(PresidentialWire.com)- Last month, Florida began to take steps to eliminate Chinese influence in state spending and stop the operations of “woke corporations.”
Governor DeSantis and other trustees of the State Board of Administration voted to make policy changes on how proceeds from 30 state funds and the state’s retirement system investment plan are spent to “combat woke corporate ideology and malign foreign influence.”
Governor DeSantis explained that the experiment to allow China to participate in the World Trade Organization has been a failure and now China’s involvement in our economy is endangering our national and economic security.
The governor will ask the Florida Legislature to make statutory changes to prevent Florida taxpayer money from being invested in China. He also wants to strengthen the state’s fiscal footing by bringing manufacturing jobs to Florida to make the state less reliant on Chinese imports.
DeSantis added that the State Board of Administration trustees’ vote will send a message to “those in corporate America who prop up a genocidal, authoritarian, imperialist regime” that they will no longer be able to do so using Floridans’ money.
Governor DeSantis has been unwavering in his efforts to protect the state of Florida from foreign influence.
In August, DeSantis named Ben & Jerry’s parent company Unilever one of the state’s “Scrutinized Companies that Boycott Israel” after Unilever announced that it would remove its products from Judea and Samaria.
In June, Governor DeSantis signed legislation to protect Florida’s higher education institutions and government from foreign influence and combat foreign espionage. The law strengthens vetting of foreign financial connections and disclosure requirements for entities seeking taxpayer-funded grants or contracts from the state.
Additionally, the law increases scrutiny of research grant applicants, foreign applicants for research positions, foreign travel or activities of employees from major research institutions, and foreign donation disclosure requirements. Florida colleges and universities are now required to disclose foreign donations or grants that exceed $50,000. Likewise, state agencies must report foreign donations or grants exceeding $50,000.
