Florida
What happened and what’s to come: A First Amendment recap of Florida’s legislative session
The 2024 Florida legislative session is over. Its effects are soon to come, especially as they relate to First Amendment issues.
A number of bills were passed in the session that ended Friday. They intersect — and maybe clash — with the values and five freedoms enshrined in the Bill of Rights: speech, religion, press, assembly and petitioning the government.
Here’s what readers need to know about measures implicating the First Amendment that passed and failed this session — and what they can expect in the months ahead:
Our first story on social media bill: Florida House leader pushes social media restrictions, porn viewer age verification
Controversial from the start: Questions of parental rights raised as Florida lawmakers push social media ban for minors
Social media and porn sites
If it gets Gov. Ron DeSantis’ expected signature and survives expected court challenges, Floridians younger than 16 years old would be banned from social media platforms deemed “addictive” — unless they’re 14 or 15 and get a parent’s permission.
While the bill (HB 3) doesn’t set age verification requirements for social media, platforms would still need to figure out how to filter out those too young or face civil penalties. But the bill, despite data privacy concerns from opponents, does require age verification to access pornographic websites.
Stripper age
Floridians soon will have to be the drinking age to be able to strip for money, if DeSantis signs this legislation.
Bill supporters said the measure (HB 7063) was about combatting human trafficking. And, despite First Amendment questions and concerns about what happens to those who’ll lose their jobs, the Legislature passed a bill banning anyone younger than 21 years old from working in an adult entertainment establishment, which includes adult bookstores and theaters. The bill also creates criminal penalties for those who hire such workers at those establishments.
Bill that drew pro-Palestinian protests
One measure (HB 465/SB 470) drew multiple pro-Palestinian protests to the Capitol. Yet, the bills didn’t move very far. Only one, the House version, made it through a single committee.
The legislation would have yanked state scholarships or tuition aid from college students promoting a foreign terrorist group. It also would have required universities to report those students to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security if they’re in the country on a visa.
Protesters worried the bill would be used against students advocating for Palestinians and criticizing Israel for its operations in Gaza following Hamas’ Oct. 7 surprise attack.
Defamation
For the second year in a row, legislation that would make it easier to launch and win defamation lawsuits in Florida stalled after receiving a barrage of criticism from influential conservative officials and media outlets. First Amendment and media advocates also accused it of infringing constitutional rights and chilling speech.
One of its key provisions would have created the presumption that anyone publishing a false statement that relied on an anonymous source acted with “actual malice,” a key legal hurdle for public figures to win defamation lawsuit. It also would have made a new kind of legal claim against false and offensive artificial intelligence content that a “reasonable person” is likely to believe.
Artificial intelligence
As AI technology advances, so do concerns about its misuse. This session proves that, even beyond the failed defamation legislation. AI is complicated to regulate, the technology being so new and rapidly evolving that there’s numerous legal uncertainties, particularly related to the First Amendment.
But lawmakers pushed through two notable measures. One bill (HB 919) would require disclaimers on political advertisements that use AI to deceive about a ballot issue or injure a candidate in a depiction of a person doing something that didn’t happen.
Another (SB 1680) creates a state “Government Technology Modernization Council” with the goal to make recommendations on AI regulations. It also combats “generated child pornography,” which is computer-generated portrayals of fictitious minors engaged in sexual conduct.
School chaplains
Florida lawmakers passed a bill authorizing school districts and charter schools to adopt a policy for chaplains “to provide support, services, and programs to students.” Supporters of the bill (HB 931) said it’s a win for school children, addressing concerns about youth mental health and the need for more school counselors.
Some opponents worried the bill would be a vehicle for Christian nationalism. Others had constitutional concerns and questions about the credentials of those interacting with minors who may be facing life crises.
And they warned there could be unintended consequences of opening up the door for religion in schools. The Satanic Temple has already said its ministers “look forward to participating” in Florida school chaplain programs.
Police accountability
Bills passed that critics say would undermine the public’s ability to prevent police brutality and corruption, despite increased public attention to those issues following the police murder of George Floyd and other documented cases of police misconduct.
Lawmakers approved a bill (SB 184) that puts a 25-foot “no-go” zone around first responders like police, even though Democrats warned it could be used to prevent their constituents from documenting injustice.
