Florida Senate Bill 7066 (2019)

Click here to return to reading about Florida Amendment 4 (2018).

---

This article contains a developing news story. Ballotpedia staff are checking for updates regularly. To inform us of new developments, email us at editor@ballotpedia.org.

---

Florida Senate Bill 7066 (SB 7066) was signed into law by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) on June 28, 2019. SB 7066 was designed to implement parts of Amendment 4 of 2018. Most notably, SB 7066 was designed to require convicted felons to complete "all terms of sentence" including full payment of restitution, or any fines, fees, or costs resulting from the conviction, before they could regain the right to vote. Lawsuits were filed against Senate Bill 7066, in which plaintiffs argued that requiring payment of fines and fees before being able to vote was unconstitutional. On May 24, 2020, U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle ruled that the state can prohibit felons from voting if they have outstanding legal financial obligations (court fees, restitution, fines) that they are able to pay, but that the state cannot prohibit a person from voting if they have outstanding legal financial obligations that they are unable to pay. On July 2, 2020, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit blocked Hinkle's May 24 ruling and said the court would hear arguments in the case en banc in August 2020.

On July 16, 2020, the United States Supreme Court declined to vacate the 11th Circuit's stay. A majority opinion was not provided. Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Elena Kagan dissented, writing, "This Court’s order prevents thousands of otherwise eligible voters from participating in Florida’s primary election simply because they are poor. And it allows the Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit to disrupt Florida’s election process just days before the July 20 voter-registration deadline for the August primary, even though a preliminary injunction had been in place for nearly a year and a Federal District Court had found the State’s pay-to-vote scheme unconstitutional after an 8-day trial. I would grant the application to vacate the Eleventh Circuit’s stay."

On September 11, 2020, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in Jones v. DeSantis that the state of Florida can require former felons to pay all fines and fees before regaining the right to vote. The court ruled that the plaintiffs failed to show that their constitutional rights were violated. The court wrote in its ruling, "The felons complain that it is sometimes difficult to ascertain the facts that determine eligibility to vote under Amendment 4 and Senate Bill 7066, but this complaint is only another version of the vagueness argument we have already rejected. The Due Process Clause does not require States to provide individual process to help citizens learn the facts necessary to comply with laws of general application."

Amendment 4 of 2018

Voters in Florida passed Amendment 4 in 2018, which was designed to automatically restore the right to vote for people with prior felony convictions, except those convicted of murder or a felony sexual offense, upon completion of their sentences, including prison, parole, and probation. Voters approved the amendment in a vote of 64.55% to 35.45%.

Senate Bill 7066

On May 3, 2019, the Florida Legislature gave final approval to Senate Bill 7066, which made changes to the state's election code. An amendment to the bill, which was introduced on May 2, 2019, by Sen. Jeff Brandes (R-24) and agreed to in the House on May 3, 2019, required convicted felons to complete "all terms of sentence" including full payment of restitution, or any fines, fees, or costs resulting from the conviction. Section 25 of SB 7066 also provides a specific list of crimes that count as a felony sexual offense or murder. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) signed Senate Bill 7066 into law on June 28, 2019.

The full text and other information on SB 7066 may be found here.

Lawsuits concerning Senate Bill 7066

Gruver v. Barton

After Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) signed SB 7066 into law on June 28, 2019, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Florida, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, and the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law announced a lawsuit (Gruver v. Barton) seeking to block SB 7066 from taking effect. The groups argued that the bill was unconstitutional because it denied the right to vote based solely on an individual's inability to pay fines, fees, and restitution associated with their convictions. NAACP Deputy Director of Litigation Leah Aden said, "Over 5 million Floridians cast their ballot in favor of Amendment 4, which removed a 150-year Jim Crow vestige that permanently disenfranchised people with felony convictions from voting. Simply put, SB 7066 thwarts the will of these voters by basing voter restoration on the ability to pay financial obligations. This law will disproportionately impact black Floridians with a felony conviction, who face the intersecting barriers of accessing jobs in a state with long-standing wealth and employment disparities. Because the Florida Legislature ignored these well-understood realities, SB 7066 must be stopped." Micah Kubic, executive director of the ACLU of Florida, said, "The Florida legislature is thwarting the will of the people and restricting the eligibility to vote for thousands of Floridians who have earned their second chance. Both SB 7066/HB 7089 are overly broad and extend far beyond the plain language of Amendment 4 or what any reasonable person would conclude the voters intended when they passed Amendment 4. These bills are a blatant legislative overreach and an example of state legislators substituting their views for the those of the people of Florida. Floridians believe in second chances and the restorative justice granted by Amendment 4, which is why 5.1 million votes were cast in its favor."

