Authorities would be able to impound vehicles for days and double fines on noncriminal traffic infractions to crack down on large unsanctioned events put together through social media, under a measure heading to the Senate floor.
Bill sponsor Tom Wright, R-New Smyrna Beach, said the proposal (SB 1954) wouldn’t apply to protests but is designed to help manage “out of control” social media “pop-up” events. The Senate Rules Committee approved the bill Tuesday.
“With the internet being so popular, we are having people put together events that are unsanctioned and saying basically, ‘Come to this area, and let’s party like it’s 1999,’” Wright said. “And our law enforcement’s hands are tied to do much about it.”
The proposal would allow authorities to declare areas as “special event zones” in response to unpermitted events that are promoted through social media and are anticipated to attract 200 or more people and disrupt traffic. The zones could blanket entire cities.
The bill would double fines for noncriminal traffic infractions in the event zones and allow law enforcement to impound vehicles for up to 72 hours for traffic violations.
The proposal also would allow local governments to impose more stringent regulations than what’s in state law about vehicle radios or other sound-making devices.
The proposal is backed by the Professional Wrecker Operators of Florida and is opposed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida.
Sen. Jeff Brandes, R-St. Petersburg, called the bill “crazily overly broad, wildly disruptive.”
“If you cross a lane without putting your blinker on, you get fined, it’s doubled. And we can impound your car, which seems a little bit intense,” Brandes said.
A legislative staff analysis said local governments would be able to recover from promoters or organizers relevant costs and fees tied to special event zones, from law enforcement to sanitation, even if the events are canceled.
Sen. Audrey Gibson, D-Jacksonville, questioned the impact to spring break if people are faced with arrests and cars being impounded.
But Sen. Dennis Baxley, an Ocala Republican who supported the bill, said the measure could help local governments when “these things happen out of control.”
“Anything that would eliminate chaos in a party state is helpful,” Baxley said.
Wright said the proposal grew out of a truck meet last year in Daytona Beach that created gridlock on Florida A1A.
“Pop-up events are happening where someone goes online and says, ‘Come to a particular area and bring your dirt bikes, bring your jacked-up trucks, bring some sort of vehicle and break all kinds of laws and stop traffic, start fights,’” Wright said.
He added that people in Daytona Beach were “shooting each other from truck to truck. They were going across yards, tearing up yards with their big tires. They were going onto the beach putting sand on people that were there sunbathing.”
A similar measure (HB 1435) by Rep. Tom Leek, R-Ormond Beach, has cleared two panels and awaits an appearance before the House Judiciary Committee.
–Jim Turner, News Service of Florida
Merrill S Shapiro says
“In every age it has been the tyrant, the oppressor and the exploiter who has wrapped himself in the cloak of patriotism, or religion, or both to deceive and overawe the People.”
― Eugene Victor Debs
R. S. says
These people are nuts. Can we please get someone other than Trumpublicans to run this state?
Steve says
Good Luck with Come and gone before you know it
marlee says
Floriduh is becoming a “Big “Brother ” State!
HJC says
Doesn’t the first amendment of the constitution say something about the right of the people to assemble. Just another money grab and to take more rights away.
Concerned Citizen says
Not sure how authorities can stop it, but I hope they can.
Just a thought says
I thought republicans were about LESS government! This sounds more like a Police State then anything I’ve ever heard!
Timothy Patrick Welch says
We have enough laws, that prohibit free association. In fact we may have too many.
Bad idea, ill conceived.
DC says
Trust me – they are NOT come and home before you know it! While I’m sure there are some that are calm and quiet, those that aren’t will grab your attention and keep it for a while.
The last unsanctioned trick meet cost the citizens of Daytona more than $200,000 in personnel, damage and cleanup costs. Did the organizers pay for any of that? No. Were the local citizens able to get to the Beachside? No. If they lived on the Beachside, were they able to get around? No.
Does the new law sound extreme? Yes. So you think anything else is going to stop events like these?
Voluntaryist says
Not at all. We live in the USSA – Republicans are military/police state socialists, and Democrats are straight up communists: just the left and right foot of the same oligarch controlled communo-fascist empire. The US has already fulfilled 7/10 planks of the communist manifesto. People need to understand that what they taught you about government in their government controlled school was a fairy tale. Decentralization and voluntaryism is the only way forward for humanity.
Voluntaryist says
Indeed. Now days it’s a cloak of “scientism” in regard to climate, the cerveza sickness, and “equity”. All of them religions, just of a secular nature – how cleverly they rhyme history so as to avoid being detected repeating it.