Ed's note: Article quotes Senator JENNIFER BRADLEY, who is married to BRADLEY, GARRISON & KOMANDO, P.A. partner and former State Senator ROBERT MILNER BRADLEY, SR., Chair of the St. Johns River Water Manager District, co-owner of OAK STRATEGIES, which represents casino and high interests, e.g., FOUNTAINBLEAU DEVELOPMENT. By 3-2 vote on April 15, 2025, St. Johns County Commission voted to hire the BRADLEY, GARRISON & KOMANDO, P.A. law firm as St. Johns County Attorney. This stinks. Boy Governor RONALD DION DeSANTIS signed this bill on the evening of May 2, 2025. The legislature could not even pass a budget on time, but they're in a hurry to restrict the constitutional amendment process. From Florida Phoenix:
Restrictions on constitutional amendment process clears the Florida Legislature
“This is the most important bill that we will be hearing in this chamber,” said Democratic Senate Leader Lori Berman on Wednesday. “And as you’ve heard, it’s going to greatly restrict the access of the citizens of the state of Florida to be able to address the system.”
The Senate on Friday passed an amended version of HB 1205, 28-9. The House voted 81-30 on Thursday night.
DeSantis said in January that it was a top legislative priority for him this year. The governor and his fellow Republicans in the Legislature argue the measure is needed to combat signature petition fraud that they alleged was exposed last year in the campaigns to pass constitutional amendments regarding legalizing recreational marijuana and abortion rights.
Their proof? A report published in January by the Office of Election Crimes and Security alleging that more than 100 representatives of the group attempting to pass the abortion-rights initiative committed crimes related to gathering petitions.
“The report penetrates the smokescreen of out-of-state petition mills who steal citizens’ identity and then hide from Florida prosecutors,” said Panhandle Republican Don Gaetz, co-sponsor of the Senate bill, on Wednesday during floor debate. “The report explains the slippery sidestepping of responsibility of amendment sponsors who pay for it all and then deny it all.”
Jacksonville Democratic Sen. Tracie Davis argued that Republicans were making too much of that report.
“We talk about the fraudulent report,” she said. “You’ve heard that over and over again. The 900-page [report] that shows all of the fraudulent cases. Guess what guys? I have it, too. Seventeen arrests. Twenty-five cases. Most of this is charts. Redacted pages, and so on.”
Vero Beach Republican Sen. Erin Grall, the other co-sponsor of the bill, said on Thursday that the report showed 18 arrests in all, along with hundreds of allegations of petition fraud referred to the Office of Election Crimes and Security that are listed in the document.
Who can participate?
The bill includes a number of proposals that Democrats say will allow only the wealthy to participate in the process of placing a constitutional amendment on the ballot in Florida.
“This bill raises the costs,” said South Florida Democratic Sen. Shevrin Jones on Thursday. “This bill tightens the timeline. This bill adds legal tasks and risks. And lastly, members, this bill absolutely stacks the deck until the only people who can access the process are those who can afford lobbyists and lawyers.”
Floridians strongly supported the two constitutional amendments on last year’s ballot regarding cannabis and abortion rights, with both measure drawing more than 55% of the vote — clear majorities but short of the 60% required for passage in Florida.
“Those pesky amendments 3 and 4 just came too damn close to passing, so, what are we going to do?” said South Florida Sen. Tina Polsky, mimicking what she said top Republicans had in mind. “We’re going to make it so hard, and so expensive, that only corporate interests are going to be able to get a citizen’s initiative on the ballot.”
“Fifty-seven percent of Floridians told us that a six-week abortion ban was extreme and should be overturned,” said Orlando Democratic Sen. Carlos Guillermo Smith. “So, instead of taking action when they told us, ‘Do something about this extreme abortion ban,’ we did nothing. Oh, wait, wait. I’m wrong. We did something. We came up with this bill to remind people that we are not listening.”
But Northeast Florida Republican Sen. Jennifer Bradley insisted the bill was absolutely needed.
“This is not a bill to restrict, it is a bill to protect. To make sure that our constitutional system is one of integrity and that it’s free of fraud,” she said. “The bill that is before us does not address imaginary, hypothetical fraud, but known fraud, fraud that has been exposed for us to see.”
What it does
Among the provisions in the bill are:
Requires additional personal identifying information for voters signing petition forms and for applicants for petition circulators, including listing their Florida driver license or ID card number and the last four digits of their Social Security numbers.
