A House panel advanced a bill that critics fear will be a death blow to the citizen ballot initiative process.

The House Government Operations Subcommittee supported HB 1205 even as community activists and Democrats spoke out overwhelmingly against it during a more than two-hour debate.

Republicans argued that more protections are needed in the election process to protect the state constitution. 

HB 1205 would require petition sponsors to post a $1 million bond before they can pass out petitions, speed up petition deadlines and require people signing petitions to include their driver’s license number or last four digits of their Social Security number.

“Over the past few election cycles, it has become apparent that our citizen initiative process is broken,” said the bill sponsor, Rep. Jenna Persons-Mulicka. “The process has been taken over by out-of-state fraudsters looking to make a quick buck and by special interests intent on buying their way into our constitution.”

The Fort Myers Republican is sponsoring the bill as Gov. Ron DeSantis has targeted reforming the constitutional amendment process following last year’s failed Amendment 4 abortion rights initiative. Following the end of Roe v. Wade, a volunteer-led effort helped collect more than 1 million petitions to put Amendment 4 on the ballot. DeSantis became personally involved and deployed state resources to help defeat the initiative in November.

Persons-Mulicka called the $1 million bond a “reasonable amount” as she faced critics who spoke out against it.

“The bond is intended to protect the public, protect the integrity of the petition process, and provide a surety against any future fines,” she said, bringing up the Amendment 4 political action committee’s $164,000 settlement with the state over allegations the paid petition circulators submitted fraudulent petitions.

Lauren Brenzel, the former campaign director for Amendment 4, told lawmakers, “I’m hearing a ton of misinformation about Amendment 4 in this committee, and I want to address it. First of all, Amendment 4 had the highest validity rate of any petition in recent history.”

Persons-Mulicka said the changes also included requiring signed petitions to be turned in within 10 days, instead of the previous 30 days, to give Elections Supervisors more time to review them. 

As for the additional personal information required on the petitions, she said, “We need to put some type of protection on the actual petition itself, and that’s where the identification requirements come in. It’s the same identity requirements required for a voter registration application.”

When a lawmaker asked if other states had similar rules in place for ballot initiatives, Persons-Mulicka answered, “We’re trying to be the leader again in the nation.” 

In a Republican-controlled Legislature, citizen-led ballot initiatives have succeeded in the past to install more progressive proposals, such as raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour or reinstating voting rights for most felons. But ballot initiatives already face a steep challenge to win since they must get at least 60% of the vote.

“Our citizen’s amendment process allows anyone, regardless of wealth or resources, to propose an idea, whether good or bad. This has allowed fantastic ideas like Everglades funding, amendments on property taxes and many others to be enshrined in our constitution for generations to enjoy,” said Rep. Daryl Campbell, a Democrat from Fort Lauderdale.

Several conservative Christian groups and the Florida Chamber of Commerce spoke in favor of the bill to protect the constitution from being changed. Meanwhile, student activists and others argued the proposed $1 million bond meant only special interest groups would be able to afford to bring forth ballot initiatives.

Campbell argued that lawyer John Morgan or groups like Americans for Prosperity should not be only the ones moving constitutional amendments forward. “I want everyone to have an equal shot,” he said.

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U.S. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna is calling on President Donald Trump to use his executive authority to remove roadblocks stopping Pinellas County from moving forward with critical beach nourishment needs.

In a letter to Trump Wednesday, Luna asks the President to “direct the United States Army Corps of Engineers to allocate the appropriate amount of Flood Control and Coastal Emergencies funding required to support the immediate construction” of Pinellas County’s Shore Protection Project.

The project would provide beach nourishment in Sand Key, Treasure Island and Long Key, as well as other areas along Pinellas County’s Gulf Coast, that have suffered erosion from recent storms.

In her letter, Luna notes the $745 million included in the American Relief Act for funding “for necessary expenses to prepare for flood, hurricane, and other natural disasters.”

The nourishment project is more important than ever, after Hurricanes Helene and Milton brought damaging winds and storm surge to Pinellas County and other parts of Florida’s West coast within two weeks of each other this past Fall. The storms were particularly impactful to Pinellas beaches, which were left vulnerable after delays to nourishment projects.

At issue is an Army Corps requirement that 100% property owners of beach property sign easement documents granting public access to their land. Pinellas County was unable to secure all of the required signatures needed for the nourishment projects by the Army Corps deadline, which came and passed on Friday.

“These back to back hurricanes destroyed what was left of the county’s shore protection infrastructure, leaving homeowners and business owners completely exposed to any future severe coastal weather events and to the 2025 hurricane season,” Luna wrote.

She described the Army Corps policy as a “bureaucratic roadblock” that is preventing “timely construction of this project.” 

While the rule has long been in place, the Army Corps had previously worked with the county to place as much sand as possible in nourishment areas utilizing construction easements.

Luna further noted that some damage from Hurricanes Helene and Milton might have been avoided had there not been delays to beach nourishment. Luna wrote that 13 people died in the storm and said she estimates property damage in excess of $3 billion.

She requests that Trump waive its easement policy requirements, noting that “a major focus” of his administration has been “to reduce bureaucracy and streamline the completion of infrastructure projects.”

Luna’s letter comes after Pinellas County Commissioner Kathleen Peters led a delegation of county officials to Washington, D.C., to meet with various federal officials to push for federal help completing the stalled nourishment projects.

The county has been working on a plan for a county-led project while still pressing federal officials for relief on easement language that would make it easier to obtain federal help.

The group had a meeting at the White House, followed by meetings with U.S. Sen. Rick Scott and Luna, who have been advocating for federal relief in Pinellas. Meetings were also held with U.S. Sen. Ashley Moody’s staff, as well as with Army Corps Acting Principal Deputy Secretary Stacey Brown.

Typically, the federal cost share for beach nourishment projects is 65%. Projects have taken place periodically on Pinellas beaches for decades.

The Army Corps has taken its hard-line stance now because officials realize patchwork nourishment is ineffective.

“If we don’t get all the easements, and we can’t nourish the entire beach, basically what we have is a bucket with holes in it,” Commissioner Brian Scott said last week at a meeting encouraging residents to sign the easement documents. “And we all know water is going to go where the least resistance is, and that is not a resilient solution for us long-term.”

Peters also sent a letter to Trump with a similar ask last month.

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