Bill enhancing criminal penalties for hate crimes clears committee

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (FLV) – A House committee passed a bill Tuesday that aims to implement enhanced criminal penalties for offenses classified and reported as hate crimes, which the co-sponsors said is in response to the rise in antisemitism in Florida.

Rep. Mike Caruso, R-Delray Beach, and Rep. Randy Fine, R-Brevard, co-sponsored the bill, which passed unanimously in the House Criminal Justice subcommittee.

The bill would make the following third-degree felonies: dumping of litter, harassment, threat, intimidation, the defacement of cemeteries, graves, memorials and schools, and the malicious disruption of religious services, schools or funerals.

Additionally, the act of projecting an image onto a building or structure without the written consent of a property owner will be punishable as a first degree misdemeanor.

A person can also be charged with a first degree misdemeanor if they trespass for the purpose of threatening or intimidating another person on a state university or college campus after failing to heed warnings from state schools and refusing to leave.

“I will not be one who sits around. I will not be one who is complacent, and I will not do nothing about this, because enough is enough. All Floridians, including those of the Jewish faith, should be able to have quiet enjoyment and practice their faith without reprisal or fear of harm,” Caruso said.

Caruso said they have seen severe escalation including Jewish moms and their kids being threatened while walking to school, hateful banners being hung on the turnpike, hateful flyers being placed on cars in West Palm Beach, the projection of Nazi swastikas on a building in Jacksonville, and more acts.

Palm Beach County Mayor Gregg Weiss spoke in support of the legislation during public comment.

“As a community, we can’t stand idly by and allow such hatred and bigotry. We have to come together and address these issues head on and I believe HB 269 is one of the tools that will allow us to do this,” Weiss said.

“There was a Lutheran minister from Germany … he said during the Holocaust before he was killed, that silence in the face of evil – is evil itself. We have the opportunity today. We will have the opportunity on the floor. You’ll have the opportunity with our constituents to say we will not be silent,” Fine said in closing.

The bill will now head to the Justice Appropriations Subcommittee and Judiciary Committee.