Bill supporters, though, say it’s aimed at making first responders and those on emergency scenes safer. It would create a second-degree misdemeanor for anyone who, after a warning, approaches or remains within 25 feet of working first responders with the intent to harass, threaten, impede or interfere.
Another approved bill would limit what citizen police oversight boards can do and would require these panels to be re-established under county sheriffs who would appoint several members.
Book bans
PEN America, a free speech group, recently named Florida as the No. 1 state for “book banning,” a term conservatives hate but one many people use to describe book removals from public schools. Even Gov. Ron DeSantis has called for limits to how many books the public can challenge in schools.
He got what he wanted. The Legislature passed a bill that states a “resident of the county who is not the parent or guardian of a student with access to school district materials may not object to more than one material per month.”
Yet, many — if not most of — books being removed aren’t challenged. School districts are preemptively removing them, fearful of running afoul of recently-passed state laws many view as vague.
Public records exemptions
There are more than 1,000 public records exemptions in Florida, enshrouding what was once openly available information. Continuing an annual trend, lawmakers approved a multitude of exemptions this session.
One bill shields autopsies, photographs, videos or audio recordings of a suicide when the information is held by a state agency. Another bill conceals a swath of information in applications for the My Safe Florida Home Program, which helps Floridians harden their homes against hurricanes.
A number of exemptions didn’t reach the finish line. One would have weakened the accountability and transparency ushered in by a recent state Supreme Court ruling that said that Marsy’s Law, a constitutional amendment approved by voters in 2018, which granted a number of rights to crime victims, doesn’t guarantee anonymity for police officers — or any victim of crime.
No change to constitutional amendment process
Another session means another failed attempt to try to make it harder for Florida voters to pass constitutional amendments.
If they get enough signatures through a petition process and survive review from the Florida Supreme Court, they appear on the ballot, regardless of what Legislature’s Republican supermajority wants. Case in point: the Supreme Court is soon going to weigh in on two amendments for the 2024 election that would legalize recreational marijuana and protect abortion rights.
But lawmakers can also get amendments on the ballot, if approved by three-fifths of each chamber. A measure (HJR 335) this session would have raised the threshold for such amendments to pass with the support of Florida voters from 60% (three-fifths) to 66.67% (or two-thirds of those voting). But it didn’t, just like years prior.
‘Woke’ in education targeted again
GOP lawmakers also pushed through a measure (HB 1291) that would ban teacher preparation programs from instruction on “identity politics” or “theories that systemic racism, sexism, oppression, and privilege are inherent in the institutions of the United States and were created to maintain social, political, and economic inequities.”
PEN America said the bill was “set up for failure,” citing federal court blocks on the previously-passed “Stop WOKE Act.” That law targeted businesses’ diversity practices and trainings and what’s taught in collegiate classrooms.
Contributed: USA TODAY NETWORK-Florida. This reporting content is supported by a partnership with Freedom Forum and Journalism Funding Partners. USA Today Network-Florida First Amendment reporter Douglas Soule can be reached at DSoule@gannett.com.
Florida
GALLERY: Barrett-Jackson ‘Super Saturday’ takes over South Florida Fairgrounds
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (CBS12) — The engines are revving for one final day of high-stakes bidding and family fun at the South Florida Fairgrounds.
Barrett-Jackson’s Palm Beach auction reaches its grand finale today with an action-packed “Super Saturday” lineup, promising to close out the weekend with a full slate of collector car sales, live entertainment, and fan attractions.
“Super Saturday,” presented by Seminole Casino Coconut Creek, officially kicks off at 8 a.m. when gates, food courts, and the exhibitor marketplace open to the public.
What to expect
- 8:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.: The Fantasy Bid presented by Dodge begins early, running in tandem with the automobilia auction in the arena.
- 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.: Thrill-seekers can catch Dodge thrill rides on the Barrett-Jackson Performance Track.
- 10:00 a.m.: New amenities open to the public, including the Stella Artois, Staging Lanes, and Food Court patios, which offer shaded seating and auction views.
- 10:45 a.m.: The national anthem will be performed in the auction arena, signaling the start of the main collector car auction at 11 a.m.
- Afternoon Entertainment: DJ sets run from noon to 5 p.m. across the various patios, and a detailing clinic by Adam’s Polishes is scheduled for 2 p.m. near the South Showcase.
