Pizzo could boost DeSantis’ anti-riot bill

TALLAHASSEE — Sen. Jason Pizzo, a Miami Democrat whose name is often floated as a potential candidate for governor in 2022, could play a major role in advancing an anti-riot bill loathed by most Democrats but a top priority of Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Pizzo is the chairman of the Senate Criminal Justice Committee, an unusual top assignment on a key panel for a member of the minority party. His panel is the first stop for the bill. Senate chairs typically get

to set their own agendas, so Pizzo theoretically could stop the bill in its tracks by simply refusing to hear the measure.

The bill is drawing heated opposition from progressive groups and if Pizzo agrees to hear the bill, even if he votes against it, could hurt his standing in a Democratic primary field with more progressive candidates.

Pizzo, a former assistant state attorney, has already indicated he’ll hear the bill, telling The Florida Bar News earlier this month, “I am of the gut feeling that when things are controversial and maybe heated and of great interest, they should be put on the agenda.”

“There’s a whole group of people who think it’s wonderful and another whole group who think it’s awful. Agenda this and talk them through. Observe the merits or the lack thereof.”

Attempts by the Orlando Sentinel to reach Pizzo for comment were unsuccessful.

Those comments, though, came before the bills were filed, and before the Jan. 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol by supporters of former President Donald Trump as Congress was preparing to certify his Electoral College loss to President Joe Biden.

Senate President Wilton Simpson, who stood beside DeSantis when he unveiled the proposal in September, didn’t say whether he’d pressure Pizzo to hear the bill but indicated it would likely move in his chamber.

“I appointed chairs who believe, as I do, that as senators, we should be open to discussing and debating serious issues impacting our communities,” said Simpson, R-Trilby, in an emailed statement.

The bill already is starting to move in the House, where it cleared its first committee late Wednesday after two hours of intense debate. The bill hasn’t been scheduled for its first hearing yet in the Senate.

Christian Ulvert, a Miami Democratic consultant who worked on Pizzo’s 2018 Senate campaign, said he doesn’t think it’ll hurt his chances in a potential Democratic gubernatorial primary.

“He doesn’t shy away from tough moments, and this is going to be a tough moment but to simply say, ‘I’m the chair of this committee this bill will never come through this committee,’ ” would hurt the Democrats’ chances to affect the substance of the bill, Ulvert said.

Plus, since Republicans control the chamber, Simpson could use procedural moves to get the bill to the floor anyway, he added.

DeSantis first unveiled the proposal in September, after a summer of Black Lives Matter protests across the country against police brutality, sparked by the death of George Floyd, a Black man, at the hands of Minneapolis police last May. He called for increased penalties for those involved in organizing protests that turn violent, as some of the protests last summer did.

The bills, SB 484 and HB 1, would require a six-month minimum sentence for those convicted of battery on a police officer during a protest and make destroying a memorial or statue — including those honoring Confederate generals and soldiers — a second-degree felony. It also bans the practice of blocking roadways, a tactic of some Black Lives Matter protests, and would grant immunity to motorists who drive through protesters.

The measure also takes aim at the “defund the police” movement advocated by some groups involved in the police protests. State approval would be required for cities seeking to cut funding for police departments and makes local governments civilly liable if they “obstruct or interfere” with police’s ability to restore order during a civil disturbance.

Other Democrats in the Legislature have decried the bills as deliberately targeting minority communities’ right to protest.

Progressive groups also denounced the measure before the bills were filed, and the campaign to stop the bills in the Legislature has grown since.

“Rather than stoking racial hate division to undermine our rights to free speech and assembly, our Governor should be calling on the legislature to secure Floridians rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness and the right to make our grievances known by peaceful protest,” said the Rev. James Morris, an Orlando-based activist with the Poor People’s Campaign, a national advocacy group promoting policies to help the poor and end systemic racism. “That’s how this nation was born.”

The Dream Defenders, a group that held a monthlong sit-in of the Florida Capitol in 2013 after George Zimmerman was acquitted of the murder of Trayvon Martin, are also trying to rally support to kill the bill.

“In 2013, we occupied the FL State Capitol for 30 nights and 31 days,” the group posted on Twitter Wednesday, with a link to a petition to oppose the bill. “If DeSantis’ Censorship and Repression Bill were law back then, or lives and futures would have been threatened.”

After the storming of the U.S. Capitol, DeSantis, a staunch Trump ally, also cited the insurrection as a reason to crack down on protests that devolve into violence. So have Simpson and House Speaker Chris Sprowls, key legislative leaders who have publicly backed DeSantis’ plan.

“Clearly, the events that took place at the Capitol, and others across the country over the summer months have caused great concern,” Simpson said. “I see this as a bipartisan issue. Everyone respects the right of Americans to peacefully protest; however, no one wants to see our great law enforcement officers attacked or anyone’s property damaged or destroyed.”