4.11.24 – C&C News
“Florida, Going on Offense with New Laws -- Gov. DeSantis Just Signed”
By Jeff Childers, Practicing Attorney and Well-Known Author
Excerpts from this article:
☕️ GOING ON OFFENSE ☙ Thursday, April 11, 2024 ☙ C&C NEWS 🦠 (coffeeandcovid.com)
Florida Governor DeSantis signed several terrific bills this week.
Yesterday, the Nation’s Governor signed what I believe to be the country’s first “anti-grooming” bill.
Corporate media ignored the story, of course, so I’ll cite the Florida Daily, which ran the article under the headline, “DeSantis Signs Five Pieces of Legislation to Protect Children from Predatory Grooming, Sexual Offenses.”
DeSantis signed all five of these terrific bills into law yesterday:
• HB 1545 protects children from grooming and other sexual offenses.
• HB 1131 establishes a grant program to create online sting operations targeting sexual predators.
• HB 1235 creates stricter guidelines for registering sex offenders.
• SB 1224 strengthens the Guardian ad Litem Office and implements new training requirements to ensure law enforcement properly assesses a domestic violence situation involving kids.
• HB 305 expands evidence that can be presented to a jury in sex-abuse cases where the victim is a minor and increases penalties on those who take part in sex trafficking of minors.
The most controversial of those five was the anti-grooming bill…The law criminalizes sexualized communications harmful to minors. Here’s the operative language…
An adult who engages in a pattern of communication to a minor that includes explicit and detailed verbal descriptions or narrative accounts of sexual activity, sexual conduct, or sexual excitement and that is harmful to minors commits a felony of the third degree.
The law clearly applies regardless of anyone’s sexual orientation…
Unlike previous versions of this bill, teachers are not excluded. Nor are drag story hours.
🔥 DeSantis also signed a bill tackling small retail theft, which obviously demolishes downtowns and collectively undermines civilization…
Unlike blue states, Florida is cracking down on small-dollar crimes, under the “broken windows” theory pioneered by New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, which correctly posits that ignoring small crimes emboldens criminals to commit more serious crimes.
Florida’s new law expands penalties for retail theft including:
• “Gangs of thieves,” where criminals shoplift in groups of five or more people (third-degree felony, punishable by up to 5 years in prison).
• Gangs of five or more who use social media to solicit others to join in shoplifting sprees (second-degree felony, punishable by up to 15 years in prison).
• Shoplifting with a firearm or with two or more prior shoplifting convictions (first-degree felony, punishable by up to 30 years in prison).
• Applying felony charges to multiple shoplifting crimes committed within a four-month period (increased from 30 days).
• “Porch piracy,” or the theft of property worth less than $40 (first-degree misdemeanor, increasing to a third-degree felony on the second occurrence). Theft of property worth over $40 or more is now a third-degree felony.
As unlikely as this seemed in 2019, Florida — now dark red with a +1 million Republican voter advantage — continues leading the nation in preserving freedom, honor, and perhaps civilization itself.