Bans people who are not residents of Florida from acting as petition circulators. People who are not U.S. citizens are also banned, as are people who have been convicted of a felony violation and not had their right to vote restored. The sponsors of an amendment are liable for a $50,000 fine if found to have used such people as petition gatherers.
Requires training for petition circulators.
Requires signed petitions must be returned to the supervisor of elections office within 10 days after the voter signs the form (currently it is 30 days). The petition gatherer will be fined $50 per each day late for each petition form received after 10 days. That fine will be increased to $2,500 for each petition form received if the petition gatherer “acted willfully.”
Those fines will rise to $100 per each day late, up to a maximum of $500, for each petition form signed by a voter on or before Feb. 1 in an election year. That goes up to $5,000 if the petition gatherer acted willfully.
Requires supervisors of elections to notify voters whose signatures are verified and provide an opportunity for such persons to report that their signatures were forged or misrepresented.
Provides for inclusion of the financial impact statement on the petition form and adds the financial impact statement to the issues subject to automatic Supreme Court review.
If a petition gatherer signs someone else’s name to a petition, he or she will be fined $5,000 for each petition.
If the petition gatherer retains a voter’s information for any reason other than for an amendment campaign, they will be subject to a third-degree felony.
A person who collects, delivers, or otherwise physically possesses more than 25 signed petition forms in addition to his or her own signed petition form or a signed petition form belonging to an immediate family member, and who is not registered as a petition circulator, is subject to a third-degree felony.
For any reporting period in which the percentage of petition forms deemed invalid by the supervisor of elections exceeds 25% of the forms received in a particular reporting period, the supervisor must notify the Office of Election Crimes and Security. They will then conduct a preliminary investigation into whether the invalidated petitions are a result of fraud. If warranted, the Office of Election Crimes and Security may report findings to the statewide prosecutor or the state attorney for the judicial circuit where the alleged violation occurred for prosecution.
Bans anyone from the state government from authorizing the expenditure of public funds for a political advertisement or any other communication for a citizen-led constitutional amendment campaign. However, the bill also says that it “does not preclude” state government or a person acting on behalf of the state government from reporting on official actions of the state government in “an accurate, fair, and impartial manner; posting factual information on a government website or in printed materials; hosting and providing information at a public forum; providing factual information in response to an inquiry.”
DeSantis-inspired
The last provision was placed on the bill earlier this year by Sen. Bradley, and follows reports that DeSantis used taxpayers funds last year for public service ads and otherwise used government resources to campaign against Amendments 3 and 4.
South Florida Sen. Jason Pizzo, who left the Democratic Party a week ago to become a political independent, told the bill sponsors on Thursday that if they could acknowledge that state elected officials used taxpayer resources last year, they would have his vote.
“The Bradley provision which we included in this bill was inspired by individuals who work for the state government and are part of the state government now,” Sen. Gaetz said. “And they engaged in behavior that will now be unlawful, and will now be prevented if we pass this bill.”
With that acknowledgement, Pizzo joined all the Senate Republicans in supporting the measure. All Democrats opposed it.
The law will go into effect immediately after the governor signs the bill. That means it will affect organizations working to get a constitutional amendment on the ballot in 2026, such as Florida Decides Healthcare, working to have Florida expand Medicaid.
“This legislation is not about ‘transparency’ or ‘reform.’ It’s a calculated move by out-of-touch politicians trying to rewrite the rules to further keep the power in their hands and away from everyday citizens. They’re attempting to silence Floridians because they’re afraid of answering to We The People,” said Florida Decides Healthcare Campaign Manager Mitch Emerson.
“Florida Decides Healthcare has fought tirelessly to protect the voice of the people and we’re not going anywhere. We will continue to fight for the freedom of every Floridian to access the healthcare they need because no politician gets to decide which rights we’re allowed to keep. The people of Florida deserve better than this bad-faith attempt to silence our voices.”
Brad Ashwell, Florida director of All Voting is Local, took aim at one specific part of the bill as especially egregious.
“By imposing a 10-day timeline on signed petition forms, Florida politicians would effectively get rid of citizen-led amendments and eliminate a proven way for people to participate in the state’s democratic processes,” Ashwell said in a written statement.
Point blank, this is an attack on our democracy and follows an undeniable pattern in Florida where state officials want to silence anyone who doesn’t agree with them and ensure people can’t decide for themselves how they’re governed.”
This story was updated to include the information that Gov. DeSantis signed the legislation on Friday night.
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