Florida

“I’ve seen sufficient abuses of power amongst at least one unelected Cabinet member to give me grave concern about the abuse of a bill like this.

— Rep. Alex Andrade

By Michelle DeMarco

Florida Trident

Legislation that would allow secretive government surveillance and arrests of Floridians based on views, opinions or actions won its latest round of legislative approval this week.

HB 945, which would greenlight the creation of a new counterintelligence and counterterrorism unit within the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, passed the House Budget Committee despite bipartisan opposition, a first for the controversial legislation that has sailed through with little resistance in both House and Senate committees.

Bill Sponsor Danny Alvarez (R-Riverview) told the committee Tuesday that an amendment was in the works addressing concerns that he said had arisen in recent days over dangers the bill posed to free speech and risks of political persecution.

Alvarez’s comments came four days after the Florida Trident reported that the bill and its Senate companion were quietly moving through the Legislature with little attention and less opposition.

“We are very, very aware” of the questions regarding the First Amendment,” he said. “But just understand, this is going after terrorists, nation state bad actors, not political speech.”

Though Alvarez said the amendment would be readied in time for the bill’s final committee hearing, the announcement did not assuage lawmakers’ immediate concerns about the dangers arising from the vagueness of the bill’s language and a potential abuse of power against those targeted by the FDLE unit.

As the Trident reported last week, the primary mission of the new FDLE unit would include the detection, identification, and neutralization of “adversary intelligence entities,” which include a “person whose demonstrated actions, views, or opinions are a threat or are inimical to the interests of this state and the United States of America.”

The five-page legislation also includes language establishing the identification of threats by analyzing “patterns of life,” and “executing arrests or by revealing its intent to compel a response using all counterintelligence and counterterrorism tradecraft necessary.”

“I think about things like COINTELPRO,” said Rep. Michele Rayner (D-St. Petersburg), referring to a covert operation run by the FBI in the 1960’s and early 70’s which targeted organizations the agency deemed subversive including civil rights and student groups. “The concerns are there are no guardrails that I see in this bill to ensure what judicial oversight looks like. There’s no guardrails in this bill to mandate warrants being necessary…”

“While I’m grateful the bill sponsor has indicated he’s going to address some of the First Amendment concerns, I still think it may not go as far as it needs to be,” she said. She pointed to a retired Largo couple who received a visit last year from armed state investigators after sending Florida Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia a postcard with the message: “You lack values.”

“Having a lived experience of being a Black woman in America…who has been targeted by law enforcement because of things I’ve said…I don’t know that there’s any iteration of this bill that I can support,” she said. “Because, quite frankly, that means that any of us could be a target.”

Concerns were also raised about oversight, and the process for determining potential targets. The head of FDLE is appointed by the governor and approved by the Cabinet.

“I’ve seen sufficient abuses of power amongst at least one unelected Cabinet member to give me grave concern about the abuse of a bill like this,” said Rep. Alex Andrade (R-Pensacola).

Andrade has been at odds with Attorney General James Uthmeier, who was appointed by Governor Ron DeSantis, after Andrade’s committee held hearings last year exposing the diversion of millions of Medicaid dollars repaid to the state but diverted to a political committee Uthmeier controlled. The money was then used to campaign against a citizen-led initiative to legalize recreational marijuana, the defeat of which was a priority of DeSantis.

Andrade referred the matter to Leon County State Attorney Jack Campbell, who empaneled a grand jury to investigate. That investigation is apparently still underway. Uthmeier has denied accusations by Andrade of wire fraud and money laundering.

Uthmeier’s office recently targeted Andrade by encouraging faith groups to protest a committee meeting he chairs after falsely claiming Andrade was backing anti-abortion clinics’ funding cuts, the Times-Herald reported. Andrade said that if the bill “is cleaned up to prevent those possibilities” he would look forward to supporting it.

In response, Alvarez, who said he drafted the bill in tandem with FDLE, insists that guardrails already exist in the state Constitution.

Although FDLE already maintains an Office of Statewide Intelligence, a counterterrorism/ counterintelligence unit similar to the one established in New York after 9/11, the new legislation is necessary, Alvarez said, because “our borders don’t protect us anymore,” and “when we depend on the federal government, Florida loses.”

The bill passed by a vote of 20-8. It next moves to the House State Affairs Committee, its final scheduled House committee hearing. The State Affairs Committee oversees matters related to state agency governance, emergency management, and cybersecurity, among other subjects.

The 2026 legislative session is scheduled to end March 13^.