US - Blogger hell in Florida proposed - New rules for any blogger who earns $ and writes about government officials must register with state, file rep

[sharon sanders]

This does not affect FluTrackers because we do not earn any money.



TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — Florida Sen. Jason Brodeur (R-Lake Mary) wants bloggers who write about Gov. Ron DeSantis, Attorney General Ashley Moody, and other members of the Florida executive cabinet or legislature to register with the state or face fines.

Brodeur’s proposal, Senate Bill 1316: Information Dissemination, would require any blogger writing about government officials to register with the Florida Office of Legislative Services or the Commission on Ethics.

In the bill, Brodeur wrote that those who write “an article, a story, or a series of stories,” about “the Governor, the Lieutenant Governor, a Cabinet officer, or any member of the Legislature,” and receives or will receive payment for doing so, must register with state offices within five days after the publication of an article that mentions an elected state official.

snip

Failure to file these disclosures or register with state officials, if the bill passes, would lead to daily fines for the bloggers, with a maximum amount per report, not per writer, of $2,500. The per-day fine is $25 per report for each day it’s late.

more....

https://www.wfla.com/news/politics/f...ith-the-state/

 

[sharon sanders]

So what if some blogger who earns money from their blog writes about state officials?

And why doesn't this proposal apply to newspapers? Those reporters get paid. Those newspapers earn money.

"Explicitly, the blogger rule would not apply to newspapers or similar publications, under Brodeur’s proposed legislation." (at the above link)

I have all kinds of words for this that our rules do not allow me to print.

 

[Emily]

He sounds like a government regulation and fine loving RINO masquerading as a far-right homeboy. The complex rules he's crafted will be another time-consuming burden on taxpayers. Bloggers already have to pay taxes and register their businesses.

https://www.orlandoweekly.com/news/...ring-bloggers-to-register-with-state-33680413
After paying InfoWars blogger $37K, Florida Rep. Jason Brodeur files bill requiring bloggers to register with state

Brodeur was found in 2019 to have paid $37K to an Orlando blogger ahead of his election

By Chloe Greenberg on Fri, Mar 3, 2023 at 5:32 pm

The same Orlando-area state lawmaker who once paid an InfoWars blogger $37,000, now wants Florida to require pay-to-play blogs be registered with the state.

Florida Sen. Jason Brodeur, R-Lake Mary, filed legislation (SB 1316) that would require bloggers paid to cover elected officials to register and report their content.

Prior to his election, Brodeur was found to have dumped tens of thousands of dollars of campaign money into firms operated by prominent Republicans, as well as payments to Jacob Engels, an Orlando blogger associated with InfoWars and neo-fascist group the Proud Boys. (The Proud Boys call themselves a “Western chauvinist” organization; the Southern Poverty Law Center calls them a hate group.)...

 

[alert]

Seems this law is a flagrant violation of the 1st Amendment, and would be found unconstitutional promptly in the event it was passed. I've heard the suggestion that this was tongue-in-cheek satire designed to poke fun at lawmakers in other states who have proposed laws which violate other parts of the Constitution, such as the 2nd Amendment.

From what I've read, there's not much chance of this law actually being passed.