>>As I said at the top of the show,
the state senate race
between Ileana Garcia and Michael Grieco
is gonna be one of the most expensive we've seen.
It will also be one of the wildest.
Last week, Garcia attended
the Tuesday Morning Breakfast Club on Miami Beach.
Now, I give her are a lot of credit
for going into a part of the district
that is heavily Democratic and taking questions.
She was asked repeatedly about her voting record.
But it was a question about abortion
that prompted an answer no one expected.
She was asked why she didn't support
an exception to the state's new 15 week abortion ban
for women who are victims of rape, incest
or human trafficking.
And this was her answer.
>>I worked at the Department of Homeland Security,
and I had the opportunity to go out to the Border
and I've worked a lot of the human trafficking stuff.
So, human traffickers, as long as they, their commodity,
which is the girls or the women, are not pregnant
they continue to use them.
So, what we would like,
as a matter of fact, we would like to see in the future
is more of these entities like Planned Parenthood
reporting these human traffickers.
Because it's a copy, paste repeat
when the girl or the woman gets pregnant
and they can't make her get an abortion,
or she doesn't wanna get an abortion,
or they can't get her to a place to get an abortion,
they don't use her anymore.
So they release her from the human trafficking ring.
That is why we, we, we went to that point.
Now, with regards to incest and rape,
you know it's up to 15 weeks to make a decision.
And I kid you not, it is a tough spot.
I would ask you if you can, look up children of rape,
and in, like I said, in going through the process
to make my decision, and obviously my filter,
I am a conservative Republican,
I am a very pro-life Republican,
I sat down to listen to a lot of the testimonies
of children that were either victims of,
or the mother that had to make the decision
of either getting an abortion or keeping it.
And you'd be surprised, a good 40% of women,
a good 40% of women decide to keep it
and they don't regret it.
>>The notion that the state
was trying to help victims of human trafficking
by denying them abortions
is something I had not heard before.
I asked Grieco for his reaction to what Garcia said.
>>Claiming that someone should be forced
to carry a child to term
because they would be less marketable
as a commodity for their pimp is insane.
It is one of the most ridiculous things.
As a former prosecutor, and just a human being,
somebody who handled these types of cases for years,
it's a disgusting thing to say.
It's ignorant. I don't know where it's coming from.
And the fact that somebody in an elected office
could say something like that should disqualify them.
It's ridiculous.
>>Well, let's talk about this last session.
How do you explain what we saw happen in Tallahassee
for those 63 days as the, as the session was extended,
and then an additional special session after that?
What, what did we witness there in Tallahassee
for the past few months?
>>Tallahassee is one big butcher shop.
And what I mean by that
is it is just red meat flying all over the place.
Instead of spending the 60 days of the legislature
actually focusing on issues that matter to people,
they were ignored,
and we were sitting, running around,
talking about whether or not
LGBT issues can be mentioned in school,
whether or not a woman should have a right
to make decisions about her body,
especially if she's a victim of rape, incest
or human trafficking.
We're talking about whether or not
we should be discussing slavery in schools.
All of these issues that are essentially
trying to help the Governor run for President.
And as a member of the legislature,
and I to use the term we as much as possible,
I'm not, I'm not the one making those decisions.
It's like professional wrestling.
If that bill goes to the floor, it's predetermined.
We know what's happening
except for what the debate's going to look like.
I mean, look, we had to go back last week
and they, they put out the, like they threw a bomb on Disney
just to distract from the fact
that they didn't want wanna talk about
the racist congressional redistricting
that they were doing.
So, then we have the deal about Disney. It's ridiculous.
They are trying to distract Floridians
from the issues that matter to them.
And we are not doing the job that we are supposed to do,
which is make sure that Floridians have all the opport-,
all Floridians have as many opportunities as possible
to live the American dream.
>>You just referenced the congressional redistricting
which you said a racist, you know, system
that was created there.
Do you believe Governor DeSantis is a racist?
>>I believe that the racists think he's a racist,
to quote one of my colleagues.
>>Well, the colleague you're quoting is Andrew Gillum.
You know, that, things didn't fare well for him at the end.
>>I, I am aware, but the quote still stands.
You know, the, the problem that we have
is that we are not being sensitive,
not only to the racial diversity of Florida,
but we're not paying attention to the law.
And what I've seen over the last four years
in the statehouse
is bills get passed, they go to court, and then they lose,
and then rinse and repeat.
And that's what happening.
These congressional districts will get thrown outta court,
just like they did 10 years ago
because they were essentially drawn by the same people.
And the problem is
is that that's gonna take two to four years to happen.
In the interim, the House may flip
and all of the things that they wanted,
he's gonna fundraise off it,
and when I say he, I mean, the Governor.
