Florida state legislators are filing bills for the 2022 Session this summer and will begin committee meetings in September.
As bills are filed over the next few months, we will provide information on bills that affect our liberty. We will include bill numbers, bill sponsors, and analysis on each bill.
2022 Florida Legislation
HB 11 Impeding, Provoking, or Harassing Law Enforcement Officers by Representative Alex Rizo (R) D-110.
Bill Summary: Prohibits approaching law enforcement officer or remaining within a specified distance of such officer with specified intent after receiving warning not to approach.
Click Here for Bill Details
Analysis:
HB 11 would make it a second-degree misdemeanor for any person to stand within 30 feet of an officer performing a "legal duty" and to "interrupt, disrupt, [or] hinder" the officer, or otherwise directly or indirectly harass them after being warned to keep away.
This bill does not define what qualifies as interrupting, disrupting or hindering a law enforcement officer from performing a ‘legal duty”.
The 30-foot prohibition would make it significantly harder for people to capture instances where police are unlawfully or abusively arresting people, not to mention raising the possibility that an officer might simply lie about the distance in order to justify an arrest
There are already laws on the books that prohibit citizens from obstructing police business. The new legislation would merely make it easier for people to be prosecuted if an officer were to claim they were harassed or impeded.
Florida Tenther Recommends: OPPOSE
HJR 35 Partisan Elections for Members of District School Boards by Representative Spencer Roach (R) D-79 and Representative Tyler Sirois (R) D-51.
Bill Summary: Proposing amendments to State Constitution to require members of the district school board to be elected in a partisan election.
Click Here for Bill Details
Analysis: HJR 35 would place a proposed state constitutional amendment on the November 2022 general election and would require 60% of voters to pass. Currently, the Florida constitution requires school board elections to be non-partisan.
At a time when our country has become hyper-partisan including our government-run education, this bill will only lead to increased conflicts in local elections, where candidates for the school board have to answer to party leaders and not the parents they are supposed to represent. The best reform would be to end government-run education.
Florida Tenther Recommends: OPPOSE
HB 75 Limiting COVID-19 Restrictions by Representative Anthony Sabatini (R) D-35.
Bill Summary: Prohibits state or any political subdivision from enacting mask mandate; provides any such mandate is void; prohibits state & local governments from requiring COVID-19 vaccinations, issuing vaccine passports or other standardized documentation to third parties, or otherwise publishing or sharing COVID-19 vaccination records; prohibits businesses from requiring customers to provide documentation certifying COVID-19 vaccination or COVID-19 post-transmission recovery or discriminating against customers on basis of their COVID-19 vaccination status or COVID-19 post-transmission recovery status; declares certain actions based on vaccination status or having immunity passport are unlawful discriminatory practices.
Click Here for Bill Details
Analysis: This would have been a good bill if the bill just prohibited any state government agency from mandating the use of masks and vaccines. This bill goes further and also prohibits private businesses from requiring customers to show proof of vaccine. While we do not believe the government should mandate masks or vaccines, we believe in private property rights, which include private businesses. The government should not be telling private businesses what they can or cannot do for what they believe is in the interest of their business.
“The same principles that protect the right to refuse vaccines also protect the right of individuals to refuse to associate with the unvaccinated. Private property owners have the right to forbid those who reject vaccines from entering their property. This right extends to private businesses concerned that unvaccinated individuals could pose a risk to their employees and customers. Consistent application of the principles of private property, freedom of association, and individual responsibility is the best way to address concerns that those who refuse vaccines could infect others with disease”. Ron Paul
Florida Tenther Recommends: OPPOSE (unless the language on private businesses is removed)
HB 99 Forensic Audit of the 2020 General Election by Representative Anthony Sabatini (R) D-35.
Bill Summary: Requires Governor to appoint independent third party to conduct forensic audit of 2020 general election; requires audit of certain precincts; provides dates by which such audit must begin & be completed; provides reporting requirements.
Click Here for Bill Details
Analysis: We are not sure why Republicans want an audit of an election where Trump's winning margin was the largest in decades and where Republicans flipped two Congressional seats as well as picking up 1 seat in the Florida Senate and 5 seats in the Florid House. The 2020 election in Florida was a great night for Republicans and totally unexpected. After the November 7, 2020 election, Republican leaders including Governor DeSantis and GOP Chairman Joe Gruters claimed Florida had the most secure election in the country and that the way Florida conducted its election should be the model for all other states. That all changed when Florida Trump supporters demanded election reform. There was no evidence of voter fraud, except fraud by Republican operatives was discovered where a fraudulent candidate was recruited to confuse voters and get a Republican candidate elected to the Florida Senate. This bill seems like a total waste of taxpayer money.
