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To the editor:
Florida House Bill 1205 has been signed into law by Gov. DeSantis. A news article from the Fort Myers regional daily says that it "… (puts) more requirements on groups gathering petitions … to put … measures on the … 2026 ballot." No kidding, pal.
The article relates that a healthcare group petitioning to expand Medicare says that it anticipates having to pay the state verification fees upwards of $4.5 million. The law also bars using non-Florida residents from collecting signatures and imposes a filing "window" of 10 days (instead of the previous 30). One county official has already quadrupled his verification fees, in anticipation.
This is absurd. This is death by "due process."
Under provisions of the First Amendment and the Florida Constitution, we all have "the right to petition for the redress of grievances." I suppose some reasonable regulation of this process is in order, but the law approved by the Governor effectively torpedoes the whole petitioning process, leaving it available only as a plaything of the idle rich and the usual malfeasants. The rest of us are left out in the cold.
For example, as a director-at-large of the Libertarian Party of Florida, I have proposed an amendment to the Florida Constitution. It would impose a presumption that laws will use the least coercion and the least taxation. However, there is no way my proposal is gonna even make it to the ballot, not under this law. In other words, Floridians will not be allowed to answer a question that I am not allowed to ask.
"Due process," my foot. As the Governor clearly appreciates here, the power to regulate is the power to destroy. Repeal this law.
Larry Gillis
Cape Coral