DANNY PEREZ: Newly sworn-in Florida House speaker, who represents a suburban stretch of the state’s largest metro area in Miami-Dade County, said all government spending should be heavily scrutinized – including the governor’s use of public funding for political messaging. PHOTO COURTESY OF WIKIPEDIA

Tallahassee, Fla. (AP) – Florida’s upcoming legislative session could test Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis ‘ influence in the state, on the back of his failed attempt to challenge President elect Donald Trump for the Republican nomination and as he considers his political future beyond the governor’s mansion.

Florida’s incoming legislative leaders formally took their oaths of office Tuesday, ceremonially marking the start of the final two years of DeSantis’ second term at the helm of unified GOP control. But some capitol watchers say DeSantis is no typical lame duck governor.

Under DeSantis’ leadership, the country’s third most-populous state has cemented its reputation as a national testing ground for conservativism, from restricting abortion to expanding school vouchers and defending gun rights.

He’s shown himself willing to take the bully pulpit and wield the veto pen, and has built a reputation for pushing the boundaries of executive power. The governor won a key electoral victory last month in orchestrating a multipronged campaign against two citizen backed ballot initiatives that would have protected abortion rights and legalized recreational marijuana in the state.

Both proposed constitutional amendments won solid majorities from Florida voters but failed to clear the 60% threshold required by state law, after the DeSantis administration leveraged multiple state agencies and millions of dollars in public funding to oppose the measures, in an effort that his critics argue violates state law.

In his opening speech to state lawmakers on Tuesday in Tallahassee, incoming Florida Senate President Ben Albritton applauded DeSantis’ campaign against the proposed amendments and defended the use of state money to produce ads that opposed the ballot measures.

"Leading the charge to defeat those two amendments was incredible," Albritton said, thanking DeSantis for his "principled, focused and dedicated leadership" in undermining the initiatives.

Ben Wilcox, research director of the government watchdog group Integrity Florida, said it appeared DeSantis was able to test the limits of using public resources in campaign messaging.

"Unless somebody is able to rein the governor in, I think we’ll see more of this in the future," Wilcox said.

For his part, newly sworn-in Florida House Speaker Danny Perez said all government spending should be heavily scrutinized – including the governor’s use of public funding for political messaging.

"Any sort of taxpayer dollars that has ever left the Legislature for whatever use will be under scrutiny," Perez said.

In past years, state lawmakers have worked quickly to advance DeSantis’ agenda and helped build a launching pad for his presidential bid. But noticeably absent from Tuesday’s speeches were talks of going after LGBTQ+ issues and diversity initiatives, a push that DeSantis has made his national calling card.