On behalf of more than 130,000 members and supporters statewide, we're calling upon all Florida legislators to protect the civil rights and liberties of all Floridians.
We are urging our legislators to VOTE YES on the following:
Senate Version of the Florida First Step Act (SB 642) - This bill contains several beneficial reforms, and we urge you to support SB 642 in its current form. Please ensure that these criminal justice reforms cross the finish line and that Florida takes a meaningful first step toward criminal justice reform. Florida locks up too many people for far too long, with no hope for successful reentry. Additionally, racial disparities continue to permeate our criminal justice system and prison population.
We urge you to pass legislation that addresses the following:
- safely reducing incarceration
- incentivizing rehabilitation and providing reentry support/adjusting the cap on gain time
- addressing racial disparities in our current system
- eliminating the driver’s license suspension for failure to pay court fees and fines and other non-driving related offenses
- ensuring judicial involvement in the decision to prosecute a child as an adult
- applying reforms retroactively to impact current prison populations
- updating our outdated felony theft threshold to be more in line with surrounding states
We are urging our legislators to VOTE NO on the following:
The following bills threaten our civil rights and civil liberties and we call upon you to vote them down.
- Undermining Amendment 4 (SB 7086/HB 7089)
These bills will restrict voting restoration and undermine the will of the people who passed Amendment 4.
- Separating Immigrant Families (SB 168/HB 527)
These bills will force local law enforcement to act as ICE agents and divert local resources away from local law enforcement toward detaining individuals for deportation.
- Restricting Access to Abortion (SB 1774 /HB1335)
These bills will restrict a minor’s access to reproductive health care and endanger the safety and well-being of minors in abusive households.
- Exacerbating School to Prison Pipeline (SB 7030 /HB 7093)
These bills will increase the criminalization of youthful mistakes and exacerbate the school to prison pipeline.
- Diverting Public Taxpayer Dollars to Fund Private Religious Education (SB 7070/HB 7075)
These bills funnel public taxpayer dollars to private religious schools, blurring the separation between church and state, and taking away resources from our public schools.
- Thwarting Citizen Participation in Democracy (SB 7096/HB 7111)
These bills will silence Floridians by making it virtually impossible for Floridians to successfully participate in the process of putting a citizen initiative on the ballot.
