Bill > H7061

Introduced Session

An act relating to elections; amending s. 15.21, F.S.; requiring the Secretary of State to notify the Attorney General if signatures required for an initiative petition are no longer valid; authorizing the Secretary of State to resubmit the initiative petition to the Attorney General if certain conditions are met; amending s. 16.061, F.S.; requiring the Attorney General to withdraw his or her petition for an advisory opinion by the Supreme Court if notified by the Secretary of State that the initiative petition no longer meets the criteria for review; requiring the Attorney General to file a new petition for an advisory opinion if the initiative petition subsequently qualifies for review; creating s. 97.022, F.S.; creating the Office of Election Crimes and Security within the Department of State; specifying the duties and structure of the office; providing for construction; requiring the department to annually report to the Governor and Legislature regarding the office's activities; specifying requirements for such report; amending s. 97.0291, F.S.; clarifying provisions governing the prohibition on the solicitation, acceptance, use, and disposal of donations for funding certain election-related expenses; amending s. 97.057, F.S.; conforming a cross-reference; amending s. 97.0575, F.S.; revising a limitation on the amount of aggregate fines which may be assessed against a third-party voter registration organization in a calendar year; specifying that a third-party voter registration organization is liable for a certain fine if a person collecting voter registration applications on its behalf is convicted of unlawfully altering any application; amending s. 98.065, F.S.; revising the frequency with which supervisors of elections must conduct a registration list maintenance program; modifying required components of registration list maintenance programs; amending s. 98.0655, F.S.; revising requirements for certain registration list maintenance forms to be prescribed by the Department of State; amending s. 98.075, F.S.; authorizing the Department of State to identify deceased registered voters using information received from the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles; amending s. 98.093, F.S.; requiring clerks of the circuit court and the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles to furnish additional information to the Department of State on a monthly basis; amending s. 100.041, F.S.; providing an exception to certain county commissioner election requirements for certain districts; amending s. 100.371, F.S.; revising duties of the supervisor with respect to the processing and retention of initiative petition forms; requiring the supervisor to post additional information regarding petition forms on his or her website; requiring the Secretary of State to notify the Financial Impact Estimating Conference if the signatures for an initiative petition are no longer valid; specifying conditions under which the Financial Impact Estimating Conference does not need to complete an analysis and financial impact statement for an initiative petition; creating s. 101.019, F.S.; prohibiting the use of ranked-choice voting to determine election or nomination to elective office; voiding existing or future local ordinances authorizing the use of ranked-choice voting; amending s. 101.043, F.S.; deleting provisions that prohibit using an address appearing on identification presented by an elector as a basis to confirm an elector's legal residence and asking an elector for certain information in certain circumstances; amending s. 101.5614, F.S.; requiring specified individuals observing the ballot duplication process to sign a specified affidavit acknowledging certain criminal penalties; prohibiting persons authorized to observe, review, or inspect ballot materials or observe canvassing from releasing certain information about an election before the closing of the polls; providing criminal penalties; amending s. 101.6103, F.S.; conforming certain provisions governing the Mail Ballot Election Act to provisions applicable to the mailing and canvassing of vote-by-mail ballots; amending s. 101.655, F.S.; revising the date by which requests for supervised voting must be made; amending s. 102.091, F.S.; requiring the Governor, in consultation with the executive director of the Department of Law Enforcement, to appoint special officers to investigate election law violations; specifying requirements for such special officers; providing construction; amending s. 102.101, F.S.; prohibiting a special officer from entering a polling place; providing exceptions; amending s. 104.0616, F.S.; increasing criminal penalties for certain unlawful acts involving vote-by-mail ballots; amending s. 104.185, F.S.; increasing criminal penalties for a person who signs another person's name or a fictitious name on specified petitions; amending s. 104.186, F.S.; increasing criminal penalties for a person who unlawfully compensates a petition circulator based on the number of petition forms gathered; amending s. 124.011, F.S.; providing that certain county commissioners must be elected at the general election immediately following redistricting; requiring such commissioners' terms to commence on a certain date; providing applicability; amending s. 921.0022, F.S.; ranking a specified offense involving vote-by-mail ballots on the severity ranking chart of the Criminal Punishment Code; providing legislative findings and intent; requiring the Department of State to submit a report to the Legislature by a specified date; providing report requirements; providing effective dates.

AI Summary

Committee Categories

Daniel Perez (R)*,  Melony Bell (R),  Cord Byrd (R),  Brad Drake (R),  Ralph Massullo (R),  Bob Rommel (R),  Rick Roth (R),  Jason Shoaf (R), 

Other Sponsors (2)

Laid on Table, refer to CS/CS/SB 524 (on 03/08/2022)

Official Document