Tracking Florida's Anti-CBDC Bill: Who Is Supporting It and Who Is Not.
Florida's session ends May 5th, and the Anti-CBDC's is set to pass. This is what you need to know about what's blocking it's path.
Desantis’ Anti-Central Bank Digital Currency Bill has led the national conversation on what State’s can do to prevent authoritarianism through fiat monetary systems. It is critical that we understand who has supported the bill and who hasn’t, so that anyone trying to replicate such a process in the future may know what to expect.
We should also be supporting the people who are pushing the bill, while also making everyone aware of those who are trying to kill the bill.
Florida’s Anti-CBDC Bill, which has gained Desantis an amazing amount of media, while also setting the national trend for other Presidential hopefuls when it comes to CBDC’s, is set to pass by the end of Florida’s legislative session. Although it has faced little opposition, it has garnered “no” votes from certain Democrats in Florida.
Tracking the Bill’s Vote History
Florida’s anti-cbdc bill is more formally known as HB 7049 in the House, and SB 7054 in the Senate.
House Side: HB 7049
HB 7049 only had to go through one committee in the House, which is unusual for most bills, unless they are a priority by the governor. Given this bill was introduced later in Florida’s 60 day session, getting it through as quickly as possible meant minimizing committee stops.
The Bill is being run by Rep. Wyman Duggan, who presides over District 12 which covers a portion of Duval County that touches Clay and Saint Johns County, just north of Orange Park.
(It is often a political strategy to add committee stops to bills that are disliked by the party in charge in order to slow the bills passage and have it die due to time constraints).
The only committee stop in the House was the Judiciary Committee, where it was voted on with 16 Yeas and 3 Nays. So who were the Nays?
The Nays consisted of:
Rep. Mike Gottlieb, who presides over Florida House District 102, which covers the Broward County suburbs of Plantation, Davie, and Sunshine.
Rep. Dianne Hart, who presides over Florida House District 63, which covers a large swatch of the Tampa Bay suburb of Temple Terrace right by the University of South Florida.
Rep. LaVon Bracy Davis, who presides over Florida House District 40, which covers the north-western half of Orange County known as Ocoee.
The overall commentary from these three Democrats that they just don’t understand the bill or that the bill is useless right now as the Federal Government, according to them, has not officially decided to issue a Central Bank Digital Currency.
Rep. Duggan, the bill sponsor and Bitcoin friendly Representative, countered these comments with two points:
1) The Federal Government is planning on issuing a CBDC, and if the bill is not passed now, it will be too late.
2) A CBDC would violate the 4th amendment and give the Federal Government an unlimited amount of power by being able to shut off citizens finances within seconds.
You can watch the debate at the 2 hour mark here: https://thefloridachannel.org/videos/4-19-23-house-judiciary-committee/
Senate Side: SB 7049
The Senate Bill only had to go through two committee stops. The first stop was in the Banking and Insurance Committee in which it received 7 Yeas and 1 Nay.
Soon thereafter it was heard in the Fiscal Policy Committee where it received 18 Yeas and 2 Nays.
Like the House Bill, the Senate Bill’s opposition only came from the Democratic side. So who were the Nays?
The Nay’s came from the following Democrats:
Senator Bobby Powell, who presides over District 24, which covers from South Palm Beach, to North Palm Beach, and as far west as Haverhill.
Senator Lori Berman, who presides over District 26, which covers from South Bay and Belle Glade, all the way to Wellington, Ocean Ridge, and Boca Raton.
Senator Geraldine “Geri” Thompson, who presides over District 15 which covers a large part of Orlando, from Oakland, to Edgewood, all the way north to Apopka.
Senate Democrats were a little more aggressive in their stance, especially Senator Berman. Berman believes that this bill is just a political play by Governor Desantis, and that no such CBDC was close to being issued.
You can find the testimony on this bill here starting at the 1:43:00 marker: https://thefloridachannel.org/videos/4-20-23-senate-committee-on-fiscal-policy/
Conclusion:
Florida’s Anti-CBDC Bill is going to pass. What little opposition there has been from certain Democrats seems to be mainly charged at the Governor and not the bill itself. It is important to note that there are Democrats who did vote for the bill. All in all, every Republican voted for the bill, and some Republicans were very outspoken about how good the bill is.
The Bill will now be heard in the House and Senate Floors, where it is expected to receive more opposition from Democrats who may want to use it as a platform to attack Governor Desantis.
With Session ending on May 5th, the Bill will pass and be signed by the Governor shortly thereafter.