Florida's GOP Legislature cracks down on ballot measures after near-misses on pot, abortion

TALLAHASSEE, Florida — Months after voters narrowly rejected ballot initiatives on abortion and marijuana, the Florida Legislature passed a sweeping new bill that may shut down future petition drives in the nation’s third-largest state.

Despite a legislative session marred by Republican infighting between Gov. Ron DeSantis and state House GOP leaders, the passage of the legislation gives the governor a win on one of his top priorities this year. It could also prove a significant roadblock to ongoing efforts to place another marijuana amendment on the 2026 ballot.

The measure would place significant restrictions and increased penalties on groups seeking to place an initiative on the ballot, including placing a limit on how many petitions a volunteer could collect. It would also require organizers to collect detailed personal information from those signing petitions, such as a driver's license number or part of their Social Security number.

Critics, including Democratic legislators, said the restrictions would make it nearly impossible to place initiatives on the ballot. They called the move payback for the near-passage last year of proposed amendments to guarantee access to abortion and legalize adult recreational marijuana. Both failed to clear the 60-percent threshold needed to pass initiatives in Florida.

“Those pesky Amendments 3 and 4 just came too damn close to passing, so we are going to make sure it doesn’t happen again,” said state Sen. Tina Polsky (D-West Palm Beach).

Backers of the change, however, said the bill came in response to an investigation launched by the state’s election crimes office under DeSantis that showed some people gathering petition signatures forged them or engaged in identity theft.

“I believe in insuring integrity in the process,” said state Rep. Jenna Persons-Mulicka (R-Fort Myers), one of the legislation's main sponsors.

During the past two decades, Florida voters have approved a long line of ballot initiatives opposed by many Republican leaders, including limits on class size, raising Florida’s minimum wage, approving the use of medical marijuana and restoring voting rights to convicted felons no longer in prison.

GOP legislators have made repeated changes to the process in that timeframe, including asking voters to increase the threshold needed to pass amendments from a simple majority to a supermajority.

DeSantis fiercely opposed the abortion and marijuana ballot measures last year and used the force of state government to defeat them.

He openly campaigned against the amendments during events organized by his official office. State agencies spent taxpayer money on ads warning voters about the dangers of marijuana and pushing back on the abortion amendment, which would have overturned the state’s six-week ban.

Legislators, however, did add a provision to the bill — HB 1205 — now headed to DeSantis that would bar the state from spending taxpayer money on any ads or communications about constitutional amendments.

State Sen. Don Gaetz, one of the main Senate sponsors, acknowledged the change was “inspired by actions” of the DeSantis administration.

“They engaged in behavior that will now be unlawful and will be prevented if we pass this bill,” Gaetz said.

DeSantis asked legislators back to Tallahassee in January to clamp down on ballot initiatives, as well as to address immigration and condominium legislation. He said legislators needed to act swiftly because some organizers were already gearing up for next year. But legislative leaders instead held off until this year’s regular session.

Smart & Safe Florida, the organization that tried to pass the marijuana amendment last year, has already been gathering signatures for a revamped 2026 initiative. The Department of State currently shows nearly 219,000 signatures have been verified. The group would need to successfully collect nearly 892,000 voter signatures to qualify for the ballot. The ballot measure will also need to be reviewed by the Florida Supreme Court.

A spokesperson for the organization did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the legislation. There is speculation that some of the restrictions — including one that says only Florida residents who are eligible to vote can collect petition signatures — could trigger lawsuits.

The bill headed to the governor cleared the House and Senate largely along partisan lines and drew sharp questioning and debate, including from those who contended restrictions on volunteers would scare people from helping out grass roots groups seeking to place items on the ballot.

But supporters pushed back and contended the legislation was needed: "How much corruption are you willing to tolerate to make sure something terrible doesn’t happen to our constitution?" asked Gaetz.