Bills DeSantis Signed Target Trans Rights, Abortion and Education in Florida

Seeking to elevate his stock with his Republican base for his presidential candidacy, Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida this year has checked off many boxes on a far-right wish list of laws restricting abortion rights, gender-transition care for minors and teaching about sexual orientation.

Expanding capital punishment and who can carry a concealed firearm in his state? Check. Targeting Disney? Check.

And on the same day that he formally entered the race, he removed a rule that might have meant he must resign as governor to run for president.

The frenzy of bill-signings and a culture-war agenda laid the groundwork for the candidacy of Mr. DeSantis, who is seeking to position himself as a viable alternative to former President Donald J. Trump, the G.O.P.’s front-runner and a onetime ally.

Here are the bills Mr. DeSantis has signed this year:

Six-week abortion ban

In April, Mr. DeSantis signed a law that bans abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, making Florida one of the nation’s most restrictive states for reproductive rights. As a result, the state will no longer be a destination for women from across the Deep South seeking abortions.

Emboldened by last year’s Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade, Republicans used their supermajorities in Florida’s Legislature to advance the measure. It replaced a 15-week abortion ban that Mr. DeSantis had signed in April 2022, before the nation’s high court abandoned 50 years of legal precedent on abortion.

But unlike the earlier ban, which Mr. DeSantis promoted with a bill-signing at a church, he ushered in the six-week ban in his office late at night without public notice, except for a group of supporters who joined him.

The law includes exceptions for rape, incest and to save the life of a mother. It won’t take effect until Florida’s Supreme Court decides a challenge of the 15-week restriction.

Banning transition-care for minors

In mid-May as he was finalizing his candidacy for president, Mr. DeSantis signed a measure outlawing gender-transition care for minors and restricting it for adults, the latest action by Republicans this year aimed at L.G.B.T.Q. communities in Florida.

In March, Mr. DeSantis gave conservatives another trophy, creating a universal school voucher program. Critics said that the $8,000-per-year benefit per student would undermine public schools and further enrich wealthy families because it does not have an income eligibility cap.

Death penalty

Abortion was not the only issue that Florida took a sharp right turn on this year: Capital punishment was another.

In April, Mr. DeSantis signed a bill that will substantially lower the threshold for imposing the death penalty. It will no longer require a unanimous vote by 12 members of a jury to sentence a person to die. An 8-to-4 majority would be enough under the new law, which is expected to face legal challenges from criminal justice reform groups.

The vast majority of the 27 states that allow the death penalty require unanimous sentencing votes by juries. Alabama is one of the exceptions: a 10-to-2 majority suffices. In cases of deadlocked juries, judges get to decide in Indiana and Missouri.

In Florida, Republicans pushed for the death penalty expansion after a jury last year handed down a life sentence to the man who murdered 17 people in the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. Nine of the jury’s 12 members voted for the death penalty.

Concealed carry

Around the same time that a super PAC supporting Mr. DeSantis labeled Mr. Trump as a “gun grabber,” the governor signed a law in April that allows Floridians to carry concealed weapons without a permit.

As of July 1, gun owners will no longer be required to pass a safety course and a background check, a shift away from calls for tougher gun laws in the state after mass shootings in 2018 in Parkland and in 2016 at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando.

The measure, which Republicans and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement claimed was needed for security reasons, will create a veil of secrecy over who is paying for the travel of Mr. DeSantis and how he is dividing his time as governor and a presidential candidate.

Even Mr. Trump has latched onto the issue, saying in a statement from his campaign in April that Mr. DeSantis was not being transparent about how much taxpayer money he was spending on travel.

On the same day that he filed paperwork to run for president, Mr. DeSantis signed a bill that is distinctly intertwined with his political ambitions. It eliminated a rule that could have meant he would have to resign as governor to run for president.

Reporting was contributed by Nicholas Nehamas, Patricia Mazzei, Trip Gabriel, Nick Corasaniti and Brooks Barnes.