A federal lawsuit aimed at overturning a voter-approved 2018 Florida constitutional amendment that restricts lobbying activities by former and current elected officials is gaining plaintiffs, with Leon County Commissioner Bill Proctor recently joining the legal fight.
The civil lawsuit seeking a preliminary injunction against Florida Amendment 12 was filed last month in the Southern District of Florida. That amendment, which was approved with nearly 79% of the statewide vote, would prohibit public officials from being paid lobbyists during their terms of office and for a period of six years after leaving elective office.
The measure was placed on the ballot on a 30-4 vote by the state Constitution Revision Commission, which meets every two decades to propose changes to the Florida Constitution.
A spokeswoman for the state Attorney General’s Office said the office would represent the defendants in the lawsuit, including Attorney General Ashley Moody, members of the state’s Commission on Ethics and Jimmy Patronis, the state’s chief financial officer.
“Our office is representing all named defendants in this case,” the attorney general’s press secretary, Kylie Mason, said in an email to the Florida Record. “We will actively defend the law.”
Under the provisions of the amendment, state agency leaders, judicial officers and local government elected officials would be subject to the lobbying restrictions, though they could still advocate before other agencies in ways consistent with their official duties.
The plaintiffs argue that the amendment tramples on their First Amendment rights and their ability to earn a living.
“... Enforcement of the anti-lobbying amendment will cause immediate and irreparable harm to the plaintiffs, all other similarly situated persons, and the citizens of the state of Florida through the quashing of protected core First Amendment political speech,” the plaintiffs’ renewed motion for a preliminary injunction says. “Plaintiffs have no adequate remedy at law to obtain the immediate and effective protection of their First Amendment rights.”
The lawsuit specifically challenges the amendment’s limitations on their options to earn a living in a profession of their own choosing.
“All plaintiffs are elected officials who will be severely impacted by the restrictions, despite that they served the public interest during their public service and are now foreclosed from engaging in constitutionally protected speech and, in some instances, from earning a living in the lawful and time-tested government relations profession,” the motion states.