For those unable to attend, the whole event will be livestreamed throughout the day on the Barrett-Jackson website and the HISTORY channel from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Today’s finale comes on the heels of a high-energy Friday that saw significant sales and notable celebrity interest.
Star power was evident throughout the day, particularly with vehicles tied to the Busch family. A 1957 Ford Thunderbird Convertible owned by Samantha Busch and a 1969 Oldsmobile 442 Custom Coupe were among the day’s heavy hitters, each fetching $159,500. Kyle Busch’s 1956 Chevrolet Bel Air Custom Coupe also drew a strong bid, selling for $143,000.
Other Friday highlights included:
- 1968 Ford Mustang Eleanor Replica: $137,500
- 2004 Dodge Viper SRT-10 Mamba Edition: $132,000
- 1972 Chevrolet K5 Blazer Custom SUV: $126,500
- 1957 Ford Thunderbird Custom Convertible: $121,000
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With a festival-style atmosphere and high-profile sales driving momentum, organizers expect a busy crowd for the final push at the auction block today.
Florida
Bodycam captures life-saving rescue of choking baby by Florida deputies
ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. (CBS12) — A quiet Monday turned into a frantic race against time when a deputy stepped in to save a choking 1-year-old’s life.
According to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, deputies responded to a call about a 1-year-old baby choking. Upon arrival, the responding deputy performed life-saving procedures to help the child breathe again.
See also: Two arrested after 6-year-old arrives at Florida school with bruises, deputies say
Body camera video shows a deputy holding the baby, flipping it over on its stomach, and beginning to pat the baby’s back.
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When the baby begins to cry, the deputy is heard saying, “he’s good.”
Florida
Son of 2nd patient who died after seeing Florida surgeon describes family’s heartbreak: ‘It’s just not right’
Weyman Dorsett knew something went wrong with his mom’s surgery as he watched an ICU doctor review her medical charts.
“I’ll never forget and it’ll never leave my mind, the look on that doctor’s face as he was reading through the files,” Dorsett, 53, said. “… He was just shaking his head, like: ‘what in the living hell is going on?’”
His mother, 70-year-old Dorothy Dorsett, was in recovery after a surgeon removed a tumor from her digestive tract. But she was hardly eating and had an abnormally fast heartbeat, according to a lawsuit Dorsett later filed. She was moved to the ICU nearly a week after the surgery.
“She just started really spiraling, pain,” Dorsett said. “She was not my mom.”
She died days later, on Aug. 4, 2023.
About a year later, another patient, William Bryan, 70, died after the same surgeon operated on him.
The surgeon, Thomas Shaknovsky was arrested this week, accused of accidentally removing Bryan’s liver instead of his spleen, prosecutors said. Shaknovsky operated on both Dorothy Dorsett and Bryan at Ascension Sacred Heart Emerald Coast in Miramar Beach.
Shaknovsky and his lawyer could not be immediately reached for comment. However, he has denied wrongdoing in Dorothy Dorsett’s case in court filings of his own, arguing that some of the allegations were inaccurate and that descriptions of Dorsett’s care were incomplete. The lawsuit remains ongoing.
Do you have a story to share? Email reporter matthew.lavietes@nbcuni.com or reach us at our tip line.
The hospital did not immediately return a request for comment. Earlier this week, Macdonald Walker, a spokesperson for Ascension Sacred Heart, said in a statement that Shaknovsky “was never a Sacred Heart Emerald Coast employee and has not practiced at any of our facilities since August 2024.”
Weyman Dorsett filed a lawsuit against Shaknovsky and Ascension Sacred Heart last year, accusing the doctor and hospital of negligence. He spoke out for the first time since his mother died in an interview with NBC News on Thursday.
“I’ve got two boys, a wife, now a grandbaby, and you know, I’m trying to be there for them, but, man, I’ve struggled mentally in dealing with it,” he said. “It’s just not right.”
On July 24, 2023, Dorothy Dorsett was admitted to the hospital after suffering abdominal pain, Weyman Dorsett, said. At the time, he said his mom was “in great health.”
“She was going non-stop. She lived on her own, drove everywhere, she went all over,” he said. “Prior to the surgery, she flew to my oldest son’s wedding in Bentonville, Arkansas, with a broken leg from a car wreck.”
