The Florida Roundup - Florida and California: What the two can learn from each other post-election

Episode Date: November 8, 2024

This week on The Florida Roundup, we broke down which proposed constitutional amendments passed and which fell short with Central Florida Public Media’s Joe Byrnes and WUSF’s Stephanie Colombini (1:00). Then, we simulcasted with our colleagues at KQED’s Forum for a conversation about how Florida and California are positioned as political opposites and how our states might actually have a lot in common (19:28).

Florida Navigator Program provides confidential assistance for Floridians looking to explore health care coverage within the federal health insurance marketplace. Open enrollment ends January 15th. 877-813-9115 or coveringflorida.org. This is the Florida Roundup. I'm Tom Hudson. Thanks for being along with us this week. Today, after all the votes, after all the counting, after the victory and concession speeches, uniting two states often talked about as political rivals, Florida and California, a red state and a blue state, seemingly on the political map. Despite the differences between the majority of voters and the two politically ambitious governors, Florida and California, well, we certainly have some things in common, right? A housing affordability crisis, transportation headaches, too much traffic, big agriculture industries, dealing with the effects

of climate change, costly natural disasters. And we each have a special place in the American imagination. Well, after this contentious election and the high voter emotions, many excited, many anxious, Florida and California present two very different options for the future of politics and policies. But what about the people? What do you here in Florida want Californians to know about politics here in the Sunshine State? What do you want to know about living and working in the Golden State? Well, we're going to be connecting with colleagues in San Francisco later on this hour for a special simulcast. You'll have the chance to speak to and hear from people living in the Bay Area as we try to unite over moving forward. You can email us your thoughts now, radio at theflorup dot o r g. The inbox is open radio at the Florida Roundup dot org.

Or you can call 305-995-1800 305-995-1800. We're going to connect with our friends in San Francisco in just a few minutes. But first, Florida voters decided the fate of a half dozen amendments this week. Two measures received far more attention and campaign money than the others. Joining us now to talk about what passed, what failed, and what might be next, we're joined by Stephanie Colombini, healthcare reporter with our partner station WUSF in Tampa and Health News Florida. Joe Burns also with us, reporter from our partner station Central Florida Public Media in Orlando. We'd like to hear from you as well on the amendments, 305-995-1800.

Tell Katie, who is answering phone calls for us, which amendment you'd like to talk about, 305-995-1800. All right, Stephanie, let's start with Amendment 4. This one would have enshrined abortion protections into the state's constitution. abortion protections into the state's constitution. It did get a majority of support, but not enough, shy of the 60 percent required to be added to the state constitution. You've been following this issue very closely, and we're at a pro-amendment watch party on election night. What was the reaction from supporters? Of course, a lot of devastation, plenty of folks in tears, upset that the amendment did not pass, but also a lot of resolve and encouragement by the fact that 57% of the vote was in favor of Amendment 4 shows that a majority of Floridians were willing to expand abortion rights until viability in this state and then in turn don't approve the current six week ban. So, you know, supporters were saying that they're energized and will keep this fight going into the legislative session to try and change abortion policy another way. Joe, how about the performance for this abortion in central Florida?

What did the vote turnout look like there? Well, in Orange County, it would have passed if it was just Orange County. It was 65 percent. Same in Seminole. But in the other counties around Central Florida, it wouldn't have. And one of the notable things in Sumter County, which is a heavily Republican county, less than 50 percent, Marion County, it also performed very poorly. It kind of depends on the Democrat versus Republican voters. And Stephanie, we saw that even here in South Florida, where I am, where traditional Democratic strongholds, Broward County, Palm Beach County, did see more than 60 percent support for Amendment 4. Miami-Dade County, 55 percent. Yes, a majority, but not at that threshold. And the support, yes, on Amendment 4, those supporters didn't run up the score high enough, one would imagine, just to make up for the math in the counties that Joe mentioned, for instance. Yeah, it's definitely a picture throughout the state of kind of rural versus urban in many cases.

Counties like you mentioned, Broward, Palm Beach, Pinellas and Hillsborough here in the Tampa Bay area. Palm Beach, Pinellas and Hillsborough here in the Tampa Bay area. Also counties that have a lot of young people like Alachua and Leon County where UF and FSU are. That's where we saw the largest amount of support for Amendment 4. But then in Panhandle counties, most residents voted no. Same thing kind of in those rural parts of central Florida. So it was definitely a mix. So even though 57% of voters overall voted yes,

technically a majority of Florida counties, 40 out of 67, voted no. Joe, this was seen and is seen as a political win for Governor DeSantis, who campaigned, one can say he campaigned pretty heavily against this. Talk a little bit about how that messaging hit in central Florida. Well, I think Governor DeSantis, his administration took some pretty creative approaches to the way he campaigned against Amendment 4, using the Department of Health, for instance, which is extraordinary in a political campaign to oppose it. You know, I don't know that that messaging is what made the difference. In Central Florida especially, I think it may have to do with the Republican versus Democratic divide.

