The bill, pushed by the Republican governor, has been criticized by Democrats and civil rights groups as unconstitutional for infringing on the First Amendment’s right to peacefully protest.
“If you look at the breadth of this particular piece of legislation, it is the strongest anti-rioting, pro-law enforcement piece of legislation in the country,” DeSantis said at a press conference in Winter Haven. “There’s just nothing even close.”
DeSantis also hinted that Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin, who he said last year had murdered George Floyd, might be acquitted and that the state was “prepared.”
“I don’t know what’s going to happen,” DeSantis said. “But I can tell you that case was bungled by the attorney general there in Minnesota. They didn’t handle it properly. And so there may be people disappointed.”
Speakers including the governor said the law would protect law enforcement and private property against rioters, despite acknowledging there was little violent unrest in Florida during last year’s protests over Floyd’s deaths.
A group of mainly white old men, excited about the signing of a bill that brings us back to a time the rest of us don’t want to go back to. https://t.co/wF1TmIU9nY
— Maxwell Frost (@MaxwellAFrost) April 19, 2021
House Bill 1 or mostly known as HB 1 enhances penalties for existing offenses and prevents local municipalities from reallocating funds from police budgets to other needed services. The bill also enacts penalties against local governments that seek to address police response to protests. It increased penalties for damaging confederate memorials by up to 10 years in prison.
Democratic state Sen. Shevrin Jones, D-West Park, who is Black, said the new law “undermines every Floridian’s constitutional rights, and it is disgusting that the GOP would rather empower vigilantes and silence voices than listen to the majority of Floridians who oppose this dangerous bill. The governor’s spectacle is a distraction that will only further disenfranchise Black and brown communities.”
The law also creates a broad category for misdemeanor arrest during protests, and anyone charged under that provision will be denied bail until their first court appearance. DeSantis said he wanted that to prevent people from rejoining ongoing protests.
It creates a new felony crime of “aggravated rioting” that carries a sentence of up to 15 years in prison and a new crime of “mob intimidation.”
In Orlando, 80 of about 100 arrests on charges of disorderly conduct during the first week of Floyd protests last year were ultimately dropped.
DeSantis did not take questions after he signed the bill.