Florida Tenther Recommends: OPPOSE
HB 103 Carrying of Firearms Without Licenses by Representative Anthony Sabatini (R) D-35.
Bill Summary: Removes requirement that license to carry concealed firearm is required in order to carry such firearm; limits areas in which concealed carrying of firearm is prohibited; revises criminal penalties; revises provisions relating to carrying of concealed weapons or firearms by nonresidents; provides for issuance of concealed carry licenses for reciprocity purposes; specifies person not otherwise prohibited by law from possessing firearm or other weapon may own, possess, & lawfully use firearms & other weapons, ammunition, & supplies for lawful purposes.
Click Here for Bill Details
Analysis: This bill often referred to as "Constitutional Carry" removes the requirement that a license to carry a concealed firearm is required in order to carry such a firearm. This would enable Florida citizens to carry a gun, open or concealed, without a permit.
Florida Tenther Recommends: SUPPORT
HB 133 Prohibiting Cooperation with a United States Capitol Police Office Located in this State by Representative Anthony Sabatini (R) D-35.
Bill Summary: Prohibits any state or local law enforcement agency or other state or local agency from cooperation with US Capitol Police office or personnel located in this state; prohibits access to certain databases; provides exception.
Click Here for Bill Details
Analysis: While the spirit of this bill is good, it lacks any enforcement measures. If there is no penalty for cooperating with the DC Police, then Florida Law Enforcement can simply ignore this law without any consequence.
Florida Tenther Recommends: SUPPORT ONLY IF THERE ARE PENALTIES FOR COOPERATION.
HB 217 Film, Television, and Digital Media Project Rebate Program by Representative Dana Trabulsy (R ) D-84.
Bill Summary: This bill creates Targeted High Wage Production Program within DEO; provides rebate eligibility requirements & application procedures; requires Commissioner of Film & Entertainment to review applications & take certain actions; requires annual report to Governor & Legislature; provides for expiration of program & reversion of appropriated funds.
Click Here for Bill Details
Analysis: This bill would create the Film, Television, and Digital Media Targeted Rebate Program and would offer film, TV, and digital media productions a rebate for the lesser of 20% or $2 million of production costs if they get pre-approved as a “certified project.”
In 2010, the Florida Legislature created a $296 million film-incentive fund. the Florida Legislature has not renewed the film subsidy program after the money dried up and a 2015 study by the Legislature’s Office of Economic and Demographic Research found Florida only received 43 cents back for every dollar awarded in tax incentives to entertainment productions.
HB 217 is another attempt at this failed corporate welfare program by requiring certain benchmarks are met before tax rebates are awarded. The problem is this is still a form of corporate welfare, with the government picking winners and losers, in this case picking certain industries for favored treatment and taxpayer-funded handouts.
Florida Tenther Recommends: OPPOSE
HB 261 Representative Melony Bell (R) D-56 and SB 422 by Senator Jason Pizzo (D) D-38 Mobilization of the Florida National Guard.
Bill Summary: Prohibits release of Florida National Guard or member thereof from this state into active duty combat without official declaration of war or other official action by United States Congress; requires Governor to take all necessary actions to comply with such prohibition.
Click Here for Bill Details
Analysis: This is a nullification bill that prohibits the Federal government from calling up the Florida National Guard unless it is allowed by U.S. Constitution. The organized militia was intended by the Founders and Ratifiers to be defense force and nothing more. Deployments outside the country were not considered, and neither were internal deployments in pursuance of powers that were not delegated to the federal government.
Florida Tenther Recommends: SUPPORT
HB 6001 Verification of Employment Eligibility by a Private Employer by Representative Anthony Sabatini (R) D-35.
Bill Summary: Removes option for a private employer to verify person's employment eligibility using an I-9 federal form and requires an employer to use the federal E-verify system.
Click Here for Bill Details
Analysis: This bill would require all Florida business owners to use the federal E-verify system to determine eligibility for employment. The supposed reason for mandating the use of the federal E-verify system is to confirm an employee is not an illegal immigrant.
There are many problems with the E-verify system for those that cherish liberty. CATO makes excellent points on why we should oppose E-verify.
Americans should not have to ask the government for permission to work.
