Gabrielle Russon
Gov. Ron DeSantis wants changes on petition drives and the amendment process as he pushes lawmakers to convene a Special Session.
DeSantis pointed to the failed Amendment 4 abortion rights initiative from November when detailing why reforms are needed.
“Part of the reason we’re at this juncture is because the citizen initiative has really been transformed into a special interest initiative,” DeSantis said at a press conference Monday, where he called for a Special Session to start on Jan. 27. “Our constitution should not be for sale to the highest bidder, so the reform is needed.”
DeSantis faced pushback last cycle from Democrats and abortion right activists, who accused the Governor of using taxpayer resources against the Amendment 4 campaign.
At Monday’s press conference, DeSantis brought up the potential for new rules to verify signatures collected in petition drives, as well as the need to address how financial impact statements and the ballot language are drafted to give voters more information. DeSantis also suggested that ballot initiatives should be stand-alone elections.
The political committee Floridians Protecting Freedom (FPF) behind Amendment 4 collected more than 1 million signatures to put the abortion rights measure on the ballot after Florida implemented a six-week abortion ban in most pregnancies.
DeSantis accused the political committee of petition fraud. Last month, FPF reached a $164,000 settlement with Florida’s State Department amid allegations that paid petition circulators submitted thousands of fraudulent petitions.
“I think people will be held accountable. I know some have been. I think there will probably be more prosecutions,” DeSantis said Monday. “But let’s just get it right now, so we don’t have to worry about this going forward.”
DeSantis became personally involved in fighting Amendment 4.
In the campaign against Amendment 4, DeSantis lawyers pressured the Department of Health to send cease-and-desist letters to TV stations playing pro-Amendment 4 ads. State money also went toward ads calling Amendment 4 too extreme. A state panel, led by DeSantis supporters, put a financial impact statement on the ballot, which FPF called propaganda intending to convince voters to reject Amendment 4. DeSantis traveled around the state, speaking out against the measure before the Nov. 5 election.
Ultimately, Amendment 4 received 57% of the vote — short of the 60% support needed to pass.
3 comments
Skeptic
January 13, 2025 at 10:36 am
Har-D-Har-Har. Ronnie D continues to attack Democracy. Amendment 4 passed by a majority in 32 of 40 Florida Senate districts and 98 of 120 Florida House districts in a very high turnout election . If legislators voted in favor of what their constituents wanted, there would have been no need for an amendment; instead, in Florida, legislators vote against their constituents interests on a regular basis with no consequence. If only there was a functional opposition party. This is why we can’t have nice things.
Along for the Ride
January 13, 2025 at 10:38 am
Yep
Along for the Ride
January 13, 2025 at 11:37 am
It’s already tough enough to get something like this onto the ballot and now (surprise) DeSantis wants to make it even harder. I mean they could just listen to the people who voted them into office and do what we would like. But NOOOOOO.
OR we could vote different people in and maybe get a difference result?