Fresh changes to Florida law on ballot initiatives will create new hurdles for advocates aiming to put legislative proposals before voters—including, potentially, the renewed effort to legalize marijuana in the state.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) on Friday signed a measure into law that tightens requirements around citizen-initiated measures. Among other requirements, it mandates that supporters post a $1 million bond before commencing signature gathering, prohibits the use of out-of-state and noncitizen petitioners and narrows the window during which which signatures must be submitted to election officials.
The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Jenna Persons-Mulicka (R), contends the ballot initiative process “has been taken over by out of state fraudsters looking to make a quick buck and by special interests intent on buying their way into our Constitution.”
“The bill seeks to root out the problem and provide assurances that only those with a stake in our Constitution can change it to that end,” she said at a hearing in March.
DeSantis, for his part, said on social media over the weekend that the bill will “combat petition fraud and prevent the special interest-abuse of our constitutional amendment process.”
Changes under the new law will also prevent Floridians with felony convictions from collecting petition signatures unless they’ve gone through the process of restoring their voting rights.
Residents will also have to provide personal details—including their driver’s license number, voter ID card number or the last four digits of their Social Security number—in order to fill out a petition. The form itself will then become a public record, raising potential privacy concerns.
Campaigns also have less time to return petitions to election officials, and they’ll face harsher fines for errors.
The new obstacles to placing a proposal on the statewide ballot come on the heels of two contentious constitutional amendments that went before voters last year, including one—Amendment 3—that would have legalized marijuana for adults 21 and older, and another on abortion rights.
The campaign for the marijuana measure, Smart & Safe Florida, took in more than $150 million in campaign funds—with most from large cannabis companies such as Trulieve, a multi-state operator that contributed tens of millions of dollars.
It also clashed with DeSantis as well as the state Republican Party, the latter of which Smart & Safe Florida later sued for allegedly deceiving voters about the measure.
After Amendment 3 last year failed to win the 60 percent voter support needed to pass a constitutional amendment, Smart & Safe Florida is now aiming to put a revised legalization proposal on the 2026 state ballot.
A spokesperson for the campaign declined on Monday to comment on how the newly signed election law might impact the effort to qualify the group’s measure for next year.
Lawmakers are divided on the issue along mostly partisan lines.
“This bill has been intentionally designed to make it impossible for any statewide citizen initiative to make it to the ballot ever again,” state Sen. Carlos Smith (D), told the Associated Press, calling it “the final kill shot against direct democracy.”
Republicans, meanwhile, have framed the changes as a way to protect the initiative process.
“This bill is not an attack on the citizen initiative process,” said Sen. Don Gaetz (R), one of the measure’s co-sponsors. “It’s an attack on those who have corrupted it.”
Meanwhile some Republican lawmakers last month called for a criminal investigation into DeSantis himself over how $10 million in state funds were used to oppose last year’s ballot initiatives—including an $8.5 million donation to the campaign opposing legalization.
Critics have said the new changes will impede Floridians’ ability to have their voices heard.
One group, hoping to qualify a measure that would expand Medicaid in the state, has already sued the DeSantis administration over the new law.
Florida Decides HealthCare said in a press release that the new law is unconstitutional and “significantly undermines Florida’s citizen-led constitutional amendment process” by enacting “sweeping restrictions,” according to the Orlando Sentinel.
Separately, Jeff Brandes, a former Republican state senator and current leader of the nonprofit Florida Policy Project said on social media Friday that it should be “difficult to change the constitution, but not impossible.”
“Unless you’re the Florida Legislature,” he added, “then you just keep moving the goalpost until only you can score. Which, surprise, is exactly the plan.”
While the bill’s sponsors didn’t explicitly say that the new law is a response to any particular issue, arguments about the need to change the process were frequently heard in the run-up to last year’s election in Florida, when both marijuana and abortion rights were on the ballot.
Under the new law, signatures collected before enactment would not be subjected to the revised restrictions. Smart & Safe Florida has so far submitted just under, the 220,016 valid signatures needed to trigger a judicial and financial impact review of the proposal.
A total of 880,062 valid signatures statewide are currently needed to make the 2026 ballot, according to the Florida Division of Elections.
Meanwhile in Florida, state elections officials recently sent a cease-and-desist letter to Smart & Safe Florida campaign, alleging that the group has “committed multiple election law violations.”
The Office of Election Crimes and Security (OECS)—part of Florida’s Department of State—also fined Smart & Safe Florida more than $120,000 for submitting completed petitions more than 30 days after they were signed.
The issue was referred to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement for a “potential criminal investigation.”
In a statement to Marijuana Moment at the time, a campaign representative said it has confidence in the process and intends to push back on the state’s assertion it violated election law.
“The claims made appear to be a targeted effort to thwart the ability for the people of Florida to express their support of a citizen-driven amendment,” the statement says. “We stand by the process and had legal counsel vet all forms and communications prior to mailing and look forward to challenging the validity of these claims.”
Lawmakers late last month also sent DeSantis a sweeping agricultural bill that includes a provision to outlaw the spores of psychedelic mushrooms.
The bill would outlaw transporting, importing, selling or giving away “spores or mycelium capable of producing mushrooms or other material which will contain a controlled substance, including psilocybin or psilocyn, during its lifecycle.”
Violating the proposed law would be a first-degree misdemeanor, carrying a maximum one year in jail and $1,000 fine.
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Psilocybin and psilocin are the two main psychoactive compounds in psychedelic mushrooms. Although spores themselves typically do not contain psilocybin or psilocin, they eventually produce fruiting bodies—mushrooms—that do contain the psychedelic compounds.
Because the spores don’t contain any controlled substances, the federal government deems them legal.
“If the mushroom spores (or any other material) do not contain psilocybin or psilocin (or any other controlled substance or listed chemical), the material is considered not controlled,” Terrence Boos, the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) Drug and Chemical Evaluation Section chief, said in a memo last year. (Using a similar rationale, Boos has said that marijuana seeds are considered federally legal hemp because they themselves don’t contain THC.)
In Florida, a legislative report for HB 651—a House companion bill to the measure now heading to DeSantis—similarly notes that “spores do not contain any psilocybin properties themselves and therefore could be considered legal under current law.”
To prevent that, the proposal would clarify as illegal any spores or mycelium that could produce psilocybin or psilocin at any time in their development.
As for psilocybin and psilocin themselves, the substances are already illegal in Florida. Simple possession is a third-degree felony, carrying up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine.
The Florida House last month also unanimously approved a bill that would exempt military veterans from state registration fees for medical marijuana cards, allowing them to obtain the certifications for free.
As originally filed, the measure would have made more significant changes to the state’s existing medical cannabis program, for example allowing home cultivation as well as reciprocity for out-of-state patients. But the House Health Professions and Programs Subcommittee replaced its language with a two-page substitute that instead would make only small changes to the medical program.
First, it would change how often patients need to renew their medical marijuana cards, from the current annual process to once every two years.
Second, it would waive the $75 registration and renewal fees for veterans, specifying that the state “may not charge a fee for the issuance, replacement, or renewal of an identification card for a qualified patient who is a veteran.”
The changes would take effect July 1.
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