TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A Senate Republican has proposed banning state funds from being used to advocate for or against constitutional amendments, following the DeSantis administration’s campaign against last year’s abortion and marijuana efforts.

The proposal from Sen. Jennifer Bradley, R-Fleming Island, was adopted Monday by a Senate committee as part of a larger Republican-led bill about changing the state’s ballot initiative process.

“This amendment makes sure that taxpayers don’t get the bill for political issue campaigns,” Bradley said. She later added that she thought the Legislature should review the DeSantis administration’s spending on the two citizen-led 2024 amendments.

The ban on public spending would include the “use of state funds to publish, broadcast, or disseminate public service messages concerning an amendment or a revision on the ballot.” It said such messaging is prohibited regardless of whether they are “limited to factual information.”

Last September, Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration launched a website opposing Amendment 4, which would have protected abortion access and undone the state’s six-week abortion ban. The agency also ran public service announcements directing people to that website.

Gov. Ron DeSantis at the time said the state wasn’t electioneering because “everything that’s put out is factual.”

The campaign behind Amendment 3, which proposed allowing adults to use marijuana recreationally, also accused the state of pushing “propaganda.”

It’s unclear how much the state ultimately spent on running ads against the two amendments. Both efforts ultimately failed to meet the 60% voter approval for passage.

Republican Sen. Erin Grall, one of the sponsors of the Senate bill proposing ballot initiative changes, said she appreciated Bradley’s amendment but had concerns it could be interpreted too broadly. She said she worried that things like “say no to drugs” campaigns could end up getting banned.

Grall sponsored the Florida bill that led to the state’s six-week abortion ban.

Bradley said her amendment in no way prohibits public messaging campaigns, which she said are important.

But, she said, “when they cross cover into attempting to influence the outcome of a ballot measure, I think we’re then treading into territory that makes me very uncomfortable as a conservative who is very concerned about what our role of government is in a democratic society.”

Bradley said she voted no on both Amendment 3 and 4 and campaigned against them. But she said banning public dollars for political issues is “a pretty conservative position.”

Bradley pointed to a state law that bans local governments from using public funds for political advertisements for any issue that’s subject for a vote, which she said she largely mirrored.

It’s unclear if the House will accept a similar amendment to Bradley’s blocking public funds from being used to advocate for or against amendments.

The House speaker, Senate president and DeSantis have all indicated they want to make changes to Florida’s ballot initiative process. But the House and Senate proposals are different and also differ from DeSantis' proposal.

The House bill, sponsored by Rep. Jenna Persons-Mulicka, R-Fort Myers, moved through its first committee meeting last week. Persons-Mulicka also sponsored the bill that created Florida’s six-week abortion ban.

Floridians have long used the ballot initiative process to pass measures that have been otherwise stymied in Tallahassee, like increased minimum wage, felon voter restoration and medical marijuana.

Bill sponsors in the House and Senate said changes were needed to reduce fraud, pointing to a report released by the Office of Election Crimes and Security last year that alleged widespread fraud in the Amendment 4 campaign. The campaign denied wrongdoing.

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