A bill that would make it harder for members of the public to put proposed constitutional amendments on the ballot passed its first committee this week.
Supporters say the measure helps fix a “broken system”, but opponents worry it will have a “chilling effect” --keeping Floridians from engaging with the process.
Ballot initiatives on recreational marijuana and protecting abortion rights faced heavy opposition from prominent Republicans during the 2024 election cycle. Governor Ron DeSantis has called for changes to the petition process.
Now, Fort Myers Republican Rep. Jenna Persons-Mulicka has a bill that would make getting future amendments on the ballot harder. Under the bill, groups would need a $1 million bond before collecting petitions.
“The process has been taken over by out of state fraudsters looking to make a quick buck and by special interests’ intent on buying their way into our Constitution,” she said.
Her measure would also make it illegal for people who don’t live in the state to get paid to collect ballots, and it would shorten the deadline to turn in signed ballots from 30 days to 10 days.
“The bill seeks to root out the problem and provide assurances that only those with a stake in our Constitution can change it to that end,” she said.
In the run up to the last election, Republicans claimed those looking to get abortion and pot on the ballot turned in fraudulent signatures. But Lauren Brenzel, who ran the campaign for the abortion initiative, said during the committee meeting that’s not true.
“Amendment 4 had the highest validity rate of any petition in recent hit history that is not a that's a fact like that just is. You can look at the data and find that,” she said. “Part of that was our massive volunteer program, which collected over 250,000 petitions. This bill chills volunteers for being able to participate in citizen-led democracy.”
Members of the public spoke about the bill for almost two hours at its first committee stop. One of the opponents was Genesis Robinson of the Equal Ground Action Fund.
“This bill is not about election integrity. It's about fear: fear of the people using their constitutional right to act when you fail to deliver on the issues that matter most to them,” he said.
Chad Kunde with the Florida Chamber of Commerce said the Chamber supports the bill because it wants to keep out-of-state special interest out of the process.
“It was originally envisioned (in) 1968 that rewriting the Constitution as a citizen-led process, unfortunately, has devolved into the highest bidder placing near permanent changes before Florida voters,” he said. “The Florida chamber’s long maintained issues that are able to be addressed legislatively or can be addressed legislatively should be, which allows for necessary adjustments as policy preferences change and knowledge improves,” he said.
Florida’s ballot initiative process has a higher threshold than many states that allow residents to amend their constitutions. It requires almost a million signatures for a proposal to get on the ballot and support from 60 percent of voters to pass it. Both Abortion and Pot failed in 2024, with 56 and 57 percent support.
