Legislature’s new demand on citizens is too intrusive
TALLAHASSEE — It’s too difficult for everyday people to get to the state Capitol, where decisions affect their kids’ education, how they vote and whether women can control their own bodies.
It’s too far to drive and too expensive to fly. If you can get there somehow, it’s a forbidding place that speaks in a language all its own, of “strike-all” amendments and “nonrecurring revenue.” It’s an intimidating place if you’re not a bureaucrat or a lobbyist.
Despite those obstacles, many citizens travel to Tallahassee every session to express their views, even if it’s for a fleeting 30 seconds or one minute at the end of a threehour committee meeting — as it was for too many people last session. Dozens made an all-day drive from Key West to testify against a bill that wiped out a citywide referendum to ban large cruise ships in the city.
Sometimes, people get a hand up from third-party groups — businesses, labor unions or advocacy groups — with a stake in the outcome of legislation. When a hundred people appear overnight in the Capitol Rotunda to march in favor of a higher minimum wage or against new immigration restrictions, it’s patently obvious that someone helped. This is sometimes known as “astroturfing,” in which a special interest writes enough checks to create the mirage of a mobilized citizenry.
The Florida Senate recently added a new requirement that it calls transparency, but which advocates see as an act of intimidation designed to further marginalize the voices of everyday Floridians.
Everyone who testifies before a Senate committee must fill out a simple one-page appearance form. But there’s a new section and a box for private citizens that says: “I am not a lobbyist, but received something of value for my appearance (travel, meals, lodging, etc.), sponsored by: ____________.”
In the Senate, anyone who travels to Tallahassee now must disclose who’s paying their way and whether they got anything of value, even a lousy T-shirt or a granola bar, as some interpret it. The form includes a “please,” and if there’s any penalty, it wasn’t explained, but some people probably aren’t going to take that chance. They’ll stay home instead.
“They want to smear us as ‘paid protesters,’ ” said Thomas Kennedy of Miami, a leader of the Florida Immigrant Coalition. “It’s intrusive and it’s intimidating for people. It’s anti-democratic.”
The announcement of the policy change came at a Sept. 20 meeting of the Senate Reapportionment Committee. The goal is to avoid a repeat of the fiasco of a decade ago in this very Senate when secretive political consultants, hiding in the shadows, influenced the mapmaking and created “a false impression of a widespread grass-roots movement,” as the panel’s chairman, Sen. Ray Rodrigues, R-Estero, said.
What was overlooked at that meeting was Rodrigues’ remark that the blanket disclosure policy is “Senate-wide,” which means it applies to all citizens speaking on all bills in all committees.
Senate President Wilton Simpson’s spokeswoman, Katie Betta, said public participation will have greater transparency.
“It’s not in any way an attempt to discourage people from coming here. We welcome people,” Betta said.
Rep. Omari Hardy, D-West Palm Beach, an outspoken progressive and congressional candidate, said he supports the policy, after seeing a group of Belle Glade residents testify in support of a controversial cane-burning bill. He said they got help from the sugar industry.
“It’s important for people to know who’s buttering your bread,” Hardy said. “I favor transparency.”
Ida Eskamani of the statewide social justice group Florida Rising expressed outrage at what she sees as another unnecessary barrier to democracy.
“This process is already very inaccessible,” Eskamani said. “The Florida Legislature has continually put up roadblocks.”
She recalled the Senate’s decision last spring to require all witnesses to testify remotely from a nearby basketball arena “under the cover of COVID.” The House allowed citizens inside the Capitol, but required them to preregister prior to committee meetings.
“Folks have a right to be part of an organization to collectively advocate,” Eskamani said.
I’ve got a better idea: Put the disclosure responsibility on the sponsoring organization, not private citizens. Make all groups file monthly reports on how much they spend on lobbying, including hotels, transportation and meals. Nothing wrong with that.
I didn’t know that astroturfing was such a grave threat to the republic, when the outcome of almost every piece of legislation in a Republican-dominant Capitol is patently obvious.
It’s too bad the Florida Senate is not as troubled about untraceable money laundering between political committees or undisclosed “dark money” donors as it is about a handful of working people getting bus fare to a faraway Capitol — so they can speak for 30 seconds.