Federal judge upholds Florida’s citizen initiative restrictions • Florida Phoenix

U.S. District Judge Mark Walker has rejected a legal challenge to Florida’s restrictions on ballot initiatives that was filed by groups who have been pushing measures on marijuana and Medicaid expansion.

The two-week trial wrapped up in February and Walker issued his ruling on Thursday.

The judge, who previously criticized Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Legislature, sided with state election officials by concluding that the groups that sued in some cases lacked standing to bring their lawsuit. But he also found that lawmakers had the power to pass the restrictions in 2025 to combat fraud and “protect the integrity” of the initiative process.

Walker wrote that he understood groups seeking to place initiatives on the ballot have been “dismayed” at the changes but concluded they were allowed.

“The citizen initiative process, which gives Floridians a path to amend their Constitution, is virtually dead save for the most controversial issues for which tens of millions of dollars can be raised,” Walker wrote.

“But Plaintiffs’ quarrels with the wisdom of the Legislature’s actions — at least with respect to those provisions under HB 1205 for which Plaintiffs had standing to challenge — are policy arguments, not constitutional violations for which this court may grant relief.”

Walker added that “it is not for this court whether it is a good or bad thing that political power is being further consolidated in Tallahassee and reclaimed from the safety valve of direct democracy.” 

Florida Decides Healthcare, one of the groups that sued, put out a statement Thursday evening saying the organization was “disappointed with today’s ruling. We are carefully reviewing the order and considering all available options, including an appeal. Medicaid expansion continues to be an important issue because every Floridian deserves access to quality healthcare, regardless of their zip code or income. This fight is not over.”

Florida legislators passed the law on ballot measures after citizens’ initiatives to allow abortion and recreational pot nearly passed in November 2024.

The law requires petition circulators to be Florida residents and U.S. citizens, prohibits convicted felons who have not had their voting rights restored from circulating petitions, and requires all petition circulators to register with the Florida Division of Elections. 

The law allows the state to levy a $50,000 fine against an organization that allows those categories of people to even handle petitions. The fine is per violation.

The law trims from 30 days to 10 days the deadline to deliver signed petition forms to a supervisor of elections and makes it a third-degree felony for a petition circulator to fill in missing information on a petition.

Critics contend the law — with all of its restrictions on groups and who can collect signatures — will make it nearly impossible for outside organizations to ever place an initiative on the ballot in the future.

Florida Decides Healthcare challenged the law along with Smart & Safe Florida, which is pushing for recreational marijuana use for adults; the League of Women Voters of Florida; League of Women Voters of Florida Education Fund; League of United Latin American Citizens; and FloridaRightToCleanWater.org.

Witnesses for Florida Decides testified in court that the organization was forced to shut down its efforts to put its amendment before Florida voters in November. Florida is one of nine states that hasn’t expanded access to Medicaid to low-income childless adults, as allowed under federal law.

Meanwhile, Florida Decides relaunched its petition efforts with a goal of having the proposal appear before voters in the 2028 midterm elections and will be helped by two additional partners: the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network and the American Heart Association.