Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) promotes condo relief efforts.
Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:
https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript
Stay Connected
Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes
More From Forbes: http://forbes.com
Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:
https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript
Stay Connected
Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes
More From Forbes: http://forbes.com
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00disclosure a cafecito infused governor this morning so just just so everybody knows buckle up
00:06I'm joined with Melanie Griffin who's our DBPR secretary we have Dade County Commissioner Renee
00:13Garcia Hialeah Resident and Condo Association President Kevin Patrick Cortina and we have
00:20Elizabeth Garcia condo owner here in Miami we also have Commissioner Diaz who's joining us and
00:26other dignitaries so I want to thank everybody for coming I don't need to tell people here in
00:32southern Florida we've got a problem with our condo market right now we have a problem that was
00:39introduced by legislation that was passed in recent years by the Florida legislature and if
00:45you go back and look at the genesis of why that happened we remember the surf side we remember
00:51things the intentions of the legislation were good I think they were trying to prevent potentially
00:57another major tragedy and we all remember the how gut-wrenching it was to watch the aftermath of
01:05surfside not knowing whether you could have survivors for days and days hoping it was a really traumatic
01:11moment for the state so I understand why people wanted to see something done now I remember at the
01:17time people were asking me you know what need and I was like well we don't even know definitively what
01:23caused the surfside thing if you do something without knowing that you could end up with some
01:28unintended consequences and so the time I said you know legislature should talk to their folks they
01:34should figure out what they want to do I'm not going to stand in the way of it but I also know we're
01:38gonna have to have an open mind on this and you may have to come back and revisit some of the things that
01:44were done if there are some unintended consequences well here we are today and we have seen some of
01:51these consequences we have seen sudden high-cost fee assessments that have been imposed on condo
01:58owners many of whom in South Florida particularly in this community are senior citizens and living on
02:04fixed incomes and so these are people that have been in a condo for 20-30 years probably own it free and
02:11clear thinking and obviously they've had to deal with inflation and all these other aspects of life for the
02:17last four years hopefully that's going to abate but then they're told oh by the way pony up $100,000 for an
02:23assessment where are they going to get that money so you're putting people in jeopardy of losing their homes and
02:29that should not be anything that we want to be doing in the state of Florida so we have been meeting with folks we were
02:36down in southern Florida about six or seven months ago we've hosted roundtables we've solicited input we've
02:43spoken with members of the the Florida legislature about okay what are the issues that need to be
02:49addressed how can we address it and then we need to address it we've got to provide relief for people we do
02:56have a responsibility to do this now we saw this last year building up everybody knew that there were going to be
03:02the assessments rendered I actually called for a special session of the Florida legislature in January to address yes
03:11illegal immigration yes some hurricane relief but also the condo issue I thought we need to give people peace of mind right
03:19at the start of the year we need to make sure that they had relief from these crippling assessments and make sure that
03:25people were able to stay in their homes you know the the Florida House of Representatives did not want to take up any condo
03:32relief legislation at the time they said it wasn't urgent that it was something that may or may not need to be addressed in
03:38regular session and so here we are legislation legislative session only has a few more weeks left there has not been meaningful action in the
03:48Florida House of Representatives to give Floridians relief from the condo crisis that the legislation itself has caused and we've got to be willing to step up and do the right thing now the Florida Senate has put forth a
04:02proposal that actually addresses a lot of the concerns that we've heard from Floridians across the state
04:08it's incorporated ideas that we provided and I have no pride of ownership of this you know we gave ideas to the senators we said here's what
04:16people are telling us you guys are talking to people you guys have ideas too and your ideas are better some of mine are good
04:23whatever let's just get the job done and so we have been working with these stakeholders now the Senate's current bill includes reforms to increase
04:31accountability of condo association managers it strengthens electronic participation requirements while reinforcing strict voting integrity laws in place to ensure secure elections it adds increased transparency for residents and creates annual analyses of milestone inspection reports to create a data driven approach to condo safety and crucially it provides more flexibility for associations to phase reserve funding and use alternative funding methods
04:36including investing contributions to generate more money for required repairs
04:40in place to ensure secure elections.
04:44It adds increased transparency for residents
04:46and creates annual analyses of milestone inspection reports
04:50to create a data-driven approach to condo safety.
04:53And crucially, it provides more flexibility
04:56for associations to phase reserve funding
04:59and use alternative funding methods,
05:01including investing contributions
05:03to generate more money for required repairs.
05:06And so that would provide relief
05:09from these crippling assessments.
05:10And we shouldn't be in the business of mandating
05:14that these assessments must be levied on folks.
05:17I think you have reform of condo governance,
05:20you have transparency,
05:21and then the residents are able to make the decisions
05:24that they think are in the best interest of themselves.
05:27Obviously, if you're a property owner,
05:29you don't wanna see the property go down the tubes.
05:33I mean, you do have a vested interest in making sure,
05:36but you also have to do it in a way
05:37that's gonna be feasible and economically sustainable.
05:40So I applaud the Senate for doing this.
05:44Senator Ileana Garcia is leading the bill.
05:47She's from here in South Florida.
05:48I thank them for doing that.
05:50And there may be other things that are added to it.
05:52Like I said, I don't have pride of ownership.
05:54I just wanna get the job done for people of Florida.
05:57I want people to be able to stay in their homes.
05:59I think it's really important that people are not being forced
06:01to sell or forced to leave.