At the hospital, his mom was diagnosed with gastrointestinal bleeding and acute blood loss anemia, according to the civil complaint.
The next day, the Dorsett family met Shaknovsky, whom Weyman Dorsett described as “odd.” He said the doctor prayed by his mom’s bedside before the surgery.
“It was way over the top,” Weyman Dorsett said. “It was very insincere to me.”
He said his mother thought Shaknovsky was “very weird.”
That day, Shaknovsky performed a colonoscopy and found a tumor in Dorothy Dorsett’s digestive tract, which he removed on July 27, 2023, according to the complaint.
During the surgery following the colonoscopy, Shaknovsky did not perform a routine test, which would have ensured there were no leaks in a newly joined intestine, according to the complaint.
Shaknovsky told the family that the surgery “went great,” Weyman Dorsett said, but his mother’s condition immediately started to deteriorate.
He said that his mom was moved to the ICU on Aug. 2, 2023.
Weyman Dorsett left that night, but his mother called him to come back to the hospital at midnight, saying she was going to die.
“My mom looked at me and just said, ‘It is what it is. I’ve lived a good life,’” he said. “And I had to sit there and watch her die.”
On Aug. 3, 2023, a doctor on call, Dr. Chun W. Chen, documented Dorothy Dorsett’s condition, according to the complaint, noting that he saw “more air than I would expect postsurgical” and mentioning concern “for bowel perforation specifically around the chain sutures in the pelvis.”
Chen added in the report that pockets of air had formed around Dorothy’s pelvis, according to the complaint.
“Although this may be postsurgical, cannot exclude bowel perforation,” he wrote.
Chen said in a brief phone call that he didn’t remember the patient and declined to comment further.
That evening, Shaknovsky documented in a daily progress note the air and fluid collection in Dorothy’s pelvis, according to the complaint.
Shaknovsky did not advise surgical intervention due to Dorothy’s declining organ function and risks associated with anesthesia, the complaint says.
Dorothy Dorsett was pronounced dead at 5:29 a.m. on August 4, 2023, according to the complaint. She passed away surrounded by family, the complaint says.
“Until you go through it yourself, and to be there with my mom and watch her suffer, and to be there when she takes her last breath has been devastating,” Weyman Dorsett said. “I suffer every day. It’s a haunting memory that I can’t erase out of my mind.”
Allegations of another botched surgery
On Aug. 21, 2024, prosecutors allege that Shaknovsky accidentally removed William Bryan’s liver instead of his spleen during what was scheduled to be a laparoscopic splenectomy.
Shaknovsky, who had been licensed to practice medicine in several states, had his Florida license suspended about a month after Bryan’s death. Later that year, he voluntarily surrendered his license to practice in Alabama. New York then suspended his license in 2025.
Bryan’s widow, Beverly Bryan, filed a civil lawsuit against Shaknovsky in 2025, accusing the surgeon of causing her husband’s death.
After the suit was filed, Weyman Dorsett learned that the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration completed an investigation into his mom’s death in September 2024, after Bryan’s botched surgery and more than a year after Dorothy’s death.
The investigation found that Shaknovsky and other hospital physicians “failed to appropriately use diagnostic testing and delayed in ordering imaging to timely treat sepsis” in Dorothy Dorsett’s case, according to a copy of the report.
The Florida Agency for Health Care Administration did not return a request for comment.
Shaknovsky was indicted by a grand jury on a charge of second-degree manslaughter in the death of Bryan, according to officials.
“It’s bittersweet,” Weyman Dorsett said. “You know, nothing’s going to bring back Mr. Bryan, or my mom and all the other people that are still out there that have been butchered and suffered.”
Dorothy Dorsett grew up in Birmingham, Alabama, where she and her husband, Weyman Dorsett II, her high school sweetheart, raised their two children: Weyman Dorsett III and his sister.
“She just was everything you would think the American dream mom would be,” he said. “She led by example, best cook in the world. She was our rock.”
She and her husband moved back and forth from Alabama to Miramar Beach, Florida, about 30 miles west of Panama City. She moved to Miramar Beach permanently following the death of Weyman Dorsett II in 2021.
Weyman Dorsett III described his mother’s passing as a “big piece missing.”
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