Of the more than two dozen organizations trying to get constitutional amendments on the 2020 ballot by petition initiative, only a handful have a better than 50-50 chance of making it.
House Bill 5, signed into law by Gov. Ron DeSantis in early June, made it tougher to canvas and collect signatures with cumbersome restrictions that are scaring off petition gatherers and increasing the cost.
They have to register with the Secretary of State, print out their own petitions, face criminal charges if they’re paid per petition, and risk fines if they hang onto signed petitions for more than 30 days.
All that is in addition to the thresholds and deadlines already imposed by the state for ballot initiatives.