UPDATE:
On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Mark Walker imposed a preliminary injunction on a major provision of HB 1205, according to a press release from Florida Decides Healthcare, a non-profit trying to get Medicaid expansion on the ballot next year.
ORIGINAL:
The League of Women Voters of Florida and the League of United Latin American Citizens took legal action Tuesday.
The organizations are seeking an injunction against a state law that makes getting amendments on ballots in Florida harder.
The law, House Bill 1205, places heavy restrictions on the citizen-led amendment process.
Among other things, the law requires many petition collectors to disclose detailed personal information to the state, and puts harsh criminal penalties on those who make mistakes in the process.
Cecile Scoon, Co-president of the League of Women Voters, said the law is an attempt to silence voters.
“This pathway for a citizen-led initiative amendment process is our saving grace. And now they’re trying to take that away, also,” Scoon told WMNF.
Cecile Scoon, Co-president of the League of Women Voters of Florida, said in May that the new law has caused worry in petition collectors.
“They’re upset, they don’t want to be fined, they don’t want to get a felony. They don’t want to cause any trouble for the sponsors of these petitions,” Scoon said in an interview with WMNF in May.
Last year, both recreational marijuana and abortion were placed on the ballot through the petition-gathering process.
The two groups’ preliminary injunction motion argues the law violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments by infringing on free speech, freedom of association, and due process rights.
Supporters of the law say the law protects the amendment process from outsiders.
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