Warning of the potential for a future governor to impose significant lockdowns when the next pandemic hits, a Republican state senator is drafting a proposal to require a majority of the independently-elected Florida Cabinet to approve of any executive order restricting economic activity.
“It took three officers to blow up the Star Trek Enterprise,” said Sen. Jeff Brandes (R-St. Petersburg). “It should take at least three people to sign off on blowing up the economy of the state of Florida.”
Brandes told Spectrum News the proposal could be offered as an amendment to pandemic response reform legislation. While supportive of Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ decisions against implementing COVID-19 restrictions, including extended forced business closures, nightly curfews, and a statewide mask mandate, he says the governor’s office won’t always be occupied by a chief executive with such libertarian-minded views.
Under the senator’s framework, at least two members of the Cabinet — a body consisting of the attorney general, chief financial officer and agriculture commissioner — would have to sign on to a gubernatorial lockdown order for it to take effect. Read more
