New Florida law is an attack on ethics accountability. DeSantis should veto it | Opinion

Most Floridians are unaware that the protections that ensure their elected officials prioritize the public’s best interest are currently at risk — that their leaders in Tallahassee may soon become essentially immune from accountability thanks to one state senator’s attack against ethics enforcement.

Sen. Danny Burgess’s (R-Zephyrhills) last minute amendment to an ethics reform bill requires that all complaints filed with the Florida Commission on Ethics are “based upon personal knowledge or information other than hearsay.”

That is a fancy legal way of saying that the only person who can file an ethics complaint against an official is the person involved in the ethics violation who has first-hand knowledge of the act. In other words, no more complaints from the public — no more complaints from concerned citizens who see something and want to say something. Sen. Burgess himself conceded that his amendment would shut the commission’s “front door” to anyone attempting to file a complaint based on what they read or heard.

Floridians have the right to know that their government officials are serving the public interest and not their own personal interest, financial or otherwise. The commission can only discourage improper conduct through robust ethics enforcement, which requires, at the bare minimum, the ability to investigate allegations of wrongdoing.

That is why the Florida Senate’s unanimous approval of legislation that would make it nearly impossible for the commission to investigate officials who may have violated ethics law is so concerning.

The commission is already limited in its ability to conduct investigations, as it cannot self-initiate ethics enforcement. Voters may not realize that if a front-page newspaper article has a story with credible evidence that an official may have violated ethics rules, the commission can’t simply look into it. Under the current law, the commission must instead wait for a concerned citizen or organization to file a complaint to begin an investigation.

The current rules allow anyone to file complaints, regardless of personal knowledge. However, when a citizen files a complaint against an elected official, the rules say that the person may have to pay for the official’s “costs of litigation and/or attorney’s fees” if the case is dismissed.

A voter who is concerned about an ethics violation may understandably be unwilling to take such a risk, which is why organizations like ours, Campaign Legal Center, get involved and file complaints. We are a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization committed to holding public officials accountable to the public.

Under Senate Bill 7014/House Bill 1597, organizations like Campaign Legal Center would no longer be able to file complaints like the ones we filed against Gov. Ron DeSantis in July and October of 2023 for his failure to disclose travel gifts he received, in violation of Florida law. That’s because we based these complaints on overwhelming evidence reported by the news media, rather than our own personal knowledge.

State ethics commissions are a pillar of American democracy and any attack on an ethics commission’s ability to do its job must be viewed as an attack on the rule of law. The Florida Legislature should be making every effort to increase the commission’s effectiveness, not render it ineffective.

On March 7, both chambers of the Florida Legislature passed the bill containing the anti-ethics provisions. The only way to prevent these provisions from becoming law now is for DeSantis to veto them. We strongly encourage him to do so.

Kedric Payne is Campaign Legal Center’s vice president, general counsel and senior director, ethics. Danielle Caputo is CLC’s legal counsel for ethics.