Government watchdogs are criticizing a revision in Florida ethics laws signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis.
"This law undermines the will of the people and will allow corruption to go unchallenged," said Amy Keith, Executive Director of Common Cause Florida.
The controversial measure (SB 7014) passed in the Senate on a 26-4 vote and in the House on a 79-34 party-line vote.
Born in the Senate Ethics Committee, the legislation purportedly seeks to limit time frames for investigating ethics complaints. It also requires public complaints be based entirely on a filer's personal knowledge of wrongdoing, which sponsors said was to discourage "frivolous" complaints.
"I believe that state and local ethics boards should be able to spend their time investigating serious violations of our ethics laws, not politically motivated public relations stunts designed to generate headlines," said Senate President Kathleen Passidomo in a statement when the bill passed. "All too often the current process is weaponized by bad actors."
But critics say the bill will gut ethics enforcement completely, eliminating the ability to file anonymous complaints or tips that lead to investigations and uncover legitimate wrongdoing.
"Let's be clear: This has never been about minimizing frivolous complaints; this is about making complaints almost impossible," Keith said.
"If this was truly about minimizing frivolous complaints, then these changes to Florida's ethics laws could have been introduced in committee and the public provided with the opportunity to be part of the deliberative process. Instead, these changes, which are designed to paralyze ethics complaints against public officials who have violated the public trust, were introduced at the last minute."
Jose Arrojo, Executive Director of the Miami-Dade Ethics Commission, voiced concerns in February to the Miami Herald that the new law could limit means of even bringing ethics concerns to the attention of officials.
"No more anonymous whistleblowers. No more employees referring information to us," Arrojo said.
Keith said the measure threatened transparency by putting hurdles and rapid time frames in place.
"The Governor and Florida Legislators who voted in favor and signed off on this new law failed to protect the integrity of our democracy. Instead, they chose to hide from accountability and silence the voices of Floridians who are trying to uphold our collective values," she said.
"Governor DeSantis says he believes that Floridians deserve protection from corruption, but his actions today speak otherwise. Common Cause Florida will continue to defend and strengthen the core democratic structures and tools that enable the people of Florida to mobilize and hold their leaders accountable."
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