A bill that would require the state of Florida to develop and maintain a centralized database to help individuals with felony convictions determine whether they are eligible for restoration of voting rights quickly passed its second committee stop in the state Senate on Wednesday.
The proposal (SB 132), sponsored by Sen. Tina Polsky, D-Boca Raton, has been pushed by voting rights advocates for years after more than 65% of Floridians approved Amendment 4 in 2018, which automatically restored the voting rights for individuals who had completed their sentences.
The Legislature then passed an implementing bill during the 2019 session that added the requirement that those returning citizens must pay off all their legal financial obligations to fully restore their voting rights. That substantially reduced the number of people with felony convictions able to vote immediately — and ultimately resulted in some of those individuals being arrested after believing that they were eligible to vote when they still weren't.
Polsky's bill would require the Florida Commission on Offender Review to create a website no later than July 1, 2029, to provide individuals who have been disqualified from voting based on a felony conviction (other than murder or a felony sexual offense) "clear instructions" about getting their voting rights restored and registering to vote.
The measure was passed unanimously on Wednesday in the Senate Appropriations Committee on Criminal and Civil Justice, and now moves to the Senate Fiscal Policy Committee, its last stop before hitting the floor.
However, the likelihood that it will make it to Gov. Ron DeSantis' desk this year appears in doubt. That's because its House companion, HB 73, introduced by Rep. Felicia Robinson, D-Miami Gardens, was assigned to four committees before the session began, an indication it is not a priority of House leadership. It has yet to be heard by any of those committees.
A bill that would require the state of Florida to develop and maintain a centralized database to help individuals with felony convictions determine whether they are eligible for restoration of voting rights quickly passed its second committee stop in the state Senate on Wednesday.
The proposal (SB 132), sponsored by Sen. Tina Polsky, D-Boca Raton, has been pushed by voting rights advocates for years after more than 65% of Floridians approved Amendment 4 in 2018, which automatically restored the voting rights for individuals who had completed their sentences.
The Legislature then passed an implementing bill during the 2019 session that added the requirement that those returning citizens must pay off all their legal financial obligations to fully restore their voting rights. That substantially reduced the number of people with felony convictions able to vote immediately — and ultimately resulted in some of those individuals being arrested after believing that they were eligible to vote when they still weren't.
Polsky's bill would require the Florida Commission on Offender Review to create a website no later than July 1, 2029, to provide individuals who have been disqualified from voting based on a felony conviction (other than murder or a felony sexual offense) "clear instructions" about getting their voting rights restored and registering to vote.
The measure was passed unanimously on Wednesday in the Senate Appropriations Committee on Criminal and Civil Justice, and now moves to the Senate Fiscal Policy Committee, its last stop before hitting the floor.
However, the likelihood that it will make it to Gov. Ron DeSantis' desk this year appears in doubt. That's because its House companion, HB 73, introduced by Rep. Felicia Robinson, D-Miami Gardens, was assigned to four committees before the session began, an indication it is not a priority of House leadership. It has yet to be heard by any of those committees.
Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Michael Moline for questions: info@floridaphoenix.com."
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