Latest news with #SmartandSafeFlorida
Yahoo
09-07-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Petition groups argue new Florida law is 'depriving our oxygen.' Will it survive scrutiny?
A new Florida law has significantly dropped volunteer numbers of petition groups to collect signatures for next year's ballot, their lawyers told a federal judge June 30. In Tallahassee's federal courthouse, petition groups — including Florida Decides Healthcare (backing Medicaid expansion) and Smart and Safe Florida (adult-use marijuana) — asked U.S. District Judge Mark Walker to block parts of the law (HB 1205), which created tougher regulations for ballot initiatives. The groups collect signatures to get their proposed state constitutional amendments on the 2026 ballot. Measures need no less than 60% statewide approval to be added to the Florida Constitution. The law went into effect July 1, and it brings higher fines for late petitions, stricter deadlines and restrictive rules for volunteers. Under the new statute, volunteers must be Florida residents and sponsors could face $50,000 fines for each volunteer that violates any of its provisions. More on HB 1205: Florida House passes bill tightening rules for ballot petition drives on amendments Florida Decides Healthcare, the group campaigning for Medicaid expansion, originally filed the lawsuit. Additional groups joined the lawsuit to ask the judge to block parts of the new law, including the League of Women Voters of Florida and Florida Right to Clean Water. Smart and Safe Florida, which also joined the lawsuit, is repeating its effort for a recreational marijuana ballot initiative; its previous attempt came short, getting 55.9% in 2024. Ben Stafford, an attorney with for Florida Decides Healthcare, told the judge that the restrictions in this law demonstrate that its "purpose is to harm our campaign" and chill volunteers, which go against First Amendment rights to speech. Those restrictions include a freeze on petition verification from July 1 to Sept. 30. Stafford also said the costs to verify petitions increased, saying one county that previously charged $1 to verify a single petition now charges $4 a petition. "Do the math," he said. "This is like being forced to run around the state, talking to voters, but at the same time the state is depriving our oxygen to speak." Petition groups lawsuit: Florida ballot initiative law mostly upheld by federal judge, but key part suspended Mohammad Jazil, who represents Florida Secretary of State Cord Byrd, said the law focused on tackling fraudulent petitions, and he said gathering information about the volunteers helps identify who turned in fraudulent petitions. Volunteers who register to collect petitions must provide their names, addresses, phone numbers and the last four digits of their Social Security number. "They don't want to share personal information, but they're perfectly fine training volunteers to gather other people's personal information," said Jazil, with the Holtzman Vogel law firm. He continued, saying the government mostly already has all this information, but it just can't link the petitions to unregistered volunteers. The nearly eight-hour hearing included testimony from three petition gatherers, who described how fears of facing penalties from this law has led to decreased volunteers and stronger financial burdens for their grassroots campaigns. Ana-Christina Acosta Gaspar De Alba with Florida Decides Healthcare said volunteers are worried about giving their personal information for public record out of fear of harassment: "Overwhelmingly, the majority of volunteers are not willing to do this." The hearing comes weeks after Walker mostly denied requests to temporarily block multiple portions of the law, except for one motion from the health care group that challenged a change in the racketeering statute to include violations of state election code and petition fraud. In the order on the motion for preliminary injunction, Walker agreed with the plaintiffs over a "vagueness" claim for "racketeering activity." Such court orders can be granted early in a lawsuit to temporarily stop something, like enforcement of a law, until the case is fully decided. The judge did not issue a ruling, but said he would not submit an order until after reviewing the hundreds of case documents. This reporting content is supported by a partnership with Freedom Forum and Journalism Funding Partners. USA Today Network-Florida First Amendment reporter Stephany Matat is based in Tallahassee, Fla. She can be reached at SMatat@ On X: @stephanymatat. This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Florida petition groups say amendment crackdown law unconstitutional
Yahoo
09-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Judge blocks part of new Florida petition law, says noncitizens can gather signatures
