With no debate, the House voted 111-1 on Wednesday to prohibit unelected state employees from conducting campaign-type activities during working hours and require agency heads to live in Tallahassee.
Similar legislation is advancing in the Senate, but Gov. Ron DeSantis has signaled that he will veto the proposal if it reaches his desk.
The governor has targeted Melbourne Republican Rep. Debbie Mayfield’s bill, HB 1445, during press conferences this week, saying it would become law “over his veto pen.”
State employees couldn’t participate in political campaigns, solicit contributions, or use their authority to influence people’s votes under the bill. Those prohibitions would apply both to candidate and issue campaigns, and employees could face first-degree misdemeanor penalties if they do so.
The sole vote against HB 1445 came from Delray Beach Republican Rep. Mike Caruso, the only House lawmaker standing with the governor this year.
Mayfield referred to her proposal on the House floor as good public policy. HB 1445 makes “several changes with the goal of ensuring that our elected officials and our appointed officials are fully committed and focused on their primary duties of serving the state of Florida,” the sponsor said.
DeSantis hasn’t publicly addressed the anti-politicking aspect of the legislation. Instead, he has focused on the requirement that his appointees live in the state capital by Oct. 1, the location of all agency headquarters.
“They’re pulling it out of their rear ends and trying to jam it through this process. Over my veto pen,” DeSantis said, likening Tallahassee to the D.C. swamp.
The involvement by state officials in DeSantis’ campaign against the ballot initiatives to legalize recreational marijuana and restore abortion access prompted legal challenges last year and has come under renewed scrutiny this legislative session.
State House deepens probe of Hope Florida Foundation’s political activity
A House panel is investigating the transfer of legal settlement money through the Hope Florida Foundation to campaign against the marijuana initiative. Then-DeSantis’ chief of staff, now state attorney general, James Uthmeier organized the money transfer to the anti-pot committee, Keep Florida Clean, which he ran, according to evidence unearthed by reporters and a House committee.
Uthmeier played down any suggestion of wrongdoing during a press conference Monday, saying there’s “not a problem.”
Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo appeared in press conferences against the marijuana constitutional amendment and got sued over the health department’s letters threatening broadcasters that aired ads on behalf of the pro-abortion-rights campaign, Amendment 4.
Additionally, the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration’s creation of a webpage stating that Amendment 4 “threatens women’s safety” and its then-secretary Jason Weida’s promotion of it prompted a complaint to the Florida Supreme Court, which ultimately sided with the DeSantis administration because the plaintiff lacked standing to sue.
Aside from the DeSantis administration’s use of state resources against the ballot initiatives last year, state employees in the governor’s office called lobbyists to request donations for a political committee aligned with DeSantis as he and First Lady Casey DeSantis hinted that she was considering a run for governor, according to NBC News.
The Senate version, SB 1760, doesn’t include the provision against state employees’ involvement in campaign activities, and needs to go through one more committee before it could be eligible for a floor vote.
Both bills would require university trustees and members of the Board of Governors that oversees public universities to be U.S. citizens and live in Florida, unless they graduated from a state higher education institution.
Mayfield, sponsor of the House bill, won a suit against the Florida Department of State Secretary Cord Byrd, a DeSantis appointee, after Byrd attempted to block Mayfield from appearing on the ballot for a special election in the state Senate district seat she previously held. The Republican representative won the primary for the Brevard County district with 60.81% of the vote on April 1.
The general election is June 10 and Mayfield has resigned from the House effective June 9.