Big Vote on Floridians’ Right to Protest

Legislators on both sides of the aisle are criticizing the tactics being used to advance a bill that would criminalize free speech in Florida. 

We shouldn’t be surprised that those who want to infringe on Floridians’ Constitutional right to free speech are also comfortable breaking Senate procedure to do so, but that is exactly what’s happening.  

We first wrote about House Bill 1 back in January. As a reminder, HB1 would:

• Allow criminal charges to be brought against protesters who do things like block traffic, even if blocking traffic was not their intent; 
• Increase the criminal penalties for people convicted of crimes while protesting; 
• Keep people arrested in jail until their first appearance, a purely punitive measure that does nothing to keep society safe.
• Last summer, millions of people joined together in communities across the country to protest police brutality and to demand that America finally address long-standing racial, economic, and social inequality. 

That is the story of our democracy, forged in the streets, made more perfect every time conscientious citizens tie up their shoe laces and march. But Gov. DeSantis and certain legislators are prepared to criminalize protest by abusing Senate procedure to pass HB1. 

Thank you, as always, for your support.