Certainly. And we saw Republicans and Republican registered voters outnumber Democratic registered voters in this general election for the first time in years and years and years, if not decades. But let's look forward here, Stephanie. So current law stands in Florida. That is restriction on the great majority of abortions after six weeks. six weeks. Florida was one of 10 states that had abortion on the ballot this election cycle. It was the largest state with it on the election cycle. How does the outcome compare to what has happened elsewhere in the United States? Yeah, Florida actually became the first state where a ballot measure in support of abortion rights failed since Roe versus Wade was overturned a couple of years ago. This year, we saw seven states vote to protect abortion rights, including Arizona and Missouri, which overturned abortion bans. The other states, Colorado, New York,

Maryland, Montana and Nevada, were like protecting existing abortion rights and cementing those into their constitutions. We did see a couple other measures fail, South Dakota and then also in Nebraska, where they actually had two ballot measures saying conflicting things about abortion. But voters ultimately opted for the one that would leave their 12 week ban in place. And so looking forward, is there, because we did see the majority of voters certainly support this type of amendment, is there an effort or a willingness as we move into the legislative session to try to have Republican lawmakers revisit the six-week, the current six-week ban. There's certainly an effort and a willingness on behalf of the supporters of Amendment 4. They

have vowed to head straight to, you know, Tallahassee, and they're going to demand lawmakers repeal the six-week ban. Of course, we know political will in Tallahassee is different, and the legislature has a Republican supermajority. It seems very unlikely that they would take any steps to relax abortion restrictions. I also know some opponents of abortion are also planning to push for further restrictions. might think that, you know, with 57 percent of voters wanting abortion rights expanded in this state, maybe the legislature won't take any further steps to restrict abortion. But we'll have to see in March. We will see in March with that new legislative session and new legislative leaders as well in the House and in the Senate. We're talking about the ballot amendments that

Florida voters decided this week during this election week with Stephanie Columbini covering health care with our partner station WUSF in Tampa. Joe Burns is a reporter for our partner station, Central Florida Public Media. Joe, let's turn our attention to Amendment 3. We're going backward here in order. But Amendment 3 was the effort to allow for recreational use of marijuana for anyone in Florida 21 years old and older. This still had a majority support, but again, failed to reach that 60% threshold. This was an enormously expensive campaign, more than $100 million spent on both sides. Where did most of this money come from, Joe?

Well, Tom, it was mind-blowing, the amount of money that was spent. So I was looking at the numbers, the most recent report, $186 million. Wow. Wow. The two different sides combined. Most of it in support of the amendment. And that was through the Safe and Smart Florida PAC. And most of that money was from Trulieve, which is one of the 25 licensees that operates dispensaries in Florida. And they contributed more than $140 million to try to get that passed. In a failed effort to get this passed, any response from the company about that kind of, I'll call it with air quotes, investment in this campaign? Well, the CEO says that she's encouraged, which is difficult to understand. But encouraged because, as she puts it, more than half

of Floridians are in favor of adult use, recreational use of marijuana, which is true. It surpassed 50 percent, but it obviously is a huge setback. And there's some thought as to what the legislature might do to change things, because, of course, the legislature could change it. And I want to ask you about that in a second, Joe. But, Stephanie, first, what about the opposition to this amendment? Similar to the DeSantis administration marshalling its resources to argue against the abortion amendment. It also, the governor also kind of put his reputation on the line in opposition to this recreational marijuana amendment. Yeah. And once again, used taxpayer funds, including opioid settlement dollars, to fight against this marijuana amendment. Yeah, and once again used taxpayer funds,

including opioid settlement dollars, to fight against this marijuana amendment. They took a variety of approaches. One thing was going after Trulieve and kind of accusing the company of wanting to make a monopoly, saying if this one company was gonna invest this much money in this amendment, they're clearly just out for

big business and will control the entire marijuana industry here. They also, you know, talked about the dangers of marijuana and used the health department and the Department of Law Enforcement to raise concerns about increases in traffic deaths or concerns for children's health. And then one thing they did to try and appeal to folks who maybe otherwise would have voted yes because they're in support of expanded marijuana access was highlighted. They said that the amendment would not allow residents to grow their own marijuana and that you'd have to buy it from these companies. And so that was their attempt to appeal to people who maybe would have said yes otherwise, but were upset about losing that personal control.

said yes otherwise, but were upset about losing that personal control. President Trump, President-elect Trump now, who is a Florida man, is a Florida voter, as we know, in Palm Beach County. Joe, he came out in support of this measure while Governor DeSantis, his one-time political rival in the Republican presidential nomination process, was against it. Any thoughts on why President Trump and his clear popularity among Florida voters, after all, he carried almost every county in this election, won by a landslide here in Florida against the vice president, Vice President Harris, but why President Trump's support of recreational marijuana didn't carry more weight with those same voters?

