Florida has created an appealing business environment through efficiency, deregulation, and no income tax, Florida’s Lt. Governor Jay Collins told us in the latest episode of The Unknown.
Collins said that Florida under outgoing Republican Governor Ron DeSantis has stuck to the basics and that has attracted businesses.
Well, you know, when you look at what’s going on in Florida, first, we do have a few things that really work well for us, right. We have beautiful weather, incredible beaches. We have incredible soil and farmland all over the state. And people really don’t talk enough about that, first off.
Second, when you look at the choices we’ve made, going back to when Ron DeSantis got elected as our governor, this administration has done a few things that I think other states really have been unwilling to do or actually have just not been willing to pay the price to do until very recently.
One, when it comes to free market, we know that less government often is better. The less the government weighs in and restricts and overregulates things, the better off the free market is going to be. We have deregulated and deregulated and deregulated as much as possible.
Collins on SpaceX
Those businesses include Elon Musk’s space exploration company SpaceX.
What’s good for a small business is equally good for a big business. Elon Musk runs the math, right? When your mathematic equation shows that you’re gaining money, you’re in a surplus, your tax load is lower than anywhere else, and even despite hurricanes, your quality of life is where it should be, that’s a great reason to do that.
What he didn’t want was more social awareness tax, more, you know, No more games with the weather and the Green New Deal stuff. No more this DEI mindset, pitting people from race, creed, color, gender against each other. This was a land of common sense. And the fact is,
after what he and his family went through and what he dealt with, he just wanted stability. I mean, imagine being in a state like California. I mean, first off, how hard do you have to work to screw up California? I love Florida, but when you look at beaches and water and temperature, California’s got a lot going on.
Collins told us that when Musk compared to business climate in Florida to California’s the choice was simple about where to put SpaceX. Check out the exchange below.
Collins on Data Centers
Lt. Governor Collins said AI data centers were the next “arms race” we must win, but that needed to be balance with the environmental, financial, and infrastructure concerns.
Collins told us he believed a network of smaller data centers made the most sense.
But the fact is, I like this disconnected framework of smaller systems supporting mutually. Because one, if something happens to that data center, you’re losing all of that in one fell swoop. You’re also taxing that area. And you’re going to see costs just jammed no matter what you do. Or how it’s paid for.
You’re going to see a trickle-down effect in a negative light at some point. And that’s why I believe in a more distributive model when it comes to data centers. A little here, a little there. And I think you can get where you want to be.
He told us that potentially a data center could make sense in rural and urban areas, but he believes that the decision should be made on the local and county level, rather than the state level. Check out the exchange below.
Collins on affordability
When Rich and I interviewed Florida Independent Gubernatorial candidate Frank Russo, he criticized the DeSantis administration for a lack of budget priorities which led to an affordability.
In this interview, I played the criticism and let Lt. Governor Collins respond.
Look, affordability is an issue. And I do think here at the state level, are there things we can fix? Absolutely. Insurance prices have to come down. We got whacked by hurricanes for years in a row. We had to stop this lawsuit-intensive environment we had, tort reform. We had to change that whole process.
And we finally see it leveling out. We have to have more accountability for our insurance companies, right? When you create one law, there is a reciprocal effect in other areas. Law doesn’t just happen and then everything stays perfect. My goodness, if all men were angels, we wouldn’t need government at all, right? People exploit it.
It’s a free market. That’s how this works. You’ve got to stay one step ahead. There are certainly a tax, not a... Traditional tax, but a problem from the federal government, going back to the Biden administration, right? We see cost because of what’s going on in Iran. We see cost because of some of the tariffs.
But in the end, you know what? I support the president in his decision. I think that we would love to get our nation wholly independent. And I would love to see Iran never rear its ugly, horrible head again because they’re very friends because of them. But let’s go back to the focal point of what he said, right?
Here in the state, and I suspect what he’s mad about is we push back on DEI and ESG and all the climate stuff, and we did not take federal dollars under the Biden administration. When they had a cost, they said we had to accept DEI, ESG, or climate hysteria as part of the reality. That we had to, if we’re going to take money in certain healthcare areas, we had to give away individual freedoms. And we had to force people to take the jab. Abso-freaking-lutely not. We will stand to protect our people every day. And in that, I think people are grateful.
He also addressed another criticism from Russo, poor teacher pay. Russo said Florida teachers ranked 49th out of the 50 states for pay. Check out the full exchange below.
Collins on Disney
About three years ago, controversy bubbled up between Governor DeSantis and Disney, when Disney criticized the Parental Rights in Education bill. Some called the bill “Don’t say gay,” though the word gay was not in the bill.
Disney criticized the bill and shortly after, Governor DeSantis and the legislature took away their special improvement district. I interviewed Mediaite reporter, Sarah Rumpf, at the time it happened.
Lt. Governor Collins was in the legislature at the time, but he supported the bill.
I argued that the bill was retaliation for speech, and thereby it violated the first amendment.
Lt. Governor Collins pushed back, arguing that the bill evened the playing field and took away an unfair advantage that Disney got.
I said that Florida was going back on a promise to Disney, meaning all businesses wouldn’t trust the state to keep its promise.
He pushed back on that, “We’re number one in new business development so we must be doing something right.”
Check out the exchange below.
