Florida's DeSantis moves long-stalled protest crackdown on heels of Capitol riots

TALLAHASSEE — Hours after Trump-supporting rioters besieged to the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday over baseless claims that the election was stolen from the president, Republicans in Florida filed much-awaited legislation they say is designed to crack down on violent protests.

The idea is the brainchild of Gov. Ron DeSantis, a top Trump ally who this fall signaled one of his top 2021 legislative priorities would be passing legislation aimed at cracking down on what he termed “violent agitators.” That announcement was pegged to months of nationwide protests sparked by the death of George Floyd, a Black man who died under the knee of a white Minneapolis police officer.

Legislation filed late Wednesday in both the Florida House and Senate does not carry the exact vision DeSantis laid out on the heels of last summer’s protests, but does attempt to crack down on the “defund the police” movement that aims to redirect police funding to social services. The bills would also boost penalties for already illegal actions during what the bills term “riots” and make it a felony to pull down “any memorial,” a nod to the heated fights in Florida and elsewhere over whether to remove Confederate monuments.

“In light of today’s events at our United States Capitol, we have no time to waste to uphold public safety,” DeSantis said in a Wednesday night statement. “I look forward to working with House Speaker Sprowls and Senate President Simpson to swiftly pass this bill during the upcoming Legislative Session so that we may protect the rule of law in our great state.”

The timing of DeSantis’ protest crackdown vision moving forward as the pro-Trump rioters raged is notable. Trump’s political base is seen as key to the national political aspirations held by DeSantis, who went from a backbench member of Congress best known for Fox News appearances to the governor of Florida in 2018 largely due to Trump’s endorsement. DeSantis did release his own statement Tuesday calling violence in the U.S. Capitol “unacceptable,” but used the internationally-watched unrest in the Capitol as the moment to release his own crackdown proposals.

The move will set up a legislative showdown with Democrats, who are the political minority in both chambers of the state's Legislature but have vowed to do everything they can to stop the legislation. They continue to see the proposal rooted in Republican’s desire to crack down on things like the Floyd-prompted summer protests and the Black Lives Matter movement, even as they view Republicans taking a softer approach toward violent protests spurred by those perceived as conservatives or Trump supporters.

State Rep. Omari Hardy, a Mangonia Park Democrat, said the bill is nothing more than DeSantis’ trying to court Trump supporters as he eyes a 2024 bid for the White House.

“When I decided to run, I thought I would fight bad legislation that is fundamentally un-American, but this thing is not only unconstitutional, but just clearly signals [DeSantis'] ambition to run for president,” Hardy said in an interview. “This is just more stupidity from people who should know better.”

The bills were released at nearly 8:30 p.m. as part of a coordinated rollout that included DeSantis and House Speaker Chris Sprowls and Senate President Wilton Simpson, both Tampa-area Republicans, a clear signal the proposal not only has the governor’s support, but will have real legislative juice.

“Together we are taking immediate action in Florida by filing the Combating Violence, Disorder and Looting and Law Enforcement Protection Act,” Sprowls said in a joint statement released with Simpson and DeSantis. “The House will work together with Governor DeSantis and the Senate to protect Floridians from this kind of nonsensical violence.”

The 51-page bill would also take an aggressive approach to budgeting of local police departments. Under the initial language, a local government that cuts its police budget could be subject to an appeal by any person. That appeal would be subject to a budget hearing held by the governor’s office, and later a ruling by a separate commission that includes the governor. If that commission decides police cuts were unneeded, they could restore the funding and the decision would be final.

Beyond budgeting, the proposals would also make it easier to sue government bodies, which generally share wide-ranging lawsuit protections known as sovereign immunity. Those protections would be lifted and governments could be sued under the bill for “damages caused during a riot,” or if a government is found to interfere with “reasonable law enforcement action” during a riot.”

The proposed legislation also would increase penalties for already illegal actions, like assault and battery, when those actions are taken “in furtherance of a riot.”

“This bill takes stuff that is already a crime and says if you do it with people, we will punish you more,” said Jason Blank, a partner with the Fort Lauderdale firm of Haber Blank LLP and secretary of the Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. “It is wrought with vague terms and descriptions. It is stunning to me that this is represented as something that could pass anyone’s muster.”

There would also be a new “mob intimidation” provision that makes it illegal for three or more people to gather in an attempt to “induce another person by force, or thread of force, to do any act or to assume or abandon a particular viewpoint.”

The proposal also would create a first-degree misdemeanor for anyone who publishes another person’s identification information with the intent that information is used to “threaten, intimidate, harass, incite violence, or commit a crime against a person, or place.”

Cracking down on doxxing, or the public publishing of someone’s identifying information, including things like addresses, is a priority for Sprowls, who used his first floor speech as House speaker to call for stiffer penalties for those who dox.

Blank, with the defense lawyers association, said the doxxing provision is broadly worded and could limit basic political speech.

“That could include something like publishing something with someone's name in it,” he said. “It will absolutely butt heads with people's political speech rights.”

The proposal would not expand Florida’s Stand Your Gound law, as DeSantis originally wanted. Under earlier draft proposals, which were reported by the Miami Herald, DeSantis’ office wanted to expand the law to allow the use of force against someone who engages in acts that results in the “interpretation or impairment” of a business.

Opponents told the newspaper they thought would legalize the shooting of suspected looters.