Could a special session bring lawmakers back to Florida Capitol for abortion, immigration?

Gov. Ron DeSantis and some Republican lawmakers are talking about holding a special legislative session this month – possibly to enact another strict immigration law and add ballot proposals to November that might complicate the abortion access measure. 

There’s little hard evidence that lawmakers are planning a late-May special session, an idea first reported Wednesday by the news site, Florida Politics.  

But DeSantis Thursday poured cold water on the idea of creating further amendments related to abortion, during an appearance in Jacksonville, though he did express a desire for summoning lawmakers back to Tallahassee to further strengthen his hand on illegal immigration enforcement.

"The states need to do whatever we can," DeSantis said.

But on the idea of adding additional amendments to the November ballot, the governor said it was, "Not coming from me." Still, he didn't rule out the possibility that some legislative Republicans might push the approach.

But talk of the possibilities were swirling on the same day that Vice President Kamala Harris was in Jacksonville campaigning in support of abortion rights. 

DeSantis a day earlier had talked about the state’s new six-week abortion law at length for the first time and also ridiculed both the Amendment 4 abortion access measure and the Amendment 3 recreational marijuana ballot proposal set for the November ballot. 

DeSantis promised he'll 'be getting involved in different ways'

“We’ll be getting involved in different ways,” DeSantis said during an appearance in Tampa, without offering specifics. 

The governor several weeks ago had gone on Fox News host Sean Hannity’s podcast and talked about how his administration was working on a proposal to make it a crime for migrants to enter Florida without authorization, modeled on a Texas law. 

“I’m working with folks to craft, if there’s something we can do in a Special Legislative Session, to give our law enforcement more authority to arrest and detain, because I think that will be a huge disincentive for people to come if we can do it,” DeSantis said on the show.

During his appearance

The proposal would allow state courts to direct sheriffs and city police to transport migrants back to the Mexican border for deportation if they are found to be in the state illegally. 

DeSantis raised the possibility when he was also warning against a surge of Haitians fleeing their home nation to Florida because of violence.  

That surge hasn’t happened, but DeSantis may still be eager to take another swipe at immigration, having enacted strict new limits in 2023, shortly before launching his failed presidential campaign. 

The governor recently also patched things up with former President Trump, who viciously attacked him when they were rivals for the GOP presidential nomination. The pair met last weekend for breakfast in Miami, and DeSantis purportedly pledged to help with fundraising and the campaign in Florida. 

Immigration a driving issue for Republican voters

Concerns over illegal immigration and border security was central to Trump’s 2016 campaign, when he won the presidency and polls show it remains the Republican Party’s most potent political weapon this year. 

The governor’s office didn’t immediately respond to a question about a possible special session. A spokeswoman for Senate President Kathleen Passidomo, R-Naples, said that she has not been contacted on the topic. 

Andres Malave, a spokesman for House Speaker Paul Renner, R-Palm Coast, said, “there’s lots of talking.” 

But he acknowledged in a text message, “People have been talking about there being a special since the hanky dropped” in March, ending the 2024 regular session. “No plans yet, to my knowledge,” he added. 

But Rep. Anna Eskamani, D-Orlando, seized on talk of additional ballot measures which could cloud the Amendment 4 abortion access measure set for the November ballot. 

“The Florida Republican Party is so committed to banning abortion and stripping us away of our rights that they are willing to host a special session to add more amendments that will only confuse voters,” Eskamani said. 

The tactic wouldn’t be new in Florida. In 2016, the utility industry, wary of a “solar choice” constitutional amendment going on the ballot, mounted a costly campaign that successfully put an industry-friendly solar amendment before voters. 

While the more consumer-oriented solar choice proposal was blocked from the ballot by the state Supreme Court, the industry’s amendment also fell short of gaining at least 60% support from voters, and also failed. 

David Bauerlein of the Florida Times-Union contributed to this report. John Kennedy is a reporter in the USA TODAY Network’s Florida Capital Bureau. He can be reached at jkennedy2@gannett.com, or on X at @JKennedyReport.