A federal judge upheld most of a new Florida law toughening regulations for petition gathering, but ordered that state officials couldn't enforce a provision for some petition groups that prohibited nonresident and noncitizen volunteers from gathering signatures. U.S. District Judge Mark Walker wrote in an order granting a preliminary injunction for this provision that Florida officials have great leeway in regulating the initiative petition process, but that prohibiting nonresidents and noncitizens from circulating petitions "impose a severe burden on political expression." Furthermore, Walker agreed that the petition groups are "substantially likely" to succeed in First Amendment claims challenging the residency and citizenship requirements of the law. "But here, the State has categorically barred entire classes of people from participating in the core political speech that is central to this process," Walker wrote. Walker, however, denied other requests for preliminary injunction for other parts of the law, such as a 90-day pause on signature verification from supervisors of elections and an affidavit requirement for volunteers to include names and addresses on initiative petitions. The law (HB 1205) was signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis in May and went into effect July 1. Florida Secretary of State Cord Byrd's office is pending comment. The petition groups challenging the new state law include Florida Decides Healthcare (backing Medicaid expansion), Smart and Safe Florida (adult-use marijuana) and Florida Right to Clean Water. The marijuana group told the judge in late May that the nonresident provision of the law would substantially burden them since it fines $50,000 for each nonresident and noncitizen volunteer, arguing that it would face $23.7 million in fines under new state law since they hired about 474 nonresident volunteers since March. In a statement, Florida Decides Healthcare lauded a victory to the portion the federal judge did grant, although it noted that the group doesn't agree with every part of the ruling. Mitch Emerson, the executive director of the group, said, "this is a victory for the constitutional rights of Floridians, and brings us one step closer to providing healthcare access to over a million, including veterans, seniors, women, and working families." Walker's order comes a week after a nearly eight-hour hearing with testimony from three petition gatherers, who described how fears of penalties from this law led to stronger burdens and decreased volunteers for their grassroots campaigns. Petition groups testify: Petition groups argue new Florida law is 'depriving our oxygen.' Will it survive scrutiny? The crux of all plaintiff's arguments were that the new law violates First Amendment rights to political speech and to petition government. The urgency for a preliminary injunction was already heightened since petition groups face a looming Feb. 1 deadline to submit nearly 900,000 signatures. The latest injunction by the federal judge marks the second order granting relief, since Walker sided with Florida Decides Healthcare in early June that the new law's expanded definition of "racketeering activity," which was changed to include violations of state election code and petition fraud, was "unconstitutionally vague" and "allows for arbitrary and discriminatory enforcement." Preliminary injunction granted: Florida ballot initiative law mostly upheld by federal judge, but key part suspended For years, petition groups have gathered signatures across the state to pass ballot initiatives for a variety of issues — like setting a cap on the number of students in a classroom, mandating a $15 minimum wage, approving medical marijuana or restoring voting rights to felons. The law's stricter penalties and deadlines aren't the only hurdle petition groups must face to put their measures on the ballot for the 2026 elections. This lawsuit comes after a recreational marijuana and abortion rights ballot amendment failed to meet Florida's threshold of 60% support to amend the constitution. Voters supported the amendments by 57.2% and 55.9%, respectively. This reporting content is supported by a partnership with Freedom Forum and Journalism Funding Partners. USA Today Network-Florida First Amendment reporter Stephany Matat is based in Tallahassee, Fla. She can be reached at SMatat@ On X: @stephanymatat. This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Judge blocks part of new Florida law restricting amendment process
Yahoo
04-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
With enough signatures, marijuana amendment will be reviewed by Florida Supreme Court
A ballot initiative to permit recreational use of marijuana for adults in Florida obtained enough signatures this week to trigger a legally-mandated financial and judicial review. Smart and Safe Florida, the group sponsoring the constitutional amendment, gathered more than 377,000 signatures verified by local elections supervisors, according to the state Division of Elections website. This surpasses a threshold of 220,000 signatures for the state-required review. Attorney General James Uthmeier must now transmit the language to be reviewed by the Florida Supreme Court, which must find clear, single-subject language in the proposed ballot text. The initiative allows adults at least 21 years old to possess, purchase or use marijuana for nonmedical purposes. It also prohibits marketing toward children and smoking or vaping in public. This language is slightly different from a marijuana initiative last year that gathered about 56% support from Florida voters, falling short of the state's 60% threshold needed for passage. It initially did not specify any prohibitions for marketing toward children or public use of marijuana. 