• Education
    • Higher Education
    • Scholarships & Grants
    • Online Learning
    • School Reforms
    • Research & Innovation
  • Lifestyle
    • Travel
    • Food & Drink
    • Fashion & Beauty
    • Home & Living
    • Relationships & Family
  • Technology & Startups
    • Software & Apps
    • Startup Success Stories
    • Startups & Innovations
    • Tech Regulations
    • Venture Capital
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Cybersecurity
    • Emerging Technologies
    • Gadgets & Devices
    • Industry Analysis
  • About us
  • Contact
  • Advertise with Us
  • Privacy & Policy
Today Headline
  • Home
  • World News
    • Us & Canada
    • Europe
    • Asia
    • Africa
    • Middle East
  • Politics
    • Elections
    • Political Parties
    • Government Policies
    • International Relations
    • Legislative News
  • Business & Finance
    • Market Trends
    • Stock Market
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Corporate News
    • Economic Policies
  • Science & Environment
    • Space Exploration
    • Climate Change
    • Wildlife & Conservation
    • Environmental Policies
    • Medical Research
  • Health
    • Public Health
    • Mental Health
    • Medical Breakthroughs
    • Fitness & Nutrition
    • Pandemic Updates
  • Sports
    • Football
    • Basketball
    • Tennis
    • Olympics
    • Motorsport
  • Entertainment
    • Movies
    • Music
    • TV & Streaming
    • Celebrity News
    • Awards & Festivals
  • Crime & Justice
    • Court Cases
    • Cybercrime
    • Policing
    • Criminal Investigations
    • Legal Reforms
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • World News
    • Us & Canada
    • Europe
    • Asia
    • Africa
    • Middle East
  • Politics
    • Elections
    • Political Parties
    • Government Policies
    • International Relations
    • Legislative News
  • Business & Finance
    • Market Trends
    • Stock Market
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Corporate News
    • Economic Policies
  • Science & Environment
    • Space Exploration
    • Climate Change
    • Wildlife & Conservation
    • Environmental Policies
    • Medical Research
  • Health
    • Public Health
    • Mental Health
    • Medical Breakthroughs
    • Fitness & Nutrition
    • Pandemic Updates
  • Sports
    • Football
    • Basketball
    • Tennis
    • Olympics
    • Motorsport
  • Entertainment
    • Movies
    • Music
    • TV & Streaming
    • Celebrity News
    • Awards & Festivals
  • Crime & Justice
    • Court Cases
    • Cybercrime
    • Policing
    • Criminal Investigations
    • Legal Reforms
No Result
View All Result
Today Headline
No Result
View All Result
Home World News Us & Canada

Florida GOP lawmakers create new hurdles for citizens’ initiative process

May 2, 2025
in Us & Canada
Reading Time: 4 mins read
A A
0
Florida GOP lawmakers create new hurdles for citizens' initiative process
4
SHARES
8
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter


TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida voters have long been able to use the citizens’ initiative process to bypass the Republican-dominated Legislature and advance progressive policies such as raising the minimum wage, legalizing medical marijuana and restoring the voting rights of people with felony convictions.

State lawmakers gave final approval Friday to adding new hurdles for citizen-driven initiatives, changes critics say would make it prohibitively expensive and effectively impossible for grass-roots campaigners to get them onto the ballot.

Legislatures in dozens of states have advanced bills recently to crack down on the public’s ability to put measures up for a vote, according to the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center. Voting rights advocates say the trend betrays the promise of direct democracy.

Under Florida’s measure, voters could be charged with a felony if they collect more than 25 signed ballot petitions, other than their own or those of immediate family members, and don’t register with the state as a petition circulator.

Months before the bill advanced in the Legislature, Florida voters supported ballot initiatives to protect abortion rights and legalize recreational marijuana, though the measures fell short of the 60% needed to pass.

The bill now heads to the desk of Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has called for reforms to the constitutional amendment process. He marshaled state resources and the power of his office in an aggressive campaign to oppose the measures on the ballot last November.