I think the answer is DeSantis. I think the answer is the governor and his wife coming out and just vehement opposition to it. You know, also, former President Trump, this wasn't really a major issue for him. It was basically, you know, a comment that he made. Right. This is what he supported. So it wasn't as if he really had put a lot of skin in this game. But of course, Governor DeSantis was really committed. Yeah. Let's talk about the federal law here, because, of course, this amendment or any effort that the state legislature may do is regarding marijuana and state law. But federal law and the review of marijuana's stature in federal law, Joe, continues to be under review. First, get us updated. Where does that stand

with federal law, and how does that affect what's happening here in Florida? Right. So you have to start by understanding that marijuana is treated like heroin. It's a Schedule I narcotic. So that seems a little extreme, right? And so earlier this year, the Biden administration basically started the process of getting it rescheduled as a Schedule III. And the DEA is going through that process. They had requested comment, and they got a huge number of comments, like 43,000 comments on this issue of rescheduling marijuana. Now they're going to have a hearing before an administrative judge on December 2nd.

And so this moves forward. Yeah. Where does Florida's medical marijuana market stand in this federal conversation? marijuana market stand in this federal conversation? The medical marijuana is going to continue regardless of what's happening with this rescheduling. But one of the big issues is for the businesses that are doing it, right? So if you are operating a medical marijuana business, you don't get the tax breaks that other businesses get because you're selling marijuana and the IRS won't allow you to take deductions because of that. Now, rescheduling

it to Schedule 3 would address that. One more amendment I just want to get to here, and this is Amendment 1, which would have made school board elections in Florida partisan. It would return to the partisanship for that public office after 25 years or so of being nonpartisan. This was an amendment that wound up on the ballot because the state lawmakers and Governor DeSantis wanted it there. Stephanie, what is this day about the governor's clout on education, considering that voters did not approve to make school board elections partisan? I think he's losing some clout there i think parents and voters around the country

are are maybe getting a little sick of of the culture wars that are happening in schools i mean there are some really ugly things going on with school boards in the last few years and i think people are ready to move on from that uh... and i think that's why this did not pass i think supporters had argued that by having partisan races, it would be more transparent. You would know what people's values were, but it also would have made it more difficult for everybody to have a say in candidates because Florida has closed primaries.

So if you start, you know, going along party lines, you have less of a voice. And, you know, this comes after the governor had endorsed numerous candidates for school board. And, you know, this comes after the governor had endorsed numerous candidates for school board. And in the August election, many of them lost. So I think this is just adding to the fact that maybe he doesn't have as much sway on this issue as he thought he did. You know, one more observation, guys, on these amendments, right, the 60 percent threshold that they all need, the amendment that adds kind of inflation protection to a homeowner exemption for property taxes that passed and then the adding constitutional rights for hunting and fishing into the constitute that also passed and what's interesting to me as an observer as a political observer and journalist

here is that the amendment that got the highest support wasn't the one that potentially could save homeowners money. It was putting hunting and fishing into the Constitution. How did that strike you, Joe? Well, it doesn't surprise me that Floridians like hunting and fishing. One of the things about that amendment is the way that it affects management, management of things like bears. Does this mean now that it's more likely that we'll have a bear hunt? Because hunting is now the preferred method of management,

according to our Constitution, or will be. So I think that when you have an amendment that is in support of hunting and fishing, you're going to get a lot of Floridians to support it. But sometimes the fine print says things people weren't really aware of. Yeah, I think that it's not the last time we've heard, we will have here of this Constitution. I think the implementation of this and parsing out what some of the language in the amendment actually means in practice, I think, will be potentially litigated. I mean, that's what some of the opponents have already promised. Joe Burns with Central Florida Public

Media, Stephanie Colombini with our partner station WUSF in Tampa. To each of you, thanks so much for sharing the reporting on the amendments with us here on The Roundup. Thank you. Now, still to come, we are going to join colleagues across the continent on the other side of the coast in San Francisco. We're going to do a live simulcast between Florida and California. These two states are often pitted against each other as political opposites. So what do you here in Florida want Californians to know about politics here in the Sunshine State? Let's line up the calls now. 305-995-1800.

