The Court ruled that the Governor can’t directly oversee his own executive agencies

If the Governor doesn’t have oversight of his agencies then who does?

One of the first things that Governor Rick Scott did after being elected to office in 2010, was issue an executive order requiring an immediate freeze on all agency rulemaking activities until each proposed rule could be reviewed.

As Chief Executive Officer the Governor is tasked with overseeing all activities of his executive agencies. However, his executive order was challenged and the Supreme Court ruled that the Governor had violated the separation of powers by interfering in rulemaking that had been dictated to the executive agencies by the Legislature.

It’s interesting to also point out that, by dictating rulemaking authority to executive agencies, the Legislature is essentially assigning their lawmaking authority to non-elected bureaucrats. But at a minimum, the fact that the Court ruled against the Governor’s ability to oversee his own agencies’ rulemaking has to be questioned since Article IV of the Florida Constitution specifically dictates the authority of agency oversight to him.

Article IV, Section 1(a) says:
The supreme executive power shall be vested in a governor … The governor shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed, commission all officers of the state and counties, and transact all necessary business with the officers of government. The governor may require information in writing from all executive or administrative state, county or municipal officers upon any subject relating to the duties of their respective offices. The governor shall be the chief administrative officer of the state responsible for the planning and budgeting for the state.