Florida committee approves bill requiring felons to pay court fees before voting

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

A Florida House committee on Tuesday approved a measure that could significantly curtail a state constitutional amendment restoring voting rights to former felons.

The measure, which would require felons to pay all court fees and costs before becoming eligible to vote, passed along a party-line vote in the Republican-led committee, according to The Tampa Bay Times.

The Times noted that the felons would be required to pay back all court fines even if they weren't handed down by a judge as part of their sentence. A previous standard in Florida only mandated that felons pay back restitution to their victims in order to get their civil rights back.

The approval of the measure comes just months after Florida voters approved an amendment automatically restoring voting rights to approximately 1.5 million felons in the state.

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/434746-florida-house-committee-approves-bill-requiring-felons-to-pay-all-court

[IluvPitties]

1. Rigging the system once again.

[riversedge]

2. Grant is GOP chair of committee that passed bill today; he got angry at idea it's a poll tax...

Link to tweet

aniel
‏Verified account @Taniel

🚨news in Florida: a House committee has moved forward a bill to strip Floridians of right to vote if they haven't been able to fully pay court fines & fees. Hundreds of thousands could be disenfranchised.

Coups easier to pull off when universal suffrage devalued to start with.
10:40 AM - 19 Mar 2019

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368 replies 4,021 retweets 5,146 likes
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Taniel
‏Verified account @Taniel
3h3 hours ago

sorry, but can we pause & acknowledge how freaking INSANE this is? FL politicians are sitting in a room to decide that a substantial share of their constituents shouldn't get to vote on them (literally, without the usual care to disguise suppression) & this isn't front-page news.
10 replies 610 retweets 1,582 likes
Taniel
‏Verified account @Taniel
3h3 hours ago

Taniel Retweeted Taniel

key detail: since January, people have been able to register to vote without this obstacle. Bill would restrict current registration process, and kick people off the rolls who've registered (and who may have already voted in this month's local elections)

Taniel added,
Taniel
Verified account @Taniel
This article lays out in detail how a great share of Florida's fines & fees (more than $1 billion of fines were imposed over 5 years) fall on the poorest residents, and how this could impact the distribution of the right to vote.
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11 replies 418 retweets 661 likes
Taniel
‏Verified account @Taniel
2h2 hours ago

Taniel Retweeted Matthew Isbell

Amendment 4 got majorities in ALL congressional & legislative districts. Bill would restrict how it's been implemented in January.

James Grant is GOP chair of committee that passed bill today; he got angry at idea it's a poll tax.

Link to tweet

…

Taniel added,
Matthew Isbell
@mcimaps
Well @JamesGrantFL can claim all he wants that his legislation isn't a Poll Tax, but it is. His Amendment 4 bill weakens an amendment passed by 64% of voters and passed in every State House, State Senate, and…
16 replies 275 retweets 416 likes

Link to tweet

[CincyDem]

3. Anything to keep the voters from voting.

Hopefully, this will be viewed as a Poll Tax which, I think, is still unconstitutional. Maybe usurping judicial authority in cases where the judge did not impose that burden at sentencing. And different in the past because the civil rights being given back did not including voting.

Sheesh - these guys are such asshats.

[donkeypoofed]

4. Buh-Bye the State of Florida

Its jackass stuff ike this that is making me break up with you! We are D-O-N-E. California is much more progressive and democratic. In short, California is better.

[Ohiogal]

5. Those sneaky bastards.

[bitterross]

6. Sounds like a poll tax or test

Sounds just like the poll taxes or literacy tests from Jim Crow. That's going to end up in court of course.

[bluecollar2]

7. It's a poll tax...

It fucking never ends does it?

[rzemanfl]

8. They will always pull something. With high speed rail they just claimed

folks misunderstood and did a do over.

[onethatcares]

18. they did the same with medical marijuana

that we didn't understand the one item amendment written in laymans terms.

this state is a joke larger than "floriduh man".

Things have not been good here since Lawton Chiles. and for the life of me, I don't understand
what happened to this place.

[MagickMuffin]

9. VOTERS: Class Action Lawsuit

The republicons are still trying to disenfranchise you. You have already PAID your debt to society.

This should go all the way to the Supreme Court if necessary.

[procon]

10. Stinks of Jim Crow laws. ny

[lpbk2713]

11. How the eff do they expect to get away with this?

It's a poll tax and it's denying the vote.

It's delaying the vote to many at best.

[handmade34]

12. sounds like

a good use of www.gofundme.com

[RockaFowler]

13. I hate these M-Fers

My state bothers me more and more each day

[soryang]

14. A probation violation couldn't result in jail time because of inability to pay

...but you can lose your right to vote if you don't pay these fees? Don't think this will fly in the long run.

For VOPs all you had to do was file a budget affidavit showing you can't afford it. I think denying someone the right to vote over this is actually even more offensive.

[fescuerescue]

15. If they've paid the debt society. then they should be able to vote

But debt to society also, strangely enough, includes their ACTUAL DEBT to society.

In most states, Felons can never ever vote. This seems like a reasonable compromise and it's simply asking them to do what they are legally required to do anyway.

And all those unpaid fines? Well that's money that the state cannot use to help people in need. Felons who don't pay their fines are little different than tax cheats.

[onethatcares]

19. no, it's similar to

pulling the drivers licenses of people that are unable to fully pay their child support. Pull the license, lose the job.

How do you dig yourself out of that hole?

Face it or not. Once you are a convicted felon your opportunities for advancement in society diminish abruptly. Your ability to
pay anything off goes down the hill unless you have some really wealthy relatives.

They aren't "tax cheats".

[fescuerescue]

20. yea that's different

Voting is not something that one does as a money making or career venture.

I get it. It sucks to be fined for committing crimes, which at the same times makes it harder to get a job.

But the answer there is to lower fines. Besides just ignoring fines for people who refuse or can't pay isn't fair to those who do.

[LiberalFighter]

16. Betcha he would be okay taking money from felons.

[Vinca]

17. Isn't that essentially a poll tax?

[jpak]

21. Poll Tax

Old Time Days Are Not Forgotten

[NurseJackie]

24. Look away Dixie land.

[Awsi Dooger]

22. Sounds like advocates made errors during argument before state Supreme Court

And now the slime Republicans sensed the loophole and have predictably taken it to every extreme.

That governorship race was so crucial last year. The Florida legislature was already despicable and now with three new appointments the state Supreme Court is heavily slanted to rubber stamp anything they come up with.

[Takket]

23. besides being a poll tax........

This violates article 1 section 10 of the Constitution that prevents imposing greater punishment on a person that was the law at the time of the crime.

https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/ex_post_facto

SCOTUS should strike this down 9-0........ but with the current makeup we are hoping roberts swings for a 5-4