman Jeremy Redfern said Friday that Florida would adopt "the toughest sanctions against Iran of any state in the country." However, the exact details of those sanctions were not disclosed Friday. The federal government has imposed sanctions on Iran since 1979, restricting companies from doing business with the country.

On Friday afternoon, state lawmakers announced that the special session will be held in November, the week of Nov. 6-12, when lawmakers were already planning to be in Tallahassee for committee meetings, and two days before DeSantis' appearance at the Republican Party's third preliminary debate in Miami.

House Speaker Paul Renner told lawmakers Friday that they would consider "additional sanctions" against Iran, Hamas and other terrorist organizations, "formally support the existence of the state of Israel" and provide additional security at places subject to hate crimes, such as Jewish day schools.

But those issues are part of a broader agenda for this week, as Renner and Senate President Kathleen Passidomo told lawmakers in emails.

They also intend to:

• Provide aid to hurricane-affected areas
• Provide additional funds for a school voucher program in Florida that helps students with disabilities
• Solve the problem of more than 19,000 people enrolled in a new housing enhancement program

Passidomo wrote to senators that the program is Lawmakers have repeatedly said the state's home insurance problem is their top issue with constituents.

"I understand the frustration, I share it and I am always communicating with stakeholders and trying to find new solutions," Passidomo wrote to senators.

Focus on Israel for DeSantis

Florida lawmakers from both parties expressed horror at this month's attack in which Hamas killed and kidnapped citizens in Israeli cities and towns near the Gaza Strip.

Iran has long been a Hamas ally, providing the organization with military support, but the country's role in the Oct. 7 attack is unclear. Officials in Tehran have denied involvement in the attack, but have expressed praise for Hamas. Secretary of State Antony Blinken says the United States has yet to find evidence of direct Iranian involvement.

Last week, Florida partnered with Project Dynamo, a Tampa-based nonprofit that specializes in evacuating U.S. citizens from conflict zones around the world, to transport hundreds of Americans from Israel to Tampa.

Project Dynamo co-founder Brian Stern told reporters earlier this week that the nonprofit was responsible for much of the logistics on the ground, and Florida helped by covering the cost of airfare.

The Orlando Sentinel newspaper reported Friday that Stern was frustrated with the contractors hired by the DeSantis administration. In a rush to score political points for the governor's campaign, contractors left nearly twenty Americans stranded in Cyprus and caused confusion in Project Dynamo's rescue efforts, Stern told the newspaper.

The DeSantis administration is not reporting the total cost of the operation, paid for by taxpayers, which is estimated to cost millions of dollars.

It's also unclear how the administration vetted the organization, which received government funding and has been criticized by U.S. government officials for being too willing to take risks that other nonprofits don't.

Iran is already one of seven "countries of concern" named by Florida officials, which prohibits the state from investing in companies linked to those countries and restricts foreign nationals from owning land. The other countries are China, Cuba, North Korea, Russia, Syria and Venezuela.

DeSantis has already signed legislation prohibiting state and local governments from contracting with Iran and other threatening countries.

"I would be impressed if his team offered proposals with real impact," said Patrick Clawson, director of the Viterbi Program on Iran and U.S. Policy at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

State Rep. Anna Eskamani, a Democrat from Orlando who is a first-generation Iranian-American, said in a post on platform X, formerly known as Twitter, that she opposes the special session.

She said she hates the Iranian government but is against "wasting Florida taxpayer money on DeSantis' failed campaign.

According to the New York Post, DeSantis may be raising funds for evacuation flights from Israel. His campaign website sells T-shirts with the DeSantis Airways logo for $28, the purchase of which is a political contribution. A spokesman for his campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the T-shirt.

State lawmakers can only pass laws while in session in Tallahassee. The annual 60-day session is scheduled to begin in January, but governors and legislative leaders can call special sessions outside that window.

Special sessions are usually reserved for state emergencies or urgent matters. For example, lawmakers met in special sessions twice last year to address the state's real estate insurance problem. But DeSantis has abandoned the practices of his predecessors and called special sessions on issues related to his policy agenda.

In February, a month before the annual session began, DeSantis urged lawmakers to allocate another $10 million for his migrant evacuation program and to correct legislative errors related to his takeover of the Disney special taxing district and his voter fraud committee.

In November 2021, less than two months before the annual session begins, he called a special session to ban forced vaccinations and allocate money to study whether the state should get out of direct federal control of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

Michael A. Wilner, a correspondent for McClatchy D.C., and Emily L. Mahoney, Times political editor, contributed to this report.