I called, and as expected, had to leave two VMs -- one in his district office and the other in Tallahassee. Uh, Senator Brodeur, this is Me calling from northwest Florida. I am calling to get clarification and confirmation on your bill, SB 1316.
As I read it -- the 116 additional lines of code -- it seemed to equate blogging about FL Executive and elected Legislative members and getting paid for it with lobbying. Is that a correct interpretation?
Also, I would love to understand more about the legislation, in particular what prompted it. I'd be very grateful to hear back from you or someone from your office with help on my questions. As I am sure you know, your bill is getting a lot of attention on social media...and blogs...of course.
Thanks a bunch. Hugs and kisses.
OK, I didn't actually include that last part.
I remained polite throughout, repeated my name and phone number, and said good-bye.
Also lol to the hugs and kisses 😆 Although with some of these people, if you had actually said that, you might have gotten a personal meeting with them 🙄
Please do! I just got a call back from "Zack" in Senator Brodeur's office. Good conversation. He confirmed my interpretation of this as similar to having lobbyists register. Senator Brodeur's thinking is that the public has a right to know if an organization or website solicited and compensated a writer/blogger to advocate on its behalf. I agreed saying that given the last three years of all of us being subjected to "vested interests," I can see the Senator's point in saying that the public has a right to know who's writing for whom and how much $$$ they were paid to do so.
I shared that this has caused grave concern and asked if the Senator has considered the "moral hazard" or downside of this legislation. Zack said he had and that the bill will get much more review. We got into more detail and it was a good conversation. Zack said they're being "inundated" with calls and emails. Said I believed it.
Then for good measure, threw in that I'd be in Tallahassee on Tuesday to advocate on behalf of SB 222, the Protect Medical Freedom bill. Does the Senator support that? Zack said he was unsure if the Senator had had a chance to read the bill (1,500 already submitted), but that he does support the right of people to make their own medical choices. Great, I said...There are millions of us who are going to be keeping on eye on that one...
I did! Although not as eloquently as you, I’m sure 😂
I said,
I’m a resident of central Florida. (Gave contact info)
I would like further clarification on senate bill 1316 which you must know by now is getting a lot of pushback from citizens and bloggers. First, this appears to be a clear 1st amendment violation and at a time when governments all over the country and big tech have stripped Americans of their right to free speech, this bill is suspect to say the least.
At a time when the federal and state governments are coming after citizens financially and calling them “fines” for non-compliance I would think you would have thought long and carefully about what message this bill would send to your constituents.
Please have someone contact me and further clarify why you would seemingly go after bloggers in the private sector in this manner. And by definition, blogger doesn’t seem to be limited to specific lobbyists but rather ordinary citizens reporting news worthy information, sharing political information about what our governments are actually doing and voicing criticism of elected officials on behalf of the citizenry in Florida, since our media tyrants and censors refuse to do so.
Right now, the bill excludes ordinary citizens reporting newsworthy info. It is restricted to an organization's solicited and paid for content that advocates for the interests of that organization directed to the Executive or Legislative branch.
You're right, though -- it could "go there" -- forcing ordinary people to "register." (My husband is as steamed as you are.)
I think the verbiage isn’t clear to some of us non-lawyer people so I would appreciate a lot more conversation about that piece, but I also am done giving any politician the benefit of the doubt because they are sneaky and love to implement policy and laws behind our backs in the dead of night behind closed doors. So, unfortunately I come out swinging against anything that doesn’t smell right. Kind of cut off the soldiers ear and ask for forgiveness later (biblical reference 😂).
I’m not willing to give these politicians on either side of the aisle an inch. They should be met with fierce questioning from the public for every single thing they do. They should be fearful of the citizens being critical of every move they make. That helps breed accountability. They should approach every bill with “what are my constituents going to say?” Rather than what they probably say now which is “who cares what they say”.
I’m really glad you found out they are getting hammered with calls from the citizenry. That is excellent!!!
This is good. And I actually fully agree with the intent because how many times have we been saying (for the past 5 years!) “follow the money”. The truth is it DOES matter. And food for thought - it really isn’t FREE speech if you are being paid for it. Sorry. Its a job. FREE is me posting right here with my comments and no incentives.
I did hear back from his office and I shared what his legislative aide said in another comment. (My senator is Doug Broxson.) It was a good conversation.
Briefly, the Senator believes that the public has a right to know who is getting paid to advocate on behalf of organizations via their blog posts. I wanted to ask, but didn't get to it, about an instance of Senator Brodeur being on the receiving end of this type of "lobbying".
The legislative aide said that the bill was drafted quickly to make the deadline for this legislative session. It has much review and redrafting to go through and then passage in both houses before it ever makes its way to the Governor's desk. For his signature...or not.
I would love to be able to listen in on THAT conversation! 😬
I called, and as expected, had to leave two VMs -- one in his district office and the other in Tallahassee. Uh, Senator Brodeur, this is Me calling from northwest Florida. I am calling to get clarification and confirmation on your bill, SB 1316.