2024 Elections: Recreational marijuana in Florida snuffed out after amendment falls short of 60% In addition to its multiple hurdles to become a proposed amendment on the 2026 midterm ballot, Smart & Safe Florida is arguing that a new state law on ballot petitions is infringing on First Amendment rights. The organization filed an emergency motion to a federal judge May 30, saying the state's new prohibition on non-resident petition circulators has "injured" the organization's "number of people to carry their message to the public." The law, signed promptly by Gov. Ron DeSantis, increased restrictions and potential penalties to groups seeking to propose a ballot initiative. One such restriction is by limiting each volunteer to only collect 25 petitions, which Smart & Safe Florida argued in their motion already has limited the capability of their volunteer network. In their motion, the organization said that the state law's nonresident provision is "very likely the difference between" the amendment getting on the ballot or not. The marijuana amendment's downfall was a shocking result in the November elections, since many surveys found enough support from Floridians for it to pass and it was also among the most expensive ballot measure campaigns in the country. Yet the campaign against it, spearheaded by DeSantis and other state leaders, included months spent arguing its passage would have deep implications for the state's tourism. DeSantis said at the time that Florida residents would smell a weed stench in the air, and he said the proposal's purpose was mainly to benefit large marijuana companies seeking profits. More recently, the money to defeat the marijuana initiative was called into question by House lawmakers who investigated the foundation behind First Lady Casey DeSantis' signature initiative, Hope Florida. Lawmakers accused the fundraising arm of that program of improperly funneling part of a $67 million Medicaid contractor's settlement to the political committee that targeted the ballot amendment, headed by Uthmeier, the governor's then-chief of staff. Round two: After 2024 failure, backers of Florida recreational marijuana amendment try again for 2026 This reporting content is supported by a partnership with Freedom Forum and Journalism Funding Partners. USA Today Network-Florida First Amendment reporter Stephany Matat is based in Tallahassee, Fla. She can be reached at SMatat@ On X: @stephanymatat. This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Recreational marijuana effort in Florida advances toward 2026 ballot
Yahoo
01-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
‘Grow your own': Tampa Bay lawmaker moves marijuana efforts forward
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WFLA) — The legislative session kicks off on Tuesday, March 4 and lawmakers may soon be debating a controversial issue that keeps firing up here in the Sunshine off of the 2024 election, the amendment that would have made recreational marijuana legal in the state didn't make the cut. However, efforts here in Florida for cannabis freedom are already being considered over at the statehouse. New Port Richey woman sent to collections for internet service she never received Smart and Safe Florida, the group behind Amendment 3 is taking another run at the failed initiative, already crafting a new petition with new standards. However, Governor Ron DeSantis says he doesn't even see it making it onto the ballot.'People do not want these massive conglomerates control(ing) the constitution, and you know, one of the things that was an issue last time was this idea of can you grow your own? And their amendment did not provide for that,' DeSantis said. With the 2026 election still a ways away, the legislature now holds the power on the Republican State Senator Joe Gruters, a champion of Amendment 3, is putting forth various bills on marijuana. One of them would allow qualified medical patients to grow their own.'If you want to grow a couple of plants, I think we could do it in a regulated way to make sure that the people that want to do that have the opportunity and can avoid some of those other additional cost,' Gruters said. 'It's a win-win for the state and the consumer, but again, this is only for people who hold a medical ID card.' Backing the bill, Democrats at the statehouse are calling it common sense legislation.'I think it's one of those rare bipartisan moments where there is agreement that allowing for the cannabis industry to control every access point is monopolistic. And it's really important for us to break down those monopolies and to give people that individual freedom, with regulations in place,' said Representative Anna V. Eskamani, freshly filed bill would allow two plants per household. You have to be 21 or older, your property owner has to agree to it, and you have to be an eligible patient. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
