Florida voters have been using the Citizens’ Initia Chib Processes in recent years to introduce the minimum wages and voting rights of those who have been convicted of felony.
However, the ability to promote the future change that most voters have wanted may be immediately eliminated by the state council members.
Desantis called on a special session on the various topics he played next week in a republican congress.
The governor, mainly, wants to prepare in Florida to legally enforce the large -scale exilation of President Donald Trump’s planned large -scale overseas expulsion. However, Desantis has also proposed a proposal to overhaul the initiative of citizens, which are already binding with burden and expensive requirements.
Citizen’s initiative has been part of the Florida Constitution since 1968. In this way, more than 30 amendments were passed by voters for decades, but in November they secured abortion rights and allowed recreation marijuana to support a 60 % level. Necessary for approval.
Desantis repeatedly defeated the correction process, especially during the last election cycle. “Our constitution should not be sold by the highest bidder,” he said when he announced a special session.
Trullieve, the largest medical marijuana pelator, spent a lot of money on correction 3. It has donated more than $ 150 million more than $ 150 million received by SMART & SAFE FLORIDA, a group that runs its legalization campaign.
The governor has conducted a campaign that has not been banned for two voting proposals in 2024. What the opposition said was that public funds, which were unprecedented of taxpayers, were $ 100 million public funds.
Republican leaders in the Florida Congress have refused to question that supporters of supporters have since blamed them in public dollars. Instead, Desantis has launched a citizen’s initiative and uses a report published by his administration last October as a motivation.
The 348 documents depended on the election criminal crimes created by Desantis and the Safety Bureau. This claimed that it claimed that it was a scam of RAMP extension by an organization hired to collect about 900,000 verified petitions from voters required for abortion. vote.
At present, Desantis wants to ban the third party signature during the special session, but it is uncertain how parliamentarians respond to his call.
Desantis proposal
An election crime office survey concluded that 16.4 % of the Fixed 4 filing signature collected throughout Florida could be invalidated.
Florida’s Freedom Union in the US Citizen Freedom laughed, “virtually confused” and said, “at a suspicious timing.”
Floridans who protect freedom are a group leading four amendment campaigns and collected nearly 1 million signatures.
However, the group was fined $ 328,000 from the state on suspicion of violating the Election Law. Last month, I withdrawn the penalty appeal and agree with the reconciliation.
Anyway, under the proposal of Desantis, the gathering of citizens’ initiative signatures will submit a petition signed by mail to individual voters signed the petition at the county election office or to vote. It is very limited.
Anyone who has collected many signed petitions for someone else needs to verify, and collect three or more signed petitions for individuals other than their own or their relatives. Can be. Otherwise, they will face three emails.
Desantis cannot kill citizens’ initiative directly. Voters must do it by fixing the constitution. But he can confuse the abilities of those who are taking measures in front of voters.
Prohibiting paid signature gathers will say that people related to voting campaigns will effectively end the paid signature rally. Republican leaders have long been characterized by most voting proposals in their authority.
“They don’t really like this process in the first place. It is humiliated by their power,” said Brad Ashwell, the director of all votes in Florida, which is a national organization that promotes professional borter policy. It is an organization.
“It will be a heavy load for the supervisor,” Ashwell added.
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Travis Heart, a supervisor of the Lafayette County Elections and the chairman of the Florida Election Association, said that the proposed change would be a “heavy burden” for the election authorities.
However, the restriction of the signature is only one of the changes that the voting defenders say that the voting protection hinders the petition process.
Other overhaul determines the initiative of the initiative that the Secretary of State “did not get the necessary number and distribution of the valid signature” and made it possible for citizens to objection to certification. Make it possible.
Desantis also uses some other procedures that are used to kill any voting measures by the appointment of the governor, and to kill the corrections even if the KARA Gross of Florida’s ACLU goes in some way in the past. Signature collection restrictions are required for the financial impact of the above changes.
“The governor’s proposal is designed to remove more power from people and make it almost impossible for Floridans to participate in their own government,” he said. Gross said.
“It’s nothing but Florida’s attack on democracy,” she said.
Does the parliament do that?
John Morgan, a lawyer in Orlando, who provided funds for the minimum wage correction approved by medical marijuana and voters, said that Desanthis would be more powerful due to the latest movements of citizens’ initiatives. I mentioned.
“He’s a power -like,” Morgan said. “One of the factors that Ron Desantis does not like is that people have the right to speak at their own fate, and may be for fair areas, values, medical marijuvenors, or minimum wages.”
“These things did not happen in the Florida Congress. In recent years, the members of the Diet resisted the change, quoted some of the famous measures approved by voters.
However, Morgan pointed out that Desantis has been in the last two years as the governor, and the House of Representatives Daniel Perez, R-Miami, and the Senate Chairman Ben Albritton (R-WAUCHLA) will face the governor. He pointed out that he had the opportunity to show authority.
“I think they are more courageous,” said Morgan. “And I think they have more principles.”
The legislative leader has already questioned the Movement of Desantis, calling a member of the Diet for a special session.
They need the procedures necessary to respond to Trump’s overseas expulsion plan and other special session items such as condominium regulations in the normal two -month session starting in March. I claimed that there was. 。
The representatives of the lower house and the governor could not comment. However, when a member of the Diet asked if he would pass a proposal during a special session, Katie Betta, a Senate spokesman, said on Thursday that there would be no update and mentioned the memo issued by the legislative instructor last week. He said he did.
“Condominium safety and voting initiative, which propose constitutional amendments, are complicated subjects, and in regular sessions should be considered, not a specially disconnected session.”
This story includes the previously published materials. This report is supported by partnership with FREEDOM FORUM and journalism funding partners. The US toDay Network-Florida First Amendment Reporter Douglas Soule is based in Talahasie, Florida. He can contact dsoule@gannett.com. X: @douglassoule. John Kennedy is a reporter from Florida Capital Bureau of US Today Network. He can contact him by jkennedy2@gannett.com or @jkennedyReport.
