In a rally in Panama City Beach packed with the governor's supporters, DeSantis called the measure making the mandate ban permanent a "prescription for freedom" that is necessary to keep the state's economy open.
He added that mask and vaccine mandates deny people from earning a living, prevent parents from sending their children to school, discriminate against people based on their vaccination status and silence doctors who spoke up regarding their opposition to mandatory health regulations. (Related: DeSantis says COVID jabs being used by "globalist elites to depopulate the planet.")
"We believe there's no turning back from our direction," said DeSantis. "This is just nuts that we're still doing this. We need to lead with this by making all of these protections permanent in the Florida statutes, which we are going to do in the upcoming legislative session."
Rick Wiles and Doc Burkhart, co-hosts of TruNews, reported on this development and expressed their support.
"I'm a proud Floridian. We have the best governor in the United States," said Wiles. "I'm very happy with Gov. DeSantis and I'm glad I'm living in the state of Florida."
"I'd love to see Ron DeSantis in the White House, but I also don't want him to leave the State of Florida," he added.
DeSantis' proposal will attempt to make permanent a series of laws passed by the Florida Legislature in November 2021 following a special session aimed at restricting businesses in the state from following federal directives requiring mask mandates or requiring employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
If both houses of the state legislature approve of DeSantis' wishes, the measure will continue to prohibit COVID-19 vaccine and mask requirements in schools and government and prohibit vaccination requirements for travel or employment.
DeSantis also wants the state government to expand these previous measures by prohibiting employers from being able to hire or fire Floridians based on vaccination status or wearing a mask.
Furthermore, the governor wants to revive a failed proposal from last year's legislative session that would make it more difficult for medical licensing boards to reprimand or sanction doctors for expressing views contrary to mainstream medical opinions.
"Being the free state of Florida did not happen by accident. It required us over the past few years to stand against major institutions in our society: The bureaucracy, the medical establishment, legacy media and even the president of the United States who, together, were working to impose a bio-medical security state on society," said DeSantis.
The Florida Legislature reconvenes for its upcoming session in March. The set of provisions banning mask and vaccine mandates will expire on June 1, 2023. This will give the incoming legislature, which features a Republican supermajority in both houses, just three months to push through the permanent bans.
Learn more about COVID-19 vaccine and mask policies at Pandemic.news.
Watch this video from TruNews going in-depth on Gov. Ron DeSantis' proposal to permanently ban mask and vaccine mandates.
This video is from the TruNews channel on Brighteon.com.
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