06:04And here's the thing, some people will say,
06:06well, you know, these folks in there, you know,
06:09they have the assessments and yeah, they're on fixed income,
06:12but they bought the condo 30 years ago,
06:14so it's worth a lot more.
06:15They can make money if they sell.
06:17The problem is, is okay, they sell it.
06:19Where do they go?
06:20Every house in Miami costs more.
06:22Every condo, I mean, it isn't like they're getting a windfall
06:26and then can buy something that's very affordable.
06:28You know, they would have to potentially buy something
06:31that's very expensive and maybe that's moderating now
06:34and there's, you know, who knows what'll happen,
06:35but I think you would end up functionally,
06:38if someone's forced to sell, particularly elderly,
06:40I don't think they would have,
06:42many of them would not have a place to go
06:44to be able to buy a new place to live.
06:46And so that should be a concern of ours.
06:48Now the house's current bill doesn't include any reforms
06:52to increase accountability of condo association managers.
06:55It creates a more costly and burdensome process
06:58for removing board members.
07:00It actually weakens electronic voting system requirements,
07:03thereby inviting more opportunities for fraud.
07:06It does not add increased transparency
07:09or comprehensive data evaluation
07:11regarding the milestone inspection reports.
07:14And it does not provide more flexibility for associations
07:17to phase funding for certain components
07:19of the structural integrity reserve study,
07:22but rather allows a board to approve assessments
07:24and loans without owner approval.
07:28Largely, the house's condo bill seems to be something
07:32that favors developers and puts the interest of developers
07:36over the interests of Florida residents.
07:38That is unacceptable.
07:40If these associations can't make improvements
07:43and the buildings are clearly obsolete,
07:45the value of the real estate that they are built upon
07:48may outweigh the investment.
07:50The problem is many seniors
07:51and middle-class condo residents can be displaced
07:54and ultimately may not have a place to call home.
07:57And so why are we even entertaining a situation
08:02where people are gonna be put in that awful predicament?
08:05And here's the thing, things happen in life, right?
08:08There's things, so many things that we cannot control
08:11in state government that happens that it can impact people.
08:14But this is something that was created by legislation.
08:18This would not be happening without legislation
08:21that had been passed years ago.
08:23And so let's recognize that.
08:25Let's recognize that these consequences are not what we want.
08:28And let's provide reforms to be able to keep people
08:32in their condo units.
08:33That's what I have heard overwhelmingly from Florida residents.
08:39And we've been dealing with this issue now for, you know,
08:42close to a year where we had folks
08:44that have been really concerned about it.
08:46And our job as elected officials is to listen
08:50and to provide solutions.
08:51And not everything can be solved through legislation,
08:54but I can tell you if there's a problem created
08:57by legislation, we don't only have the ability,
09:00we have a duty to rectify that.
09:02And so I wanna thank the folks in the Florida Senate
09:04who've moved credible legislation forward.
09:07I don't know what has gotten into
09:10the Florida House of Representatives.
09:12You know, they campaign on our Florida success,
09:15saying they're gonna support the Florida model.
09:18And then they get in, and they seem to be working
09:20to sabotage the great work that Florida has done
09:24over these last six years.
09:25I mean, remember, they fought me,
09:27the Florida House fought me,
09:29when I said Florida needs to be enlisted
09:31to help President Trump enforce immigration laws.
09:34They tried to make Florida a de facto sanctuary state.
09:37Now, there was outrage from the public.
09:39People were not happy with that.
09:41And so we ended up getting strong legislation,
09:43and we're now leading the country on that.
09:45What else is the Florida House of Representatives do?
09:48They've actually joined with Democrats
09:51to undo spending reductions
09:54that I instituted in the budget last June.
09:56They've given over $60 million of excessive spending
10:00in this current year's budget,
10:02joining with Democrats to do that
10:04and to undo our cost savings that we instituted.
10:08That's not what you voted for.
10:10That is not what they told you they would do
10:12when they were running and seeking your vote in elections.
10:16What is their main thing that they're trying to accomplish
10:19this session in the Florida House?
10:20It seems to me, if you look at all the things
10:22that are on the agenda,
10:24is they're trying to contort Florida law
10:27to be able to benefit liberal trial lawyers.
10:31They want to undo tort reform.
10:33They want to provide windfalls for these lawyers
10:36who will do cases where the lawyers make all the money
10:39and the client gets very little.
10:41That is not gonna be good for consumers.
10:44That is not gonna be good for our economy.
10:45It's not gonna be good for jobs.
10:47We should not turn over the state of Florida
10:50to the liberal trial bar.
10:53That is not what you voted for.
10:55That's not what they told you
10:56that they would do when they ran for election.
10:59We believe in putting Floridians first.
11:02That's what we've done for six years.
11:04That's why the state is number one in economy,
11:07number one in education.
11:08That's why we have a 50-year low in the crime rate.
11:10That's why we were the first state to stand up
11:13and defeat the woke agenda.
11:16That's why we've led on issue after issue.
11:19And the one thing I can tell you with me is,
11:23when I tell you I'm gonna do something,
11:25and certainly when I was seeking your vote in 22
11:27for another term as governor,
11:29I didn't just say that stuff.
11:31I meant it, I got into office again, and I did it.
11:34And I delivered on that.
11:35I think what they're playing a very dangerous game
11:38in the Florida House because they think
11:39that they can run one way, get in the office,
11:42and then behave in a totally different way
11:45than what the voters thought that they were getting
11:47when they did.
