‘Broad’ bills may test legal limits

TALLAHASSEE – One bill would ban local governments from enacting any business regulations. Another would allow people to sue businesses that ban guns if they get hurt. And a third would ban all “obscene material” from the internet.

These are among the bills before the Florida Legislature this year that a civil liberty advocate says could be unconstitutional or at least overly broad.

For example, Rep. Ross Spano, R-Dover, filed HB 337 last month and named it the “Human Trafficking Prevention Act.” Much of it

is aimed at combating human trafficking and child pornography, but it also looks to restrict regular pornography or other sexual content.

It would require makers and sellers of any device that accesses the internet to include a filter that blocks out “obscene material.” That’s defined as material with a “prurient interest” without “serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.”

Kirk Bailey, a public policy advocate for the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, said the bill may be well-intended but could unconstitutionally restrict free speech rights.

“I think the problem is people have different definitions of what ‘obscene’ is,” Bailey said. “This [bill] toys around the edges of censorship and free speech.”

Under the bill, businesses would have to set up a call center or website for people to report obscene material that gets through the filter. Those who don’t respond or update their filters to account for the material could be sued by the state. Consumers would have to pay the state a $20 fee to deactivate the filter.

The U.S. Supreme Court has consistently struck down laws aimed at banning pornography as violations of free speech. Attempts to restrict obscene material on the internet have also been quashed by the court.

Spano did not return calls for comment Friday.

The regulation imposed by Spano’s bill is an unusual push from a Republican. A measure from Rep. Randy Fine, RBrevard County, is more in line with the GOP’s pro-business philosophy, but it also has farreaching consequences.

Fine filed HB 17 last week. It would bar local governments from passing new regulations on businesses, professions or occupations. Any such regulation passed by a city or county after Jan. 1 would be null and void.

“[Local governments] can pass regulations; they just have to be regulations that are expressly authorized by the state,” Fine said.

Fine saud he wants to ease regulatory burdens on small businesses that don’t have the means to hire an army of lawyers and lobbyists to comply with a “patchwork” of regulations that exist in Florida’s 67 counties and more than 400 cities.

Bailey, however, isn’t buying that argument.

“[The bill] is so broad that I can’t imagine cities and counties and businesses going along with that,” Bailey said. “Forget even protecting civil liberties – they won’t be able to do anything.”

Sen. Greg Steube, R-Sarasota, says a bill he filed is all about restoring civil liberties. Under SB 610, businesses that ban guns could be sued by gun permit holders injured on their property.

“If you’re denying my [Second Amendment] right you have a cause of action against that business for denying that right,” Steube said.

The bill would open up to lawsuits businesses such as Walt Disney, which recently stopped a man trying to bring a gun into one of its parks. But Steube says he hasn’t heard from any business groups opposed to it yet.

Bailey said he’s worried about a “coordinated effort” to chip away at civil liberties by pressing for outlandish measures but settling for laws that still erode rights.

Many of the thousands of bills that get filed each year never get a hearing, but some still make it into law, including ones that push existing legal boundaries.

Florida, for instance, was the first state to pass a Stand Your Ground law, rolling back rules that require those under attack to retreat before using self-defense. It had bipartisan support when it was passed in 2005, and it became a template for other states to copy.

It attracted controversy after the Trayvon Martin case, when some civil rights groups argued it gives too much protection to those initiating attacks.

“I hope clear heads will prevail,” Bailey said of Fine’s bill.

Many of the thousands of bills that get filed each year never get a hearing, but some still make it into law.