Latest news with #SB7016
Yahoo
09-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Senate committee approves measures to tighten ballot-initiative process and increase penalties
The Senate Fiscal Policy Committee on Tuesday approved a measure aimed at imposing additional hurdles on the ballot-initiative process and heightening penalties for wrongdoing. Lawmakers are pursuing the changes after highly contentious and expensive battles over proposed ballot initiatives last year that sought to put abortion rights in the state Constitution and allow recreational marijuana for adults. Gov. Ron DeSantis helped lead campaigns to defeat the proposals, which fell short of receiving the necessary 60 percent voter approval to pass. DeSantis this year is championing the ensuing effort to crack down on the ballot-initiative process. Senate Ethics and Elections Chairman Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, told the Fiscal Policy Committee that the proposed changes seek to address investigations by the state Office of Election Crimes and Security that found wrongdoing related to the 2024 initiatives. 'Bad actors have undermined and corrupted' the ballot-initiative process, Gaetz, a former Senate president, said. 'There's one stain on Florida's election integrity, and it's deep and it's broad and it's ugly,' he added. The Senate plan (SB 7016), which is ready to head to the full Senate, doesn't go as far as a bill (HB 1205) approved by the House last week. As an example, the House plan would require the Office of Elections Crimes and Security to investigate if 10 percent of submitted petitions during any reporting period are deemed invalid. Supporters of proposed constitutional amendments often submit more signatures than are needed to get on the ballot, with the expectation that some will be rejected. The proposed 90 percent validation rate poses a virtually insurmountable hurdle, critics argue. The Senate proposal would require an investigation if 25 percent of submitted petitions are deemed invalid. The Senate bill says that sponsors of initiatives cannot be fined if they discover a violation of signature-gathering laws and report it 'as soon as practicable' to the secretary of state's office, something the House does not include in its plan. Critics of the legislation argued Tuesday that the proposed restrictions could expose sponsors of ballot measures to exorbitant fines and erect unnecessary hurdles to what many said was one of the nation's most onerous signature-gathering processes. The bill 'imposes a minefield of new barriers for citizen-led amendments and essentially criminalizes many aspects of the process,' Brad Ashwell, state director of All Voting is Local Action, told the panel. The Senate bill also would require anyone who gathers signatures to register with the state and undergo training. Currently, unpaid volunteers who circulate petitions do not have to register. The Senate proposal also would cap how many petitions someone who is not registered can possess and make violations of the restriction a felony. Unregistered people would be allowed to possess petitions for themselves, two other people and certain family members. One of the most-controversial changes included in both bills would shorten from 30 days to 10 days the length of time signature gatherers would have to submit petitions to supervisors of elections and would increase penalties for late-filed petitions. Both chambers' plans also would require voters to provide identifying information, such as their driver's license numbers, when signing petitions and require people gathering petitions to be Florida residents. The Senate proposal does not include a part of the House bill that would give the Legislature more power to carry out amendments that pass by allowing lawmakers to define 'terms of art' in initiatives. In addition, the Senate and House plans vary on how felons and people who are not U.S. citizens can participate in the initiative process. The House would prohibit non-citizens or felons from 'collecting or handling' petitions, while the Senate version would prohibit felons or non-citizens only from collecting petitions. The Senate also would not require sponsors to conduct background checks on workers who gather signatures. Both proposals would require county supervisors of elections to notify voters whose signatures have been validated and allow them to revoke their signatures. The Senate bill is 'responsive to very real fraud and deficiencies in the system that have been identified,' Sen. Erin Grall, R-Vero Beach, said before the committee approved the bill Tuesday with a 19-5 vote along party lines. 'Pick the issue that you would least like to see in the Constitution … and then decide what is your tolerance for fraud and that is why are doing this,' she said. Click here to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.
