Latest news with #SenateBill7016
Yahoo
09-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
What is SB 7016? Florida bills would make gathering petitions for ballot initiatives tougher
Last year, citizen-led amendments to legalize recreational marijuana and protect abortion rights in Florida nearly passed, falling just short of the state's required 60% threshold after Gov. Ron DeSantis spent millions in taxpayer money to defeat them. Bills moving through the Florida Legislature this session would make it much harder and far more expensive for such initiatives to ever reach the ballot in the first place. If Senate Bill 7016 or House Bill 1205 becomes law, any groups sponsoring a ballot initiative, such as the recent successful citizen-led minimum wage and medical marijuana amendments, would have to put up a $1 million bond with the Division of Elections. They also would have to run background checks and face fines of up to $50,000 if they hire someone (paid or unpaid) who isn't a U.S. citizen and Florida resident to collect petitions, which would now have to include a voter's driver license or state ID number or the last four digits of their Social Security number. Petitions must be sent to local Supervisors of Elections within 10 days, instead of the current 30, with fines for late submissions increased from $50 to up to $2,500. Supervisors would also be required to individually notify each voter who signed a petition that their name has been verified and allow them to revoke it, and charge the ballot initiative's sponsor whatever it costs to do so. Supporters of the bills say they are needed to claim down on rampant fraud, pointing to a January report from the Office of Election Crimes and Security citing complaints of petition gatherers signing voters' names, stealing personal information to fill out petition forms, and submitting the names of dead people. Critics say it's just a move to make sure citizens can't create policies that the governor and Legislature oppose, effectively stripping Floridians of a constitutional right by adding insurmountable obstacles to the process. The bills have been opposed by the ACLU, State Voices Florida, the League of Women Voters of Florida, Florida for All, the Cleo Institute, Common Cause Florida, Equal Ground Education and Action Fund, the Southern Poverty Law Center, and Florida AFL-CIO, according to Florida Politics. The House bill passed last week and was sent to the Senate. The Senate's version passed out of committee on a 14-5 vote and heads to the Senate floor. The sweeping bill makes the following changes to how petitions for proposed constitutional amendments would work: Limits political committees to only sponsoring one amendment initiative petition per election cycle Requires a sponsor to post a $1 million bond with the Division of Elections after they have collected 25% of the necessary signatures to cover any potential fines. The bond requirement may be waived if the sponsor claims undue burden but if they do, they are prohibited from paying people to circulate petitions Requires that petitions must be one page, front and back, with at least a 10-point font Petition signatures must also include the voter's Florida driver license or ID card number, or the last four digits of their Social Security number Requires the person circulating a petition to verify that the petition was completed and signed by the voter in their presence Prohibits anyone, paid or unpaid, from collecting more than two signed petition forms in addition to their own or those of immediate family members unless they register as a petition circulator Requires background checks and mandatory training for anyone to become a petition circulator Requires that petition circulators must be U.S. citizens and Florida residents who have not been convicted of a felony and have not had their right to vote restored. Sponsors who hire someone who isn't a citizen or has been convicted could be fined $50.000 Reduces the number of days a sponsor has to submit signed petition forms to the appropriate supervisor of elections from 30 down to 10, subject to fines of $50 for every day a petition is late, up to $2,500. The current law is a flat fee of $50 for late petitions Requires supervisors of elections of all 67 of Florida's counties to notify each voter on submitted petitions that their signature has been verified and give the voters the option to revoke their signatures. Supervisors of elections would be able to pass the costs of doing that to the amendment's sponsor, along with other "operational and personnel costs" Increases fine for intentionally non-submitted petitions to $5,000 Fines sponsors $100 for each day late for submitting a signed petition form after the deadline, up to $5,000, and a flat $5,000 per petition form if it was done intentionally Makes it a third-degree felony for a petition circulator to fill in a voter's missing information or to copy or retain voter's personal information for any reason besides the petition Fines a sponsor $5,000 each time a petition circulator signs another person's name or a fictitious name, or fills in missing information on a petition Prohibits sponsors or petition circulators from mailing or providing a petition form with the voter's information prefilled, with a fine of $50 per petition The bills also require the state Office of Elections Crimes and Security to investigate if more than 10% of submitted petitions during any reporting period are deemed invalidated. Groups routinely gather more signatures than are needed, with the expectation that some will be rejected. 'No citizen-led amendment has ever reached a 90% validation rate, like not even 70%, in the history of Florida,' Rep. Dotie Joseph, D-North Miami, said about the House bill. 