Jesse Scheckner
Legislation allowing the countless Floridians fed up with unwanted political text messages to sue the senders isn’t quite ready for prime time, according to its sponsor.
St. Augustine Republican Sen. Tom Leek yanked the measure (SB 588) from consideration by the Senate Ethics and Elections Committee this week.
His reason: It’s too broad.
As it’s currently written, SB 588 and its identical House twin (HB 1271) by Clearwater Republican Rep. Kim Berfield would enable people to opt out of political texts and phone calls from any person, candidate or organization. The sender would then have to immediately cease such communications.
If the sender fails to do so, the recipient would be able to sue for injunctive relief to force the sender to stop — and be compensated for any attorneys fees and costs associated with the complaint.
“As well-intentioned as this bill is,” Leek said, “I will tell you that it might be too broad at the moment, and so with your permission I’m going to meet with the stakeholders and see if there’s a way that we can narrow the scope of this.”
Leek said that he hopes to amend his measure to allow political entities to still conduct polling while keeping “the heart of the prohibition in place.”
His description of the bill is a common lament among Florida voters with smartphones: “You know how during campaign season we get those text messages, political text messages, and phone calls, and no matter how many times we reply ‘stop’ in however many words we want to use to say ‘stop,’ they just don’t stop?”
Yes. Yes, a thousand times.
SB 588, once changed, would have to clear the Ethics and Elections Committee before it advances to the Judiciary Committee, Rules Committee and then the Senate floor. Pensacola Republican Sen. Don Gaetz, who chairs the Ethics panel, will likely bring the measure up for consideration again once Leek amends it; Gaetz is a co-sponsor of the bill.
HB 1271, which Berfield filed Feb. 26, still awaits committee references.
