Another Day, Another Blatant Attack On The 1st Amendment From The Florida GOP
from the papers-please dept
I keep hearing people pretend that the GOP in general, and Florida GOPers more specifically, and Governor Ron DeSantis most specifically, are fighting for “free speech,” when they continually seem to push blatantly unconstitutional legislation designed to attack free speech and the 1st Amendment in a way that keeps getting Florida shot down in court by judges (while wasting tons of taxpayer money).
But they just don’t stop. The latest is a laughably unconstitutional bill from Florida Senator Jason Brodeur, SB 1316, that violates the 1st Amendment in so many different ways.
The bill has a section on “blogger registration and reporting.” Basically, any blogger reporting on the Florida government in a professional (paid) capacity has to register with the government and file “monthly reports” on who is paying them and how much they’re being paid.
286.31 Blogger registration and reporting.—
(1) As used in this section, the term:
(a) “Blog” means a website or webpage that hosts any blogger and is frequently updated with opinion, commentary, or business content. The term does not include the website of a newspaper or other similar publication.
(b) “Blogger” means any person as defined in s. 1.01(3) that submits a blog post to a blog which is subsequently published.
(c) “Blog post” is an individual webpage on a blog which contains an article, a story, or a series of stories.
(d) “Compensation” includes anything of value provided to a blogger in exchange for a blog post or series of blog posts. If not provided in currency, it must be the fair-market value of the item or service exchanged.
(e) “Elected state officer” means the Governor, the Lieutenant Governor, a Cabinet officer, or any member of the Legislature.
(f) “Office” means, in the context of a blog post about a member of the Legislature, the Office of Legislative Services or, in the context of a blog post about a member of the executive branch, the Commission on Ethics, as applicable.(2) If a blogger posts to a blog about an elected state officer and receives, or will receive, compensation for that post, the blogger must register with the appropriate office, as identified in paragraph (1)(f), within 5 days after the first post by the blogger which mentions an elected state officer.
(3)(a) Upon registering with the appropriate office, a blogger must file monthly reports on the 10th day following the end of each calendar month from the time a blog post is added to the blog, except that, if the 10th day following the end of a calendar month occurs on a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday, the report must be filed on the next day that is not a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday.
(b) If the blogger does not have a blog post on a blog during a given month, the monthly report for that month does not need to be filed.
(c) The blogger must file reports with the appropriate office using the electronic filing system:1. As provided in s. 11.0455 if the blog post concerns an elected member of the Legislature; or
2. As provided in s. 112.32155 if the blog post concerns an officer of the executive branch.(d) The reports must include all of the following:
1. The individual or entity that compensated the blogger for the blog post.
2. The amount of compensation received from the individual or entity, regardless of how the compensation was structured.a. The amount must be rounded to the nearest $10 increment.
b. If the compensation is for a series of blog posts or for a defined period of time, the blogger must disclose the total amount to be received upon the first blog post being published. Thereafter, the blogger must disclose the date or dates additional compensation is received, if any, for the series of blog posts.3. The date the blog post was published. If the blog post is part of a series, the date each blog post is published must be included in the applicable report. 4. The website and website address where the blog post can be found.
This is… not how any of this works. The government cannot require “journalists” to register. They especially cannot have this registration only apply to journalists writing about elected officials. The government cannot demand they file monthly reports. The government cannot demand they reveal who is paying them or how much. The whole thing is nothing but blatant journalist intimidation, and clearly a violation of the 1st Amendment.
But, of course, Brodeur (and DeSantis) don’t care one bit about free speech or the 1st Amendment. They care about culture wars and setting up the media that is exposing their nonsense as “the enemy.” And throwing the 1st Amendment in the trash and lighting it on fire while dancing around the bonfire destroying free speech seems to be the method they’ve taken.
That doesn’t change the facts, of course. This is a blatant attack on free speech, the 1st Amendment, and a free press. I am sure that we will have the usual crew of commenters who have been pretending for months that they support free speech and will somehow twist themselves around to pretend that this is not an attack on free speech. Just think how pathetic that is: pretending to be a free speech warrior while cheering on the government spitting on the 1st Amendment.
Filed Under: bloggers, florida, free speech, jason brodeur, journalists, registration, ron desantis, sb 1316