11:48So I've been disappointed to see some.
11:51They actually have a bill.
11:54We've got some great folks that have helped us
11:58really reform our universities.
12:00We have former Lieutenant Governor Jeanette Nunez
12:02is now the president
12:03at Florida International University.
12:05That's a fantastic selection.
12:07And we've been very clear that the people of Florida,
12:11they want good universities,
12:13but they don't want universities
12:15that are gonna be indoctrination centers.
12:17They don't want Columbia University
12:19and what goes on there to go on in the state of Florida.
12:22And so we've taken that to heart for many, many years.
12:25We said we are not gonna allow these universities
12:28to be hijacked by woke ideology.
12:31We're gonna make sure we have strong leadership
12:33in all these universities.
12:34The job of the university is to educate,
12:36not to indoctrinate.
12:38And we need to make sure these universities
12:40are fulfilling the classical mission
12:41of what a university should be.
12:44To teach folks to think for themselves,
12:46to have academic integrity,
12:48and ultimately to prepare these students
12:50to be citizens of our great republic.
12:52That is what we need to be doing.
12:53And we've done more than any other state
12:55in the country to do that.
12:57What's the Florida House of Representatives doing?
12:59They're actually trying to pursue legislation
13:02that would roll back all the progress we've made
13:05of fighting the woke and the leftists
13:08in our state universities.
13:09They actually have a provision that says
13:11the governor and his staff are not allowed
13:14to discuss any vacancies of university presidents.
13:18And so what, they're just supposed,
13:19they can be able to hire some flamboyant liberal president,
13:23and we're just supposed to sit and take it as Floridians?
13:25No, you elected me to make sure
13:27that these universities are in line.
13:30And that's exactly what we've done.
13:39So what I see over and over again with what they're doing is,
13:42you know, they're not trying to defeat the leftists,
13:45which have caused so many problems around this country.
13:48You look at what the decline in New York City, Chicago,
13:51California, Illinois, it's all rooted in leftism
13:55and leftist ideology.
13:57And we in Florida have gone totally different,
13:59and we've had success where they've had failures.
14:02And I see the Florida House trying to throw the leftists
14:05a lifeline.
14:06Don't give them a lifeline.
14:07We don't want leftism in the state of Florida.
14:10We want to make sure that our Florida model continues
14:13to carry the day.
14:14So this has kind of been par for the course, unfortunately,
14:17with what they've done in the Florida House.
14:19But this is important on the condos.
14:22People are hurting.
14:23People need relief.
14:25They are being put in predicaments
14:26through no fault of their own.
14:28They are being put in predicament
14:30because of legislation that was passed.
14:33And while a good intention,
14:35you have to be willing to look at it at this point
14:37and realize we need some reform.
14:40We need some changes.
14:42So I commend everyone that's worked hard.
14:44And there are individual members in the Florida House
14:46who've worked incredibly hard on this.
14:49There are obviously many individual senators
14:51who've worked very hard on this.
14:53The Senate is willing to put forward,
14:55I think, a credible proposal.
14:57I hope it continues to go through.
15:00But we can't take no for an answer.
15:02What are you going to tell the folks
15:03as they lose their condos and get forced out?
15:07You could tell them tough luck?
15:09I don't think that that works.
15:10I don't think that's acceptable.
15:11It's not the right thing to do.
15:14So thanks, everybody, who's been involved in this fight.
15:17I know people have been concerned about this
15:18for many, many months, if not even years,
15:21since this legislation has passed.
15:24And this is important for South Florida.
15:26This is important for our elderly.
15:28So let's get it right.
15:30Okay, we're going to hear from some of our folks.
15:32Melanie, come on up.
15:37Thank you, Governor.
15:38Good morning.
15:38As said, I'm Melanie Griffin,
15:40and I have the honor of leading the Florida Department of Business
15:42and Professional Regulation,
15:44which oversees more than 1.7 million licensees and professionals
15:48and more than 28,000 condominium associations.
15:52The department has 13 offices across the state
15:55that have worked incredibly hard to help our condo community,
15:58including unit owners, board members, and more.
16:01And we have been there for all three years of the condo reform
16:06that have been passed in the wake of the Surfside tragedy in 2021.
16:11These measures are aimed at accountability and safety,
16:14and they've had a cumulative effect,
16:16and unit owners need relief now.
16:19We have worked hard to get data to help our stakeholders
16:22really understand what our community and unit owners are seeing
16:25and condominium associations.
16:27And what it shows is there is an average assessment
16:29of approaching $20,000, oftentimes more than $50,000,
16:34like the governor said, $100,000.
16:36And while we want to prevent another tragedy like Surfside,
16:39we have got to put forth solutions that help Floridians not hurt them.
16:44I echo the governor's sentiment.
16:45The Senate has emerged with a solution
16:47that balances Floridians' well-being without burdening them.
16:52And I personally know this because I've watched senators have several town halls
16:55across the state for months now,
16:57and they have also spent many hours with our staff looking at legislation
17:01and proposals that would truly help our communities and our citizens.
17:05Let me tell you a little bit about the few highlights from the Senate version
17:09that we've been seeing throughout this legislative session.
17:13First, the bill extends the reserve study requirement for one year,
17:17and that would give immediate relief to Floridians
17:20and relieve them from the burden of these heavy financial assessments.
