TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) – A controversial new law making it tougher for citizen-led amendments to get on the ballot will go into effect next week.
This weekend, a political action committee launched a concerted effort to gather a large number of signatures across the state for various ballot measure proposals, aiming to complete this before House Bill 1205 takes effect.
Nick Biscardi is the political action chair with the Hillsborough County LGBTQ+ Democratic Caucus.
“We are not going to stand for it,” Biscardi said.
Biscardi is spearheading the petition campaign in Tampa Bay as part of a push led by the Florida Constitutional Amendments Network, the PAC responsible for the statewide initiative.
“We’ve seen the amendments that have passed here in Florida because of these petitions.
Biscardi cited raising the state minimum wage and reinstating voting rights for certain felons as examples. However, new regulations concerning the collection and submission of petitions for upcoming ballot initiatives will be implemented on Tuesday.
“DeSantis and the republicans in Florida are doing everything they can to restrict the rights that we have to actually get amendments on the ballot,” Biscardi said.
The governor called for changes following claims of fraudulent petitions during campaigns to expand access to abortion and legalize recreational marijuana.
Florida Republican Party Chair Evan Power said the new law is about preventing fraudulent signatures and outside influence.
“This gives us the ability to say you must be eligible to vote in Florida in order to collect petitions, so we can guarantee those petitions are fair, accurate, and are collected by Floridians,” Power said.
The new law states that only Florida residents who are U.S. citizens can collect signatures or deliver petitions. If they handle more than 25 petitions, that will require registration with the Secretary of State’s office, and after a petition is signed, that means a voter has 10 days instead of 30 to turn it in. There could be fines or even criminal charges for breaking this law.
“Here in Florida, we have a legislature that passes laws, and if you really want to change a law, you should advocate to elect people to change that law in Tallahassee,” Power said.
This month, a federal judge struck down a key GOP provision in the law.
The judge didn’t allow the law to expand the definition of “racketeering” to include some petition gathering efforts. However, the judge is allowing nearly all of HB1205 to become law.
