Ron DeSantis: ‘We’re Going to Be Striking a Blow for Freedom’

Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) promised at a press conference on Monday that Florida will be “striking a blow for freedom” in the state’s upcoming special session, targeting coercive vaccine mandates and the forced masking of children in school.

Speaking from Zephyrhills, Florida, DeSantis said people constantly come up to him worrying over the “looming deadline” for vaccine mandates. Mandates — imposed by both the Biden administration and some corporations — are causing anxiety among families, “and at the end of the day, we want people to be able to make informed decisions for themselves,” the governor said.

“But we’ve got to stop bossing people around. We’ve got to stop the coercion. We’ve got to stop trying to browbeat people. From the very beginning, we said, let’s not put people down. Let’s lift people up. So that’s what we’re going to be doing,” he said.

“We’re going to be striking a blow for freedom. We’re going to be standing up against the Biden mandates, and we’re going to be better as a result of it,” DeSantis added.

Overall, DeSantis said the special session will put other issues to bed, such as strengthening the Parents’ Bill of Rights, in addition to targeting the vaccine mandates.

As Breitbart News reported:

According to a fact sheet from the governor’s office, employers that have vaccine policies in place myself “afford” certain exceptions, including health or religious concerns. Others include exceptions for pregnant women, and those who have already recovered from the Chinese coronavirus. Additionally, employers “must provide ALL EMPLOYEES the option to choose periodic COVID-10 testing or PPE as an alternative to a vaccine requirement (at no cost to employees)” — a drastically different stance than OSHA’s rule, which does not require employers to cover the cost of weekly tests. 

Per the fact sheet, employers who violate the protections would face fines of up to $50,000 per violation. Smaller businesses with 99 employees or less will face $10,000 fines per employee violation. 

Additionally, DeSantis said the special session will also focus on strengthening the Parents’ Bill of rights, making it clear that schools cannot force kids to wear masks. If they do, the parents will have the right to sue school districts and recover cost and attorney’s fees for having to do it, according to the governor.

“It’s wrong to put people out of work, it’s wrong to try to micromanage businesses like that, and it’s wrong to potentially deprive key industries of people that we need — trucking, nurses, all this other stuff, and probably most importantly, what they’re doing is unconstitutional,” DeSantis said.

The special session begins November 15.