Watchdog group hits out at Ron DeSantis' special session plans: ‘Concerning'

While the dispute between Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Republican Party’s legislative leaders over his call for a special legislative session remains at an impasse, a government watchdog group is criticizing the governor for including changes to the citizen-led initiative process as part of that process.

Amy Keith, executive director of the Florida chapter of Common Cause, said she is in sync with Senate President Ben Albritton’s and Speaker of the House Daniel Perez’s joint public statement on Monday that the governor’s request that the Legislature convene on Jan. 27 was “premature” and “irresponsible.”

“We would agree that this special session is an unnecessary waste of taxpayer money which looks like it intends to rush through some incredibly complex issues in order to serve the political ambitions of the governor,” Keith said during a Zoom conference involving advocates from Southeastern states.

“Common Cause has long supported direct democracy and the ability of people to choose to amend their own governing documents, so it is particularly concerning to us that the governor would look to rush through changes to the ballot initiative process in a special session and attack the freedom of everyday Floridians to bring change to their communities through the amendment process, which they use when out of [touch] politicians refuse to listen to the voices of the people in our state.”

DeSantis noted on Monday in a press conference and subsequent proclamation sent to all members of the Florida Legislature that the Florida Department of State has previously identified several instances of fraud in the citizen initiative process during the 2024 election cycle, specifically with the campaign of Floridians Protecting Freedom, the organization that unsuccessfully advocated for Amendment 4 to enshrine abortion rights in the state’s Constitution.

The Florida Department of State’s Office of Election Crimes and Security released an interim report in October alleging that Floridians Protecting Freedom violated petition gathering laws. Last month, the group paid a $164,000 fine regarding those allegations but did not admit to or deny violating Florida election law.

DeSantis’ proclamation says that “the loopholes need to be immediately closed and the citizens’ initiative petition process needs to be strengthened to ensure the integrity of our election process.”

‘Extremely complex issues’

Keith said that the other issues included in DeSantis’ call for a special session — immigration, condominium reform, and hurricane relief — are all “extremely complex issues,” and that the regular legislative session slated to start March 4 would be the proper time when “those issues can be managed [and] can be properly investigated and deliberated.”

Keith noted that the proposed Jan. 27 start for the special session comes a day before special primary elections are being held in two congressional districts in Florida after Donald Trump chose the originally elected representatives to serve in his administration.

(District 1 has been held by Republican Matt Gaetz and District 6 by Republican Mike Waltz. Gaetz subsequently withdrew from consideration to serve as attorney general).

She said that the deadline to request a vote-by-mail ballot in both of those primary elections is on Jan. 16 at 5 p.m., highlighting the fact that Florida law now requires that all voters must request a vote-by-mail ballot if they choose to vote that way following the 2024 general election.