Jacksonville City Council rejected legislation that would have imposed harsher penalties for activities such as littering, noise pollution and light projections if those are used to convey hate-based speech such as someone dropping leaflets on driveways to spread messages that threaten people based on race or religion.
Council voted 12-7 against the legislation filed by council member Jimmy Peluso that would have brought a maximum punishment of one year in jail and a $10,000 fine per incident.
Peluso said if someone were to drop leaflets with threatening language in driveways as has happened in Mandarin and Murray Hill, "then that piece of literature, if you drop it in 20 people's homes, that could bankrupt someone" when the fines pile up.
"That'll make them think twice, and that's the purpose," he said. "We want them to feel as through there's real action that's going to be taken."
When council committees debated the legislation last week, opponents said the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office already can use state law to crack down on such incidents. Opponents also questioned whether such laws have any impact on people who want to spread hateful messages.
"It's a matter of the heart, and there is no legislation that is going to change someone's heart," council member Terrance Freeman said in the council's Rules Committee.
Council member Chris Miller said it would be better to focus on identifying policy programs that City Council can back in order to address "root causes" and also convince people who hear individuals make threats to report them to authorities.
"Can we constructively focus on those types of things where it does make a difference and we can say we feel pretty certain that it will minimize these things from happening in the future," Miller said.
The vote came two weeks before the one-year mark of a racist attack at a Dollar General store on Kings Road where a white gunman from Clay County traveled to a predominantly Black neighborhood to kill Black people. Three Black residents were shot and killed Aug 26 at the store. The gunman then killed himself.
In the past two years, antisemitic messages such as swastikas have been projected by high-powered lights onto the side of the football stadium and on downtown officer towers. Groups have thrown fliers on driveways containing antisemitic language in Jacksonville and a number of other Florida cities.
In January 2023, City Council approved legislation on an 18-1 vote outlawing light projections on buildings without permission from the property owner. The penalty is a fine of $2,000 and up to 60 days in jail. That bill did not mention the antisemitic messages so the law would be "content neutral" and make all projections without permission illegal.
At the council meeting Tuesday, City Council member Michael Boylan, who supported the legislation, said amendments to Peluso's original bill made clear the city is not trying to restrict First Amendment rights. He said a judge would make the call on whether the contents of a message crossed the line by threatening a group of people in connection with another criminal violation.
"I believe we as elected leaders of this community have a responsibility to stand up to threatening speech," Boylan said. "We all have to tolerate hate speech as an individual right, but not it if specifically endangers other citizens."
The bill would have added enhanced penalties for behavior that already is illegal such as littering, noise pollution and light projections if the main purpose was for “expressing animosity, hostility or malice” toward individuals based on their race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, national origin, age or disability.
"This is only a bill that is enforced if there's a crime committed, and a lot of these crimes would be not be committed but for the hatred in somebody's heart," said council member Matt Carlucci, a supporter of the legislation.
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"We are still in the posture of seeing people saying and doing things that have been hateful continuously," said City Council member Rahman Johnson. "This is an opportunity for us to put some teeth in something."
Voting against the bill Tuesday were Randy White, Kevin Carrico, Ken Amaro, Raul Arias, Joe Carlucci, Rory Diamond, Nick Howland, Mike Gay, Will Lahnen, Ron Salem, Freeman and Miller.
Voting for the bill were Tyrona Clark-Murray, Ju'Coby Pittman, Reggie Gaffney, Jr., Matt Carlucci, Johnson, Peluso and Boylan.
