Florida Governor Ron DeSantis had a bill in the special session earlier that would have reduced candidate filing fees. Florida has the highest filing fees of any state. But that bill, HB 21a, did not pass. It was an omnibus election law bill that also would have made it far more difficult for initiatives to get on the ballot.

Now that the regular session is about to start, the Governor’s election law ideas are in new identical bills, SB 1414 and HB 1205. Unfortunately, these bills do not reduce the filing fees. The bills are so long and complicated, a mere description of all the changes in the bills takes twenty pages. See it here. The sponsors are Senator Blaise Ingoglia and Representative Jenna Persons-Mulicka.