Free speech advocate ​condemns Florida senator's proposed legislation

Free speech advocate Lisa McCormick, who was a US Senate candidate in 2018, condemned Florida state Senator Jason Brodeur's bill that would require bloggers to register with the government.

"Senator Brodeur's bill is an attack on free speech," said McCormick. "It would make it more difficult for independent bloggers to hold government officials accountable. This is a clear attempt to silence dissent and protect those in power."

The bill, Senate Bill 1316: Information Dissemination, would require any blogger who writes about "the Governor, the Lieutenant Governor, a Cabinet officer, or any member of the Legislature," and receives or will receive payment for doing so, to register with state offices within five days after the publication of an article that mentions an elected state official.

If another blog post is added to a blog, the blogger would then be required to submit monthly reports on the 10th of each month with the appropriate state office.

For blog posts that "concern an elected member of the legislature" or "an officer of the executive branch," monthly reports must disclose the amount of compensation received for the coverage, rounded to the nearest $10 value.

If compensation is paid for a series of posts or for a specific amount of time, the blogger would be required to disclose the total amount to be received, upon publication of the first post in said series or timeframe.

Failure to file these disclosures or register with state officials, if the bill passes, would lead to daily fines for the bloggers, with a maximum amount per report, not per writer, of $2,500. The per-day fine is $25 per report for each day it's late.

"This bill is a clear attempt to chill free speech," said McCormick, who noted that although many of the policies championed by Governor Ron DeSantis have been declared unconstitutional, Republicans are enthusiastic about his presidential candidacy.

"Senator Brodeur's bill would make it more difficult for citizens and journalists to report on government corruption and wrongdoing. This is a dangerous precedent that must be stopped," said McCormick. "Likewise, Governor Ron DeSantis has tried to impose unconstitutional restrictions on businesses, women, educators, and others but instead of repudiating such assaults on liberty, many Republicans are embracing these fascist dictators."

"If Ron DeSantis becomes president, he is going to be all up in your business, whether that means regulating your sex life and forcing you to give birth, or trying to take over private companies that irk him, like Disney," said McCormick, who earned nearly 40% of the vote in her Democratic primary challenge to U.S. Senator Bob Menendez.

McCormick urged Florida citizens not only to contact their state senators and representatives and tell them to oppose Senate Bill 1316, but to use their votes to remove fascist politicians like Senator Jason Brodeur and Governor Ron DeSantis.

"This bill is an attack on our First Amendment rights," said McCormick. "Americans must stand up and defend our constitutional rights."

McCormick said that all of us have a duty to speak out when demagogues threaten the American way of life.

"Americans must rise to the responsibility of citizenship!," said McCormick.