Florida lawmakers head into the trenches this week to fight the many culture wars launched by the US state's conservative governor and likely presidential candidate Ron DeSantis, as the Republican-led legislature begins a new term.

A darling of the populist right, DeSantis has devoted much of his agenda since his reelection last November to railing against "wokeness," a concept co-opted by conservatives to describe an over-moralizing form of liberalism.

During the 60-day legislative session, lawmakers will consider a bill to outlaw diversity and equality programs at state-run universities and another to make it easier for public figures to sue the media for defamation.

They will look at extending a controversial ban on classroom discussion of sexuality and gender identity -- currently in effect through third grade -- to eighth grade children, who are typically 12 or 13 years old.

Also among the proposals is a ban on giving youngsters pronouns that don't correspond to their "immutable" biological sex.

Each of these proposals is expected to become law, as DeSantis has the loyalty of the state congress, which has allowed him to turn Florida into a hothouse for conservative policymaking and a platform for promoting his own brand.

The 44-year-old governor enjoys enormous influence over his party, bolstered by his resounding defeat of Democratic challenger Charlie Crist in last year's midterm elections.

"The bills that he is asking us to send through the legislature are the things that we've been talking about for years and haven't had the courage to do. He has," Kathleen Passidomo, the president of Florida's Senate, said in February.

"We're going to get his agenda across the finish line."

'Great American exodus'

DeSantis's education initiatives and other right-wing red meat, such as a proposal to allow Floridians to carry concealed weapons without a permit or training, ought to keep his ultra-conservative allies happy.

And they guarantee him more of the headlines he started getting during the Covid-19 pandemic, when his opposition to President Joe Biden's health curbs made him one of the most popular Republicans.

The free publicity will be seen in his camp as a godsend at a time when he is widely thought to be preparing a challenge to former president Donald Trump's status as comfortable frontrunner for the Republican White House nomination.

But the former US congressman is keeping his powder dry for now, preferring touting his new memoir around the country to joining the primary season fray.

At an event in Democratic-led California on Sunday, DeSantis took an apparent swipe at the state's liberal governor, Gavin Newsom, by defending the "anti-woke" policies he has pursued in what he likes to call the "Free State of Florida."

"We've witnessed a great American exodus from states governed by leftist politicians imposing leftist ideologies and delivering poor results," he said at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, west of Los Angeles.

He is vindicated by recent US Census data showing hundreds of thousands more people saying goodbye to states such as California and New York than moving into them.

California lost nearly 350,000 residents last year, while New York lost about 300,000.

"And you can see massive gains in states like Florida, who are governing according to the tried and true principles that President Reagan held dear," DeSantis added.

© Agence France-Presse