Legislators Approve ‘Domestic Terrorist’ Labeling Bill

• Jim Turner, News Service of Florida
• March 12, 2026

Rep. Hillary Cassel, R-Dania Beach, is sponsoring a bill that would require humans to make decisions about denying insurance claims.

Colin Hackley/File

TALLAHASSEE --- Florida will soon be able to legally designate groups as “domestic terrorist organizations” under a bill headed to Gov. Ron DeSantis’ desk.

The Republican-controlled House voted 80-25 on Thursday on the measure (HB 1471) which backs up DeSantis’ executive order in December that named two Islamic groups as terrorist organizations.

The Senate approved the bill on a 25-11 vote last week, after adding a provision outlining rules for expelling students at state universities who “promote” support for such groups. 

“The only people surrendering their children to terrorism are the people who are going to vote ‘no’ on this bill,” Rep. Hillary Cassel, R-Dania Beach, the sponsor of the measure, said on the floor before the vote.

Democrats who voted against it said it would violate the First Amendment rights of groups and have a chilling effect on speech on campuses.

Rep. Angie Nixon, D-Jacksonville, said the bill is intended to keep “certain people in power,” rather than support the U.S. Constitution.

“This is political repression, through and through,” Nixon said.

Rep. Robin Bartleman, a Weston Democrat, warned that “if things were reversed, MAGA, the Moms of Liberty and other groups that you support could potentially be labeled a domestic terrorist.”

“Remember, whatever you allowed your government to do to others, they will eventually do to all of you,” Bartleman added.

The overall measure bars a court or other adjudicatory body from enforcing any provision of a religious or foreign law, with an emphasis against the Islamic code of law known as Sharia law.

Another provision allows the state’s Chief of Domestic Security --- currently Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Mark Glass --- to designate a domestic or foreign terrorist organization. The Governor and the Cabinet would approve the designation.

Democrats raised concerns that under the bill and a linked public records exemption (HB 1473) regarding how a “terrorist” designation is reached, the groups wouldn’t be provided due process to respond to the charge. Cassel said the “evidentiary standard” isn’t relevant as “this is not a criminal proceeding. It is not a judicial proceeding.” 

Opponents of the bill also expressed concerns over whether people, especially students on college campuses, could inadvertently be accused of being a member of a designated domestic terrorist organization and suffer consequences without a conviction.

House Minority Leader Fentrice Driskell, D-Tampa, said she was concerned that young people will get caught up “when they're just exercising their right to free speech.”

The Senate changed the bill last week to guard against that, supporters of the bill argued. The amendment required that a student’s actions be “reasonably interpreted” as an actual threat of violence; disrupt the learning environment; infringe upon the rights of others; or offers “material support for or the recruitment of members for such an organization.”

“The bill specifies that 'promote' is not just speech alone,” Cassel said. “It requires a statement or action that supports, approves or encourages violence.”

Other parts of the bill bar schools affiliated with designated organizations from receiving money from the state’s K-12 scholarship programs, and public universities and colleges are prohibited from spending state or federal funds to support programs or campus activities that promote a designated terrorist organization.

The bill advanced just over a week after U.S. District Judge Mark Walker issued a preliminary injunction against DeSantis’ order that classified the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, and the Muslim Brotherhood as terrorist organizations.

On March 5, Walker wrote that DeSantis in his December order violated the organization’s rights by targeting CAIR and threatening those providing the organization with material support.

"The First Amendment bars the Governor from continuing the troubling trend of using an executive office to make a political statement at the expense of others' constitutional rights," Walker wrote.

In part, the executive order alleged that people associated with CAIR “have been convicted of providing, and conspiring to provide, material support to designated terrorist organizations.”

Last month, the ACLU of Florida called the legislative proposal “a serious threat to Floridians’ constitutional rights, including the freedoms of speech and belief, freedom of association, and due process.”

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