17:24Second, the bill provides alternative funding methods.
17:26It gives associations flexibility to meet reserve funding requirements,
17:30including an on-ramp for funding things that already have a useful life
17:35that will help those residents for several more years.
17:38It also builds upon previous legislation to increase transparency,
17:42empowering unit owners to have access to their financial records
17:45they've been denied from seeing for so long.
17:48Next, it holds condo board members and community association managers
17:51acting in bad faith directly accountable without penalizing our unit owners.
17:56And finally, the Senate proposal requires condo associations
17:59to report information about their property to the department,
18:03which will give the state a more accurate picture of what is going on
18:06with our condominiums in Florida.
18:08This year's legislation will be the fourth reform after the Surfside tragedy.
18:13And with this much legislation, we have got to get it right
18:16if we're going to take a fourth bite at the apple.
18:19Floridians need help not to have their problems exacerbated.
18:23And with that, let's help the governor and the legislature
18:25and put Floridians first and keep people in their homes.
18:30Rene.
18:31Thank you, Governor and Madam Secretary and Mayor.
18:37It's great to be here in your home in Sweetwater.
18:40Look, the important thing when we talk about condo legislation,
18:43when I was in the Senate, we worked to reform the condo laws.
18:46We wanted to make sure that we brought transparency to the laws.
18:48We want to make sure because there were so many issues happening
18:50with condos in our community.
18:52And when we talk about condos, it's not just about Miami Beach and Brickell.
18:57It's about interiors, about Sweetwater, Hialeah, the city of Miami, down south.
19:01And there's people, these are people, hardworking individuals
19:04who are working every day to make sure they can keep a roof over their heads.
19:08And unfortunately, the reserve requirements, while well-intentioned,
19:12when they pass because of Surfside, are putting a huge burden on our people
19:16and our working men and women and our families who now are finding themselves
19:20in a situation where they're forcing their hand to sell these condos.
19:25And yet, the market is not picking up these condos.
19:28So they're losing money on these condos that they've invested so much money on.
19:32And this is why I think it's important with the legislation that we have now
19:36before us in the Senate, where the Senate is extending the time,
19:39the time for these reserve requirements.
19:42They are bringing funding flexibility, which those two items themselves,
19:48I'm not going to go through the whole detail of the bill,
19:50but those two items themselves give actual relief,
19:52immediate relief to our members, to our working families in this community.
19:57So this is why it's important, and Mayor, Governor, I do thank you for taking the lead on this,
20:02because this is not something that happened last year, two years, three years ago.
20:07This is something that's been going on for over ten years,
20:10and our residents can't take this anymore, and we need the relief right now.
20:14In Miami-Dade County, we passed legislation last year, not last year,
20:17a couple years back when you were there, Commissioner.
20:20What we were doing was trying to help our residents with bringing them some relief.
20:24If we created a fund to help our residents tap into these funds for the higher assessments,
20:29because of all the laws that have happened in Tallahassee, well, that fund dried up.
20:33Now we need Tallahassee to step in.
20:34We need our legislature, our House and the Senate to work together to ensure that we have a product
20:39that really could help the residents of this community.
20:41So I thank you, Governor.
20:43In the FMEI, we are here today with the Governor, we are talking about reforming of the condominiums,
20:48and we want to thank the Governor and the Attorney of DÃez,
20:53who worked together in this legislation when I was in the committee with us.
20:57We understand the importance of having these reforms,
21:00we understand the reforms that passed and the hicieron for the security of these buildings.
21:05But when they passed these reforms,
21:07they did not realize that these reforms were going to put an extraordinary pressure
21:12to the residents of these condominiums.
21:14And these residents, the only thing they have, they are these units.
21:19These units are the units that created their families,
21:21the people that are living there, that think they want to have a house for them for the rest of their lives,
21:26they realize that they are losing their lives.
21:28The Comisión del Condado created a fund to help those people who had problems with these assessments.
21:35But that fund has been closed.
21:37There is no more money for the Condado.
21:39Now, the legislature is working, the Senado has a proposal that can help.
21:45Extend the time to have those funds disponibles in the associations
21:51and also the flexibility of those associations to look for different ways,
21:57how they can increase those funds and have those funds.
22:00That's why it is extremely important that this community says,
22:04it's enough time to help our owners and help our community.
22:10Thank you, Governor, for your help.
22:17Good morning.
22:18Thank you, Governor DeSantis, for being here in Miami today
22:22to talk about this condo crisis and how it's impacting our residents.
22:25My name is Kevin Cortina.
22:27I'm a condo owner in Hialeah, and I serve as a condo association president.
22:33And you know the issues that our owners are dealing with.
22:36We met last year at a round table, I think it was in September,
22:41and we talked about these issues and what that,
22:44and you called for a special legislation, a special session.
22:47And we talked about it, and you were adamant that this was going to happen.
22:51And it was good faith, started in good faith, but this was going to happen.
22:55And unfortunately, they didn't listen.
22:58The current regulation requires condo associations to fully fund their reserves.
23:03This is something that hadn't been in place for 50 years,
23:07and then all of a sudden, you know, you got to do it in one.
23:10This is imposing serious and sudden costs to all of the condo owners.
23:16Some of them, or many of them, which are, like was mentioned earlier, senior citizens or people on fixed incomes.
23:22What we're seeing is that there's a gap between what's truly necessary to keep our buildings safe in the short term
23:30and what's driving the assessments high enough that it's going to force people out of their homes.
