TALLAHASSEE, FL – Gov. DeSantis today signed Senate Bill 1794, also referred to as the citizen initiative bill, into law. The new law will add additional burdens to Florida’s strict ballot measure requirements by shortening the time period signed petitions are valid, forcing the use of paid signature gatherers, and increasing the costs for signature verification as much as ten-fold, among other restrictive provisions.
Micah Kubic, executive director of the ACLU of Florida, responded to the bill signing with the following:
“Today is a sad day for our state’s democracy. Instead of embracing our state’s proud history of citizen-led ballot initiatives, state politicians have stifled the ability for Floridians to directly participate in our democracy by passing and signing this bill into law.
“Before the passage of this law, Florida already had one of the strictest ballot measure requirements in the country, and yet the people of Florida persevered to overcome those obstacles to improve all of our lives. Namely, they restored the right to vote, ensured that sick individuals would have access to medical marijuana, and preserved the state’s natural water and land resources all through the citizen initiative process.
“The provisions in this new law will make our state’s citizen initiative process unreasonably and exponentially more difficult and expensive, and allow only the super wealthy and special interest groups to have a say in our direct democracy. All people should have equitable access to our citizens initiative process. This is not what democracy looks like.”