Florida Politics

GOP Lawmakers Buck DeSantis, Advance Ban on Taxpayer Dollars Influencing Ballot Amendments

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TALLAHASSEE—Months after Gov. Ron DeSantis’s administration spent millions to block two citizen-led ballot initiatives, a GOP-led Senate committee advanced a measure on Monday that bans the use of taxpayer dollars to fund campaigns influencing ballot amendments.

The measure, filed by Republican Sen. Jennifer Bradley, was tacked onto a sweeping conservative bill targeting petition fraud during a Senate Ethics and Elections Committee hearing. The move comes after DeSantis and his wife hosted 16 campaign-style events while state agencies spent nearly $20 million in public funds opposing the two initiatives ahead of the 2024 elections.

Bradley’s amendment became part of the 49-page bill, SPB 7016, with a voice vote from the six Republicans and three Democrats on the committee. There were zero “nay” votes.

“When [the state] crosses over into attempting to influence the outcome of a ballot measure, I think we’re then treading in territory that makes me very uncomfortable as a conservative who’s very concerned what our role of government is in a democratic society,” said Bradley, a Fleming Island Republican, insisting that taxpayers should not “get the bill” for political campaigns.

“Going forward, let’s get it right,” she added.

Her amendment’s glide path signals another shift in Republican lawmakers’ allegiance to DeSantis. Their first revolt during his tenure was closed out just weeks ago in a lengthy debate over immigration laws, marking the first signs that lawmakers are no longer fully following DeSantis’s agenda.

What Inspired the Amendment?

From September through November 2024, six state agencies ran ads or websites blasting one or both of the DeSantis-disliked measures, which would have enshrined recreational marijuana and abortion access in the state constitution. DeSantis and the First Lady, Casey DeSantis, now toying with a gubernatorial run to succeed her husband, hosted a total of 16 statewide events opposing both amendments.

They claimed it was informational “public service announcements” designed to educate the public on the amendments' dangers.

Both the marijuana measure, Amendment 3, and the abortion initiative, Amendment 4, narrowly failed at the ballot box on Nov. 5. The group backing the abortion amendment, Floridians Protecting Freedom, paid a hefty settlement fine amid accusations of petition fraud by the Department of State months after the election—leading to DeSantis’s request that the Legislature crack down on the citizen initiative process.

While Lawmakers have answered the call with SPB 7016—shortening the time to submit petitions for a ballot amendment, banning certain felons and non-citizens from circulating petitions, and requiring petition sponsors to submit a $1 million bond—Bradley’s amendment subverts the governor’s call.

Groups like the Christian Family Coalition—which supported the governor’s Amendment 4 warpath and helped 15 city commissions draft resolutions opposing the abortion measure—were not pleased.

“We believe that the governor [being] involved in and advocating against [Amendment 4]...was very critical in our success of defeating it,” said John Labriola, a CFC lobbyist, in Monday’s committee. “My question for the sponsor is, would this amendment get rid of the ability of the governor to advocate against an amendment of this kind?”

Bradley did not respond.

Other measures in the proposed bill include requiring volunteers who collect petitions other than their own, their families, and two others to register with the state as petition circulators. It also mandates that a statement on the amendment’s financial impact be present on the petition and requires voters to submit their driver’s license number and social security number on their petition. 

Her amendment almost perfectly mirrors a bill filed by Democrat Sen. Tina Polsky banning state agencies from using public funds for campaigning purposes. She told The Floridian before the session that her bill was filed to directly combat the DeSantis administration’s actions during the 2024 cycle.

Its companion bill, a softer version of the Senate's, passed its first committee last week. SPB 7016 passed the Ethics committee down party lines.

Liv Caputo

Livia Caputo is a senior at Florida State University, working on a major in Criminology, and a triple minor in Psychology, Communications, and German. She has been working on a journalism career for the past year, and hopes to become a successful reporter after graduation. Her work has been cited in Fox News, the New York Post, and the Daily Mail

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