TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida is seeking to block a new state law that limits individual contributions to ballot initiatives to $3,000, which the organization says is a violation of a person's First Amendment rights.
Senate Bill 1890 was signed Friday by Gov. Ron DeSantis, his office announced in a news release.
The ACLU of Florida in its own release said the law makes it harder for Florida citizens to unite and propose changes to the state constitution. A $3,000 donation cap, the Associated Press earlier reported, could have made it impossible for medical marijuana and an increase in the minimum wage to get before voters.
"Over the last several years, the Florida Legislature has passed dozens of bills to undermine the citizen initiative process," said Nicholas Warren, staff attorney at the ACLU of Florida in a statement. "Florida citizens' right to participate directly in our democracy is protected by the Constitution, and yet, the Legislature and governor have made it their mission to make it even more difficult for Floridians to enact change.
"This latest attempt is a clear and obvious violation of Floridians’ free speech rights."
In Florida, voters can directly change the constitution by placing proposals on the ballot and approving them with a 60-percent threshold. One of the ballot measures put to voters in 2020 included increasing the state's minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2026. Lawyer John Morgan spent millions of dollars to get it and the issue of medical marijuana to voters in 2016.
Under the new law, the AP notes, he would be limited to just $3,000.
The ACLU of Florida argues given the "extraordinary cost" of collecting petition signatures to qualify a proposal for the ballot and defending it at the state supreme court, "the new law would essentially nullify Floridians' direct democracy rights."
10 Tampa Bay has reached out to the governor's office for comment.
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