Yahoo
08-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Bill that would severely limit citizen-led constitutional amendments heads to the Senate
Hired security personnel wait for voters outside the Leon County Supervisor of Elections office on Nov. 3, 2020, in Tallahassee. (Photo by) A proposal that would significantly raise the bar on citizen-led constitutional amendments ever making it on the ballot is headed to the floor of the Florida Senate, where it is expected to pass in that GOP-controlled chamber. The measure (SB 7016) is one of the most controversial bills proposed in the 2025 legislative session. Gov. Ron DeSantis announced at the beginning of this year that he wanted the Legislature to tighten election laws over alleged signature petition fraud. The bill passed along party lines in the Senate Fiscal Policy Committee on Tuesday. Slightly amended from its original version, the measure make a number of substantial changes in the rules for those working towards placing a citizen-led constitutional amendment on the ballot. The process already requires gathering nearly 900,000 signatures by Feb. 1 of the year the measure hopes to be placed on the ballot, and it must pass by a 60% threshold. Republicans says there is a need for such legislation to combat signature petition fraud. The Office of Election Crimes and Security published a report in January asserting that more than 100 representatives of the group attempting to pass the abortion-rights last year committed crimes related to gathering petitions. 'In these pages are hundreds of specific cases of con artists and fraudsters operating in almost every county of our state,' declared Panhandle Republican Sen. Don Gaetz, a co-sponsor of the measure. The Election Crimes office last month informed Smart & Safe Florida, the group working to get a constitutional amendment regarding the adult use of cannabis on the 2026 ballot, that the Division of Elections was fining them $121,850 for allegedly submitting petitions more than 30 days after voters signed them — a violation of existing law. One of the most controversial provisions of the pending Senate measure has been removed: It no longer requires petition sponsors to post bonds of $1 million. Gaetz said his co-sponsor, Southeast Florida Republican Erin Grall, had learned about how difficult it would be for anyone to acquire such a bond for an organization solely created solely to pass a political measure. 'We felt it would be a significant barrier and prohibition to ordinary folks,' he said. But other provisions remain, such as: Requires additional personal identifying information for voters signing petition forms and for petition circulators. If the percentage of petition forms deemed invalid by a supervisor of elections exceeds 25% in a reporting period, that would trigger an investigation by the Election Crimes office. (Originally the bill called for such a trigger at just 10% of bad petitions, a number criticized by Democrats and voting rights advocates as far too onerous). Prohibits certain felons and noncitizens from acting as petition circulators and increases fines for late submission or nonsubmission of petition forms. Requires the sponsor or petition circulator to deliver signed petitions to the supervisors of elections in the counties in which the voter resides within 10 days after the voter signs the form. The sponsors will be fined $50 per each day late that the petition comes in after 10 days. A petition sponsor would be fined $2,500 if they 'acted willfully.' Fines of $100, up to a a maximum of $5,000, for each form collected by a petition circulator and signed by a voter on or before February of the year the general election is held if the sponsor 'acted willfully.' If a person collecting petitions signs another person's name, the sponsor can be fined $5,000 for each made-up petition. If the sponsor retains or copies a voter's personal information, that would be a third-degree felony. Additonally, the bill says state government (or any person acting on behalf of the state government) may not expend or authorize the expenditure of, and a person or group may not accept public funds for, a political advertisement or any other communication regarding a proposed constitutional amendment. This was an amendment introduced earlier in the process by Northeast Florida Republican Sen. Jennifer Bradley in response to criticism regarding Gov. DeSantis' use of such taxpayer funds in 2024. Debate and public comment took more than two hours, with plenty of people speaking out in opposition. 'Citizen-led amendments empower everyday citizens to pass policies that improve our lives and strengthen our communities,' said Kara Gross, legislative director and senior policy counsel of the ACLU of Florida. 'This bill takes that power away from the people and solidifies it into the hands of politicians.' 'This bill doesn't protect democracy, it attacks it,' said Jackson Oberlink, policy director with the progressive group Florida For All. 'It criminalizes volunteers, imposes outrageous fines, and throws up roadblocks for working class Floridians who want a say in their future. Why? Because when voters lead, they pass policies corporate lobbyists hate, like raising the minimum wage, protecting our environment, and restoring voting rights. This bill isn't about fraud, it's about fear. Fear of people power.' After it passed along party lines, it now moves to the full Senate for consideration. A House companion filed by Lee County Republican Jenna Persons-Mulicka (HB 1205) has already been approved in that chamber. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
