New quarterly fundraising report requirements kick in for Florida candidates

Florida’s long-standing requirement for state and local candidates to file monthly fundraising reports is no more.

The new schedule is quarterly, same as for federal candidates.

June was the last month for which monthly reports had to be filed under the old rule.

The new reporting dates for state, county and municipal candidates are the 10th days of January, April, July and October. If the day falls on a weekend, the deadline is the next regular business day.

The change is due to a sweeping voting reform package (SB 7050) Republicans pushed through the Legislature last Session.

Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the measure May 24 to make 27 changes to the state Elections Code.

The law makes it a third-degree felony to harass election workers, raises fines for election law violations and eliminates a prior requirement that Supervisors of Election publish certain voting information in a local newspaper. That information may now instead be simply published on the county’s website.

It also added difficulties for third-party voter registration organizations, requiring them to re-register with the state every General Election cycle.

Most notably, SB 7050 provided DeSantis extra job security by removing ambiguity about whether Florida’s resign-to-run law applies to presidential and vice presidential candidates (it now most certainly does not).

A separate but related measure (SB 1616) the GOP supermajority in Tallahassee also cleared exempts law enforcement records on travel and security from public disclosure.

The effects of that new law was made evident late last month, when records of a roadway accident the Governor was involved in while campaigning for President in Tennessee revealed he is using state government vehicles, funded by Florida taxpayer dollars, to seek federal office.