Legislative Session 2024: What We’re Watching

Media & Democracy
Money in Politics
Voting & Elections
Calls for an Article V Convention
Ballot Initiative Process

Media & Democracy

Two bills on Defamation, False Light, and Unauthorized Publication of Name or Likenesses (SB 1780 and HB 757)  threaten the First Amendment rights of free speech and the free press. We are opposing them because they will  have a chilling effect on essential journalism that sheds light on corruption and enables Floridians to hold our  officials accountable. Ordinary Floridians who post on social media could also be caught up in these changes to  the law. By enabling costly frivolous lawsuits, these bills would force journalists to consider the cost of litigation  for every investigative piece they publish and potentially reveal their sources to avoid liability. This would impact  media across the political spectrum, particularly local reporters whom Floridians rely on and who don’t have the  financial resources to risk being sued. These bills are both in their last committees before heading to a vote by the  full House and Senate. Tell your representatives to vote NO on SB 1780 and HB 757. 

Two bills are seeking to address Artificial Intelligence Use in Political Advertising (SB 850 and HB 919). The danger  that AI-based disinformation poses to voters this year should not be underestimated. Unfortunately, these bills  are a fig leaf instead of a solution. The disclaimer these bills would require is very weak and doesn’t say the content  was manipulated with AI or that it doesn’t depict real events. As is, the disclaimer fails to inform Floridians that  they are being manipulated. Even worse, these bills do not include any provision for injunctive relief to get  manipulative political advertisements taken down as fast as possible, leaving Floridians exposed to the harms of  the deceptive content while the complaint process plays out. SB 850 and HB 919 are both headed to a vote by  the full House and Senate: tell your representatives to make these bills stronger so that Floridians have REAL  protection from AI-generated manipulation.

 

 

Money in Politics 

Poison pill amendments were added to the Senate Ethics bill (SB 7014) at the last minute before passage, transforming it into a bill that will have disastrous effects on investigation of corruption and enforcement of  Florida’s Sunshine Laws. The bill now requires all ethics complaints to be “based upon personal knowledge” and  strips local ethics boards of their ability to initiate a complaint. Shutting down investigations based on reports  from anonymous credible whistleblowers and relying on people with “personal knowledge” to come forward  publicly will paralyze the ability to stop ethics violations. The dangerous amendments have not yet been added to  the House Ethics bill (HB 1597), which has one more committee stop. Tell your House representative to defend  Florida’s ability to investigate ethics violations and reject any “personal knowledge” requirement in HB 1597. 

SJR 1114 and HJR 7059 are proposing to remove public campaign financing from the Florida Constitution by  making Floridians go back to the ballot on this issue for a third time. Floridians put this in our Constitution in 1998,  and we re-affirmed our support for it in 2010, because we know wealthy special interests have too much power  in politics and we know public campaign financing gives small-dollar donors and ordinary Floridians a bigger voice.  According to current Florida law, “the purpose of public campaign financing is to make candidates more  responsive to the voters of the State of Florida and as insulated as possible from special interest groups.” That’s  the program the legislature is proposing to get rid of entirely, instead of using their existing power to make it  better. These resolutions are both headed to a vote in the full House and Senate: tell your representatives to vote NO on SJR 1114 and HJR 7059.

 

 

Voting & Elections

There are some great voting and elections bills that have been filed this session! While we unfortunately don’t  expect these bills to receive a hearing this year, they are important pro-voter measures that we can work towards  and fight for to ensure truly free and fair elections in Florida. Make sure your representatives are supporting and  co-sponsoring these good elections bills: 

• The Harry T. & Harriette V. Moore Florida Voting Rights Act (HB 1035 / SB 1522) would remove the voting  barriers that have been erected over the past 5 years, expand voting access for Floridians in new ways,  and put in place comprehensive protections for Florida voters. 
• The Florida Language Access in Elections Bill (HB 1423 / SB 1670) would put in place comprehensive  assistance for voters who are not proficient in English, helping ensure that no voter in Florida is  disenfranchised because of the language they speak. 
• Advisory Opinions on Voter Eligibility (HB 1525 / SB 904) seeks to address the fact that Florida’s current  voting process is broken for returning citizens. This bill would require the Department of State to provide  returning citizens with clarity on their eligibility to vote within 90 days of the returning citizen requesting  an advisory opinion.  