Call us now, 305-995-1800. 305-995-1800. We all have concepts of what it may feel like or what we think life in California is like. What do you want to know about your neighbors across the country and how they vote and policies that they live under? This could be the political future of the United States between the Sunshine State and the Golden State. Call us now, 305-995-1800. 305-995-1800. You're listening to the Florida Roundup from your Florida Public Radio station. Covering Florida Navigator Program provides confidential assistance

for Floridians looking to explore health care coverage within the federal health insurance marketplace. Open enrollment ends January 15th. 877-813-9115 or coveringflorida.org. This is the Florida Roundup. I'm Tom Hudson. We're merging our program now with Forum on KQED. That's our NPR partner station in San Francisco, hosted by Alexis Madrigal. We'll go. Hello, Alexis, and welcome to Florida. Hey, hello, Tom, and welcome to Northern California.

You're on here with Marisa Lagos, one of our politics correspondents, and myself. Thanks for joining us. This is so much fun, Marisa. Great to have you and Alexis. We're so happy to make this cross-continent connection here in this election week after all the votes the the divisiveness the consternation the anxiousness the uh celebrations even right and to really hear really listen to each other about politics policy and of course what we can do so great here in public radio is connect the people yeah that's right and so we're gonna have i think folks know

we're gonna have callers coming in from florida We're going to have some of our callers coming in from Northern California. You know, I want to know from you about how you feel like cost of living has gone in Florida. I think when a lot of Californians look at Florida, we see a place that it's a lot cheaper to live than it is here in the Bay Area. Yeah, you know, it's funny when when a kind of Chamber of Commerce types in Florida talk about the cost of living here in the Sunshine State, they often will point to where you are, Alexis, in San Francisco or Los Angeles, they say we're still cheaper in Florida than those areas in California. And perhaps that is true. However, the trends, the trajectory of the cost of living in Florida, which had been confined really to kind of South Florida and Miami, has spread across the peninsula and panhandle in recent years. The housing affordability crisis runs across the state. Property taxes have increased and really the property insurance explosion in premiums, in addition to just overall inflation. When you talk to Floridians ahead of this election, Alexis, about what were the specific local issues, home insurance, the availability and the cost, that oftentimes top the list.

So interesting. Yeah. You know, the other thing that I think we both are really interested in, in the other state is the approach to covid. Right. I mean, here, I think it seems that we have never really recovered. You know, many of our restaurants are still closed down. Our downtowns are still empty. You all did something totally different, opened up way earlier. Do you think you are past COVID in Florida or not? Yeah, I think we are. And I think that voters would agree that we are. Certainly the economy

and the economic numbers tell us that we are. And that said, though, Alexis, you know, I think at least nationally, this election on one level was still an election that had COVID in the air, right? Even though we're four, four and a half years after the pandemic. I mean, how do you feel about the response of voters there in California? And do you think there was still some influence on their vote and their selection because of the pandemic responses? Yeah. You know, my kind of pet theory, and then I'll throw it to Marisa for an actual political opinion, is that people have a lot of good memories about how the world was before COVID.

And they associated that with a pre-Biden administration, pre-whatever it was. You know, so it's almost, I'm not even sure that people necessarily are yearning for the specifics of pandemic life, pre-pandemic life, so much as kind of the nostalgia for it. What do you think, Marisa? I mean, yes. And I also think that like we sort of haven't really processed what happened that year, just like nationally and just all the things that it did change, even if it's not, you know, like we were talking before about criminal justice and things like that i mean crime patterns were changed right like like there are things that i think are just the way people commute and live and and kind of interact in their communities i mean this has been a problem and we talk a lot about what it's done in a negative way to downtown

but i don't think we talk enough about actually the positive impact it's had on neighborhoods in a lot of places, right? Where like I go to cafes and restaurants I didn't before because I work at home more, I'm, you know, more in my community. So yeah, I do think that certainly a lot of what we saw happen this week is, is still related to what COVID did to the economy. And then the perceptions to your point, Alexis, of how different leaders handled it.

And I also think some amnesia about what things were like that final year of the Trump term, because I don't think it's, you know, a lot of I think a lot of the assumptions people are making now and blaming Biden are not entirely fair, given sort of just how things actually played out. Yeah, I think that's right. Certainly, you know, issues around inflation, obviously, stoked by responses to the pandemic, stoked by the pandemic itself. That was in play on Tuesday. I think even, you know, as the now president elect Trump continued to make immigration

a centerpiece for his campaign, immigration changes that were driven by this global pandemic, not just how California treated the pandemic and driven by this global pandemic not just how california treated the pandemic and how florida treated the pandemic but how globally it was treated so we're taking calls across florida and in the san francisco area here in florida thomas has been listening in miami and has been patient thomas you are on the radio go ahead thomas are you with us in miami thomas is uh listening but not talking to us here so we will uh continue to you know we've got somebody we can take in the meantime we've got robert in los altos which for florida listeners a little bit uh south of san francisco yeah hey there thanks for uh thanks for the show. I'm a long, lifelong Democrat.