23:36There's a new bill sponsored by Representative Vicki Lopez that's going through the Florida House right now,
23:41the House of Representatives, and then it's concerning.
23:44It's a concerning bill because it weakens the transparency.
23:47It makes it easier for fraud to occur.
23:50It gives condo boards or bad condo board members unchecked power without unit owner approval,
23:56and it also makes it harder and more expensive to remove the bad condo board members.
24:02This is definitely not the right direction.
24:04The legislation does not favor residents, but instead it favors the special interests.
24:11Retired seniors are on a fixed income.
24:12They make a significant portion of our owners in Florida, and they are particularly vulnerable.
24:17Like the governor said, yeah, they could sell the property, but then where are they going to go?
24:22They're being impacted with these high assessment costs, and they're being forced to unfortunately sell
24:29because they have no other choice.
24:31These are my neighbors.
24:32They live with me.
24:33I hear this every single day.
24:35I live with them, and they're just not able to do it.
24:38They're not able to handle this pressing issue, something that was just put upon them so quickly.
24:45The governor is right, and we need relief right now.
24:48So we hope that our leaders in Florida are listening, and they can pass this legislation,
24:53that it will actually help the residents that elected them.
24:59Good morning.
25:03My name is Elizabeth.
25:04Thank you for having me.
25:06I'm just talking about my situation and everybody's situation as well.
25:12I moved in 2009.
25:14I bought the apartment, and I started paying $150 as a HOA.
25:20Right now I'm paying $532 as a single mom.
25:23It's impossible for me to have that situation.
25:26And they tried to put a special assessment as well, which is impossible.
25:30We are normal people, working people.
25:33And just to remove the trees and to put new trees.
25:36How are you going to remove the trees that are perfectly fine just to charge me like $1,000 extra to do that?
25:44And it's impossible.
25:46I'm just talking in reference to all the community.
25:49I live in Hialeah, and it's hard.
25:52That's the only thing that I can say right now as a resident.
25:56I need a relief.
25:57I need a relief.
25:58Yes.
25:59Right now.
26:00So look, we've got an opportunity to do the condo reform now.
26:10That's what we need.
26:11Thank you, guys.
26:12You guys made signs.
26:13That's great.
26:14It's the right thing to do.
26:16We don't want to have our residents that are buckling under these assessments, throws their
26:22entire lives into turmoil.
26:24You know, there are things that happen that you can kind of cope with in life.
26:27But when you talk about the roof over your head possibly being in jeopardy, you know, that
26:31is something that we should not be wanting to see happen, especially if we have the ability
26:36to do something about it.
26:37So we want to see really good legislation.
26:41And I commend Senator Ileana Garcia, many members of the Florida Senate and many rank and file
26:46members of the Florida House.
26:47There's a lot of House members from South Florida I know that that have been very attentive
26:51to this issue and also want to see action.
26:53But so far, what the House is doing, I think, as was mentioned, they're not viewing this
26:58as an urgent problem.
27:00And then the bill they have is probably going to make it worse.
27:02It's probably going to lead to more people being driven out of their home.
27:05It will be a ripe opportunity for developers to step in.
27:09But that's not that shouldn't be what we're doing.
27:11We should be passing legislation that's going to make it harder for our residents, particularly
27:16working class residents, to hold on to their units and then pave the way for developers to
27:22make more money.
27:23Developers made a lot of money in Florida over the last six years.
27:25I can tell you that.
27:27I mean, you drive around, there's cranes everywhere.
27:29Everyone wants to be in Florida.
27:31And and people have made a lot of money on that.
27:33You know, at what point are we going to say, no, we've got to stand up for for our rank
27:37and file Floridians, the people that that are either working class or that are retired
27:42on fixed income.
27:43And we got to do right by them.
27:45So I'm hoping that we'll be able to do that.
27:47But we need to get this done.
27:48We need to get it done now.
27:50Okay.
27:54Anybody have any questions?
27:57Hi.
27:57I asked the Speaker of the House and Representative Vicky Lopez about this.
28:01And they allude, they respond to saving lives after Surfside, that they were there.
28:06I know you were there as well.
28:08How do you respond to that?
28:09How do you balance expense versus safety, given what happened in Surfside?
28:14So I was at Surfside for two weeks straight.
28:16Okay.
28:17It was a gut-wrenching experience.
28:19If there's legislation that could have prevented that, I think everyone would have wanted to
28:24see it.
28:25But you look at these assessments, these assessments are not based on the building's going
28:30to fall down.
28:31These are assessments that are cascading that just simply can't be met.
28:36And if they are met, could be met over a more reasonable period of time.
28:39As they said, you had 50 years where this wasn't something.
28:42Now they're saying in a very short window, you've got to do all these assessments.
28:46And so there is transparency.
28:49And in the Senate bill, there's even more transparency.
28:52People, the unit owners, need to know what deficiencies are in their building.
28:56And they need to have the tools they need to be able to take action.
29:00But to artificially force these massive assessments, especially on things that are, quite frankly,
29:07more tangential to the core Surfside issue, it puts these people in an awful predicament.
29:12So give them flexibility.
29:14We had a framework that was in place.
29:17I think that there was some, it was well-intentioned, but it's run aground, I think, in some of these
29:23instances, especially when you look at some of these units out here.
29:27So don't force anyone out of their units.
