Los Angeles has spent over a billion dollars on homelessness.
Dogs on Skid Row are being fed fentanyl to test if it's safe for humans.
But Ron DeSantis just signed the laws California won't pass – and asked the question California politicians won't answer.
Florida Acts While LA Watches Dogs Die
On Tuesday, DeSantis signed two animal protection bills into law at Big Dog Ranch in Loxahatchee.
Florida's new HB 559 creates felony-level penalties for adults who drag children into animal fighting, animal cruelty, or sexual abuse involving animals.
First-time ordinance violations now carry fines up to $2,500.
Second offense: $5,000.
Third offense: $7,500.
https://twitter.com/GovRonDeSantis/status/2054343679943573896?s=20
The law also mandates psychological evaluation for juveniles convicted of animal cruelty – because the research is clear that children who abuse animals become adults who abuse people.
Florida already runs a statewide, publicly searchable animal abuser registry so shelters and neighbors can screen who's getting near their animals.
California has nothing like it.
What's Actually Happening on Skid Row
Advocates with the nonprofit Starts With One Today have spent years on the ground documenting what Karen Bass will not confront.
Animals on Skid Row are fed drugs to test whether a batch contains fentanyl before humans consume it.
Dogs are bred in bulk and sold for cash or swapped for narcotics.
Pregnant animals give birth in the open with no veterinary care.
Joey Tuccio, a Skid Row animal advocate with Starts With One Today, captured the city's response in one sentence: "The police tell us to call animal control. Animal control tells us to call the police."
https://twitter.com/GovRonDeSantis/status/2054332867455451578?s=20
Bass stood up a joint animal welfare task force in late 2025 under pressure – LAPD held one publicized bust, then the program disappeared.
Multiple officers later told advocates they had no idea the initiative still existed.
DeSantis Names the Real Problem
DeSantis didn't treat this as a complicated policy challenge requiring further review.
He called it what it is.
"You see the homeless, you see the drug use, and you see some of the worst animal abuse of any place in the United States of America," DeSantis said.
Then he asked the question Bass and Newsom have never been pressed to answer: "Are these people going to keep voting for the same stuff? Because if they keep electing the same people, they're going to get very similar results going forward."
The numbers back him up.
LA voters committed $1.5 billion in new homelessness spending through Measures ULA and A.
Bass's Inside Safe program burned through over $300 million – and 40 percent of participants ended up back on the streets.
Twenty-seven thousand people sleep outside in Los Angeles every night.
City bureaucrats are still debating which oversight board owns the problem.
Florida Fixed It. LA Funded It.
The animal cruelty bills DeSantis signed Tuesday cleared the Florida Senate and House without a single "no" vote.
Not from either party.
That's what happens when a governor decides results matter more than press releases.
In Los Angeles, four officers responded to an animal neglect call from a rescue volunteer.
Each one had a different understanding of what Bass's task force was authorized to do.
They drove away.
The dog stayed.
DeSantis has been drawing this contrast for years – immigration flights, calling out sanctuary policies, signing enforcement laws California Democrats refuse to touch.
Californians keep re-electing the people producing the results they say they hate.
DeSantis finally said that out loud.
Sources:
- Florida Governor's Office, "Governor Ron DeSantis Signs Legislation Strengthening Animal Welfare Protections and Consumer Safeguards," flgov.com, May 12, 2026.
- A.G. Gancarski, "Elections have consequences: Ron DeSantis rips animal abuse on LA's Skid Row," Florida Politics, May 12, 2026.
- "Homeless in Los Angeles Accused of Using Dogs as Live Fentanyl Detectors," International Business Times UK, April 2026.
- "Raman blasts Bass homelessness record and unveils rival plan," Santa Monica Daily Press, April 9, 2026.
- KTLA, "Police bust 'puppy mill' operating in Skid Row homeless encampment," November 14, 2025.
