JUPITER, Fla. – Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis held a news conference Friday morning at a Home Depot in Jupiter to talk hurricane preparedness.
“You just have to prepare and plan that you’re going to have impacts,” DeSantis said. “If you planned and it doesn’t happen, you’re never going to have great regrets on that; if you don’t plan and it happens, you’re going to be immediately saying, ‘Why didn’t I do this, why didn’t I do that?’”
The governor recommended with hurricane season officially starting June 1 that all Florida residents and visitors have a household plan that considers the needs of children, seniors and pets in the family in particular.
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“Know your zone and know your home; it’s important that residents know if they live in an evacuate zone, a low-lying flood-prone area, a mobile home or an unsafe structure during hurricane season,” DeSantis said. “It’s also important for residents to know their home and its ability to withstand strong winds and heavy rain.”
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The governor’s advice came in lieu of an approved hurricane-preparedness sales tax holiday. Though lawmakers had drafted plans for such a sales tax holiday as part of a proposed budget (SPB 7034) — which would have spanned May 15 through May 31 — budget talks have stalled as DeSantis and other state leaders differ on economic issues such as property tax reform.
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In his remarks Friday, DeSantis rebuked lawmakers over the budget issues and suggested the state would eventually find a way to hold a hurricane-related sales tax holiday at some point this season.
“We usually do the hurricane tax preparedness holidays the first two weeks of hurricane season and then we do two weeks at kind of the height of hurricane season, but they haven’t even done the budget yet, so we don’t have any of the tax holidays in place in the state of Florida. I think you need two weeks early so that you can get all the supplies you need tax-free,“ DeSantis said. “We’re going to make sure one way or another there’s going to be hurricane-preparedness tax holiday.”
Hurricane season runs from June 1 to Nov. 30.
Watch Friday’s news conference again in the video player below or by clicking here.