29:29Make sure that they have the flexibility they need.
29:32And don't have a ham-handed approach to it.
29:34Understand that there's a lot of different things that are being brought down on assessments.
29:39And I'd say, I'd be willing to bet, you know, what they're talking about, that has no relation
29:43to Surfside, some of the things that are coming down at all.
29:46And so why would we want to be forcing people artificially in those circumstances?
29:50And here's the thing.
29:52If you had had transparency and you go to unit owners and say, man, there's some real structural
29:57problems with this building, it's not safe, they're all going to want to rectify that.
30:02I mean, that, I think part of the issue of Surfside is a lot of people didn't know that
30:06there may have been some problems.
30:08And I think the legislation has helped clarify that.
30:11I think Ileana's is even more for transparency.
30:13And that information, I think, is really the most important thing.
30:16But that's different than saying, fork over $100,000 to do improvements that really are not
30:21related to the core issue of Surfside.
30:25On a different topic, if you could, if I may.
30:30Given your plans, your big plans on property taxes, would you veto a sales tax bill if it
30:36goes through this session?
30:37I would support sales tax relief for Floridians.
30:41I don't want to see us give relief to Canadians.
30:45I want them paying the tax, right?
30:47And so the issue is, is we need to do property tax relief for Floridians.
30:59That's our residents.
31:00Those are our people.
31:02We're in a great situation.
31:03We had 142 million visitors last year.
31:06When I was governor, the average tourism was stuck between 80 and 90 million a year when I
31:11became governor.
31:12They said, maybe we can get better than that.
31:13And we've shattered all records.
31:15So 142 million people, if they come and spend money, you know, I have no problem with that,
31:22right, for them to pay the tax.
31:24What I want to do is cut taxes for Floridians and our residents.
31:29And the best way to target that is to do property tax relief for Florida residents.
31:34We can do a down payment this year.
31:36We can, we've calculated, you get $1,000 for every homestead property in Florida.
31:42And it's, this is, some of this money does go to state.
31:44Not most property tax goes local, but there's a required local effort that they do for education.
31:49We can take care of that.
31:51We can give you guys the relief for the, and then get something on the ballot next year
31:55to be able to get that done.
31:57I'll tell you what, the house's proposal.
32:00I've never seen a tax cut that's been proposed that has had more negative feedback from people
32:06because they're saying, why are you giving breaks to non-Floridians?
32:11Why are you doing this?
32:11And also to wealthy, to be honest with you, a wealthy buys a yacht.
32:15They're going to save a bunch of money on that.
32:18You go to the supermarket, most of which isn't even taxed.
32:22And so people are looking to see what they would save, and they save very little.
32:26It's honestly, it's like crumbs for most working class people.
32:29So if you're going to do sales tax, I think I agree with the president of the Senate,
32:33All-Britain, if you're going to do sales tax, target it to things that are going to benefit
32:37Floridians.
32:38And we've done a good job of that in the past.
32:40We've done back-to-school holidays.
32:42We did the permanent exclusion for baby items.
32:45And so no baby items are taxed in Florida.
32:47Now you go, diapers, all that stuff is tax-free.
32:50We do disaster preparedness.
32:52I propose the Second Amendment summer so that people are able to buy the accoutrements and ammunition
32:58because we have a lot of people that do that in Florida.
33:01We also proposed a marine fuel tax holiday this summer.
33:05So our boaters are able to go up and do.
33:07So those are things that are really going to impact Floridians.
33:10But I don't know why you would want to relieve the burden on, you know,
33:14Brazilians come to Disney and stay for and spend all this money.
33:18Like, I want the government funded by our non-residents as much as possible.
33:22I want to relieve burdens on Floridians and give the burdens to them.
33:28Back there.
33:30I know this is a very important topic, but I do want to pivot to another important topic.
33:34What do you have to say about the legality of the $10 million that Hope Florida recently got
33:39and that critics say may be illegal?
33:42First of all, Hope Florida is a state program.
33:45It did not get anything.
33:46There's no funding involved with Hope Florida.
33:48This is, and it wasn't my idea, it wasn't the legislature's idea.
33:52This was the ingenuity of my wife or first lady who repurposed first the child welfare system,
34:00but now other agencies to where these bureaucrats,
34:03instead of just trying to get people on government programs,
34:06their job is to now be a hope navigator where they can get people all the support
34:11in the community that's out there.
34:13So we've enlisted churches, synagogues, charities, businesses, individuals,
34:17as part of our Hope Portal, Care Portal.
34:22People go in, and then that program has been able to get 30,000 Floridians off of welfare
34:27on a road to self-sufficiency, and it has saved taxpayers $100 million.
34:32That's a huge success.
34:33And so I hear these things from, you know, liberal legislators,
34:41and honestly, a lot of these Republicans, quite frankly, are liberal legislators.
34:44They're in media that have an agenda, and they're trying to conflate a non-profit
34:51that's associated with the Department of Children and Families
34:54with the Hope Florida mission and program.
34:57Those are separate things.
34:57Now, Hope Florida, people like the program so much,
35:00they have contributed to this direct support organization,
35:03and Hope Florida stakeholders have gotten a lot of money in grants,
35:07and it's been very effective.
35:09But the ACA settlement is something that is totally separate from Hope Florida.
35:14But the ACA settlement was 100% appropriate.
35:17They negotiated a very good deal, and it served the state very, very well.
