Florida bill would force bloggers writing about DeSantis to register

A Republican Florida state senator has proposed a bill that would require paid bloggers who cover Gov. Ron DeSantis, his cabinet or lawmakers to register with the state or face steep fines.

State Sen. Jason Brodeur’s Senate Bill 1316 would also force bloggers to disclose who is paying them to write about Florida’s elected officials and how much they are pulling in.

The bill defines “elected state officer” as “the Governor, the Lieutenant Governor, a Cabinet officer, or any member of the Legislature.”

It defines a blog as “a website or webpage that hosts any blogger and is frequently updated with opinion, commentary or business content.”

The proposed legislation would not apply to newspapers’ websites and other similar publications.

“Paid bloggers are lobbyists who write instead of talk,” Brodeur told the news outlet Florida Politics, which first reported on his legislation. “They both are professional electioneers. If lobbyists have to register and report, why shouldn’t paid bloggers?”

Under Brodeur’s bill, bloggers will have to register with the Florida Office of Legislative Services or the Commission on Ethics within five days of publishing a paid post, and then file monthly reports on who paid them and the amount of compensation.

Bloggers who fail to submit the monthly reports on time would be fined $25 per day — with the amount being capped at $2,500 per posting — to be paid within 30 days.

Brodeur’s controversial bill was swiftly condemned by free speech advocates and journalists on both sides of the aisle, who argued that it constitutes a gross violation of the First Amendment.

Sarah Rumpf, an Orlando-based contributing editor at Mediaite, posted an image of the Constitution, writing: “Here’s my documentation needed to write about DeSantis, [state Attorney General Ashley] Moody, Brodeur, or any other elected official. I’m not filing any ‘registration’ or reporting my salary to Tallahassee. Go step on all the Legos with this unconstitutional nonsense.”

The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression issued a statement calling the proposal “an affront to the First Amendment and our national commitment to freedom of the press.”

“It is difficult to imagine a legislative proposal more fundamentally at odds with our nation’s founding spirit than requiring citizens and journalists to register their publications with the government under pain of fines,” FIRE said, later adding: “SB 1316 is not just unconstitutional. It is fundamentally un-American. It must be soundly rejected, and lawmakers should stop introducing such flagrantly unconstitutional bills.”

DeSantis, who is widely expected to run for president in 2024, has not commented on the proposed legislation.