The complaint can be read here. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) and Secretary of State Laurel Lee (R) filed a motion seeking to have the lawsuit dismissed on August 2, 2019.

Kevin Leon Jones et al. vs DeSantis et al.

Another lawsuit, Kevin Leon Jones et al. vs DeSantis et al., was filed by 17 individual plaintiffs and three organizations: the Florida State Conference of the NAACP, the Orange County Branch of the NAACP, and the League of Women Voters of Florida.

On October 18, 2019, U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle ruled in Kevin Leon Jones et al. vs DeSantis et al. that "each of these plaintiffs have a constitutional right to vote so long as the state’s only reason for denying the vote is failure to pay an amount the plaintiff is genuinely unable to pay." Hinkle's ruling applied only to the 17 plaintiffs in the lawsuit. Hinkle wrote, "The state of Florida cannot deny restoration of a felon’s right to vote solely because the felon does not have the financial resources necessary to pay restitution. And because, for this purpose, there is no reason to treat restitution differently from other financial obligations included in a sentence, Florida also cannot deny restoration of a felon’s right to vote solely because the felon does not have the financial resources to pay the other financial obligations." Hinkle's ruling can be found here. The state appealed Hinkle’s October ruling to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments on January 28, 2020. On February 19, 2020, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Hinkle's ruling. A spokeswoman for Governor DeSantis said they would appeal the ruling en banc. On March 31, 2020, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declined to hear the case en banc and affirmed the panel's prior ruling that the state cannot prohibit a person from voting due to outstanding financial obligations if they truly cannot afford to pay them.

Jones v. DeSantis (consolidated lawsuit)

Four additional lawsuits were consolidated into Jones vs DeSantis. The case went to trial in the U.S. district court for the Northern District of Florida on April 27, 2020. Plaintiffs in the case against the state of Florida were represented by the ACLU, ACLU of Florida, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund Inc., the Brennan Center for Justice, Campaign Legal Fund of Washington, D.C., the firm of Brazil and Dunn of Miami, and attorney Michael Steinberg. The case was set to be conducted by phone due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The ACLU made the following arguments:

“

SB 7066 violates the Eighth Amendment, which prohibits excessive fines; SB 7066 violates the First Amendment rights of organizations, like the Florida League of Women Voters, that engage in voter registration activity, because it makes unclear who is qualified to vote and who is not; SB 7066 violates the 19th Amendment, which specifically protects women from any election law that denies or diminishes their right or ability to vote. Women, Black women in particular, who are returning citizens are particularly burdened by SB 7066 due to their low average incomes compared to men, making them less able to pay fines and court fees; and SB 7066 violates the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, which governs voter registration forms, voter registration, and voter list maintenance.

”

On May 24, 2020, U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle ruled that the state can prohibit felons from voting if they have outstanding legal financial obligations (court fees, restitution, fines) that they are able to pay, but that the state cannot prohibit a person from voting if they have outstanding legal financial obligations that they are unable to pay. Hinkle said the system under Senate Bill 7066 was an "unconstitutional pay-to-vote system." Hinkle said that felons (a) who could not afford an attorney and were therefore appointed one and (b) who had their legal financial obligations converted to civil liens could register to vote. Other felons who are unable to pay their financial obligations could request a determination from Florida Secretary of State Laurel Lee (R), who must issue the determination within 21 days and must include information such as how much money is owed and how the state calculated the amount. If the Secretary of State does not issue the determination within 21 days of receipt, the felon would be allowed to register to vote.

On July 2, 2020, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit blocked Hinkle's May 24 ruling and said the court would hear arguments in the case en banc in August 2020. Mark Earley, the supervisor of elections for Leon County, said, "It's becoming, I think, probably very confusing for people who are trying to decide whether they can get registered to vote or not. Where do they stand now? Do they have to unregister? There's no way for us to just take people back off the rolls."

On September 11, 2020, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the state of Florida can require former felons to pay all fines and fees before regaining the right to vote. The court ruled that the plaintiffs failed to show that their constitutional rights were violated. The court wrote in its ruling, "The felons complain that it is sometimes difficult to ascertain the facts that determine eligibility to vote under Amendment 4 and Senate Bill 7066, but this complaint is only another version of the vagueness argument we have already rejected. The Due Process Clause does not require States to provide individual process to help citizens learn the facts necessary to comply with laws of general application. ... States are constitutionally entitled to set legitimate voter qualifications through laws of general application and to require voters to comply with those laws through their own efforts. So long as a State provides adequate procedures to challenge individual determinations of ineligibility—as Florida does—due process requires nothing more."

See also

• Florida Amendment 4, Voting Rights Restoration for Felons Initiative (2018)