Speaker Daniel Perez, R-Miami, is gearing up for his final session as leader of the 120-member Florida House. In the runup to the Jan. 13 start of the 60-day session, the House has advanced a variety of possible options for reducing homeowners’ property taxes. Gov. Ron DeSantis has championed slashing property taxes, but he hasn’t given a warm reception to the House’s proposals. Perez and the governor also remain at odds over issues such as when the Legislature should redraw congressional maps, as President Donald Trump tries to keep a Republican majority in 2026 in the U.S. House.
The News Service of Florida has five questions for Daniel Perez.
The Florida House is preparing to redraw congressional districts before the scheduled end of the regular legislative session on March 13, while the governor is saying lawmakers should take up the issue in a special session in the spring. Senate President Ben Albritton, R-Wauchula, recently said he supports the governor’s wait-and-see stance. How do you see the stand-off about timing getting resolved?
PEREZ: Yeah, I'm not so much focused on the timing. What I am focused on is making sure that we begin the conversation.
I think we've done that, and the House (Select Committee on Redistricting) has already met. We expect to start the process of redistricting shortly, as we speak today.
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We don't have anything that we can present to the committee as far as the maps are concerned, but we expect in due time, we will.
I obviously respectfully disagree with the governor and the Senate president on waiting until May for a special session to address the issue.
I think it's an issue that we can address now. The House is going to address it now, and eventually — sooner, rather than later — put forth a product for the membership to vote on.
Q: Property taxes are another big issue for the upcoming session. How do you hold the line on maintaining spending for law enforcement without raising money from other sources?
PEREZ: Property taxes have been a big issue for the last year, and the governor deserves credit for bringing the conversation out to the public.
Unfortunately, it was just a conversation starter, and we still don't have an actual proposal from him, but nonetheless, the House has taken the initiative to come out with multiple proposals for us to discuss.
Some are moving quicker than others, but the conversation is an ongoing one. What the end result of this would look like is still too early to tell, because eventually, the House has to pass a proposal, the Senate has to pass a proposal. The governor publicly is going to agree or disagree with it, although he doesn't have to sign it. It's an HJR (House joint resolution).
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It's not a regular bill, but the voters have to vote on it. And I think that's the most important part. I think far too often people ask me for my opinion on property taxes and I'm always going to give it, of course.
Property taxes are something that we should 100 percent look at. And the governor said he wanted to abolish them. I think that's brave, and it's a conversation that we need to have. But the voters are gonna have the choice, and they should, next November to decide whether or not they want to vote for a property tax abolishment or diminishment or not.
And once that happens, then there will have to be an implementation bill that will take place. I won't be here for that, unfortunately. I will finally be at home with my wife and my children. But the next administration will have to decide how they want to implement whatever it is that's passed on the ballot.
Q: You recently had artificial intelligence week in the House, and AI is a hot topic. President Donald Trump recently took steps to adopt a federal approach to regulating AI. The governor seems to be at odds with the president on the issue. At a press conference on Monday, Gov. DeSantis suggested there is an effort aimed at “kneecapping” states from taking action against big tech. Where do you come down on this?
PEREZ: I disagree with the governor's approach on diminishing the president's opinion. That's the conclusion that I reached from today's (Monday’s) press conference.
I think technology as a whole, especially national technology policy, is not something that states should be getting involved in on a state level.
Am I open to having the conversation on AI, the good, the bad, and the ugly? Of course, but the way that the president opined on AI and on technology as a whole, he was coming at it from the perspective of national security and an executive order that has to deal with, of course, technology, but more importantly, with the national security of this country.
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I don't believe that we should be negating the president's opinion or diminishing its value. I think it's something that we should absolutely take into consideration. And the House stands with the president in acknowledging that technology is a national security issue and has to be discussed in deep, deep thought, but can't just be negated off the top.
Q: Is there any legislation that’s been under the radar that you’d like to elevate before the 2026 legislative session begins next month?
PEREZ: I think people really aren’t paying attention to the recent bill we released that has to do with PBMs (pharmacy benefit managers). It’s something that’s not getting much attention. Jennifer Kincart Jonnson is our sponsor on that bill (HB 697).
We believe that we can lower drug prices in the long run, but some of it starts at the state level. PBM is an issue that legislators have been trying to tackle for as long as I've been here, and this is my ninth year, but we don't want that conversation to go away.
It's a conversation that the House isn't scared of, and we're going to move that through the committee process and let members and the public, as well, give their opinion on the issue. Where it lands, I don't know, but it's one that I noticed people haven't been picking up that I thought would have been more important
Q: Does your family have any holiday traditions you’d like to share?
PEREZ: Well, Christmas Eve is a very big night for the Cuban culture, and we will have Christmas Eve in my house this year. We'll have probably 50 family members at my house with my wife and my children, and we'll get together, we'll have a good meal, we'll play some dominoes, and then we'll await the arrival of Santa Claus as the kids wake up on the 25th with smiles from ear to ear. So, we're excited for that. And those are two days that never get old in my house.