35:22So I stand by what ACA did 100% and understand what's going on.
35:27This is a political agenda.
35:29These are people who never had anything negative to say about any of the stuff with Hope Florida,
35:36and so they're basically grasping at straws to try to do something to try to reflect negatively on it.
35:42Like, it has nothing to do with Hope Florida, but the reality is this is a political agenda.
35:47And you do have Republicans.
35:50These Republicans in, like, the leadership office, you know,
35:53they're working hat in hand with the Miami Herald and the Tampa Bay Times.
35:56Very liberal media outlets.
35:59Is that what Republicans do?
36:01Work with the Miami Herald?
36:03Are you kidding me?
36:04But that's what they're doing.
36:05And they think that somehow you're going to believe this drivel.
36:08So don't fall for the political nonsense.
36:12Understand that when you have a successful program, like Hope Florida,
36:17that all these states now have sent emissaries to Florida to try to learn,
36:21and then they want to do it in other states.
36:23And you're seeing that done in states around the country,
36:27mostly Republican states because the liberal states don't want to work with churches,
36:30which I think is a big mistake.
36:32And I think our churches have been incredible resources to help people get up on their feet
36:36and get on a pathway to self-sufficiency.
36:38But when you have $100 million saved of taxpayer money,
36:42when you have 30,000 people that have gotten off welfare programs just in, like,
36:47a year and a half, two years, that is a huge, huge success.
36:51And just the way our world works, when there are successes like that,
36:55that represents a threat to certain people, and some people don't like it.
36:59So they try to kick up a dust storm and try to do it,
37:01but it's basically much ado about nothing.
37:04And this is a program that not only has been incredibly successful,
37:08but it's something that really needs to be expanded, not just to other states,
37:12but even to other agencies in the state of Florida.
37:19First of all, this was a settlement, a totally appropriate,
37:27it was a good deal that was negotiated.
37:29When you do settlements, you can try to get as much money as you can,
37:34but this was in addition to what they were getting.
37:38This is kind of like a cherry on top,
37:39where they agreed to make an additional contribution.
37:42And so we were served well by what ACA did.
37:46There was a potential you could have filed the lawsuit,
37:48but I can tell you, if you look at it,
37:50it was not a clear-cut case that we were guaranteed to win,
37:54and certainly not guaranteed to win that much money.
37:57So it was a good settlement.
37:59That money is going to serve the ACA population.
38:01Again, it's nothing to do with Hope Florida.
38:03It's serving the ACA population and will serve them well,
38:06and it was entirely appropriate and the right thing to do.
38:09Yes?
38:11Good morning.
38:11Thank you so much for your work.
38:14I just have a question to the DDPR secretary.
38:17I have a lot of friends in Rico.
38:19Secretary, she has a question for you.
38:21I just have a lot of friends in Rico who are trying to get to remove the board members
38:27because they're not listening to them.
38:30They're sending emails about doing inappropriate stuff,
38:33like do a term, rentals, and the unit of three days, two days, like a hotel.
38:37They call the DDPR and they're told them, no, that's not what we do.
38:42I'm sorry, just do elections.
38:45What can you tell me so we can tell the residents on Rico,
38:49which is 125,000 from the units?
38:53How the governor and you as the office who are taking all these complaints
38:59actually are going to make sure that all these laws that we have actually get implemented?
39:06Because a piece of paper goes everything.
39:09But how you as the governor are going to make sure that the residents,
39:13a single person, a single mother,
39:16actually be taken care of when they do a complaint to the state,
39:19and actually the state is going to do something.
39:23Do you want to come up here?
39:25So good news on that front is we talked about the legislation that's been passed
39:29over the past three years, and with the most recent legislation,
39:32House Bill 1021, that was passed last year in conjunction with our Senate leaders,
39:37there was a provision there that gave us at the department expanded jurisdiction.
39:41And what we really needed was additional tools in our toolbox.
39:44And so with that, what I'm happy to report is that we received
39:47more than 50% more complaints this year,
39:51but we have been able to close more than 60% less.
39:57So last year, when we had less tools to work with,
40:01we had to close a majority of our complaints
40:04because we didn't have the authority granted to us by the legislature
40:07that we need to help citizens.
40:08This year, we've only had to close about 11% of complaints,
40:12and almost 90% of our cases that we've received,
40:15we have been able to help citizens.
40:17And in those small, very small number that we haven't been able to,
40:21it's because it was something that we didn't have complete evidence.
40:24Maybe the person didn't give their contact details.
40:26It was incomplete in terms of what we were receiving.
40:29But there's been tremendous growth result in this legislation,
40:31and that's what we're looking to expand upon with the Senate
40:34in terms of this next piece of legislation that's been contemplated
40:37and talked about today.
40:38But can you give your contact information to her?
40:41And we'll follow up with you, you know, after this.
40:44So, yes.
40:46Thank you for everything you're doing for our state.
40:48Sure.
40:48Fantastic.
40:49Thank you for bringing God back to our state.
40:57I live in a community called the Hammers,
41:00and it's been plagued with fraud, corruption, and many other things.
41:05I currently live in a property that's being infested by mismanagement by the board,
41:12documents being thrown away in the garbage, presidents, members of the boards,
41:18colluding together, violating sunshine law.
41:22I mean, it's a whole slew of corruption and mismanagement.
41:28I've used every resources available to us, which is actually a complaint to EDPR.
41:35I'm one of the most deaf person in the UDPR.