18-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Editorial: Floridians got two minutes each to defend their right to amend the constitution
Three dozen people lined up to try and rescue Florida democracy, making their arguments two minutes at a time. A bill kneecapping Floridians' right to amend the state Constitution passed anyway last Monday. Along party lines, the Senate Ethics and Elections Committee passed Senate Bill 7016 on a 6 to 3 vote, with Republicans voting yes, and Democrats no. The three defenders of democracy were Sens. Tina Polsky of Boca Raton, Mack Bernard of West Palm Beach and Darryl Rouson of St. Petersburg. Gathering the nearly 1 million signatures needed to get a citizen-led amendment on the ballot is already a herculean task. SB 7016 makes it impossible. No more volunteers gathering signatures outside supermarkets and in condo card rooms unless they register with the state. No more room for honest errors when returning petitions to election supervisors. The threat of steep fines and felony counts hangs over almost every aspect of an already long and arduous process. Grassroots petition drives would likely grind to a halt. Gov. Ron DeSantis is leading the charge. The bill comes wrapped in the same tired clickbait that made him a Fox News favorite in his presidential campaign: election fraud. Remember when DeSantis declared that Florida pulled off the most secure election in the country in 2020? A funny thing: There was no fraud talk then. But now, he appears unhappy with the idea that voters can override even governors. He wants lawmakers to prevent that, and they are obliging him. Some lawmakers are unaware of the scope of the sprawling Senate bill. Others don't want to admit the truth: There would be fewer citizen-driven constitutional amendments if elected officials were doing their job and listening to people instead of talking down to them. It is citizens, after all, who used ballot access to do what lawmakers refused to do on their behalf: enshrine ethics in government, create a livable minimum wage, establish universal pre-kindergarten, buy protected lands and much more. SB 7016 undercuts this by mounting an assault on gathering signatures of people favoring an issue. Starting a petition drive will require a $1 million bond. The cost of verifying signatures will double, possibly triple. Even friends and neighbors volunteering to collect signatures will have to register with the state. Fines of up to $5,000 are possible for each petition turned in late. Anyone violating the new limit on collecting signatures could face felony charges. If a paid petition gatherer is deemed by the state to be a bad actor, every voter signature they gathered will be thrown out, and the voters who signed those petitions will not be told. That assumes voters feel comfortable signing. Under this bill, they will be required to produce more personal information, such as the last four digits of their Social Security number. They will get a letter from the state, asking if they really meant to sign the petition. And if a citizen-led amendment somehow still manages to get on the ballot and pass, anyone can sue to overturn it. Where's the evidence of widespread fraud justifying this current crackdown on voting rights? The bill's sponsor, Sen. Erin Grall, R-Vero Beach, cites a 942-page report compiled by DeSantis' Office of Election Crimes and Security. We agree with Grall that concerned senators should read the report. Specifically, they should look at the hundreds of weak cases dropped by DeSantis' election police relative to the number of people criminally convicted; the number of alleged fraud cases merely requiring routine voter list upkeep; the many criminal complaints the Florida Department of Law Enforcement declined to investigate; and the heavy emphasis on the governor's pet peeve, which are these constitutional amendments. They should also discover what's not there: A fair and honest appraisal of the DeSantis administration's role in intimidating Florida TV stations and siphoning off tax dollars to sway votes on last year's abortion and marijuana amendments. They should keep in mind the administration's last-ditch effort to kick those amendments off the ballot; intimidating knocks on the door by his election police to see if a voter really signed a petition, and nuisance calls to election supervisors who had already verified petition signatures, telling them to check again. Sen. Jennifer Bradley, R-Fleming Island, successfully amended this bad bill to include a ban on using public money for political purposes, as the DeSantis administration did in 2024. That's the right thing, but it's a hollow victory. SB 7016 goes next to the Senate Fiscal Policy Committee and another defeat for direct democracy. If it passes intact, there won't be a problem with using taxpayer money to fight a citizen-led amendment, because if petition-gathering withers away, so will the grassroots constitutional amendments, and with them, the voices of citizens will be further silenced. The Orlando Sentinel Editorial Board includes Executive Editor Roger Simmons, Opinion Editor Krys Fluker and Viewpoints Editor Jay Reddick. The Sun Sentinel Editorial Board consists of Executive Editor Gretchen Day-Bryant, Editorial Page Editor Steve Bousquet, Deputy Editorial Page Editor Dan Sweeney and editorial writers Pat Beall and Martin Dyckman. Send letters to insight@
