They have finally stopped voting. It’s the best news to come out of Tallahassee in weeks.
The Florida Legislature ended its regular session Friday after passing a slew of dangerous and divisive bills that assault the basic rights of every Floridian. The worst of them are racist, sexist and elitist, and they should all face immediate legal challenges after inevitably being signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Our basic rights were under attack this session as never before.
The right to vote: New restrictions will require voters to prove U.S. citizenship when registering to vote by showing a passport or certified birth certificate. Millions of people have neither. The Florida version of President Trump’s SAVE America Act, this is also a brazen ploy to prevent young people from voting by barring college student IDs at the polls (HB 991). Opponents salvaged a concession — the law won’t take effect until after the November midterm elections.
The right to free speech: It’s modern-day McCarthyism (HB 1471). Florida will create a new state-level designation of domestic terrorism that could permanently ruin an organization’s reputation before it can fully defend itself. This terrifying law, championed by Broward Rep. Hillary Cassel, won’t make us safer. It gives the governor far too much power to covertly punish groups for exercising their First Amendment right to dissent.
The right to unionize: The Republicans’ union-busting tactics are now nakedly partisan, targeting unions for teachers, nurses and other public employees that support Democrats. Senate Bill 1296 imposes strict member voting rules to weaken those unions, threatening the bargaining rights for many workers at a time when Florida is increasingly unaffordable. This is too extreme even for some Republicans, eight of whom voted against the bill in a mini-rebellion in the House.
The right to self-govern: A wickedly cruel anti-diversity bill (SB 1134) builds on DeSantis’ repressive Stop WOKE Act of 2022 by threatening removal from office of city and county elected officials if they use public funds to promote diversity, equity and inclusion policies. Anyone could claim a violation and sue a city, an invitation to a flood of frivolous lawsuits. Fears are rampant that this law would ruin community festivals that promote cultural diversity, or routine LGBTQ proclamations for Pride Month.
The Florida Channel
For weeks, Michael Rajner of Fort Lauderdale has worked as a citizen lobbyist, fighting for restoration of ADAP money for HIV-AIDS patients in Florida.
A rare hopeful sign
On a brighter note, lawmakers approved a stopgap measure to keep low- and moderate-income HIV and AIDS patients getting their lifesaving medications under a program known as ADAP, the AIDS Drug Assistance Program.
The $31 million stopgap measure overrides a cruel funding cut by the state Department of Health and, for now, avoids a potential life-or-death situation for about 11,000 people in Florida.
It took a tenacious one-man lobbying effort by Michael Rajner, an HIV-positive advocate from Fort Lauderdale, and the solution is temporary, through June 30.
It’s a rare bright spot in an otherwise dreary session that prompted a senior Republican, Sen. Don Gaetz, to tell the Florida Phoenix: “I think we ought to be embarrassed.”
As the dust slowly settles, Democrats predict a wave of outrage, especially over the new voting restrictions. “You all are going to catch hell,” Sen. Tracie Davis, D-Jacksonville, told Republican colleagues.
How to change things
The level of political repression in this state has reached unprecedented levels. It’s a scary picture, but it’s the inevitable result of extreme one-party dominance.
The only way to ensure that it stops is for voters to demand change in the statewide elections in November.
On Friday, the regular session ended with no action on a state budget, a dereliction of duty that’s becoming increasingly common. Last year, the session extended from 60 to 105 days. Every day of overtime costs Florida taxpayers.
Legislative leaders plan to return to the Capitol to create a budget after Easter and Passover next month.
They face other unfinished business, as they are nowhere near an agreement on how to ask the voters to cut property taxes. That remains an unfulfilled promise by Republicans.
They’re also expected to pursue a Trump-backed move to redraw Florida congressional districts to favor Republicans in November. Such gerrymandering would violate the state Constitution.
When lawmakers adjourned Friday, everything left pending in the House and Senate was declared dead. That’s just as well, because so many remaining Republican-backed bills would have had terrible repercussions for the people of Florida.
They’ve done enough damage already.
The Sun Sentinel Editorial Board consists of Opinion Editor Steve Bousquet, Deputy Opinion Editor Dan Sweeney, editorial writers Pat Beall and Martin Dyckman, and Executive Editor Gretchen Day-Bryant. To contact us, email at letters@sun-sentinel.com.