“This bill has been intentionally designed to make it impossible for any statewide citizen initiative to make it to the ballot ever again,” said state Sen. Carlos Smith, a Democrat from Orlando, who called the measure “the final kill shot against direct democracy.”

The bill’s Republican sponsors argued the measure is meant to protect rather than restrict the citizens’ initiative process, which Florida’s Republican Senate president has repeatedly called “sacrosanct.” Instead, they say the aim is to reform a process they see as tainted by outside petition-gatherers who they allege have forged petition signatures or misled voters.

“This bill is not an attack on the citizen initiative process,” said co-sponsor state Sen. Don Gaetz, a Panhandle Republican. “It’s an attack on those who have corrupted it.”

A state election crimes unit created under the DeSantis administration in 2022 helped secure two dozen felony election-related convictions, according to a January report. State officers have made at least 17 arrests of paid petition circulators working on behalf of four different ballot initiatives, the agency says.

The bill “does not address imaginary, hypothetical fraud, but known fraud,” said Republican state Sen. Jennifer Bradley.

One of the reforms lawmakers said was needed aims to rein in the DeSantis administration, which used public funds to create ads opposing the 2024 measures and threatened television stations with criminal penalties for airing commercials in support of the proposals.

“They engaged in behavior that will now be unlawful and will now be prevented,” Gaetz said, under a provision that outlaws the use of public funds for political ads on any proposed constitutional amendment.

Under the bill, more people would be banned from collecting petitions, including Floridians with felony convictions who haven’t had their voting rights restored. Noncitizens and people who don’t reside in Florida would also be prohibited from gathering signatures, in a state with a significant population of part-time workers and foreign-born residents.

Floridians would have to provide their driver’s license number, voter ID card number, or the last four digits of their Social Security number in order to fill out a petition. The form will ultimately become a public record.

Campaigners would face shorter deadlines to return petitions to local election officials, and stiffer fines if they don’t return them to the correct county — an issue advocates say can occur due to voter error in filling out the forms.

Former Republican state Sen. Jeff Brandes, a frequent critic of his former colleagues in Tallahassee who now leads the nonprofit Florida Policy Project, criticized the bill in a post on X.

“It should be difficult to change the constitution, but not impossible,” Brandes wrote. “Unless you’re the Florida Legislature — then you just keep moving the goalpost until only you can keep score.”

___ Associated Press writer Mike Schneider in Orlando, Florida contributed to this report. Payne is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.



Source link

Tags: 121410290ArticlecitizensCreateFloridaGeneral newsGOPhurdlesinitiativeLawmakersPoliticsprocessU.S. newsvoting
Previous Post

Wisconsin governor says he’s not afraid after Trump official suggests possible arrest

Next Post

In Reversal, FDA Rehires Staff Tasked With Releasing Public Records

Related Posts

B.C. Crown prosecutors file workload grievance over ‘inadequate staffing’

B.C. Crown prosecutors file workload grievance over ‘inadequate staffing’

May 22, 2025
3
Former L.A. deputy mayor reported fake bomb threat strikes plea deal

Former L.A. deputy mayor reported fake bomb threat strikes plea deal

May 22, 2025
5
Next Post

In Reversal, FDA Rehires Staff Tasked With Releasing Public Records

  • Trending
  • Comments
  • Latest
Family calls for change after B.C. nurse dies by suicide after attacks on the job

Family calls for change after B.C. nurse dies by suicide after attacks on the job

April 2, 2025
Pioneering 3D printing project shares successes

Product reduces TPH levels to non-hazardous status

November 27, 2024

Hospital Mergers Fail to Deliver Better Care or Lower Costs, Study Finds todayheadline

December 31, 2024

Police ID man who died after Corso Italia fight

December 23, 2024
Harris tells supporters 'never give up' and urges peaceful transfer of power

Harris tells supporters ‘never give up’ and urges peaceful transfer of power

0
Des Moines Man Accused Of Shooting Ex-Girlfriend's Mother

Des Moines Man Accused Of Shooting Ex-Girlfriend’s Mother

0

Trump ‘looks forward’ to White House meeting with Biden

0
Catholic voters were critical to Donald Trump’s blowout victory: ‘Harris snubbed us’

Catholic voters were critical to Donald Trump’s blowout victory: ‘Harris snubbed us’