Yahoo
10-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Committee would ban use of state funds to advocate on ballot measures
Republican state Sen. Jennifer Bradley speaking with reporters on March 10, 2025. (Photo by Mitch Perry/Florida Phoenix) A committee of the Florida Senate approved an amendment to an election bill on Monday that would ban use of state funds to advocate for or against a ballot measure. The amendment — sponsored by Northeast Florida Republican Jennifer Bradley — was approved as part of a massive election bill (SB 7016) sponsored by the GOP-led Senate Ethics & Elections Committee that supporters say would reduce fraud and safeguard the petition gathering process for citizen-led constitutional amendments. Opponents say it's yet another move by the Legislature to make it much more difficult to place such measures on the ballot. Statutes already prohibit state and local officials from using their authority to influence or interfere with an election, but that didn't deter Gov. Ron DeSantis from spending taxpayer money last year to air public service ads against against two proposed constitutional amendments that he strongly opposed — Amendment 3, which would have legalized the adult use of cannabis, and Amendment 4 regarding abortion rights. 'This [legislative] amendment makes sure that taxpayers don't get the bill for political issue campaigns,' Bradley said while introducing the proposal to the committee. The government spending of taxpayer funds on those initiatives triggered at least two lawsuits last year. The ACLU of Florida and Southern Legal Counsel filed a lawsuit last fall against the Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) after that agency created a website whose homepage included language stating that 'Amendment 4 Threatens Women's Safety.' And South Florida Democratic Sen. Jason Pizzo filed a lawsuit alleging that the Florida Department of Transportation improperly spent state money to oppose Amendment 4 last fall. In both cases, the courts rejected those lawsuits. The DeSantis administration and various state agencies declined media requests last year to list the specific sources of money they used to pay for the television ads. DeSantis did refer at one point last fall to a 'a wide variety of pots of money that are used for public service announcements,' according to the Seeking Rents website. The use of taxpayer dollars to fund those campaigns was documented in real time during the 2024 campaign. The Miami Herald reported that the Department of Children and Families had spent $4 million to pay a marketing agency for an 'advertising campaign aimed at educating Floridian families and youth about the dangers of marijuana, opioid, and drug use.' Though the ads never explicitly mentioned Amendment 3, they aired last September, as the campaign for the measure was receiving heavy news coverage Meanwhile, Smart & Safe Florida, the advocacy group for Amendment 3, claimed that the state government had spent $50 million in taxpayer dollars to campaign against the proposal. John Labriola is with the Christian Family Coalition, which strongly opposed Amendment 4. He testified against Bradley's amendment on Monday, questioning whether it would eliminate the ability of DeSantis or any future Florida governor 'to advocate against an amendment of this kind.' 'This in no way prohibits public service messaging campaigns from the state; a very important part of state government is messaging and informing,' Bradley later said, adding that 'when they cross over into attempting to influence the outcome of a ballot measure, I think that we're then trending into territory that makes me very uncomfortable as a conservative who is very concerned about what our role of government is in a democratic society.' Vero Beach Republican Sen. Erin Grall, carrying the overall election bill on Monday, said she 'appreciated' what Bradley was attempting to do with the amendment but said she had concerns going forward. 'I think that just the language that public funds may not be used to advocate for or against any matter that is the subject of an amendment or revision to the state Constitution could be interpreted so broadly that our 'Just say no to drugs' campaigns and just some different campaigns that we may have that need to be ongoing for a variety of reasons regarding our current laws could be prohibited, and so I think that I appreciate what the intent is but I would hope that we would be able to really more narrowly refine this revision to the bill as we move forward,' Grall said. Grall and everyone else on the nine-member committee, including all six Republicans, supported Bradley's proposal. 'It's a matter of policy and good government,' Bradley told reporters after the meeting. 