Here’s the quote from the Secretary of State’s news release: “The purpose of filing in the federal district court is to ensure that the changes to Florida’s election law are judged on their merits by eliminating the risk of a ruling impacted by outside influence,… ince the passage of HB 1355, we have seen...
The St. Pete Times is reporting on a protest yesterday in Tampa related to HB1355. Meanwhile, the AP & Miami Herald are reporting on a hearing today related to a libertarian group challenging Florida’s political committee regulatory structure. The plaintiffs’ counsel has a summary of their suit on their website. It appears to be one...
A 5-4 decision of the United States Supreme Court in Arizona Free Enterprise Club’s Freedom Club PAC et al. V. Bennett, Secretary of State of Arizona, et al. holding that Arizona’s matching funds law substantially burdened political speech and was not sufficiently justified by a compelling interest to survive First Amendment scrutiny quickly impacted Florida...
Numerous groups have reportedly filed objections with the Dept. of Justice regarding Florida’s request to preclear HB1355. The Bradenton Herald has a report on three public interest groups’ objections. Also online are objections from the ACLU Voting Rights Project and a letter from the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF), the Florida Conference...
I’ve updated my summary on HB1355, posted on the carltonfields.com website at: http://bit.ly/j1VJ0o.
The Florida Secretary of State has filed a preclearance submission pursuant to the Federal Voting Rights Act with the U.S. Department of Justice related to HB 1355 – you can read the cover letter, submission summary, and exhibit outlining the State’s summary of the new law here.