But I will say that, I mean, almost a year and a half ago, I think I called Trump winning again. And I really think the problem is the Democratic Party does not speak to the majority of Americans. Right. I mean, in a in a in a country that is very much moving center-right, I mean, we still try to pander to what I call our own extremists, you know, the progressives who are fixated on what bathroom you use and whether you have used their pronouns correctly, and you get in trouble if you don't. And we just don't have a message for the majority of Americans. And until we actually get that act together, we should not be surprised by the kind of results that we saw on Tuesday. Thanks for that, Robert, in Los Altos. You know, I'm curious about this, you know, just

especially, you know, given what Tom just said about, you know, we have so many different factors that are playing into this Trump victory, including these incredibly powerful economic ones like inflation. How much do you think the kind of more culture war issues that we just heard about, how much do you think those played into this? And how much do you think it was more of these economic tectonic forces? I think it's like connected. I think that at the crux of it,

I think the caller's right that I think there's a big sort of gap between the Democratic Party and what they see as sort of their solutions to things and what people feel like is actually happening on the ground. And I do think that Trump exploited a lot of anxiety around some of the sort of social changes we're seeing, particularly around the transgender community. I mean, they ran just thousands of ads, really sort of digging into that and attacking Harris on her past support for trans rights. So like, did that lose Democrats the election? No. But was it part of kind of this bigger narrative that I think you see even people maybe within some of the communities that Democrats assumed

would be offended by Trump, like, you know, the Latino community, people of color, women. They, I think, and again, these are broad brushstrokes. So I think that there's always going to be on the margins people who voted specifically on the trans issue or specifically on the Israel-Gaza issue. But I think when you see the just rightward shift of the entire nation, that tells me that there is deep anxiety about the things that matter to people most. And that is, you know, I think I think you can kind of tie and we've seen this over the course of history that when people don't feel secure, when people feel like the system isn't fair, they tend to sort of go inward and have a lot of fear about people who are different than them.

And so you can kind of tie that economic anxiety to maybe what I think a lot of people in our region would see as attacks on people who don't have a lot and don't. And it doesn't really make sense, I think, to a lot of people who are in LGBTQ. Like, why is this the issue in an election? But I think it's part of a bigger narrative. Like, why is this the issue in an election? But I think it's part of a bigger narrative. But I think to the caller's point, at least here in Florida, he is spot on because we saw that shift between the 2020 election results and the 2024 election results where President Trump picked up momentum and picked up more Florida support in 2024 than he had in 2020. Florida support in 2024 than he had in 2020 significantly more support in Florida and I think you don't have to look any further than Miami-Dade County which had historically been Democratic had been turning a bit slightly pink and is now ruby red in this election I mean there was no doubt about it and that Democrats actually lost support in traditional Democratic strongholds here in Florida in Broward County,

Fort Lauderdale, Palm Beach County, and those kind of areas. So that shift is clearly at display. And the support, by the way, from Puerto Rican voters here in Florida to President Trump, despite, of course, all the noise around that campaign rally in Madison Square Garden. Manatee County, it's in the Gulf Coast on the west coast of Florida. Joseph has been listening in. Joseph, go ahead. You're on the radio. Hi, good afternoon. I would just like to talk about I'm a recent college graduate, so the

housing crisis and the economic issues are very big with myself and the generation that's grown up with social media and seen a lot of these shifts. I myself am a very center voter. I lean both ways on certain issues. And I do believe that economic issues were huge in this election because a lot of people, as Robert said,

you can focus on social issues with the Democrats as much as they like. But if people look at their wallets and they see that they have to choose between housing or groceries or to support their kids or things like that, that's what they're going to lean with. And I do believe that the Republicans ran a campaign that promised at least some sort of change. We'll have to see with the tariffs that are implemented what actually happens with the price of things.

But I think that that's why that's kind of what happened on Tuesday. Joseph, thanks for adding your conversation there. Yeah, Alexis, I think that what Joseph puts voice to there is really important here. And we see it in Florida. You know, for a good long time, Miami-Dade, Miami, South Florida, and the Tampa area had two of the highest regional inflation rates in the nation. And it was almost entirely driven by housing and rent prices you know i mean i think yeah i i just think this caller really speaks to the broader sense which is that people don't trust the status quo they feel that the system