'It's not a matter of do you support Amendment 3 or Amendment 4 or whatever amendment will be on the ballot next year. What do you think the role of government is? Is that a proper expenditure?' DeSantis denied doing any electioneering last year, telling reporters at one point that his state agencies running those PSAs were providing factual information and nothing more. Bradley's amendment answers that. It prohibits the use of state funds to publish, broadcast, or disseminate public service messages concerning an amendment or a revision on the ballot, 'regardless of whether the public service messages are limited to factual information.' Two Democrats last month filed proposals to sanctions those involved with using taxpayer funds to advocate for or against a proposed constitutional amendment. Tampa Bay area Rep. Michele Rayner's bill (HB 727) would ban any state department or agency from producing, disseminating, or funding any public service announcement related to a statewide ballot initiative. The proposal says the Florida Commission on Ethics 'may' investigate complaints of violations of the law. All state agencies would have to maintain records of PSAs produced or funded during the 12 months preceding a general election and make the records available to the public. Meanwhile, another bill (SB 860), labeled the 'Broadcast Freedom Protection Act' by Democratic Sen. Carlos Guillermo Smith, would subject any elected or appointed state official found to be interfering with broadcasters' decisions to air political campaign advertisements, 'particularly those related to statewide ballot initiatives,' to third degree felony charges. They could be removed from office and permanently disqualified from holding any subsequent elected or appointed office. The legislation further allows the Florida Commission on Ethics to investigate complaints alleging the law's been broken. Meanwhile, the Senate bill that would radically change the process of collecting petitions for citizen-led constitutional amendments was approved on a party-line vote in the Ethics & Elections Committee, 6-3. The Phoenix reported on the vast scope of the bill last week. It closely mirrors a version (HB 1205) that passed in a House committee last week. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
07-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Here comes another bill that would change the citizen-led petition process in Florida
Screenshot of an out-of-state petition drive related to a school ballot initiative. Credit: YouTube. The Senate Ethics and Elections Committee introduced a comprehensive election bill on Friday (SB 7016) that includes provisions that Republican lawmakers say are intended to reduce fraud and 'safeguard the process' by which amendments are placed on the ballot. 'Investigations conducted by the Office of Election Crimes and Security have shown that agents of political committees sponsoring initiative petitions engaged in illegal and fraudulent activities while gathering petition signatures in the leadup to the 2024 General Election,' Northwest Florida Republican Sen. Don Gaetz, chair the Ethics and Elections Committee, said in a press release announcing the legislation. 'There are numerous instances of petition circulators being paid per signature, signing petition forms on behalf of deceased individuals, forging or misrepresenting voter signatures on petition forms, using voters' personal identifying information without consent, committing perjury, and swearing false oaths. Our bill guards against this kind of strategic and deliberate malfeasance with strong penalties for those who willfully disregard our laws,' Gaetz said. SB 7016 is the second such measure introduced in the Florida Senate to address criticisms leveled by Gov. DeSantis about the petition gathering process that he said in January required the Legislature to convene in a special session. While GOP leadership didn't immediately respond back then, they are now moving quickly on fulfilling his request (the other Senate measure to deal with ballot petition fraud was earlier introduced by Hernando County Republican Blaise Ingoglia – SB 1414). SB 7016 also: Reduces the number of days a sponsor has to submit signed petition forms to the appropriate supervisor of elections to 10 from 30. Enhances the fines regarding late- or not-submitted signed petition forms to the supervisor of elections to $50 per each day late, and raises the fines from $250 to $2,500 for each petition form if the sponsor or petition circulator acted willfully. Increase fines for non-submitted petition forms from $500 to $5,000 if the sponsor or petition circulator 'acted willfully.' Prohibits all felons who have not had their right to vote restored and all noncitizens from collecting signatures. The initiative sponsor is liable for $50,000 fine for each person collecting petitions on its behalf in violation of the prohibition. The bill also requires applicants for petition circulator to complete training about these and other related legal requirements. And while the Legislature in 2019 made it a third-degree felony to pay petition circulators based on the number of petition forms gathered, the bill broadens this prohibition to capture incentive schemes that are not 'pay per signature' but 'incentivize based on volume.' The Senate Ethics and Elections Committee committee published SB 7016 one day after the House Government Operations Subcommittee passed similar legislation. The Senate committee bill will be heard Monday afternoon.
