TALHASSEE – Florida legislature is looking at changes to the voting initiative process after a fierce battle over two proposed amendments on abortion access and recreational marijuana last year.
Opponents say the bill will integrate more power and special interests at Tallahassee’s hands. Advocates say the change will ensure the integrity of the process and maintain special out-of-state benefits.
A constitutionally guaranteed right, Florida’s voting initiative process has long been used by groups to pass measures hampered by state lawmakers. Florida is how it won minimum wage of $15, medical marijuana and felony voters repairs.
This process is one of the most difficult of the 24 states that allow citizens to directly modify the law or constitution. Legislative changes have made the Florida process more difficult and expensive in recent years.
HB 1205 continues that trend, with about 12 public commenters warning at the bill’s first committee on Thursday.
They pointed to the bill’s requirement that sponsors raised $1 million in bonds before gathering petitions, as well as the proposal to increase fines, add new requirements, and close the windows to return the petition.
However, Rep. Jenna Persons-Mulickka, R-Fort Myers, sponsor of the bill, argued that her proposal was a way to maintain the voting initiative process so that “only those who have funded our constitution can change it.”
The law comes shortly after two famous constitutional amendments that were strongly opposed by Gov. Ron Desantis and state Republicans. This allowed the use of marijuana for recreational purposes and the Fourth Amendment.
Speaking about her motivation to bring the bill, Mulicka pointed to a state report suspecting widespread fraud in the abortion correction correction campaign.
Critics of the state’s report accused Gov. Ron DeSantis of applying uneven scrutiny to a campaign he disliked.
Her bill changes the law to require that all petition collectors (both paid workers and volunteers) be Florida residents, citizens and not be convicted of certain felony.
Murikka’s bill also requires that all collected petitions be converted to election office supervisors within 10 days from the current 30-day window. Related fines for delays will increase.
It also allows fraud related to the petition to be charged under the corrupt organization affected by the assaulter or under the RICO Act.
Brad Ashwell, director of all votes in Florida, said he was local, saying the bill’s proposal has “a rather serious, calm effect” on the usual campaign’s ability to advance, but can easily be overcome by wealthy groups.
“It places a more solid process in the hands of people who have the wealth of resources,” Ashwell said.
Rich Tempurin, political director for Florida AFL-CIO, said over the past 20 years, Florida petition process has been cost-controlled for grassroots efforts.
“These bills will only be submitted after something happens in the ballot box.
Templin said Congress began making major changes after the 2004 minimum wage amendment was passed. One of these changes requires that the signature expires in a short time frame.
Templin said the campaign should rely on paid cardiovascular rather than volunteers, Templin to get nearly 900,000 petitions in tight windows.
“If the petition process is broken, it’s this bill that violated it,” Templin said at a committee meeting Tuesday.
Changing the petition process is one of Desantis’ priorities for this session. However, his proposal would effectively dismantle the circulation of petitions that exist today, but it is very different from Mulicka’s bill.
Murikka, a person, said she wanted to ensure that citizens will make petitions amending the constitution, balancing the integrity of the petition process.
“That power belongs to the people, and I want to ensure that it is protected,” she said.
Sen. Blaise Ingoglia of R-Spring Hill has introduced the election bill to the Senate, reflecting Dasantis’ proposal, but the Senate Election Committee plans to advance its own bill.
It is unclear what will be included in the bill. House Speaker Danny Perez, R-Miami, said Tuesday that he believes the House, Senate and governors are on different pages on how they should approach changes to the petition process. Perez and Senate President Ben Albritton said they support their actions.
Florida Election Association supervisors support the House bill but are hoping for some changes, said lobbyist David Lamba.
The proposed House bill would require election supervisors to notify voters after the petition is confirmed to be in effect, and would inform the voters that they could cancel the petition if they were fraudulently signed.
Lauren Brenzel, campaign director for Amendment 4, said there are no states that the petition process will manipulate how Lamba proposed.
Brenzel said some of the proposed fines in the bill, including a $500 fine for petition sent to another election supervisor, could be caused by a campaign seeking a simple documentary error.
“I think it’s very sad to see laws like this, and I argue that this is for people who are even more alienating people from the process,” Brenzel said.
