Florida state Sen. Randy Fine, a Republican, proposed a bill to require high school graduates with Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, status to pay out-of-state tuition for college.

Fine claims the state cannot afford to subsidize tuition for students who are not in the country legally and says the policy passed in 2014 offering them in-state tuition costs Florida $45 million a year.

Under S.B. 90, DACA students would no longer qualify for in-state tuition, which costs an average of $6,143 for the 2024-2025 academic year, according to the State University System of Florida. The University of Florida, for example, is $6,381 for in-state tuition but $28,658 for out-of-state tuition, according to US News & World Report.

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“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 said in a statement.

“This is a no-brainer way to reduce the size of government and free up resources to help Floridians in need,” he continued. “We must put Floridians first, and I am proud to do my part to rebalance the scales for our citizens.”

The bill would not modify the admission policies of Florida’s 12 state universities and 28 state colleges.

The bill would not modify the admission policies of Florida’s 12 state universities and 28 state colleges. (Getty Images)

State Rep. Anna Eskamani, a Democrat, has expressed strong opposition to the bill, arguing that the proposed change would create significant financial barriers for students who have lived in Florida most of their lives.

“These are students who have only known the United States as home,” Eskamani said, according to Fox 13.

Eskamani also noted that many DACA students do not qualify for scholarships and are already at a financial disadvantage.

The legislation, Fine argues, is about “ensuring people who shouldn’t be in the country aren’t getting discounted educations,” according to Fox 13.

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Fine claims the state cannot afford to subsidize tuition for students who are not in the country legally. (Getty Images)

Fine’s previous attempts to pass similar legislation have come up short, but Democrats worry that increased national focus on immigration issues, such as President-elect Trump promising mass deportations in his second term, could give the bill momentum this time around.

“I am concerned this policy may have legs this year,” Eskamani said.

Fine, who joined the state Senate last month, is resigning from the legislature, effective March 31, so he can run for the U.S. House seat that is expected to be vacated by U.S. Rep. Michael Waltz, R-Fla., who was nominated by Trump to be his White House national security advisor.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced that state workers will get three extra days off this month.

“In addition to Christmas Day and New Years Day, our state workers will get three extra days off—December 23, 24 and 31—to spend more time with their families and loved ones this holiday season,” the governor declared in a post on X.

State offices will be closed on all five of those days, according to a press release from the governor’s office.

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“Florida is in great shape, and we want to reward our state employees,” DeSantis said, according to the press release. “After a full year—including three costly hurricanes—we hope these extra days off allow for state workers to spend more time with their families and loved ones during this holiday season.”

Last month, “state workers were given off for November 27,” the day before Thanksgiving, Dan Barrow of the Florida Department of Management Services confirmed to Fox News Digital via email on Wednesday.

The department’s website lists nine dates “observed as paid holidays by state agencies” in 2024, including New Year’s Day, Birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving Day, the Friday following Thanksgiving and Christmas Day.

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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis gives a victory speech after defeating Democratic gubernatorial candidate Rep. Charlie Crist during his election night watch party at the Tampa Convention Center in Tampa, Florida, on Nov. 8, 2022. (Octavio Jones/Getty Images)

“Full-time employees are entitled to one personal holiday each year,” the site also notes.

Last year, DeSantis announced that state offices would be closed Nov. 22, Dec. 26, December 29 and Jan. 2, on top of regular closures during the holidays, according to a November 2023 press release.

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The Florida State flag flies during the game between the North Carolina Tar Heels and the Miami Hurricanes at Hard Rock Stadium, Miami Gardens, Florida, on Oct. 8, 2022. (Peter Joneleit/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

“Our state employees have worked tirelessly throughout the year to aid and assist Florida families,” DeSantis said, according to the release. “Over the past few months, they have selflessly responded to Hurricane Idalia and the State of Florida’s Israel Rescue Operation. Closing state offices on these additional days will provide state employees with some much-deserved time with their families and loved ones while enjoying the holiday season.”

Attorneys for lawyer-turned-convict Alex Murdaugh filed to appeal his sentence on Tuesday, saying improper testimony and court clerk Becky Hill’s alleged jury tampering “infected the trial with unfairness.”

Murdaugh, 56, is serving a life sentence for fatally shooting his wife, Maggie, and youngest son, Paul, in June 2021 on their family’s hunting estate in Colleton County, South Carolina. Prosecutors argued that their murders were an attempt to distract from Murdaugh’s mounting financial crimes, which were beginning to come to light around that time. 

This April, the disgraced legal scion was sentenced to an additional 480 months, on top of his two life sentences, for conspiracy to commit wire and bank fraud, bank fraud, five counts of wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and 14 counts of money laundering. 

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Prosecutors allege that Murdaugh used his power and family influence in the Lowcountry to take on clients’ cases, win them “significant funds” and then keep a decent portion of the earnings for himself.

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But in their 132-page appeal, filed on Tuesday, Murdaugh’s attorneys argue that their client’s financial crimes should not have been included in his earlier murder trial, stating they were irrelevant and could have painted him in a bad light that negatively influenced jurors. 

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Clerk of Court Becky Hill has been accused of tampering with the jury in the Alex Murdaugh double murder trial. (Fox Nation)

The appeal also alleges that former Colleton County Clerk Becky Hill, who resigned over allegations of jury tampering in Murdaugh’s case, swayed jurors to find him guilty.

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Of 12 jurors who found Murdaugh guilty of murder in March 2023, 11 said Hill did not influence their decisions. One said he heard the clerk make comments about watching Murdaugh’s body language, but said her words did not influence his verdict.  

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Alex Murdaugh sits during a hearing on a motion for a retrial, Jan. 16, 2024, at the Richland County Judicial Center in Columbia, South Carolina. (Tracy Glantz/The State via AP, Pool)

Judge Jean Toal ruled in January that the allegations against Hill were not enough to grant the defendant a new trial in the murder case. Murdaugh’s attorneys argued against that ruling in their appeal. 

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Hill, who is accused of 76 ethics violations, was expected to face the State’s Ethics Commission on Dec. 19. But that hearing is on hold in light of a pending criminal investigation by the Attorney General’s Office, the State newspaper reported.

The appeal also alleges that prosecutors introduced multiple guns as evidence that had no evidence linking them to the murders, and that gunshot residue on a raincoat shown as evidence in court were not linked to their client by any evidence. 

Fox News Digital’s Audrey Conklin contributed to this report.