The Legislature is jockeying over details in fight over citizen-led petitions

TALLAHASSEE, FLA. 5/1/25-Sen. Don Gaetz, R-Crestview, co-sponsor on CS/HB 1205 concerning amendments to the State Constitution, watches the vote board as the bill passes the Senate, Thursday at the Capitol in Tallahassee. The bill now returns to the House. COLIN HACKLEY PHOTO

In a bill changing the citizen-led constitutional amendments, lawmakers debated Thursday the number of petitions volunteers could collect before they must register as an official petition circulator and undergo two hours of online training. Otherwise, they risk a third-degree felony and going to prison, while the petition sponsor could face a heavy fine.

The Senate passed HB 1205 on Thursday, which would allow people to collect their own and their immediate family members’ signed petitions, plus five more. It also includes other significant changes, such as shortening the timelines for petition gathering, adding stiffer penalties for petition sponsor violations, and other requirements.

“How have our politics gotten so twisted that we’re now saying that Floridians can secretly carry an unlimited amount of loaded firearms without a registered permit,” said Sen. Carlos Guillermo Smith, an Orlando Democrat. “But if they have more than five signed petitions in their possession, they have committed a third-degree felony, where their voting rights will be revoked, and they may go to prison for up to five years?”

Some Democrats expressed outrage, for instance, about seniors who might not be able to fill out their applications or friends collecting petitions at Bingo.

But when the amended bill returned to the House late Thursday, the House added a new amendment to expand the number of petitions allowed from five to 25 and sent the bill back to the Senate for another vote.

“What about our grandmas or folks in our community that go to Bible study … and they print off the petition forms and they want to ask their friends to sign the petition,” said the bill sponsor, Rep. Jenna Persons-Mulicka, who filed the amendment. “I think 25 is a reasonable number to land on.”

Some House Democrats were still not moved and expressed concerns that Republicans are trying to kill grassroots petitions for citizen-led constitutional amendments.

Florida voters approved universal Pre-Kindergarten, raised the minimum wage, and more through ballot initiatives, which Democrats said have brought positive change in a state controlled by Republicans who refused to act on those Progressive initiatives otherwise.

Meanwhile, Republicans argued the current system is broken and Florida’s Constitution must be protected from groups cheating their way through petition drives following last year’s Amendment 3 and 4 initiatives to legalize marijuana and protect abortion rights, which both fell short of the 60% vote to win.

“We’re doing this because we want to reduce the bad actions,” said Sen. Don Gaetz, a Crestview Republican. “We want to reduce the fraud. We want to reduce the opportunities for people to pervert the system.”

From last year’s elections in the state’s Office of Elections, Crimes, and Security, came 18 arrests, 13 pleas, and four cooperation agreements as part of the pleas, as well as “hundreds of allegations of petition fraud,” Sen. Erin Grall told Democrats who wanted to know the details about the extent of the fraud.

As of late 2024, there were 50 active criminal investigations related to petitions at the Office of Statewide Prosecution, Grall said.

“Many circulators and petition collection contractors are located out of the state, making it difficult to obtain investigative information,” she added.

Democrats scoffed at the numbers, which were small in comparison since more than a million people had signed Amendment 4’s abortion rights petitions, they said.

“It doesn’t feel like it’s legislation to fight fraud. It feels like it’s legislation to stop the will of the people,” said Sen. Kristen Arrington, a Kissimmee Democrat.

“When we treat citizens trying to improve their society as if they are criminals, we chill the very spirit of democracy,” added Sen. Darryl Rouson, a St. Petersburg Democrat. “These penalties threaten to turn political participation into a legal risk.”

And Sen. Shevrin Jones argued, “This bill doesn’t raise the bar … It puts the bar out of reach … We all know this is not right.”

But the Democrat conceded to the GOP-controlled Senate, “My debate is not going to change your mind.”

He was right.

“It’s not the state’s obligation to make it easy to amend the Constitution,” Grall argued. “These are these outside people, influences, corporations that want to amend our Constitution. It’s not our job to support that or fund that.”