Standing behind a podium and backed by a giant placard reading “Carpe Vinum,” Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) capped a week of winning that most politicians don’t see in a lifetime.
In addition to the legislation he was there explicitly to celebrate, which legalized the sale of oversized wine bottles in Florida, DeSantis also signed new laws last week addressing teenage mental health, homelessness, and theft. In each case, the governor recognized a problem, studied it, and identified commonsense conservative solutions to make the lives of millions of Floridians better.
The most controversial of the bills he signed, and the one most likely to be challenged in court, was a ban on social media accounts for children under 14, with children under 16 now needing parental consent before joining a platform.
Starting in the early 2010s, something went horribly wrong for adolescents. Between 2010 and 2019, depression among teenagers rose by 50%. Over the same time, suicide rose 48% for teenagers and 131% for girls ages 10-14. This was when the majority of teenagers began using social media on smartphones. In 2011, only 23% of teenagers had a smartphone. By 2015, it was 73%.
Teenagers now spend an average of five hours a day on social media platforms. They sleep less, exercise less, study less, and visit friends less. Teenagers who spend the most time on social media show the worst drop in sleep and mental health.
States such as Arkansas and Utah have led the way on this, passing legislation like Florida’s that bans social media use entirely for the most sensitive age groups and empowering parents by forcing older teenagers to get their permission to open an account. Under the Florida bill, social media platforms that don’t enact age verification policies can be sued by any minor who manages to create an account for up to $10,000. This is a good first step toward undoing the damage Big Tech has inflicted on children.
Florida doesn’t have nearly the same problem with homelessness that California does, but there are some communities, such as Clearwater, Florida, where it has become a law-and-order issue. DeSantis signed legislation last week banning people from sleeping overnight on city streets, on sidewalks, and in parks. Each locality will be required to designate a public space for camping if all shelters are full. This will give police and public health officials the tools they need to get people off the streets and into treatment.
Florida also doesn’t have the same problem with squatters that New York, where a woman was recently murdered by two squatters in her late mother’s apartment, and others do. Still, there have been incidents in which unwanted visitors have staked a claim to a temporarily unoccupied home. Instead of forcing homeowners to go through a monthslong civil eviction process that allows squatters to enjoy and destroy a property while the case plays out, Florida’s new law empowers homeowners to get same-day help from local law enforcement in removing uninvited guests from a property. Squatters will now think twice before moving into an unoccupied home in the Sunshine State.
On each of these, DeSantis listened to Florida residents, and instead of throwing money at problems, he followed conservative limited government principles to deliver equitable solutions.
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“We want our consumer to be happy,” DeSantis said at his “Carpe Vinum” press conference, “And if that means they want to buy and sell a big old bottle of wine like this, then by golly, they’re gonna be able to do that in the state of Florida.”
Big wine bottles may not be the most pressing issue in Florida voters’ minds (unless one is thinking of grape pressing), but crime, homelessness, and children’s mental health are, and DeSantis delivered for them.
