🚨LEG ALERT: SB 7096 in the Judiciary Committee Monday, April 1st

On Monday, April 1st, SB 7096 will be heard at 4:00 p.m. in the Senate Judiciary Committee. This bill continues a decade-long attempt to eliminate your ability to amend the State Constitution through ballot initiative.

If your Senator is listed below call their office Monday April 1st before 4:00 p.m. and urge them to stand up for YOUR Constitutional Rights by voting NO on SB 7096.

David Simmons (850) 487-5009
Jose Javier Rodriguez (850) 487-5037
Dennis Baxley (850) 487-5012
Audrey Gibson (850) 487-5006
Travis Hutson (850) 487-5007
Kelli Stargell (850) 487-5022

This Bill will make the already burdensome process of having an initiative placed on the ballot nearly impossible. Of the states which allow for a citizen’s initiative, Florida already has the most difficult requirements to place an item on the ballot and have it pass once there.

Tell the members of the Senate Judiciary Committee NOT to eliminate YOUR Constitutional Rights and vote NO on SB 7096:

  • This bill would limit free speech by only allowing Florida citizens to collect signatures
  • Volunteers must register with the state to collect petitions, meaning they must register to exercise their first amendment rights
  • If a petition collector is ruled ineligible the signatures of the voters who signed the petitions will be ruled invalid without their knowledge
  • The popular vote threshold to pass would increase to a 2/3 majority, not the 60% currently required

Supporters of the proposed changes claim the bill addresses current issues with the citizen initiative process. These pretenses show their true motive is to eliminate the citizen initiative process, not protect our voting process:

  • Fraud is statistically nonexistent in the initiative process, and it
    is disingenuous to use it as reasoning to further erode our constitutional rights
  • The amount of amendments passed by the Legislature, CRC and TBRC outnumber citizen initiatives 3-1, meaning citizen initiatives do not overburden the process
  • Some of the past citizen initiatives have led to rights restoration, homestead exemptions, increased minimum wage and tax exemptions. These are not frivolous amendments and represent the wishes of the citizens who worked to place them on the ballot and those who voted to enact them.

This is an important bill that could have lasting ramifications on the future of our democratic process and constitutional rights.

Call the Senate Judiciary Committee and tell them NOT to further erode your Constitutional Rights by voting NO on SB 7096.