E-Verify is an expensive government regulation that fails to stop the hiring of illegal immigrants and the federal government should not force businesses to enforce its own laws.
As Cato Institute privacy expert Jim Harper noted of E-Verify, potentially tens of thousands of American citizens would come up as a false positive for illegal status, denying them the right to work and forcing them to prove to the government that they are not here illegally.
Non-compliance leads to more invasive enforcement
Democrats will eventually figure out that they can use E-Verify for their own purposes (such as creating a backdoor gun registry) and Republicans can only prevent the perversion of the system for those purposes by opposing the continued existence of the program in the first place.
E-verify jeopardizes small businesses with expensive new paperwork burdens, audits, violates individuals' rights to work and establishes "a de facto national I.D. system – even for citizens."
The dangerous and intrusive precedent set by the bill opens the floodgate of additional incursive and contentious employment verification hurdles. Mission creep is the signature of all bureaucracies.
“History shows that mandatory E-Verify’s use will expand beyond immigration enforcement and could be used as a tool of political repression. All those who value liberty should oppose mandatory E-Verify.” Ron Paul Florida Tenther Recommends: OPPOSE HB 6007 Licenses to Carry Concealed Weapons and Firearms by Representative Anthony Sabatini (R) D-35. Bill Summary: This bill would allow concealed carry licensees to carry a handgun or a concealed weapon or firearm into a college or university facility. Click Here for Bill Details Analysis: Our Florida Colleges and Universities are "Gun Free Zones" which denies students and faculty the right to self-defense. In coercively requiring us to disarm, the government intentionally handicaps our ability to effectively and reasonably protect ourselves. Colleges cannot guarantee safety and should not deprive people of the ability to protect themselves. College campuses are vulnerable to criminals, there is no one entry point with metal detectors and armed guards performing pat-downs and bag inspections. Florida Tenther Recommends: SUPPORT HB 6009 Vaccinations During Public Health Emergencies by Representative Anthony Sabatini (R) D-35. Bill Summary: Removes authority of State Health Officer to order vaccination of individuals upon declaration of public health emergency. Click Here for Bill Details Analysis: This bill removes language in current Florida law that allows the Florida Department of Health to force vaccines on citizens for communicable diseases. While repealing the state’s ability to force citizens to be vaccinated, the bill still leaves the state with draconian power to force citizens to be “isolated or quarantined by any means necessary” and to be “examined, tested and treated”. This means if Representative Sabatini’s bill were to pass, it would still allow the state to place you in a detention center and if they can’t vaccinate you, and any other treatment is not effective in arresting the virus, you could be detained indefinitely. This law is enforceable by a law enforcement officer. While eliminating the state’s ability to force vaccines on citizens is needed, Representative Sabatini’s bill falls woefully short of stopping a tyrannical government by keeping in law the state’s ability to have a law enforcement officer show up at your door, handcuff you if you resist and haul you off to a detention center. This bill is incomplete and is void of any substantive elimination of tyranny. Florida Tenther Recommends: OPPOSE (Unless additional language is added) HB 6013 Removing Firearm Regulations by Representative Anthony Sabatini (R ) D-35. Bill Summary: Repeals prohibition on persons younger than 21 years of age from purchasing firearms, ban on bump-fire stock, & statute authorizing risk protection orders. Click Here for Bill Details Analysis: This is a great bill that repeals gun control laws passed in 2018 under the Marjorie Stoneham Douglas High School SB 7026 legislation, including the Red Flag Law, ban on bump stocks, and restores the age to purchase firearms back to 18 years old. Florida Tenther Recommends: SUPPORT HB 6029 Traffic Infraction Detectors by Representative Anthony Sabatini (R) D-35. Bill Summary: Repeals provisions relating to Mark Wandall Traffic Safety Program, authorization to use traffic infraction detectors, distribution of penalties, transitional implementation, & placement & installation. Click Here for Bill Details Analysis: This bill would repeal the use of red-light cameras in Florida. These cameras have not made intersections safer, but catching vehicles barely crossing the line as the light turns red has been a financial bonanza for the government. Florida Tenther Recommends: SUPPORT
John Hallman is an active, longtime voice in all levels of Florida politics and is a veteran of advocating issues of liberty in the Florida legislature. John has spent the last 20 years learning the real nature of the legislative process in Tallahassee and has learned what works and does not work through his personal experience. Besides his work in Tallahassee, John teaches activist training schools, is a frequent guest on radio talk shows, and has written numerous articles promoting individual liberty and limited government.