Some problematic elections bills are moving through the legislative process. Common Cause opposes SB 438 and  HB 57 on County Commissioner Term Limits because it takes time to learn how governing works, so term limits  like this often mean that staff and lobbyists – not elected representatives – are running the show. SB 782 and HB  965 on Election Board Composition has a great intention behind it in trying to ensure representation of both  Republican and Democrat poll workers at every polling location. But we’re concerned about what will happen if  there aren’t enough poll workers from one of these parties, and we think NPA or minor party poll workers should  be able to fill in to prevent a polling location from having to be closed due to this policy. HB 7003 and SB 7010  have both passed, allowing voters’ personal data to be shared with other government entities for election  administration purposes. This provision would appear to be needed, in part, because Florida has left the Electronic  Registration Information Center (ERIC). When Florida joined ERIC, there were requirements around security of  Floridians’ data. This bill does not provide any such requirements – we will monitor its implementation to ensure  it does. 

Several very dangerous elections bills have also been filed this session. So far none of these have moved forward,  which we hope means the legislature has taken the wise advice of Florida’s Supervisors of Elections to not change  the rules in a major election year. However, we will keep a careful eye on these bills right through to the end of  session and let you know if you need to take action: HB 359 would allow for hand counting of ballots, which is bad  for fair and secure elections because it is slower, more prone to errors, and more expensive than counting paper  ballots with machines. SB 1602 would impose identity requirements that risk disenfranchising new and naturalized  citizens, renters, students, people with disabilities, military and overseas voters, and anyone who doesn’t have a  Florida driver license. SB 1752 would abolish voting by mail as we know it, impacting millions of Floridians who  rely on vote-by-mail ballots. HB 1669 would impose a host of new, unnecessary and potentially impossible election  administration requirements. SB 190 and HB 671 would require very expensive and unnecessary law enforcement  oversight of ballot boxes.  

 

Calls for an Article V Convention 

Four resolutions are re-upping Florida’s calls for a dangerous Article V Convention: Balanced Federal Budget (HCR  703 and SCR 324), Congressional Term Limits (HCR 693 and SCR 326), Equal Application of the Law (HCR 7055 and  SCR 7066), and Line-item Veto (HCR 7057 and SCR 7064). 

Under Article V of the U.S. Constitution, Congress is required to hold a constitutional convention if two-thirds of  state legislatures call for one. However, there are no rules for an Article V Convention outlined in the Constitution.  That’s why leaders on both the left and right are concerned about a runaway convention that could revoke our  hard-won rights and freedoms. There are no rules limiting the convention to the individual issues listed in these 

resolutions. There are no rules preventing corporations from pouring money in to influence delegates or the  selection of delegates. And there are no rules about how decisions will be made. Regardless of opinions on the  individual issues addressed in these resolutions, most Floridians would agree that these things are not worth  opening the entire U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights up to revision in a forum that risks being hijacked by wealthy  and ideological special interests. Balanced Federal Budget and Congressional Term Limits have already passed  both houses, there is still time to tell your representatives to vote NO on Equal Application of the Law (HCR 7055  and SCR 7066) and Line-item Veto (HCR 7057 and SCR 7064).

 

 

Ballot Initiative Process

HJR 335 is seeking to put an amendment on the November 2024 ballot asking voters to approve increasing the  threshold to approve new constitutional amendments from 60% to 66.67%. This proposal rigs the game against  everyday Floridians and is a power grab on one of the few checks citizens have on an unresponsive legislature.  Making the amendment process even harder will make it almost impossible for anyone except big-money special  interests to pass a ballot initiative in Florida. At the 66.67% level, Floridians would not have been able to put in  place important popular reforms, like Raising Florida’s Minimum Wage. The increased percentage would  disproportionately impact the ability of ordinary groups of Floridians to successfully pass citizens’ initiatives  because the initiative process is already much more difficult and expensive than the process for the legislature to  put an amendment on the ballot. This resolution has so far not moved forward, but we will keep watching it  and let you know if you need to tell your representative to vote NO on HJR 335.