Florida Chamber-backed Legislation to Protect the Florida Constitution from Out of State and Special Interests Passes Off
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| Florida Chamber-backed Legislation to Protect the Florida Constitution from Out of State and Special Interests Passes Off House Floor 76-31 | |||
| Earlier today, a Florida Chamber-backed bill to protect Florida’s Constitution from special interests, HB 1205, passed off the House Floor by a vote of 76-31. For over two decades, the Florida Chamber has led the effort to protect the Florida Constitution from out-of-state and special interests seeking to buy their way into the Constitution, circumvent the legislative process or use an amendment as a tool for political turnout. The so-called “citizens’” initiative process has become ripe for fraud and misuse, making it critical to put adequate safeguards in place to ensure changes truly reflect the will of Floridians. HB 1205, by Representative Persons-Mulicka, reduces out-of-state-influence in Florida’s citizens’ initiative process by ensuring that paid petition gatherers collecting signatures are Florida residents and meet certain requirements. The bill broadens current law preventing a petition circulator from being paid per petition to eliminate additional incentive-based schemes. The bill also strengthens accountability by improving the process for supervisors of elections to review gathered petitions, and aligns the grounds upon which the result of a constitutional amendment can be challenged with the process to contest the results of a candidate election. As constitutional amendments create near permanent changes, it is essential to have appropriate safeguards in place to ensure that citizens’ initiatives genuinely reflect the voters of the State of Florida. |
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| What’s Next? The House bill just passed off the House Floor, and the Senate companion, SB 7016, will be heard in its final committee of reference next Tuesday in the Senate Fiscal Policy Committee. The Florida Chamber will continue to advocate for strong paid petition reform to protect the Florida Constitution and make sure near permanent changes remain in the hands of Florida voters. There are already 20 citizens’ initiatives filed for the 2026 election, which include artificially capping insurance premiums at a time Florida’s insurance market is in recovery, yet another attempt to bring California and New York style drug laws to Florida, and a proposal to require a non-denominational prayer be recited by public school children daily, to name a few. With these significant policy decisions potentially on the ballot in 18 months, it’s important for the legislature to act quickly to add guardrails that protect against fraudulent petition activity. |
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Engage in our Efforts To engage in our efforts or provide feedback on the proposed legislation, please contact Chad Kunde, Director of Business Climate and Governance Policy, at ckunde@flchamber.com. |
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