House Democrats respond to DeSantis’ crackdown on ESG, mask and vaccine mandates

TALLAHASSEE (FLV) – Florida House Democrats responded to a series of announcements from the DeSantis administration regarding ESG and COVID-19 mandates.

Gov. DeSantis announced Tuesday that COVID-19 vaccine discrimination would not be tolerated and proposed new measures to permanently ban COVID-19 vaccine and mask mandates. The current law regarding these bans is set to expire on June 1 of this year.

“They can’t discriminate against you for hiring or firing when it comes to private employment or government employment,” DeSantis said at the Tuesday press conference. 

Taking a slug at vaccine and mask mandates, DeSantis said, “They sought to deny children an education if their parents did not want their kids to get mRNA shots. They sought to impose masking requirements on everyone from spectators at sporting events to young schoolchildren. They would have won except for the fact, Florida said no.” 

DeSantis repeatedly questioned the effectiveness of COVID-19 mask and vaccine mandates. Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo also made remarks regarding mRNA vaccine efficacy.

“This is the first time in history where we are using this technology widely in human beings,’’ Ladapo said, regarding mRNA vaccines. “You’re telling people to put it in children, and you’ve never even shown the children to gain from it in terms of an actual help.”

Responding to comments DeSantis made earlier in the day, House Minority Leader Fentrice Driskell called the governor “the number one peddler of a dangerous message from the anti-vax establishment. It is a fake ideology with real consequences.” 

Driskell continued to defend the efficacy of both masks and the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines. 

“Masks work, the CDC has proven that. The mRNA vaccines work, no one promised total immunity, but those vaccines do lessen the chance of infection,” Driskell said. 

She compared the COVID shot and all of its succeeding boosters to the flu vaccine that many Americans receive annually. 

“This is exactly like the flu vaccine that we get every and I don’t know why that’s become so hard to understand,” she explained. “Get the vaccine and the boosters and you will have better health outcomes.”

House Democrats also criticized the governor’s stance ESG reform. ESG is the environmental, social, and governance goals that determine investment based on political factors such as renewable energy and social justice initiatives.

Shifting funding from “woke” ESG to maximizing profits from state investments has become one of DeSantis’ top priorities. On Tuesday, the Florida Cabinet voted to update Florida’s Retirement System Pension Plan policy and SBA corporate governance proxy voting guidelines. It aims to define the factors fiduciaries are to consider in investment decisions, which do not include ESG factors.

“What we are witnessing in real time are efforts by this governor to roll back the clock, not just on civil rights but even with respect to corporate policy,” Democrat House Leader Driskell remarked. 

“I don’t think most Floridians who are sitting around their kitchen tables trying to balance their budgets are thinking about whether or not a company is investing with an energy company that doesn’t use fossil fuel.”

DeSantis slammed the ESG criteria as politicized and called for major reforms. 

“Corporations across America continue to inject an ideological agenda through our economy rather than through the ballot box,” DeSantis said. “Today’s actions reinforce that ESG considerations will not be tolerated here in Florida, and I look forward to extending these protections during this legislative session.”

The governor has proposed legislation for the 2023 session that would:

• Prohibit big banks, credit card companies and money transmitters from discriminating against customers for their religious, political, or social beliefs.

• Prohibit State Board of Administration (SBA) fund managers from considering ESG factors when investing the state’s money.

• Require SBA fund managers to only consider maximizing the return on investment on behalf of Florida’s retirees.

Florida House Speaker Paul Renner’s acceptance speech also prioritized a crackdown on ESG. He sent a letter to Florida’s three credit rating agencies demanding they “drop the politics” and return to an “objective” financial criteria to measure the states credit rating.