Senate committee advances bill tightening rules for initiative petitions

At a public hearing, the Senate Committee on Ethics and Elections advanced SPB 7016, a bill that would change how initiative petitions seeking state constitutional amendments are gathered, verified and certified.

Senator Grahl, the sponsor, told the committee the bill is intended "to reduce fraud, protect voter information, and safeguard the process by which the constitutional amendments are placed on the ballot for consideration by Florida voters." He described a package of measures including a $1,000,000 bond for sponsors (waivable in certain circumstances), a requirement that petition signers provide a Florida driver's license number or identification number or the last four digits of their Social Security number, tighter rules on who may circulate petitions, mandatory training for circulators, and additional civil and criminal penalties.

Supporters of the changes, including the measure's sponsor and some election officials, said the bill responds to documented problems. "If you read the report there's a section in which they do an audit of multi-county [petitions] and they've determined that over 20% of those should not have been validated due to statutory deficiencies or a clear mismatch between signature on the petition and any signature on file," Senator Grahl said in closing.

Opponents said the bill would erect new barriers for grassroots organizers, deter volunteers and returning citizens from participating, and raise privacy and constitutional concerns. Dozens of public commenters, including representatives of Common Cause Florida, the League of Women Voters of Florida, the NAACP Florida State Conference, Equality Florida, and other civic groups, warned the measure could criminalize routine volunteer activity and make it prohibitively expensive for citizen groups to place measures on the ballot.

"This bill makes it a felony for Floridians who believe in an issue to distribute petitions or collect them from their friends and neighbors," Amy Keith, executive director of Common Cause Florida, told the committee.

Operational and technical issues also emerged. Dave Rambaugh, speaking "on behalf of Florida's Supervisors of Elections," said county election offices and private vendors face significant software and workflow changes to implement the bill's verification, recording and notification requirements. Rambaugh said supervisors generally supported some proposed changes but warned that many vendors "are losing their ever loving mind" about implementing the requirements quickly and estimated software and operational work could take through the end of the year.

What the committee adopted

The committee considered and adopted a series of amendments to the bill before reporting it favorably. Key changes adopted during the hearing include: - Barcode 939772: requires a $1,000,000 bond when a proposed amendment is submitted to the Secretary of State; the bond may be waived if it would impose an "undue burden" on the sponsor, with conditions tied to payment of circulators; the amendment passed on a recorded roll call. - Barcode 237114: requires petition forms use a minimum 10-point font and limits the printed petition to one page front and back. - Barcode 599798: clarifies and expands a prohibition on payment schemes that incentivize circulation by number of petitions or timeframes. - Amendment 520,306: removes language that would have required a circulator be convicted of fraud before a fine could be levied against a sponsor. - Amendment 395278: establishes a deposit process so supervisors have funds to begin verifying petition forms and requires supervisors to record receipt dates, notify the division and sponsor in certain circumstances, and to follow specified transmittal procedures. - Barcode 208070: requires that any signed petition later found to have been submitted by an ineligible circulator be identified (the committee adopted language clarifying the ineligible category applies to persons not authorized to collect petitions under law). - Barcode 658022: directs the Division (Secretary of State) to develop required circulator training within 30 days of the bill becoming law. - Barcode 810062: prohibits the use of public funds to advocate for or against any matter that is the subject of a constitutional amendment (as amended, committee supporters said the language would not bar public information campaigns about ballot outcomes).

Several of the amendments were adopted by voice vote; the bond amendment and the bill itself were decided by roll call.

Votes and committee action

The committee reported SPB 7016 favorably on a recorded roll call with the following votes: Senator Avila: yes; Senator Bradley: yes; Senator Collins: yes; Senator Garcia: yes; Senator Kroll: yes; Senator Polsky: no; Senator Roussaint: no; Vice Chair Bernard: no; Chair Gates: yes. The chair announced the bill was "reported favorably." (Multiple individual amendment votes were taken; most were adopted by voice vote and recorded as passed.)

Concerns raised

Public commenters and several senators raised specific concerns about the bill's practical effects: - Grassroots impact and volunteer criminalization: Multiple witnesses said the bill's limits on how many signed petition forms one person may possess and the registration/numbering requirements for circulators could criminalize normal volunteer activity and discourage participation. - Privacy: The requirement that signers provide a driver's license number or the last four of their Social Security number drew objections over identity risk and the need to mail forms directly to supervisors as an alternative to handing forms to circulators. - Operational readiness: Supervisors' representatives warned that the state's vendors and county systems will need time and funding to add fields, record dates, process millions of petition forms and deliver the new notification mailings; Rambaugh said vendors expected to need until the end of the year to implement major changes. - Constitutional and legal risk: Witnesses noted that similar citizenship restrictions were struck down by a federal court last year and said portions of the bill could prompt litigation.

What the bill would change in practice

If enacted as amended, SPB 7016 would: - Require more personal identifying information on petition forms (Florida driver's license or ID number or last four of SSN). - Create a $1,000,000 bond requirement for sponsors filing an amendment (with a waiver mechanism and conditions). - Require petition circulators to register and undergo training developed by the Division of Elections; circulators would have assigned numbers and supervisors would record when forms are received. - Shorten certain timing windows for circulators to turn in signed forms (example: a 10-day requirement for circulators to submit signed petitions to the county supervisor) and attach fines or administrative remedies for violations. - Direct supervisors to notify voters by mail when their signatures are verified and allow voters an opportunity to report forged or misrepresented signatures. - Require inclusion of financial impact information and full amendment text on petition forms and alter the timing of the Financial Impact Estimating Conference relative to petition gathering.

The sponsor and several committee members said the changes are intended to protect ballot integrity and reduce instances of fraudulent or improperly obtained signatures; opponents said the bill would make the citizen initiative process impractical for volunteers and small groups.

Next steps

The committee reported SPB 7016 favorably after adopting the amendments described above. The committee record does not designate a final floor committee assignment; under Senate procedures the reported bill will be scheduled for further consideration according to chamber rules.