Florida Group Challenges New Law Restricting Ballot Initiatives
A political committee seeking to legalize recreational marijuana in Florida has joined a lawsuit challenging a new state law that makes it harder for groups to place initiatives on the ballot. Smart & Safe Florida, the committee behind the 2024 marijuana proposal, is trying to place a similar measure on the 2026 ballot and has already gathered over 219,000 valid signatures.
The new law, signed by Governor Ron DeSantis in May, includes sweeping changes to the initiative process, making it more difficult for signature gatherers to collect petitions, creating new crimes, and increasing penalties for wrongdoing. The law also shortens the time frame for petitions to be submitted to supervisors of elections and increases fines for late-filed petitions.
Smart & Safe Florida’s lawyers argue that the law “changes the law at halftime” for sponsors already working to place initiatives on the 2026 ballot and imposes “draconian restrictions” on Floridians’ right to change the state constitution. They claim that the law is unconstitutional and will “effectively destroy the people’s right to invoke the citizen initiative.”
The committee is specifically targeting several provisions of the law, including the cap on completed petitions that unregistered signature-gatherers can possess, the restriction on who can register to collect signatures, and the shortened deadline for submitting petitions. They argue that these provisions will make it difficult for them to gather the necessary signatures and will lead to invalidity rates, errors, and punitive fines.
Smart & Safe Florida is also gearing up to sponsor a second proposal for the 2026 ballot that would allow medical-marijuana patients and their caregivers to grow their own cannabis. The committee has submitted a proposal to the Department of State and is eyeing the 2028 ballot if the proposal fails to get before voters next year.
The legal challenge is seeking to block state and local officials from enforcing the law and is asking the court to find that the law is unconstitutional. The outcome of the lawsuit could have significant implications for the future of ballot initiatives in Florida.