As I read it -- the 116 additional lines of code -- it seemed to equate blogging about FL Executive and elected Legislative members and getting paid for it with lobbying. Is that a correct interpretation?
Also, I would love to understand more about the legislation, in particular what prompted it. I'd be very grateful to hear back from you or someone from your office with help on my questions. As I am sure you know, your bill is getting a lot of attention on social media...and blogs...of course.
Thanks a bunch. Hugs and kisses.
OK, I didn't actually include that last part.
I remained polite throughout, repeated my name and phone number, and said good-bye.
Please keep us posted!
Also lol to the hugs and kisses 😆 Although with some of these people, if you had actually said that, you might have gotten a personal meeting with them 🙄
😂😂😂 𝙍𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩?
Which end??
😂
I’m planning to call too!
Please do! I just got a call back from "Zack" in Senator Brodeur's office. Good conversation. He confirmed my interpretation of this as similar to having lobbyists register. Senator Brodeur's thinking is that the public has a right to know if an organization or website solicited and compensated a writer/blogger to advocate on its behalf. I agreed saying that given the last three years of all of us being subjected to "vested interests," I can see the Senator's point in saying that the public has a right to know who's writing for whom and how much $$$ they were paid to do so.
I shared that this has caused grave concern and asked if the Senator has considered the "moral hazard" or downside of this legislation. Zack said he had and that the bill will get much more review. We got into more detail and it was a good conversation. Zack said they're being "inundated" with calls and emails. Said I believed it.
Then for good measure, threw in that I'd be in Tallahassee on Tuesday to advocate on behalf of SB 222, the Protect Medical Freedom bill. Does the Senator support that? Zack said he was unsure if the Senator had had a chance to read the bill (1,500 already submitted), but that he does support the right of people to make their own medical choices. Great, I said...There are millions of us who are going to be keeping on eye on that one...
Do call, Sunnydaze...
I did! Although not as eloquently as you, I’m sure 😂
I said,
I’m a resident of central Florida. (Gave contact info)
I would like further clarification on senate bill 1316 which you must know by now is getting a lot of pushback from citizens and bloggers. First, this appears to be a clear 1st amendment violation and at a time when governments all over the country and big tech have stripped Americans of their right to free speech, this bill is suspect to say the least.
At a time when the federal and state governments are coming after citizens financially and calling them “fines” for non-compliance I would think you would have thought long and carefully about what message this bill would send to your constituents.
Please have someone contact me and further clarify why you would seemingly go after bloggers in the private sector in this manner. And by definition, blogger doesn’t seem to be limited to specific lobbyists but rather ordinary citizens reporting news worthy information, sharing political information about what our governments are actually doing and voicing criticism of elected officials on behalf of the citizenry in Florida, since our media tyrants and censors refuse to do so.
Thank you for your time.
Hugs and kisses. 😉
Well done!
Right now, the bill excludes ordinary citizens reporting newsworthy info. It is restricted to an organization's solicited and paid for content that advocates for the interests of that organization directed to the Executive or Legislative branch.
You're right, though -- it could "go there" -- forcing ordinary people to "register." (My husband is as steamed as you are.)
Did you add the "hugs and kisses?"
Hahaha. I kept that for you and C&C 😂
I think the verbiage isn’t clear to some of us non-lawyer people so I would appreciate a lot more conversation about that piece, but I also am done giving any politician the benefit of the doubt because they are sneaky and love to implement policy and laws behind our backs in the dead of night behind closed doors. So, unfortunately I come out swinging against anything that doesn’t smell right. Kind of cut off the soldiers ear and ask for forgiveness later (biblical reference 😂).
I’m not willing to give these politicians on either side of the aisle an inch. They should be met with fierce questioning from the public for every single thing they do. They should be fearful of the citizens being critical of every move they make. That helps breed accountability. They should approach every bill with “what are my constituents going to say?” Rather than what they probably say now which is “who cares what they say”.
I’m really glad you found out they are getting hammered with calls from the citizenry. That is excellent!!!
This is good. And I actually fully agree with the intent because how many times have we been saying (for the past 5 years!) “follow the money”. The truth is it DOES matter. And food for thought - it really isn’t FREE speech if you are being paid for it. Sorry. Its a job. FREE is me posting right here with my comments and no incentives.
That sounds like an interesting and productive conversation!
Please let us know what happens!
Let us know if you every hear ANTHING (either written or spoken) from your "esteemed" Senator Brodeur.
I did hear back from his office and I shared what his legislative aide said in another comment. (My senator is Doug Broxson.) It was a good conversation.
Did they explain in detail what this bill would contain and why it was drafted in the first place?
Briefly, the Senator believes that the public has a right to know who is getting paid to advocate on behalf of organizations via their blog posts. I wanted to ask, but didn't get to it, about an instance of Senator Brodeur being on the receiving end of this type of "lobbying".
The legislative aide said that the bill was drafted quickly to make the deadline for this legislative session. It has much review and redrafting to go through and then passage in both houses before it ever makes its way to the Governor's desk. For his signature...or not.
Wonderful! Bills like this are "fluff"...but makes it appear our legislators are actually "working"--HAH!