Legislature edges closer to passing bill adding more hurdles for ballot initiatives

TALLAHASSEE, FLA. 3/4/25-The Historic Capitol and Capitol buildings of Florida on opening day of the 2025 Legislative Session, Tuesday in Tallahassee. COLIN HACKLEY PHOTO

The Senate is preparing to vote on a bill that would add hurdles for citizen-led constitutional amendment initiatives. Democrats fear the new requirements would kill the initiatives before they ever make it to the ballot while Republicans insist the bill cleans up a broken petition-collecting system.

Senators read HB 1205 a second time with the Chamber preparing for third reading scheduled for Thursday. The House approved the bill earlier this month with a 76-31 vote.

Under HB 1205, amendment sponsors would be require sweeping changes that include shortened timelines for petition gathering and stiffer penalties for violations.

In a twist, the Republican-sponsored bill also prohibits using public money to campaign for or against an amendment after Gov. Ron DeSantis spent millions of dollars fighting last year’s marijuana and abortion rights initiatives, both of which ultimately failed.

“The purpose of this bill is to have citizen initiative amendments that are valid, that are not corrupt, and properly show the the will of the people of Florida,” said Sen. Don Gaetz, who co-sponsored the Senate companion.

Under the amended bill, anyone who collects petitions to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot beyond their own, immediate family members plus five more would be required to register as a petition circulator and undergo a two-hour online training, the bill states. Someone breaking that rule could be charged with a third-degree felony, under the bill.

Gaetz added the bill does not limit the number of blank unsigned petitions a person can hand out although the signee must return it to the Supervisor of Elections. Gaetz argued the bill is fighting back against out-of-town petition circulators hired to come to Florida.

“Bad actors have undermined the right of citizens to amend their state constitution,” Gaetz said. “The right of citizens to petition, the most basic grassroots right in a free society, has been corrupted not by citizens, but by out-of-state contractors and their paid petition circulators and millions and millions of dollars.”

But Democrats warned the bill is attacking the grassroots petition-collecting that helped get issues like abortion rights on the ballot last year.

“We’re going to risk undermining the very grassroots engagement that makes this process meaningful,” challenged Democratic Sen. Carlos Guillermo Smith who called the bill “big government overreaching at its worst.”

“Floridians must be able to retain the ability to collect signatures from friends, neighbors and their rural communities, and it’s not about convenience. It’s about access. It’s about fairness and the constitutional right to participate in direct democracy.”

The bill speeds up the deadlines from 30 days to 10 days to submit signed petitions to the supervisor of elections and then raises the fines. A late petition would cost up to $2,500 for a violation, up from the current $50 penalty.

Meanwhile, new Senate Democratic Leader Lori Berman called the constitutional amendment “probably the most important bill that we will be hearing here in this Chamber.”

She said, “It’s going to greatly restrict the access of the citizens of the state of Florida to be able to address the system.”

During Wednesday’s debate, as Republicans complained of election fraud during the petition collections, POLITICO’s Gary Fineout reported improper voting happening on the Senate floor.

Sen. Tom Wright, a Republican, was pushing buttons to vote for senators who weren’t at their desks on a Democrat-pushed amendment that ultimately didn’t succeed. Voting on behalf of other members is against Senate rules, although Fineout reported Wright obtained permission from the Senator who was on the floor.