During the 2024 session, the Florida Legislature passed SB 7014, an ethics package affecting ethics commissions. Much has been said and written about this bill, and enough ink has been spilled over the horrors of this bill that you almost want to call the Department of Environmental Protection to clean the oil slick. Based on these columns and editorials, you would think we aimed to return Florida’s ethics laws to the Dark Ages. Well, as the author of the legislation, I thought I’d tell you exactly what the bill actually does and does not do, so you can decide for yourself if it is worth the hysterical reaction that it is receiving.

Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of all the scare pieces surrounding this bill is the assumption of bad faith that is being thrown around. The implication is obvious, that we in the Legislature are weakening Florida’s ethics laws for some dastardly purpose or nefarious scheme. This portrait of legislators sitting back cackling while shaping diabolical plots to deceive and undermine the people of Florida might make for a good skit on TV, but it is pure fiction.

So, let’s take a look at what the bill actually does. The parts that have the fainting couch crowd so upset involve local ethics boards. Currently, there are massive discrepancies statewide when it comes to these boards. Some places in Florida have such boards, but most do not. Within this variation, these local boards have created a patchwork of differing standards for how to file an ethics complaint and what evidence is admissible for an ethics complaint. That is not good policy, and it is this lack of statewide consistency that SB 7014 addresses.

Would you like the standards for murder to be different in Duval County than in Hillsborough County? Of course not. This bill simply requires local ethics boards to have a consistent standard statewide by requiring them to meet the same standards as the Florida Ethics Commission. One standard of ethics for everyone? Talk about a radical idea!

One frequently cited example of the malfeasance of SB 7014 is that it removes the ability to anonymously file an ethics complaint. This has been presented as a way to intimidate people who might file a complaint as well as an attempt to silence whistleblowers. However, if you were the one who had a complaint filed against you, shouldn’t you have the right to know who was making such accusations?

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As we’ve seen in the comment sections and on social media, the worst comments come from people acting behind the shield and safety of anonymity. Do we really want that for something as serious as an ethics complaint? Our legal system does not allow for anonymous charges to be brought against a defendant. Similarly, we do not allow anonymous complaints before the Florida Commission on Ethics.

We as Americans have the constitutional right to confront our accusers. Why should the rules be different for an ethics complaint? Further, extending this standard for ethics complaints from the state to the local level ensures equal protection and precludes outcome-intended forum shopping when filing a complaint against a public official.

Another area that caused a lot of debate is over the evidence that can be used, particularly the prohibition of “hearsay.” Our bill says that you can only file a complaint based on admissible hearsay, as opposed to inadmissible hearsay. What does that mean?

It means you can’t read a post on social media or a story in a newspaper and then file an ethics complaint based solely on that information. Rather, it means that you should have actual documents or information to accompany the complaint. This means you have provided substantiating documents, proof or research, at a minimum, for how you have standing to bring this forward. That is a fancy legal way of saying you can’t just get mad by reading a story or social media post and initiate harassment of someone by an ethics complaint without more evidence. This does not preclude a reporter who has researched the issue from being able to file a complaint, as has been suggested.

Thanks to Florida’s broad public records laws, the most open in the nation, original source documents are often referenced or even linked to newspaper articles or social media posts. So, while the newspaper article or social media post alone could not serve as the basis of an ethics complaint, the attached supporting documents would easily provide a would-be complainant with the information needed to meet the standard set in the bill.

The reason we are aligning these standards at the state and local level is because an ethics complaint is a serious accusation with real implications. When someone has an ethics complaint filed against them, it should not be simply because you don’t like their vote on a zoning ordinance, or on a piece of legislation. This is a serious process that deserves to be treated as such.

One standard for filing ethics complaints, one set of rules for everyone. No clever games or tactics, no anonymous tip lines, no turning our ethics boards into another place to fight political battles. That is the goal of SB 7014. It might not sell newspapers or generate outrage clicks on the internet, but it is good public policy for Florida, and I’m honored to have run this balanced bill.

State Sen. Danny Burgess is a Republican representing District 23 in the Florida Senate.