is not working for them and i mean it's ironic that someone like Trump, who already had four years in the White House, you know, really did run as the outsider. But I think that you have, you know, I think one thing it's going to be interesting to see how Democrats think about and process this is like part of what they ran on was like that Trump was a threat to the system. And so that then makes you a defender. If you're anti-system, you're like, great, let's go. So even if you think that what he's saying doesn't totally make sense, it's like, well, he's saying the system's broken and I agree with that premise. So how can I vote for a party that says everything's fine? the arming of the data for Vice President Harris and even here in Florida with statewide Democrats talking about the rate of inflation has been slowing down. Yes, but the cumulative impact of two or three years of inflation of three, four, five percent, that's what's been hitting the paychecks. And every time you go into the grocery store and you see eggs for six, eight dollars or a gallon of milk or a half gallon for four or six or eight dollars. Clearly, I don't do the grocery shopping in our house, by the way. So I may be way off on those prices. But that said, that's

the real pocketbook issue. And we saw that in the exit polls in Florida, certainly. Yeah. I mean, on the other hand, like, I'm so interested to hear your take on this, because you saw these two ballot measures in Florida go down on legalizing marijuana and changing the abortion ban from six weeks to, I think, 24 weeks. Viability is the way the amendment put it. Yeah. And I mean, they both failed, but actually a majority of people voted for them because you guys have a 60 percent threshold.

So to me, again, kind of back to the top of our conversation, like, do you see I don't know if I see that as a complete repudiation of, say, quote unquote, progressive causes like that, like a majority of Floridians did support them. Yeah. And I'm not sure that Florida Democrats would think of abortion access as necessarily a progressive cause, per se, or recreational marijuana at this point here in 2024. But I understand the question and your point here, which is that what we saw was a lack of engagement on the traditional Democratic side with these with these particular amendments. And we saw Governor Ron DeSantis in Florida marshal his resources, his bully pulpit, as well as his his state resources to argue against those ballot measures.

And the fact that the abortion restriction abortion protection measure failed to reach the threshold, recreational marijuana failed to reach the threshold. Those are political wins for Governor DeSantis in this election, no doubt about it. We've got another caller. We've got Pat coming in from San Francisco. Welcome, Pat. Hi, how's it going? Thanks for taking my call. Thanks for taking my call. So I'm a union truck driver in California. And what I took from all of these results was California showed who they really are. involuntary servitude slash slavery? No, we don't want to stop that. Do we want to give more rental protections? No, we don't want to do that. Do we want to raise the minimum wage? No, we don't want to do that. Sure, the climate change bill went through, but it showed that if we want to talk about our pocketbooks, why does no one want to help my pocketbook, right? And a big issue I'm still having with Newsom is back in, I think it was March, he vetoed a bill that would require autonomous semi-trucks up to 80,000 pounds

going over the road without anyone in the vehicle. That is insane. If we're going to talk about public safety or economics, it shows that California, I mean, I'm a lifelong California resident. Grew up here my whole life. And it shows that the money has been here for a long time. The money speaks, and they don't care about normal people. Hey, Pat, I appreciate that comment. I mean, I think, Tom, you got a real dose of California there. You've got a union truck driver worried about autonomous trucks and also talking

about just like regular pocketbook issues, which, you know, one of those things feels like it's, you know, core and is a comment that could be taken from any point in history. And the other is could only happen right now. This fear of replacement by AI and robotic trucking. This is really an interesting one to think about. And I would love to get your take on this, Tom, which is what does a working class platform look like in Florida? Right? Because I think that's kind of what really what Pat's getting at is, but people had a chance to vote on these things that seemed like they would support working people and they, no, we're going to preempt any of those local laws. And then the effort was marshaled to put an amendment on the ballot for state voters to decide. And they decided in favor of a higher minimum wage. And so thus that happened and that was put into place. And and that's those are the rules that we're living under. So I think, you know, when we when we think about what that working class so called working class agenda looks like in Florida and California, certainly some extreme similarities, right. And I think to the caller's point, affordability, job security, the ability to, to have and to hold, right, what's kind of true and right. And that idea of California,

what it represents in the American imagination, what Florida represents in the American imagination and be able to have that kind of lifestyle comfortably. I mean, I will say that we've seen a lot of minimum wage increases pass including specific carve-outs for healthcare workers

and others. I'm going to interrupt our friends from San Francisco because here in Florida we've got to take a quick break here. But we're going to continue the conversation cross-country, Florida and San Francisco next on the Florida Roundup. Covering Florida Navigator Program provides confidential assistance for Floridians looking to explore health care coverage within the federal health insurance marketplace.

Open enrollment ends January 15th. 877-813-9115. We're covering florida.org. This is the Florida Roundup. I'm Tom Hudson. We're simulcasting this program with NPR member station in San Francisco, KQED, where Alexis Madrigal hosts the forum. The more of the state that tend to be more liberal already have higher minimum wages than what that was going to set. Florida's back with you here. Thanks for your patience there as we had to take care of a little bit of business here in the sunshine state i think kind of okay yes we will join san francisco

here in a couple other seconds trying to coordinate our clocks here across the country but you can join the conversation 305-995-1800 305-995-1800. 305-995-1800. What would you like Californians to know about your life here in Florida? Hey, Tom, here we are. Marisa and I are here with you. And it's great to be back. And we've reminded our listeners, too, that we're on in Florida. You all are on here.

