Legislators look to expand hate crimes’ definition to those based on gender or gender identity
Patricia Hawkins-Williams will run on cooperation, bipartisanship. Image via Colin Hackley.

Patricia Hawkins-Williams
Broward delegation begins mapping out priorities for the next Session.

Hate crimes are on the rise, members of the Broward County delegation learned Wednesday, but the law doesn’t recognize a category that’s becoming more common lately: Crimes based on gender or gender identity.

And delegation members say they want that fixed.

State Attorney Harold Pryor and Broward County Supervisor of Elections Joe Scott were among those who addressed the lawmakers Wednesday. The delegation is beginning to map out legislative priorities for the coming Session that starts March 7.

Sen. Rosalind Osgood said she’s going to be working with Pryor to work on a law that increases penalties for those who commit crimes based on gender and gender identity, adding to the state’s hate crime statute. Right now, Florida Statute 775.085 increases penalties for any felony or misdemeanor when it can be proven it happened based on race, color, ancestry, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, homeless status or advanced age of the victim.

Osgood said that’s a gap in the law.

“If someone attacks you based on your gender, the hate crime law does not allow” it to be applied, Osgood said.

Pryor also discussed so-called “Glock switches” that can turn a common handgun into a semi-automatic pistol. It’s already illegal under federal law, but apparently people are still making them on 3-D printers.

“I’ve got to look into what we can do to be a little tighter on that,” said Rep. Christine Hunschofsky of Parkland, whose also going to be reintroducing her bills that address allowing psychologists from other states in an interstate compact to practice telepsychology or on a temporary basis in Florida, sea level rise effects, legalizing fentanyl testing strips and strengthening rape reporting laws. 

The delegation members who appeared Wednesday are all Democrats and the Delegation Chair said this year promises new challenges. Voters elected a supermajority of Republicans, giving them the power to shut Democrats out of debate entirely.

“In order for us to get anything done right now, we have got to stand fast and hold tight because we have so few numbers in Tallahassee,” said Rep. Patricia Hawkins-Williams, who is leading the Broward delegation. “So all of us working together to get things done for Broward County and the state of Florida in general is going to be very, very important.”

The lawmakers also heard from residents Wednesday, pleading for a way to fix the situation in which many homes are rented over online platforms such as Airbnb and VRBO, destroying the quiet enjoyment of their homes. Human trafficking and next year’s election rules were also discussed.

Elections chief Scott urged lawmakers to educate voters about how everyone who votes by mail needs to specifically request a mail-in ballot. By law, the new registration requires providing new identifiers, he told them. Starting next year, mail-in voters have to include either their Florida driver’s license number or the last four numbers of their Social Security number.

Osgood said it’s going to be a tough sell.

“People have been told their whole lives that this is information that’s kept private,” Osgood said.

Just 10 delegation members came for Wednesday’s meeting — not a quorum — so some of the items were delayed until the next scheduled meeting next month.

Anne Geggis

Anne Geggis is a South Florida journalist who began her career in Vermont and has worked at the Sun-Sentinel, the Daytona Beach News-Journal and the Gainesville Sun covering government issues, health and education. She was a member of the Sun-Sentinel team that won the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the Parkland high school shooting. You can reach her on Twitter @AnneBoca or by emailing [email protected].


2 comments

  • Carmela Manies

    December 22, 2022 at 7:41 am

    It is all coming from overseas. It doesn’t make any sense. If the so called pill mills would not had been shut down this would have never started was this many people dying off of pills I don’t think so people have no idea the amount it’s just a random guess and people are just dying like flies my youngest daughter is dead and she didn’t even do Fentanyl or any kind of opiates so how is that at least if you take a pill you know what you’re taking the amount the milligrams Etc government does not think about and result when they make decisions and laws and disrupt people’s lives

    • Joe Corsin

      December 22, 2022 at 4:55 pm

      Wrong article. Lay off the pills!

Comments are closed.


#FlaPol

Florida Politics is a statewide, new media platform covering campaigns, elections, government, policy, and lobbying in Florida. This platform and all of its content are owned by Extensive Enterprises Media.

Publisher: Peter Schorsch @PeterSchorschFL

Contributors & reporters: Phil Ammann, Drew Dixon, Roseanne Dunkelberger, A.G. Gancarski, Anne Geggis, Ryan Nicol, Jacob Ogles, Cole Pepper, Gray Rohrer, Jesse Scheckner, Christine Sexton, Drew Wilson, and Mike Wright.

Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @PeterSchorschFL
Phone: (727) 642-3162
Address: 204 37th Avenue North #182
St. Petersburg, Florida 33704




Sign up for Sunburn


Categories