Gov. Ron DeSantis signed HB 1471 during a press conference at the University of South Florida in Tampa, giving the state new authority to designate domestic terrorist organizations and allowing colleges to expel students involved in those groups. The controversial legislation takes effect July 1 and passed the Legislature in a partisan vote, with Democrats expressing concerns about potential targeting of liberal college students.
“This will help the state of Florida protect you. It’ll help us protect your tax dollars. It’ll help us protect things that should not be happening in the United States of America, but certainly shouldn’t be happening in the free state of Florida,” DeSantis said, calling the new law “a big deal” that “spans finance, spans political, spans culture.” The governor added that “the federal government does this all the time” and “we need to be doing that here.”
Lt. Gov. Jay Collins, who joined DeSantis at the Tampa press conference, said the new law “creates a state terrorist designation process with real teeth.” Under HB 1471, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s Chief of Domestic Security can flag domestic terrorist organizations, with DeSantis and his Cabinet required to sign off on the FDLE list. “HB 1471 is not about politics. It’s about keeping our people safe,” Collins said.
The legislation prohibits public schools from spending taxpayer money on organizations considered domestic terrorists, while the State Board of Education and the Florida Board of Governors can withhold state funds to colleges and universities promoting those groups. Students promoting the groups can be immediately expelled from their state colleges or universities and then charged an out-of-state fee. Higher education institutions will also be required to report the visa status of a student who is involved with designated domestic terrorists.
“Part of what the legislature did in this bill was provide a statutory structure for the actions that we took earlier when we took those actions last year,” DeSantis said at the University of South Florida press conference. The bill’s signing comes months after DeSantis designated the Florida Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations-Florida and the Muslim Brotherhood as “foreign terrorist organizations” in an executive order. The law also prohibits the use of legal frameworks like Sharia Law in courts.
CAIR-FL has challenged DeSantis’ previous executive order with a lawsuit, calling it unconstitutional and defamatory. “This executive order does not represent facts. It does not cite investigations. It does not point to any criminal findings. It simply declares guilt by proclamation,” said Hiba Rahim of CAIR-FL. DeSantis responded to the legal challenge by saying “if there’s a school that is allied with CAIR, should you have any of your money going to things like that? I think not.”
DeSantis predicted additional legal challenges to HB 1471, noting that two federal lawsuits were filed the same day he signed legislation to overhaul voting ID requirements last week. “They’ll sue us like they do on everything. We’ll almost always win on appeal,” DeSantis said. Groups designated as domestic terrorists under the new law can challenge their labels in Leon Circuit Court.
The governor, who is term-limited, has not yet endorsed Collins’ campaign for Governor despite Collins’ presence at the Tampa signing ceremony. HB 1471 also prohibits students of certain school districts and Florida colleges who “promote domestic terrorist organizations or foreign terrorist organizations” from being awarded certain public funding when the law takes effect July 1.