FORT MYERS, Fla. — Protesters rallied outside the courthouse in downtown Fort Myers this week to oppose a new Florida law, which will make it harder to get constitutional amendments on the ballot.
The law, previously known as House Bill 1205, will require groups seeking to change the State constitution to post a $1 million bond before collecting signatures.
It also requires paid petition collectors to be legal Florida residents who can pass background checks, and shortens the timeframe for gathering signatures.
Watch Fort Myers Community Correspondent Miyoshi Price explain why people are for and against it:
"The thing that is a big problem with that law is that there has been widespread condemnation of it across the state," said Cindy Banyai, an opponent of the law.
She expressed concern and says the new restrictions will effectively eliminate community-based petition drives.
"The law itself actually basically kills the ability for grassroots organizations to have citizens petitions," said Banyai.
Banyai and fellow protesters are working to overturn the law by collecting signatures under the current rules before the new law takes effect.
"We're fight to collect 200,000 by July. So, that is only that is using the previous law that was on the books with grassroots organizations, with regular people just printing and signing and getting those ballots into their county supervisors of elections," said Banyai.
However, supporters of the new law argue the restrictions are necessary safeguards.
"They have to turn those in within 10 days. Now the reason that's there is to avoid fraud and abuse," said Tara Jenner, State Committeewoman for the Lee County Republican Party.
She defended the legislation and calls it a "common-sense regulation."
"It's just putting guardrails in there to decrease fraudulent abuse and external forces speaking on behalf and implying that they're speaking on behalf of Floridians," said Jenner.
Jenner believes citizens should first approach their elected representatives before turning to petition drives.
"When you want to change to the law, or you want an amendment to the law, your first go to should be your state rep and your state senator," said Jenner.
This story was reported by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
