The GOP-led Florida Senate passed legislation on Thursday that would increase penalties on rioters at a time of high tension around the country following the police shooting death of Daunte Wright in Minnesota.
The bill, approved in a 23-17 vote, would also make it harder for local governments to strip funding from law enforcement, in addition to upping penalties on those who commit crimes during a riot. The legislation passed the House by a party-line vote last month and now heads to the desk of Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, who supports the so-called “anti-riot” bill.
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Florida state Sen. Danny Burgess said he felt it was necessary to hold rioters more accountable as the country continues to see high levels of protest activity that sometimes leads to violence.
“We can’t allow riots and violence to prevail within our society. We are a nation of law and order, and we need to govern ourselves as such,” Burgess said, according to Fox 35 of Orlando.
The bill aims to crack down on assault, battery, burglary, and theft committed during a riot, as well as on new crimes such as mob intimidation or defacing or damaging a memorial or historic property.
If it becomes law, people who drive through protesters blocking a road will also be granted civil legal immunity, and it will prevent those arrested for rioting or committing a crime during a riot from bailing out of jail until their first court appearance. Battery on a police officer would mandate an automatic six-month sentence.
DeSantis began advocating for such anti-riot reform in September 2020, not long after a summer rocked by nationwide protests prompted by the death of George Floyd, a black man who died last May in Minneapolis police custody.
“Our right to peacefully assemble is one of our most cherished as Americans, but throughout the country, we’ve seen that right being taken advantage of by professional agitators, bent on sowing disorder and causing mayhem in our cities,” DeSantis said in September, when he unveiled a proposal to crack down on violent protests. “I will not allow this kind of violence to occur here in Florida.”
Republicans, who dominate the Florida House and Senate, have engaged in heated debate with Democrats, who largely oppose the measure.
“We know the governor wants this piece of legislation. We don’t have to do everything the governor wants,” said state Sen. Gary Farmer, a Democrat who read the First Amendment on the Senate floor, according to the Sun Sentinel.
Democratic Sen. Jason Pizzo, a former prosecutor, said he thinks there’s challenges in defining a riot, adding that people who commit the same crimes in a different environment could have a different standard of justice placed on them.
“It is a fact-specific circumstance on the scene,” Pizzo said, according to the Tampa Bay Times.
The Miami Democrat also said the timing makes for poor optics, given the unrest in Brooklyn City, Minnesota, following the death of Wright and the nearby trial of Derek Chauvin, the ex-officer who knelt on the neck of Floyd. Wright, also a black man, was shot and killed on Sunday by a white police officer who fired her pistol instead of her stun gun. That officer, Kim Potter, resigned from the police force and has been charged with second-degree manslaughter.
Protesters gathered Thursday around Orlando City Hall to march in solidarity with Wright and oppose the bill, which they argued would silence minority voices the most.
“They are more concerned that people are truly coming together to take a stand against injustice and ruin their peace than they are about anyone’s safety. They don’t want to see us protest peacefully, they just want to see our movement die,” local organizer Nushrat Nur told the Orlando Sentinel.
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Some municipalities have also raised concerns about the provisions of the bill that would put state oversight on local decisions. The bill would let state attorneys in each judicial circuit have the authority to appeal any budget reduction.
“Our cities’ budgets are nonpartisan and our city leaders should not face state-imposed political pushbacks that would disrupt our transparent municipal budget process,” Hallandale Beach Commissioner Sabrina Javellana said in a statement. “Last summer’s protests for racial justice and calls to reimagine public safety must be heard and acted upon.”
