House Republicans To Block Public Testimony on Massive Election Rewrite

From the House Dems:

At today’s House Rules & Calendar Council meeting, Florida House Republicans signaled intent to trample on the public’s right to participate in the legislative process with a partisan refusal to allow public testimony in House committees about their sweeping election law changes.

House Republican Leader Adam Hasner said today that House PCB-EDCA -09-08, a partisan power grab aimed at suppressing minority voters’ turnout and registration drives, will be brought to the House floor on Friday --- a move that advances the legislation without having received adequate review.

In recent days, House Democrats and a wide array of public interest and advocacy groups have repeatedly requested that the proposal be analyzed thoroughly and transparently in House committees, including extensive public testimony.

Today, House Democratic members’ request for the elections bill to be returned to committees for analysis and testimony was thwarted by Republicans on a party-line vote.

The 80-plus page proposed rewrite of the state election code surfaced in the Legislature for the first time last week and would drastically undo Florida’s progress at improving public confidence in our election system.