Bill to safeguard election integrity in Florida ready for Senate floor

The Senate Fiscal Policy Committee passed a measure by a 15-4 vote Tuesday that seeks to safeguard the integrity of the initiative petition process that proposes changes to the State Constitution.

Pensacola Republican Sen. Don Gaetz and Fort Pierce Republican Sen. Erin Grall presented the bill (SB 7016) and explained that the legislation was the result of a report that showed there was fraud committed during the 2024 election in Florida.

“Senator Grall and I actually did not want to sponsor this bill because we did not want the state to need this bill,” Gaetz said. “Florida’s elections are a model for America, our Supervisors of Elections called the 2024 election their gold standard. But there’s one stain on Florida’s election integrity, and it’s deep, and it’s broad, and it’s ugly.”

Gaetz said that there have been attempts to undermine the rights of citizens, and that there are sponsors who are trying to “buy the people’s Constitution.”

“Bad actors have undermined and corrupted the right of citizens to amend their own state constitution,” Gaetz said. “Under the system we have now, Mr. Chairman, sponsors of proposed amendments are trying to buy the people’s constitution. The price of even a failed amendment is now over $30 million. Some out-of-state contractors and too many of their paid petition circulators, routinely are committing fraud, deception, and criminality.”

Gaetz explained that in January, the Office of Election Crimes and Security sent the lawmakers their report on the 2024 election, which is 942 pages long and details thousands of acts of counterfeiting, deceit, illegal compensation schemes, bulk identity theft, and perjury.

“The report reveals the smoke screen of out-of-state petition mills who hide from prosecutors,” Gaetz said. “The report explains the slippery side-stepping of responsibility by amendment sponsors, who paid for it all, and then denied all.”

Gaetz pointed out that the report contains hundreds of specific cases of “con artists” and “fraudsters” operating in almost every county of the state. The Office has concluded that current laws are not sufficient, and that the Legislature needs to take a much more forceful action to fill wide gaps in statutes.

Gaetz noted that a sponsor of amendment 3 — which aimed to legalize marijuana in Florida during the 2024 election — was fined $122,000 for “more forgery and more fraud.”

“All of that is why Senator Grall and I have to sponsor this bill,” Gaetz said. “The bill addresses petition drives that are ongoing now and addresses amendments that may be proposed after the bill becomes law. The bill is effective upon enactment.”

Gaetz said regarding petition drives that are ongoing, before July 1, 2025, anybody can download, complete, copy and circulate the petition form to be returned by the voter to the Supervisor of Elections in his or her own county.

“Page circulators will be notified after the bill becomes law that they have 30 days to register with the state and complete online training,” Gaetz explained. “By July 1st all petition circulators must be citizens of the United States and citizens of Florida. Petition circulators cannot be convicted felons unless they have had their voting right restored.”

Gaetz added that by July 1st all petition circulators will be treated the same, whether circulating petitions as a for-profit business or whether circulating petitions as part of an avocation based on voluntary passion for the issue.

“In either case, any petition calculator is acting as a fiduciary for the citizens of the state of Florida, and will therefore be treated equally,” Gaetz said. “Petition forms related to existing proposed amendments do not have to contain the full text of the amendment or the financial impacts statement, or the driver’s license number, or the last four digits of the social security number, until the bill is signed by the Governor.”

If the bill becomes law, it will apply prospectively to future petition gathering. Paid circulators would no longer be paid under any incentive scheme that rewards numbers of petitions. The deadline to turn in signed petitions to the Supervisor of Elections would also be reduced from 30 days to ten days.

Petitions turned in late, or to the wrong county could be subject to increased fines, and prefilled petitions would be prohibited from being given to new signers. Copying or holding onto a person’s personal information would further be a third-degree felony.

Gaetz explained that sponsors could also be liable for a $5,000 fine for each altered or forged petition unless that sponsor comes forward to report such findings. The Supervisors of Elections would be required to process petitions within 60 days, and between July and October, they would have to pause processing any petitions and affirm ID and signatures.

“For new constitutional amendments proposed after this bill becomes law, when a proposed amendment is received the Secretary of State would send the proposed amendment right away to state economists — the EDR,” Gaetz said. “The President and speaker then have 75 days to convene an estimating conference to produce a financial impact statement. If the financial impact statement is not produced, if the estimating conference does not meet within 75 days, then the petition on the ballot will read ‘the financial impact of this amendment, if any, has not been determined at this time.’”

Gaetz said a sponsor has the right to go to circuit court if they disagree with a financial impact statement.

“As I noted before, if and when 25% of the required numbers of petitions are verified, then the Attorney General will petition the Supreme Court for review as provided under current law,” Gaetz said. “Assuming the court finds the amendment to meet the legal requirements, the petition gathering process can then proceed under the new law as enacted.”

Sponsors would be required to ensure they cover all of their own costs, and while the bill does not have a requirement for a bond, there are scheduled fines that range from $50 to $50,000.

Gaetz clarified that individuals would be able to circulate blank petition forms but would be required to tell those who received them that they have to return them to the Supervisor of Elections and would not be able to keep them in their possession. Gaetz said the difficulty that has been found is out-of-state petition distributors commit fraud and then leave the state, making it difficult to track them.

Kara Gross, legislative director and senior policy counsel at the ACLU of Florida, opposed the bill and said it would take away power from citizens.

“The ACLU of Florida opposes this bill, citizen-led amendments empower everyday citizens to pass policies that improve our lives and strengthen our communities,” Gross said. “Article 11, section 3 of the Florida Constitution provides that the power to amend our constitution by initiative is reserved to the people. This bill takes that power away from the people and solidifies it in the hands of politicians.”

Gross added that the “last thing we need is to make it more expensive so only select corporate interests can have their voices heard.”

The bill was also met with stiff opposition from State Voices Florida, the League of Women Voters of Florida, Florida for All, the Cleo Institute, Common Cause Florida, Equal Ground Education and Action Fund, the Southern Poverty Law Center, and Florida AFL-CIO.

In closing, Grall said the bill was simply a responsive action due to the report’s findings.

“This bill is responsive to the Office of Election Crime Security report that came out in January,” Grall said. “It’s responsive to very real fraud and deficiencies in the system that have been identified and that is why there is a compelling state interest to put reasonable regulations in place that are directly responsive to the issues that came up.”

“I would leave you with this, pick the issue that you would least like to see in the constitution,” Grall said. “Every one of us probably has something very different. And then decide what your tolerance is for fraud. And that is why we are doing this.”

The bill will now make its way to the Senate floor.