Florida House passes anti-riot bill, virus liability protection
TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Ron DeSantis’ agenda got a major boost Friday as a sharply divided Florida House passed two of his main priorities — a bill imposing harsher penalties on rioters and another giving liability protections to businesses against COVID-19-related lawsuits.
The COVID-19 liability bill, SB 72, now heads to DeSantis’ desk, where it could be the first bill signed into law this year. The anti-riot bill, HB 1, heads to the Senate after passing the House following a bitter partisan debate that lasted nearly six hours.
The vote on the riot bill was 76-39, along partisan lines, and Democrats invoked the nation’s history of racial segregation laws and the role of protests in rolling back those laws. Many asserted the bill was intended to restrict the right to protest peacefully, and they cited DeSantis’ September press conference to unveil the proposal after a summer of Black Lives Matter protests against police brutality in response to the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police.
Rep. Kamia Brown, D-Ocoee, also cited protests in the country’s history, including the Boston Tea Party, the abolitionist protests against slavery and the civil rights movement in the 1960s.
“It is a direct assault on the foundation of democracy,” Brown said. “When people are mistreated and their elected or appointed leaders aren’t helping them, protest is their voice.”
Rep. Juan Fernandez-Barquin, R-Miami-Dade County, sponsor of the bill, disputed that criticism, saying the bill would only punish those who engage in violent acts during a riot.
“If you break the law, you have to suffer the consequences,” Fernandez-Barquin said. “A protester is not a rioter, and a rioter is not a protester. You have no right to riot.”
Under the bill, a riot is defined as a “violent public disturbance involving an assembly of three or more persons acting with common intent” that results in imminent danger to people or property or injury to a person or property and is punishable as a third-degree felony.
Aggravated rioting is defined as involving nine or more people, resulting in “great bodily harm,” property damage more than $5,000, the use of a deadly weapon or threatening vehicles on the road, and is punishable as a second-degree felony.
Also, anyone arrested while rioting would be denied bail until their first court appearance.
Democrats argued the definitions and the increased penalties would allow police to interpret them broadly, cracking down on protests that didn’t turn violent. Many argued the law would be applied unevenly anyway, and compared the death of Floyd and other African-Americans by police with the softer treatment of the mostly white insurrectionists who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 in an attempt to overthrow the election.
“What I need you to understand is not all protesters are treated equally,” said Rep. Fentrice Driskell, D-Tampa.
Racial tensions percolated throughout the debate, and reached a peak after Rep. Webster Barnaby, R-Deltona, the only Black Republican in the chamber, defended the bill and chided Black Democrats for claiming the bill was steeped in racism.
“It’s time to stop this constant refrain about racism. It’s crazy,” Barnaby said. “We’re all God’s children. There’s one race, it’s called the human race.”
Rep. Omari Hardy, D-West Palm Beach, who is Black, then said he heard another member, Rep. Michelle Salzmann, R-Pensacola, refer to Barnaby as a “token Black Republican,” which Salzmann denies saying. The comment produced a collective gasp in the chamber, and House Speaker Chris Sprowls quickly stepped in to cool tensions.
“I’m going to ask you to keep your comments to the content of the bill and not to personalities,” said Sprowls, R-Palm Harbor.
Other provisions of the bill would require a six-month minimum sentence for those convicted of battery on a police officer during a riot. It also bans the practice of blocking roadways — a tactic of some Black Lives Matter protests — and would grant immunity from civil actions to motorists who drive through protesters, although they could still be charged criminally.
The COVID-19 liability bill, SB 72, passed on an 83-31 vote.
The bill makes it difficult to bring a claim against a business or health care provider by requiring an affidavit from a medical professional asserting the person contracted COVID-19 on its property and requiring “clear and convincing evidence” of “gross negligence” — a high legal standard — to bring a case. Also, lawsuits must be filed within a year after the bill is signed into law to be valid.