It is terrific to have this conversation with you guys. Leah has been listening to us. Let's hear from you. Leah is listening in Vero Beach along the Atlantic Coast here in Florida. Go ahead, Leah. You're on the radio. Hi. I'm here in Vero Beach, Florida, and I just wanted to chime in about what you were just

talking about with Californians that don't understand what the workforce is made of here in Florida. And they'll see things like tourism or ecological tourism and agriculture and think about the land trust and say that they would assume that people in Florida would be leaning more Democrat. But it's those forces that are pushing Republicanism in South Florida, especially agriculturally, when you have, like, I assume that that is contributing largely to the Latino vote with who is running these sugar cane farms in South Florida as well.

So there's a lot of similarity, but in Florida, these groups tend to lean more conservative. Yeah, Leah, you make a great point about the ag industry in Florida. There's a lot of flash, certainly, around hospitality and tourism and the beaches here in the Sunshine State. But the ag industry is really one of the kind of, we think of the three-legged stool, Alexis, about the economy in Florida, hospitality, tourism being one. You've got real estate clearly being the other one. And then the third one being agriculture, which you don't get unless you're traveling the highways and byways across the Everglades and other places. And same as for the kind of the Central Valley there in California. Yeah, for sure. I mean, I think for everything. Yeah. As a percentage of

the economy, you know, even with the massive Central Valley, you know, one of the outside of Florida, probably the best place to grow things. And yet we still it's a tiny part of our economy. Well, I mean, California is there are more Democrats here than Republicans. But don't you've got four million votes. OK, like this is not I mean, you can go across the state and really find a microcosm of almost all parts of America here. Maybe save for for the humidity and warm and warm. Yeah. Warm oceans. You cannot find and warm oceans. You cannot find a warm ocean here.

But, I mean, yeah. And if you look at what matters in Bakersfield versus Los Angeles, it is very different. I mean, although there's always cross currents. You know, Tom, we've got a couple of comments, actually a bunch of comments coming in along these lines. I'll just pick two here. David asks, after all the hurricanes and problems with home insurance, why are there people in Florida that still do not believe in global warming? Dan writes, I'm almost a single issue

voter and the issue is climate. Nothing else matters if we get that wrong. It seems to me that Floridians just voted to destroy their state with hurricanes and sea level rise? How do you think voters there are seeing this? Yeah, you know, it has been it has been curious to cover Florida politics as long as I have. And the ebb and flow about the role of climate change within a political campaign has varied widely. So in local campaigns, for instance, in South Florida, the issue of climate change has been pretty large and present with county commissions and even some state, or rather some local city councils. But at the state level, it has been largely absent from the debate for a good number of years. And of course, famously, we had a former governor who's

now a U.S. senator who all but banned the term climate change from state policy. We have a governor now who for his first two years in office surprised a lot of environmentalists with what was seen as pretty pro-environmental policies. In fact, funding for the first time restoration of the Everglades, fully funding for the first time the restoration of the Everglades, which is important bulwark against climate change and its effect. So it has been curious about how Floridians have processed that and to see it as an existential threat. But yet the challenge that it is far out, even though we can still see it with larger, wetter storms that we see off the Caribbean and the Atlantic. Well, I'm like right there in Miami, right?

Last time I was there, it seemed like they're really preparing for storm surge and new buildings. And, you know, I mean, there's a reality to what's happening. You know, we have experienced it here in terms of, you know, wildfires. Of course, we are right now in Southern California. I mean, it is there are some things that are undeniable. It's a broader set of environmental policies that have caused a lot of these things, not just climate change, but climate change is a key contributor. And so I think it is it is fascinating because I think out here, I don't, Marisa, I mean,

California politicians pretty much believe in climate change and talk about it that way at this point. Oh, yeah. I mean, even the sort of furthest right folks in Sacramento, they may be saying different things in their districts. But when you look at the debate on the floor, it's less about like the underlying belief and whether this is happening. It's more about how does it affect the economy, industry, businesses? Is this the right sort of way to go? Is there overregulation? I don't think they're arguing. And I mean, you see this even with the way that, you know, someone like some of the members of the legislature talk about things like when they're on the floor there, they're talking

about undocumented immigrants and then they go on Fox News and everyone's illegal. You know, it's like there's a titration because of where the center is in California and in Sacramento. Yeah, I think, you know, in Florida, frankly, maybe it's surprising, but quite the same, right? I mean, there's not a lot of state debate or consternation about cause, and perhaps there ought to be more agreement about that as opposed to mitigation and response to, you know, a very common occurrence here in South Florida is what we call sunny day flooding. Sunny day flooding, right? And that's not because of water falling from the sky. It's because it's coming from underneath with king tides three or four times a year here in the fall, for instance,

and where we have decided to build. But, you know, I think also it's balanced against one of those legs of that three-legged stool of the Florida economy, which is real estate. And the closer to the water, the closer to the coast, the more expensive, the higher the returns on those investments. And there's so much of Florida's economy and the growth has been attached to that kind of real estate. Yeah.