0

US crude oil storage demand surges as traders brace for OPEC+ price war

May 22, 2025
B.C. Crown prosecutors file workload grievance over ‘inadequate staffing’

B.C. Crown prosecutors file workload grievance over ‘inadequate staffing’

May 22, 2025
Israel pulls team from Doha as Gaza assault escalates

Israel pulls team from Doha as Gaza assault escalates

May 22, 2025
Databricks

Helio Castroneves on who his biggest rival is entering the Indy 500 | First Things First

May 22, 2025

Recent News

US crude oil storage demand surges as traders brace for OPEC+ price war

May 22, 2025
2
B.C. Crown prosecutors file workload grievance over ‘inadequate staffing’

B.C. Crown prosecutors file workload grievance over ‘inadequate staffing’

May 22, 2025
3
Israel pulls team from Doha as Gaza assault escalates

Israel pulls team from Doha as Gaza assault escalates

May 22, 2025
3
Databricks

Helio Castroneves on who his biggest rival is entering the Indy 500 | First Things First

May 22, 2025
4

TodayHeadline is a dynamic news website dedicated to delivering up-to-date and comprehensive news coverage from around the globe.

Follow Us

Browse by Category

  • Africa
  • Asia
  • Basketball
  • Business & Finance
  • Climate Change
  • Crime & Justice
  • Economic Policies
  • Elections
  • Entertainment
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Environmental Policies
  • Europe
  • Football
  • Gadgets & Devices
  • Health
  • Medical Research
  • Mental Health
  • Middle East
  • Motorsport
  • Olympics
  • Politics
  • Public Health
  • Relationships & Family
  • Science & Environment
  • Software & Apps
  • Space Exploration
  • Sports
  • Stock Market
  • Technology & Startups
  • Tennis
  • Travel
  • Uncategorized
  • Us & Canada
  • Wildlife & Conservation
  • World News

Recent News

US crude oil storage demand surges as traders brace for OPEC+ price war

May 22, 2025
B.C. Crown prosecutors file workload grievance over ‘inadequate staffing’

B.C. Crown prosecutors file workload grievance over ‘inadequate staffing’

May 22, 2025
  • Education
  • Lifestyle
  • Technology & Startups
  • About us
  • Contact
  • Advertise with Us
  • Privacy & Policy

© 2024 Todayheadline.co

Welcome Back!

OR

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Business & Finance
  • Corporate News
  • Economic Policies
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Market Trends
  • Crime & Justice
  • Court Cases
  • Criminal Investigations
  • Cybercrime
  • Legal Reforms
  • Policing
  • Education
  • Higher Education
  • Online Learning
  • Entertainment
  • Awards & Festivals
  • Celebrity News
  • Movies
  • Music
  • Health
  • Fitness & Nutrition
  • Medical Breakthroughs
  • Mental Health
  • Pandemic Updates
  • Lifestyle
  • Fashion & Beauty
  • Food & Drink
  • Home & Living
  • Politics
  • Elections
  • Government Policies
  • International Relations
  • Legislative News
  • Political Parties
  • Africa
  • Asia
  • Europe
  • Middle East
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Cybersecurity
  • Emerging Technologies
  • Gadgets & Devices
  • Industry Analysis
  • Basketball
  • Football
  • Motorsport
  • Olympics
  • Climate Change
  • Environmental Policies
  • Medical Research
  • Science & Environment
  • Space Exploration
  • Wildlife & Conservation
  • Sports
  • Tennis
  • Technology & Startups
  • Software & Apps
  • Startup Success Stories
  • Startups & Innovations
  • Tech Regulations
  • Venture Capital
  • Uncategorized
  • World News
  • Us & Canada
  • Public Health
  • Relationships & Family
  • Travel
  • Research & Innovation
  • Scholarships & Grants
  • School Reforms
  • Stock Market
  • TV & Streaming
  • Advertise with Us
  • Privacy & Policy
  • About us
  • Contact

© 2024 Todayheadline.co