Government watchdogs would lose some teeth under bill headed to DeSantis

Without citing specific examples, Florida lawmakers passed legislation on Thursday that would prohibit local watchdog commissions from launching their own investigations into public corruption and ethics violations, arguing that some local cases have been “weaponized” for political gain.

Under the proposed measure — which is now on its way to Gov. Ron DeSantis’ desk — local ethics panels across the state would only be able to investigate misconduct by public officials if someone with personal knowledge of the wrongdoing is willing to identify themselves by name and file a complaint under oath.

It is not entirely clear why lawmakers sought to make the change, but the provision impacting local ethics panels has worried officials in various jurisdictions, including Miami-Dade County, where the ethics commission has self-initiated ethics investigations that have led to the criminal indictments of elected officials such as ex-Miami Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla.

House Speaker Paul Renner, R-Palm Coast, told reporters on Wednesday night that he is aware of the concerns raised by some watchdog groups but said he is also concerned that politics is increasingly playing a role in ethics investigations.

“We have become more and more partisan and less and less objective about ethics,” Renner said. “I am certainly someone that cares about ethics and if it is a Republican that is misbehaving I would say go get ‘em and go after them. But we see a great partisan divide where people are weaponizing these claims especially just before an election.”

Senate President Kathleen Passidomo, R-Naples, said in a statement on Thursday that she is concerned that in some jurisdictions “the self-initiation powers are or could be politicized and weaponized.”

“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,” Passidomo said. “All too often the current process is weaponized by bad actors.”

Passidomo said it is especially concerning “if inadmissible hearsay is allowed and the commission can order and enforce its own penalties.”

To that point, a provision in the bill would require ethics complaints across the state to bear the name of the accuser and that allegations are written, signed under oath and based “upon personal knowledge or information other than hearsay.”

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A new ethics standard for Florida

Sen. Danny Burgess, the bill sponsor in the Senate, said the new threshold is meant to ensure ethics complaints are based on “merit” and to bring “fairness” for both the victim of alleged wrongdoing and the accused.

The goal is to bring “uniformity” to the state’s ethics complaint process, he said, which is why he is targeting local ethics boards with more stringent standards than the ones being set for the Florida Commission on Ethics.” The Zephyrhills Republican added the state wants to avoid the possibility of “forum shopping.”

Burgess said he talked to “several elected officials, the commission on Ethics, and others” before adding that provision onto his bill.

State Rep. Robert Brackett, the bill sponsor in the House, had not included the language that would impact local ethics boards’ ability to launch investigations early in the legislative session. But he moved to the Senate’s position this week and rejected several proposals from House Democrats that would have restored those local powers.

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Brackett said he did not consult any local ethics officials on the matter when Democrats said many had raised concerns. Instead, he explained that local officials should not have more authority to investigate ethics cases than state ethics officers.

“If we are going to have a local board do this down there then we want them to follow the same regulations the state follows,” Brackett said.

State Rep. Ashley Gantt, D-Miami, said that she took the “down there” reference to mean that the bill aims to target the Miami-Dade Commision on Ethics and Public Trust.

“I fully believe this bill is trying to chill their effectiveness,” Gantt said. “What we have in place is effective in making sure we have integrity in our elected officials.”

Jose Arrojo, the executive director of the Miami-Dade ethics commission, said last month the state would force them to sit on information worth investigating unless someone comes forward and files a complaint under oath.

“No more anonymous whistleblowers. No more employees referring information to us,” Arrojo said.

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Brackett also argued that the local ethics commission should be “complaint-driven” when it comes to investigations. He added that he does not think the state or local ethics officials should be investigating allegations based on what they read on a news outlet.

“I don’t think that is the proper way to handle investigations,” Brackett said. “We don’t want a bunch of frivolous investigations and frivolous complaints.”

Other provisions in the bill would speed up the timeframe in which ethics complaints are reviewed and investigated.

For those timeline changes, lawmakers pointed to the ethics case against Jack Latvala, a former state senators who resigned from office amid sexual harassment allegations. His ethics complaint was dismissed five years later after the accusers refused to participate after investigators had revealed sufficient evidence to find probable cause for various ethical violations.

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Overall, Renner told reporters that he does not think the broad ethics package will slow down public corruption cases at the local level. But if it does, he said lawmakers should look to amend the bill in the future.

“I don’t think we have shut down corruption cases in Florida. I don’t think you can draw that from the bill,” Renner said. But, he said, “ if it looks like there’s been some constraint of legitimate corruption cases then I would be the first one to step up and argue that we should take a half step back or a full step back from that piece of the bill — if in fact that happens.”

If signed by the governor, the new measures would take effect October 1.