House Rules panel adopts change to allow prescheduled fundraising during special or extended sessions

The Rules and Ethics Committee on Monday approved a committee report amending House Rule 15.3 to permit certain prescheduled fundraising activities while the House is in an extended or special session, Chair Garrison said.

The change, which Chair Garrison said aligns the House rule with an existing Florida Senate rule, was presented as a housekeeping alignment intended to clarify when previously scheduled campaign fundraising may proceed during extraordinary sessions.

Representative Golley asked whether an announcement by the governor would make a session "scheduled" for the purpose of the rule. "If the governor says we're going to have a special session under the rule, is that scheduled?" Golley asked. Garrison replied that what matters is whether a proclamation, resolution or other binding communication has been issued: "If a proclamation's been issued pursuant to the authority via the executive or by the presiding officers of these chambers, that would be yes. If someone says something at a press conference, the answer is no."

Committee members pressed for guidance on what documentation members should provide to show an activity was "previously scheduled." Chair Garrison advised members to provide supporting documentation to the Rules Committee and to seek specific guidance from the House general counsel: "As with all issues that come before the rules committee, this is a house rule. So I would advise members to on the side of caution... I would recommend providing that documentation to the rules committee."

Members also raised whether passive online fundraising pages could continue to accept donations during a covered session. One member asked specifically about a donation site (spoken in the transcript as "Anadot or something like that"). Garrison said a plain reading of the adopted language would not permit passive fundraising during the session and recommended deactivating such pages, while again deferring to the general counsel for definitive legal guidance.

After limited questioning and no public testimony, the committee adopted the proposed report by voice vote. The transcript records the voice vote but does not include a roll-call tally or individual recorded votes.

The committee did not identify statutory obstacles to the change in the meeting; members were directed to the House general counsel for legal interpretation and to provide documentation when claiming a prescheduled event.