The controversial alimony reform invoice, vetoed twice, rears its ugly head once more
In the last decade, a highly controversial child support reform bill passed by Florida legislators was defeated not once, but twice by the then-governor Rick Scott. Scott cited the fact that the proposed reform bill would have been retroactive, with far-reaching implications for families and children who depend on child support arrangements for some degree of stability in their lives.
Scott’s vetoes are still relevant today because the same onerous, retrospective provision has surfaced again in another attempt to pass the same controversial bill. The 2022 legislation is disguised as a measure focused on “the children”, thanks to the well-funded efforts of wealthy divorcees and, in some cases, their new spouses.
But as Scott pointed out at the time, the ongoing push for so-called “support reform” is just about the pocketbook of divorcees unhappy with their existing court-approved arrangements. The children are secondary. The vast majority of the law’s supporters were (or are) the primary breadwinners in the existing divorce settlement, and they can benefit financially from the renegotiation and reduction of existing alimony payments.
Scott made it clear during those two previous vetoes that he thought very carefully and was heavily influenced by both sides. In the end, he says, he made his decisions with the best interests of Florida’s families in mind. But Scott is also not a fan of destabilizing an existing legal framework that families and children depend on.
Now, in the latest attempt to undermine the institution of marriage, state senator at least Jason Pizzaa Democrat, admirably attempted to make the latest bill more palatable by filing a simple two-sentence amendment so that the supposed “reforms” would only apply to new child support agreements after the bill goes into effect, rather than allowing tens of thousands of ongoing divorce settlements suddenly be challenged in court.
Unfortunately, his amendment was rejected by Republicans who are said to be the champions of traditional marriage and family values.
The upshot of this latest attempt at so-called “support reform” is that this bill makes it more financially attractive for the main breadwinner in a family to withdraw from their marital relationship. And it makes divorce a financially daunting prospect for those who sacrifice their careers to care for their children.
In most cases, it’s women who are making these sacrifices in the name of “family values” that Republicans claim to uphold.
“You are [supporters of retroactive alimony reform] not considered [an] older woman who either gave up her career or never started a career and they stayed at home and raised the kids, supported her husband as he advanced in his career and then she gets older and he wants to trade her for a younger model,” he said Barbara De Vanein a story published in 2013, the first time this bad bill has almost been foisted on tens of thousands of vulnerable families and children.
Even a cursory reading of the bill reveals its distasteful anti-marital bias. Among other things, the bill removes the court’s ability to consider adultery or spousal infidelity when determining alimony. Republicans who believe reform is the right thing to do because it is “fairer” and “more just” in the modern age are deluding themselves. If passed, the law will simply further weaken the institution of marriage.
Florida lawmakers in the House of Representatives are scheduled to take up the bill on Tuesday. If it gets past there, the only hope of defeating it would shift to the governor Ron DeSantisto follow Gov. Rick Scott’s example twice before and send it to the political graveyard a third time.
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