He's gonna fundraise off his successes
of essentially eliminating
two or three black districts here in Florida
that were established
pursuant to both federal and state constitutions.
>>What do you think is the most pressing issue right now
for, for the folks in your district?
>>Folks on my district, it's, it's very easy.
Affordable housing is 1A, public safety is 1B,
an education is 1C.
Affordable housing is across to the board,
whether or not you have children,
whether, regardless as to where you live.
Because I'm looking to represent Miami Beach
all the way to Sweetwater,
from Coral Gables all the way up to Allapattah.
And when I talk to folks,
they're concerned about being able to pay their rent,
being able to pay their mortgage,
being able to pay their property insurance.
These are kitchen table issues that need to be addressed.
And instead of addressing those
during the constitutional regular session,
now we're gonna go back again in three weeks
and do some theater and pretend like we're doing something,
when we're not actually solving problems.
>>Well let's, let's, so let's stay with that for a second.
What should, what should be done?
If you, if had your druthers,
if they would pass a bill that you,
that you would sponsor as a Democrat,
what do you believe needs to be done
to improve the situation with affordable housing?
>>Well, first and foremost we shouldn't be raising the,
rating the Sadowski Fund every year
and taking 1,000,000, if not 10s,
if not 100,000,000's of dollars that are earmarked
to impact affordable housing throughout the state
and taking it and spending it on other pet projects.
That's number one.
That is a long time history, a recent history of Florida
regarding the money that's set aside for those issues.
But more importantly, whether it's something as,
the property insurance issue is a perfect example
which is what we're gonna be going up for in three weeks.
You know, creating an emergency
and then claiming there is an emergency
when people can't even pay,
they're, they're getting the property insurance renewals
and it's going up 30, 40, 50%.
Folks can't afford that.
And I can hear the channel changing.
Please don't change the channel,
because these are the issues that actually affect you.
They're not sexy, but at the end of the day
when you get your State Farm bill and you realize
that the Governor's Director of the ORI, OIR
actually allowed them to increase those rates,
and then they wanna blame, say people's lawsuits,
they're blaming lawsuits and lawyers for the increase
and the unaffordability of property insurance in Florida.
>>Well, let me, let me there.
Florida does have more lawsuits than, than any other place.
I think we have, you know,
I think, I can't remember the exact number,
but it's a, it's an, it's 100,000 lawsuits
compared to other states similar size
that may have five, six, 8,000 lawsuits.
We have 100,000 lawsuits in Florida.
Certainly, certainly there is
some responsibility by the Bar here
in terms of how they proceed
in terms of filing lawsuit, after lawsuit, after lawsuit.
That, are you saying that there is no need for,
for that sort of reform when it comes to litigation?
>>Well, Jim, it's a great point.
So, in 2021, we actually passed
significant litigation reform in this space.
Significant.
And the statistics,
the internal statistics from the insurance companies
is that the lawsuit rate is dropping exponentially.
You wouldn't know that
because the Office of Insurance Regulation
has punted that data to not be released and studied
until 2023.
So, we've actually addressed that on some level.
And we're not even allowed to see the data
for a couple more years,
because some appointee of the Governor
has decided not to implement
something that we required by law just last year.
So, those stats that you're citing are actually old.
>>So, but, but I'm confused.
Are, are you arguing
that there is not an insurance crisis right now
in the state of Florida?
>>Oh, there absolutely is.
There absolutely is a property insurance crisis
here in the state of Florida,
but I'm concerned about who's getting blamed.
Because the state of Florida,
if somebody increases your rates
that actually has to be approved by the state.
And they keep getting approved.
And the reason being
is that you've got these huge insurance companies
that are writing huge checks to the people in charge.
And it's only a handful of people, I'm not in that room.
And then all of a sudden the insurance company,
they're gonna come out of this special session
living the best life ever.
They're gonna benefit from this left and right.
Because I would love to bring them in.
I sit on the Regulatory Committee
and on the Commerce Committee.
I am challenging them right now,
bring in the executives from the insurance companies,
put 'em under oath in a hearing in the public.
Let's put this all out in the sunshine
and let's talk about where they're hiding their profits.
As opposed to blank,
'cause remember those lawsuits
are a product of claims being denied by policyholders.
At the end of the day,
the policyholders are the ones that are getting screwed.
That's you back at home, back there at your kitchen table
talking about this and checking your bills.
You're the one getting screwed,
because the insurance companies
are the ones that are making all the profits
and they're not returning your claims
the way they're legally required to do.
>>When we come back, an update on a story
we have been following for weeks
regarding the failure of the legislature
to pass any reforms after the Champlain Towers collapse.