You know, we've got another caller coming in here. We've got Robert in San Francisco. Welcome, Robert. Thank you. Okay. I take it back. Instead, let's talk a little bit about an issue that I think is really important to people here in San Francisco, which is homelessness. a little bit about an issue that I think is really important to people here in San Francisco, which is homelessness. And you all have had some pretty tremendous success from the perspective of

Northern Californians there in Florida. Yeah. You know, the homelessness issue, guys, I think is interesting because, yes, there has been no doubt success in addressing homelessness and getting people into shelter across the state of Florida. Our homelessness numbers have dropped precipitously over the course of the past decade plus. But I'm glad you bring it up, Alexis, because oftentimes what happens here in Florida, particularly with the DeSantis administration, is to point to California and say, you don't want that in the Sunshine State, and explicitly to San Francisco and the homelessness challenges that San Francisco and Oakland have been dealing with. But here in South Florida, Miami-Dade County, years and years ago, passed a dedicated revenue source to be able to have the financial wherewithal to address homelessness. And it's a 1% tax on food and beverage.

And so that money gets squirreled away and has gotten squirreled away for almost a generation. has gotten squirreled away for almost a generation. And then fast forward to some interesting things that are happening locally is we have a local judge in Dade County that has shepherded a project to put forth the first mental health facility that is geared for those with severe mental health crises who are in the criminal justice system. Now, how does that relate to homelessness? severe mental health crises who are in the criminal justice system. Now, how does that relate to homelessness? Well, you know, they may be, perhaps they've committed a crime, but not serious enough to be held. They're released, they have no shelter, and thus the recidivism that is oftentimes

the case for that. So there's- Well, we certainly know, yeah, one of the key tributaries into our broader homelessness crisis is right out of the prisons. Yeah, exactly. And so this is a new effort where local leaders have gotten together, criminal justice, prosecutors, business, commerce, government politicians, local politicians and leaders have come together to say, let's marshal the financial resources and the civic interest in order to address this. And so we've seen homelessness, for instance, in Miami dropped to at least the last point in time count was about a thousand people. One thousand.

What was it? What did it peak at? Oh, eight thousand or so. Maybe a decade ago, which even may seem small for those listening. No, no, no, no, no. You know, that actually is kind of on the order of the problem that we have in San Francisco and in some other places. So that's why it's quite interesting because I would say around here, that particular problem is seen as more or less intractable, something we

cannot make progress on and have not. So I did not expect to be inspired by the policy example of South Florida. Now that said, right, I mean, Florida did pass a law that opponents say outlaws homelessness and really puts some real onus on local governments to address encampments and folks living without shelter and requires local governments to step in in a very, very prescriptive way that they hadn't been required to do prior to passing that law. Yeah. Yeah. This has been such a pleasure. Yeah. Yeah. Such a pleasure. Yeah. Yeah. Such a pleasure.

Yeah. Real fun. Real fun. I thank you for your time and great to connect with each of you and all your folks there in the Bay Area. I really appreciate all this. Thank you, Tom. Yeah.

More dialogue is what we ought to be after here. Certainly that's the case for public media, but that ought to be the case for all of us. Let's listen and let's hear each other as we move forward. We'll have to connect across the country with folks coming up as well. So your thoughts on any of this. Our inbox is always open. If you didn't get a chance to make a comment or we couldn't get to your call, you can still send us a note. It is radio at the Florida Roundup dot org radio at the Florida Roundup dot org. That is our program. It is produced by WLRN Public Media in Miami and WUSF in Tampa by Bridget O'Brien and Grayson Doctor. WLRN's

vice president of radio and the program's technical director is Peter Meritz. Engineering help each and every week from Doug Peterson, Ernesto Jay and Jackson Hart. Katie Munoz answered our phones this week. Theme music provided by Miami jazz guitarist Aaron Leibos at AaronLeibos.com. Thanks for calling, emailing, listening, and supporting public radio in your neighborhood. I'm Tom Hudson. Have a terrific weekend. Covering Florida Navigator Program provides confidential assistance for Floridians looking to explore health care coverage within the federal health insurance marketplace. Open enrollment ends January 15th. 877-813-9115.