The 2020 60-day legislative session opened on Tuesday, January 14. House Speaker Jose Oliva, R-Miami Lakes, and Senate President Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton, spoke to their respective chambers followed by the State of the State address by Governor Ron DeSantis.

While Speaker Oliva focused primary on healthcare reform and made some references to addressing education overspending and providing wage increases for child welfare workers, Senate President Galvano led with a discussion on civility, decorum and leadership. But the most in depth review of the state’s priorities came from the Governor, himself. Gov. DeSantis focused his remarks on cultivating a season of opportunity, drawing not only on past successes but being very specific on policy aimed at maintaining our State’s fiscal health, investing in our natural resources, protecting communities and responding in times of natural disaster, strengthening our traditional and vocational education programs, implementing e-verify to protect our legal workforce, increasing teacher pay in the K-12 public school system, and offering more scholarship opportunities to families to access needed services. He also talked about prescription drug access, adoption, and insurance. He ended his remarks with a historical reference to 1492 when our state was discovered as a land of opportunity and on its shore a flag reading “plus ultra” -- meaning “more out there.”