TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WFLA) — A Florida senator wants to repeal a law that grants in-state tuition rates to undocumented immigrants. State Senator Randy Fine says he just wants to put Floridians first, but the bill is facing backlash from across the aisle.

Senate Bill 90 looks to eliminate a decade-old law that was originally carried across the finish line by Florida’s current Lt. Governor Jeanette Nuñez.

“These are people that work hard, study hard and face challenges and obstacles that many of us in this room will never comprehend,” Nuñez said back on the House floor in 2014.

Even though it passed with bipartisan support in 2014, where does that leave the issue today?
“We’re going to make sure that college education, university education is affordable for all our students,” U.S. Senator Rick Scott said back in 2014. “Everybody has a shot at the dream.”

With support from former Governor Rick Scott and leaders on both sides of the aisle, 10 years later, Republican State Senator Randy Fine aims to flip the switch by repealing the state law.

He posted on X, “While blue-collar Floridians are struggling to make ends meet, it is not fair to require them to pay $45 million a year to subsidize sweetheart deals for college degrees to those who should not even be here.”
Fine hopes a colleague will pick up the bill when he resigns in March. However, leaders on the House floor say they hope the bill is tossed out.

“I have heard some rhetoric from Senate leadership regarding wanting to phase out in-state tuition for our dreamers,” said State Rep. Anna Eskamani.

Eskamani says Senate Bill 90 is not a bill that leadership is prioritizing, but a bill Senator Fine is prioritizing for his congressional bid.

“I think even without Mr. Fine in the legislature, it doesn’t mean these issues go away,” Eskamani said. “I have been really encouraging our DACA students and students who graduated from Florida State University through this program to speak out and to share their stories and to really demonstrate their value to us here in Florida.”

Senate President Ben Albritton hopes if this bill does make it to both chambers leaders stay open-minded.
“My hope is that we approach this with balance, so that we’re not disrupting families that otherwise would have planned differently,” Albritton said.

The bill comes at a time when the Trump administration is about to make its transition of power into the White House with immigration a key focus for his team.
Political analysts say the Republican party showed support for dreamers in the past, but gears may be shifting with the new Make America Great Again era.