Committee would ban use of state funds to advocate on ballot measures

by Mitch Perry, Florida Phoenix
March 10, 2025

A committee of the Florida Senate approved an amendment to an election bill on Monday that would ban use of state funds to advocate for or against a ballot measure. 

The amendment — sponsored by Northeast Florida Republican Jennifer Bradley — was approved as part of a massive election bill (SB 7016) sponsored by the GOP-led Senate Ethics & Elections Committee that supporters say would reduce fraud and safeguard the petition gathering process for citizen-led constitutional amendments. Opponents say it’s yet another move by the Legislature to make it much more difficult to place such measures on the ballot.

Statutes already prohibit state and local officials from using their authority to influence or interfere with an election, but that didn’t deter Gov. Ron DeSantis from spending taxpayer money last year to air public service ads against against two proposed constitutional amendments that he strongly opposed — Amendment 3, which would have legalized the adult use of cannabis, and Amendment 4 regarding abortion rights.

“This [legislative] amendment makes sure that taxpayers don’t get the bill for political issue campaigns,” Bradley said while introducing the proposal to the committee.

The government spending of taxpayer funds on those initiatives triggered at least two lawsuits last year.

The ACLU of Florida and Southern Legal Counsel filed a lawsuit last fall against the Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) after that agency created a website whose homepage included language stating that “Amendment 4 Threatens Women’s Safety.” And South Florida Democratic Sen. Jason Pizzo filed a lawsuit alleging that the Florida Department of Transportation improperly spent state money to oppose Amendment 4 last fall.

In both cases, the courts rejected those lawsuits.

The DeSantis administration and various state agencies declined media requests last year to list the specific sources of money they used to pay for the television ads. DeSantis did refer at one point last fall to a “a wide variety of pots of money that are used for public service announcements,” according to the Seeking Rents website.

$50 million?

The use of taxpayer dollars to fund those campaigns was documented in real time during the 2024 campaign.

The Miami Herald reported that the Department of Children and Families had spent $4 million to pay a marketing agency for an “advertising campaign aimed at educating Floridian families and youth about the dangers of marijuana, opioid, and drug use.” Though the ads never explicitly mentioned Amendment 3, they aired last September, as the campaign for the measure was receiving heavy news coverage

Meanwhile, Smart & Safe Florida, the advocacy group for Amendment 3, claimed that the state government had spent $50 million in taxpayer dollars to campaign against the proposal.

John Labriola is with the Christian Family Coalition, which strongly opposed Amendment 4. He testified against Bradley’s amendment on Monday, questioning whether it would eliminate the ability of DeSantis or any future Florida governor “to advocate against an amendment of this kind.”

“This in no way prohibits public service messaging campaigns from the state; a very important part of state government is messaging and informing,” Bradley later said, adding that “when they cross over into attempting to influence the outcome of a ballot measure, I think that we’re then trending into territory that makes me very uncomfortable as a conservative who is very concerned about what our role of government is in a democratic society.”

Vero Beach Republican Sen. Erin Grall, carrying the overall election bill on Monday, said she “appreciated” what Bradley was attempting to do with the amendment but said she had concerns going forward.

“I think that just the language that public funds may not be used to advocate for or against any matter that is the subject of an amendment or revision to the state Constitution could be interpreted so broadly that our ‘Just say no to drugs’ campaigns and just some different campaigns that we may have that need to be ongoing for a variety of reasons regarding our current laws could be prohibited, and so I think that I appreciate what the intent is but I would hope that we would be able to really more narrowly refine this revision to the bill as we move forward,” Grall said.

Grall and everyone else on the nine-member committee, including all six Republicans, supported Bradley’s proposal.

‘Good government’

“It’s a matter of policy and good government,” Bradley told reporters after the meeting. “It’s not a matter of do you support Amendment 3 or Amendment 4 or whatever amendment will be on the ballot next year. What do you think the role of government is? Is that a proper expenditure?”

DeSantis denied doing any electioneering last year, telling reporters at one point that his state agencies running those PSAs were providing factual information and nothing more.

Bradley’s amendment answers that. It prohibits the use of state funds to publish, broadcast, or disseminate public service messages concerning an amendment or a revision on the ballot, “regardless of whether the public service messages are limited to factual information.”

Two Democrats last month filed proposals to sanctions those involved with using taxpayer funds to advocate for or against a proposed constitutional amendment.

Tampa Bay area Rep. Michele Rayner’s bill (HB 727) would ban any state department or agency from producing, disseminating, or funding any public service announcement related to a statewide ballot initiative.

The proposal says the Florida Commission on Ethics “may” investigate complaints of violations of the law. All state agencies would have to maintain records of PSAs produced or funded during the 12 months preceding a general election and make the records available to the public.

Meanwhile, another bill (SB 860), labeled the “Broadcast Freedom Protection Act” by Democratic Sen. Carlos Guillermo Smith, would subject any elected or appointed state official found to be interfering with broadcasters’ decisions to air political campaign advertisements, “particularly those related to statewide ballot initiatives,” to third degree felony charges.

They could be removed from office and permanently disqualified from holding any subsequent elected or appointed office. The legislation further allows the Florida Commission on Ethics to investigate complaints alleging the law’s been broken.

Meanwhile, the Senate bill that would radically change the process of collecting petitions for citizen-led constitutional amendments was approved on a party-line vote in the Ethics & Elections Committee, 6-3. The Phoenix reported on the vast scope of the bill last week.

It closely mirrors a version (HB 1205) that passed in a House committee last week.

Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Michael Moline for questions: info@floridaphoenix.com.

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