The legislation requires additional restrictions on the election initiative procedure in Florida

After violent and expensive political battles last year for abortion rights and marijuana leisure marihuana, the legislators of Florida began on Thursday with a proposal that would take additional restrictions on the ballot initiative process.

Governor Ron Desantis has made the question of a priority after he has made efforts that defeated the initiatives in November to ensure that the abortion of abortion rights in the state constitution and the permission of marijuana.

The Republican-controlled sub-committee for the House government event agreed on Thursday with 14: 4 in almost subsequent parties to approved a legislative template (HB 1205), which focuses on the critical process of collecting and submitting petitions for the creation of measures for the ballot.

Bill sponsor Jenna Personal-Mulicka, R-Fort Myers, said that the process was “broken”, whereby the money outside the state flooded to Florida to say goodbye, and paid petition circulators who commit fraud.

“Now the process has been adopted by fraudsters outside the state who would like to earn a quick money, and from special interests that want to buy their way into our constitution,” said Person-Mulicka.

However, the opponents said that the proposed restrictions would prevent the citizens from insisting voting initiatives if their wishes were ignored by the legislator. They referred to numerous examples of initiatives approved by the voters such as measures that increased the minimum wage, the medical marijuana allowed, the voluntary program in front of the state's kindergarten and tried to prevent political gerryening.

Genesis Robinson, executive director of the Voting-Rights Group Equal Ground Education Fund and Action Fund, said that the draft law would mean “death for the management of democracy here in the state of Florida”.

“Let us be clear, this bill is not about the election integrity,” Robinson told the House Panel. “It is about fear, the fear of people who use their constitutional right to act if they do not address the questions that are most important for them. House Bill 1205 would make the process of the citizens' unit almost impossible. “

The legislator in the past two decades has undergone a number of steps to make it more difficult to place initiatives on the ballot papers and pass them. Person-Mulicka's invoice would add to these steps.

As examples, signed petition forms would have to include the driver's license for voters or the identification card numbers from Florida or the last four digits of their social security numbers. Reduce the deadline for initiative sponsors from 30 days to 10 days to submit petitions to electoral supervisory authorities for checking. And increase fines for petitions that are submitted late.

Other examples are that the sponsors have to pursue bonds of 1 million US dollars to ensure that fines are paid. Require that all Florida residents are in Florida; And demands that paid petition circuists carry out criminal background examinations and undergo training.

A lot of jammed the house committee for the meeting on Thursday, including numerous political activists from the students who criticized the legislation. In the meantime, groups such as the Florida Chamber of Commerce supported the legislation, while organizations such as the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida opposed.

Only one legislator crossed the party lines, with the MP Jose Alvarez, D-Kissimmee, who supports Republicans with the support of the draft law. The Senate Committee for Ethics and Election Committees is scheduled to start a Senate Act (SPB 7016) on Monday via the ballot initiative process.

While the opponents of the House Bill said they would prevent voters from using the initiative process to hear their voices, rep. Jeff Holcomb, R-Spring Hill, pushed back against the argument. He said the voters had the ability to choose the legislator every two years in order to represent them and propose invoices.

“This is her day of democracy is election day,” said Holcomb.

But Rep. Doie Joseph, D-North Miami, said that the invoice was “who won and you can decide what we consider”.

“This legislation is about consolidating power in the hands of politicians and special interests,” said Joseph.

In order to place initiatives for the voting slip 2024, sponsors had to submit 891,523 petitions nationwide and also meet the signature requirements in congress districts.

The initiative of abortion rights in November received support of 57.2 percent of the voters, while the measure to the leisure marihuana was supported of 55.9 percent. They remained the 60 percent approval that was necessary to adopt constitutional changes.

A political committee that sponsored the abortion amendment collected $ 111.3 million, while a committee that sponsored the leisure marihuana brought $ 152.47 million.