'What you're asking for is an impossible threshold.' The Senate version includes a provision prohibiting the use of taxpayer dollars to influence ballot measures. The House specifically removes the director of the Legislature's Office of Economic and Demographic Research as a voting member of the panel that calculates the financial impact of a proposed initiative. Last year, Amy Baker, the current director, differed from DeSantis' office, the House and the Senate on the financial impact of the abortion amendment. Most often, Florida law is crafted, discussed and approved or rejected by elected lawmakers. However, under the Florida Constitution, citizens may collect enough signatures to put their own proposed amendments on the ballot for all Florida voters to vote on. (Lawmakers also can pass a measure to amend the constitution.) The Sunshine Laws in Florida mandating transparency in government were the result of the first successful citizen-led amendment, with a heavy push from then-Gov. Reubin Askew. In more recent times, Florida voters have passed popular amendments to raise the minimum wage in the state and legalize medical marijuana after legislators failed to respond to voter needs. Legislators have added obstacles to make citizen-led initiatives harder. In 2006, they put a measure on the ballot to require 60% of the vote. And a bill passed in 2021 put a $3,000 cap on donations for ballot measures, but it was knocked down by the courts. Contributors: Gray Rohrer, USA TODAY NETWORK - Florida; Dara Kam, News Service of Florida This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Florida bills seek to restrict citizen amendment process against fraud
Yahoo
20-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Florida lawmakers consider legislation that looks to limit DEI policies
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WFLA) — As federal agencies are being directed to terminate all equity-related grants or contracts on the national level, state lawmakers in Tallahassee are considering legislation that centers around limitations on diversity, equity, and inclusion requirements, otherwise known as DEI. The sponsor of the bill at hand, State Senator Nick Diceglie of Pinellas County, says DEI programs do not create fairness, but rather favoritism. Trump is planning to order a shutdown of the Education Department. Here's what it does On the other hand, Democrats argue the bill is problematic and feeds into culture wars.'We do not give up, we organize; and when we organize, we win,' said State Senator Carlos Guillermo Smith, D-Orlando. Florida Democrats and advocates rallied at the capitol in opposition of a number of bills. Equality Florida released the list of bills the organization is against this legislative session, such as Senate Bill 7016, Senate Bill 420, Senate Bill 440, Senate Bill 1710, Senate Bill 932, and Senate Bill 930.'Several bills that perpetuate these decisive culture wars that do nothing to lower costs for Floridians, that do nothing to solve real problems, and that do nothing to improve the lives of hardworking people in this state are being heard in committees in the Florida house and senate,' Smith said. One of those efforts, led by Senator Diceglie, SB 1710 aims to prohibit state agencies from using funds to follow or support DEI policies, saying it's inappropriate for state agencies to have these programs in the first place. 'In practice, DEI often leads to reverse discrimination, favoring some groups over others under the guides of equity. This isn't fairness, its favoritism dressed up as progress,' Diceglie said. In support of the bill, State Senator Randy Fine, R-Melbourne Beach, says DEI has proven to be not about diversity but rather about ideology and pushing a political agenda that not everyone agrees with. 'What the bill says is you won't manipulate or influence the compensation of employees using things like race, sex, color, or ethnicity. Basically, you can't discriminate,' Fine said. State Representative Anna V. Eskamani, D-Orlando, argues that the bill does nothing to help everyday Floridians, and instead prioritizes political games. 'I do see this type of legislation not only eroding local control, making it harder for local governments to respond to their constituents needs, but it's just part of a larger, politically motivated attack. That is not actually going to make the lives better for our constituents.'Others endorse the bill,' Eskamani from across the state came to speak out against the bill, however, despite those efforts, it still passed out of committee, 6 yays and 2 nays. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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@
Axios
11-03-2025
- Politics
- Axios
Florida lawmakers seek to ban state funding of amendment ads
The latest example of Republican lawmakers pushing back on Gov. Ron DeSantis has emerged in an unlikely place: legislation cracking down on citizen-led ballot initiatives, which is a DeSantis priority. State of play: A Republican-controlled Senate committee is seeking to ban the use of state funds on campaigns to support or oppose constitutional amendments. Why it matters: The measure — part of a larger elections bill that adds restrictions to citizen-led amendment drives — comes after the DeSantis administration used state resources to criticize amendments that sought to legalize recreational marijuana and expand abortion access. The tacit criticism of DeSantis' tactics comes after GOP lawmakers openly feuded with the governor over immigration legislation — the first time he has faced such strident intraparty conflict in Tallahassee. State of play: The Senate Committee on Ethics and Elections on Monday advanced a proposal that would bar public funding from being used "to publish, broadcast or disseminate public service messages concerning an amendment or a revision on the ballot." Sen. Jennifer Bradley (R-Fleming Island) tacked the amendment onto Senate Bill 7016, a package of sweeping reforms to the petition-gathering process. What they're saying:"This in no way prohibits public service messaging campaigns from the state," Bradley said, per the Florida Phoenix. But "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." Flashback: Last year, the state Agency for Health Care Administration published a webpage with debunked criticisms of Amendment 4, which would have enshrined abortion in the state constitution. Supporters of a recreational pot ballot measure also accused the governor of trying to sway voters after state agencies ran anti-marijuana public service announcements in the weeks leading up to the election. Both amendments won majority support but failed to reach 60% as state law requires for passage. The other side: DeSantis previously denied trying to sway voters, saying the material put out by state agencies was factual and intended to inform Floridians. Yes, but: The ban advanced by the Senate committee applies "regardless of whether the public service messages are limited to factual information."
