The 2018 Legislative Session officially begins on January 9, 2018, and ends sixty-days later on March 9, 2018.

Below is a representative sample of several of the bills that have already been filed and that we anticipate will be filed.  The list includes bills that we will proactively attempt to pass (ACLU Priority) and those that we will actively defend against (ACLU Defense). This list is not all-inclusive, and instead is a representative sample of several of the bills that we will be working on during this legislative session.  In addition, there are hundreds of bills that we will be monitoring that span the breadth of the ACLU’s policy concerns and that we will engage on if they begin to move and present either substantial opportunities or threats regarding civil liberties issues.

2018 ACLU Priority Bills 

Criminal Justice Reform

  • Increasing Property Felony Theft Threshold from $300 (SB 928/ HB 713) - Supports
  • Judicial Discretion for Mandatory Minimum Sentences (SB 694/ HB 481) - Supports
  • Decreasing Driver’s License Suspensions for Non-Driving Related Offenses (SB 1270/HB 1095) - Supports
  • Encouraging Widespread Use of Adult Civil Citations (HB 1197) - Supports
  • Reforming Florida’s Bail System – Eliminating Monetary Bail (SB 1882/ HB 967) - Supports
  • Reforming Florida’s System of Prosecuting Children as Adults (SB 936/ HB 509) - Supports

LGBTQ

  • Passing Florida’s Competitive Workforce Act - Prohibiting Discrimination on Basis of Sexual Orientation or Gender Identity (SB 66/ HB 347) - Supports
  • Decriminalizing Unintentional HIV Transmission (SB 546/HB 719) - Supports

2018 ACLU Defensive Bills

Immigrants’ Rights

  • Anti-Immigrant Attempts to Ban Sanctuary Policies and to Require Local Law Enforcement to Enforce ICE Detainer Requests (SB 308/HB 9) - Opposes
  • Prohibiting Reentry of Certain Persons (SB 212/ HB 45) - Opposes

Reproductive Rights

  • Restrictions on a Woman’s Ability to Determine for Herself Whether and When to Have a Child - Opposes

Voting Rights

  • Attempts to Purge Voter Registration Lists or Make it More Difficult for Voters to Exercise Their Right to Vote - Opposes

Free Speech

  • Penalizing Universities for Student Protests (SB 1234/ HB 909) - Opposes

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