41:38I haven't not only filed one complaint, I've actually filed probably like 10 complaints.
41:43There's been probably like 30 to 40 owners in my community that have also filed complaints,
41:48and it's fallen into debt here.
41:50The situation that we have is we face increases in our assessments.
41:56We face unlicensed contractors being hired, presidents of our association,
42:03circumventing workers' compensation, hiring individuals under 1099s.
42:10As employees, we make this work.
42:12I mean, it's the level of what's going on in the community that I live in,
42:18it's completely disgusting.
42:19How can EDPR have the teeth to go out, investigate these cases,
42:27take these people to justice, arrest these individuals for their misbehaving?
42:33Because it's obvious that we have a problem, and I completely applaud what you're doing.
42:40I was yesterday in Tallahassee speaking in front of Representative Vicky and all the people that are there.
42:47There's certain things that I have concerns about, but any change for us as we come to me and owners,
42:56I applaud it because the system is broken.
42:58It's obvious that it's broken, and it's obvious that it has to have a face.
43:04And I'm very, really happy to hear the words that you're saying today, because it's exactly what we're doing.
43:08So, one, I hear you, and so I do think the Senate proposal will help, but we're going to also have the secretary, you know, follow up with you today.
43:19And, you know, look, if there's evidence, then we need to go, and you need to have enforcement.
43:25I mean, we can put this stuff on the books, but there's got to be appropriate enforcement.
43:30And so, you know, sometimes things go wrong, and then proving it is another thing.
43:35And obviously, you know, you've got to have the proof, but if there's proof there, you need to see, you need to hold people accountable.
43:40Yes, sir.
43:45Good morning, Governor.
43:47First of all, thank you for your service, and thank you for what you have done throughout the years.
43:52I'm a service-connected veteran.
43:53I have lived in my community since the build-up.
43:57We have had very tough times in the past 15 years.
44:01No elections, no first notices, no reserves.
44:04And which community is this?
44:06It's Shoma Homes at the Floor Line.
44:08Okay.
44:08So, the issue is that we have requested an EDPR for years to help us.
44:16No teeth.
44:18We were left with eight leads.
44:20We were left literally with the roofs about to be in condition where the insurance stuff dropped us.
44:25So we fought hard, and it's been a mission because, unfortunately, we have very few homeowners that have the ability to have a voice.
44:34There was a lot of intimidation.
44:36I actually had a definition, a juror on me from the current, I mean, not the current board, but the previous board that we actually were able to force out.
44:44Before the elections with the ombudsman, we've had Senator Vinay Garcia in our meetings.
44:50We've had a lot of changes in the past three years.
44:53We actually had elections last year, finally, and just like President Trump, just like yourself, we're doing a lot of changes in our community.
45:00But it's still in the long way.
45:01We finally resolved the leads.
45:03We finally resolved the elections.
45:05And I just want to make a comment, a suggestion, because there's the idea that a lot of communities are going through this similar situation that we're going through.
45:14We are in a good standing comparison to a lot of these other communities.
45:18And I think the best suggestion I got that we have is, first of all, to have more teeth in the EDPR.
45:24One of those things that we actually did was file a complaint to the EDPR to help us get elections.
45:29What did we get?
45:30I mean, just recently got a bill from the EDPR to find.
45:32Because as a new board, we were able to push out the corruption, but now we're paying for the EDPR not doing what they're supposed to do.
45:40We've had a lot of complaints that were going in, we were sold by the EDPR, file a complaint, as much as you can, as many complaints as you guys can.
45:49The EDPR says it's a do-to-fit, and they just close it out.
45:51So there's a lot of misinformation from the EDPR, gone to Tallahassee, I spoke to the department over there, and it's been frustrating because there's no teeth.
46:00Now, when we as owners, one of you will actually see a change.
46:04Now we understand exactly what needs to be changed.
46:06I just have to suggest this government.
46:07The first one is, if it's possible to have a mandate where the board, if they don't have an election every year as mandated by their doctors, they automatically resign.
46:19Okay?
46:20That's number one.
46:20Is that good?
46:21You guys do like that?
46:23Okay, number one, number two, is to have a sexual limitations no longer valid as far as fraud.
46:29We've had a corrupt board for 15 years, three board members in there for 10 plus years, with their system, with their people, enough is an option.
46:38So when we're trying to find out right now what is going on, what happened, sexual limitations, if we find something, well, it's already passed five years, so of course we can't do anything else.
46:48So that's not what should we look forward to as a homeowner.
46:53We paid for 10 years, 15 years, 20 years, and we just found out what really happened during that time.
46:59There should be a little bit more key thing and to be able to go back to these people because it's a current situation.
47:04Great.
47:04Now, look, I think those are all great suggestions.
47:06We will pass those along to the legislature and the senators.
47:12I will say this.
47:15The politics of South Florida Homeowners Association puts politics in Tallahassee or even Washington to shame.
47:22I mean, man, you guys got a lot to deal with.
47:24But what I want to do, I want to have the secretary follow up with you, follow up with you, and follow up with you guys.
47:30So can you make sure you get your information to our folks?
47:33Can you get that grace and then get it, and then you'll get a follow up today.
47:37And if there's a basis to do more, we will.
47:41And if there's not, and you need more teeth, then that'll certainly be something that we recommend to the Florida legislature.
47:47Okay, guys, we're not going to take no.
47:48We'll see that.