Are we valuing our teens?
What does it mean to value Florida’s teens? Getting them a good education? Keeping them safe at school? Protecting their health? Providing good recreational opportunities?
How about protecting them in the workplace? Apparently not important to some Florida legislators! SB 918 and HB 1225 further weaken child labor protections — already weakened last year. Under these bills, employers could schedule 16- and 17-year-olds for overnight shifts on school nights, over 30 hours a week when school is in session, and unlimited hours and days without breaks. No justification for working 16- to 17-year-olds the same number of hours as someone 18 or older has been offered. Even some restrictions on 14- and 15-year-old workers would be lifted.
Teens may not understand their rights as workers. Parents, labor unions and worker advocacy groups express concerns about teens being exploited by employers, or even fired for declining to work extra hours. Most teens lack the maturity to gauge appropriate work environments, and even if exposed to dangerous work conditions, may be reluctant to express their concerns.
The most serious concern about kids working longer hours during the school year is education. Florida’s Constitution states: The education of children is a fundamental value to the people of the State of Florida. We all benefit from a well-educated workforce, yet this legislation contradicts that promise. Concerns about low performance, chronic absenteeism and dropping out of school will be exacerbated as some students choose jobs over homework and school responsibilities.
Working longer hours and overnight shifts may result in higher dropout rates, lower academic performance and increased stress levels among student workers. These proposals are especially dangerous for low-income teens whose families who benefit from their employment. Fifteen- to 17-year-old minors may end up making adult decisions regarding their future, even as brain research shows they lack the ability to do so. Dropping out negatively impacts one’s future life and earning potential.
Florida is suffering from low-wage worker shortages, partly resulting from the state’s ongoing anti-immigration laws. Teen workers are not the answer to ongoing labor issues. The most important job of teenagers is to be successful in school. Hopefully our state legislators will honor their obligation to protect our children and youth.
Rosemary Nilles
This was published in Letters to the Editor in the Citrus County Chronicle on April 5, 2025
They fooled us again was published in the Citrus County Chronicle on April 16, 2025
Last week’s shooting at FSU brought gun violence into focus. A 20 year-old student with a history of instability combined with political extremism used his mother’s gun to kill two, injure six, and terrorize an entire campus.
Gun violence simmers in the background of our everyday lives. We hear of crime, domestic shootings, the periodic headlines of local murders. About thirty times each year, we witness unintentional deaths and injuries by Florida toddlers and teens who find unsecured guns. Recall the five year-old Levy County child who recently killed a two year-old and critically injured a caregiver when the toddlers found a loaded gun while playing.
Then there are the quieter forms of gun violence. The ever-rising rate of teen suicide, the suicides that take our veterans. Access to a firearm increases the likelihood that a suicide attempt will be lethal, regardless of age.
Americans continue to live with an epidemic of gun violence.
No two stories are the same, but there’s a common thread – unsecured guns.
Unsecured guns are a major factor in gun injury and death. Further, unlocked guns are frequently stolen, often from cars, and then used to commit crimes. In January, the Citrus County Sheriff’s Office reported that 100 percent of firearms stolen in 2024 were taken from unlocked vehicles.
Gun Violence Prevention (GVP) is one of the top four legislative priorities of League of Women Voters of Florida and League of Women Voters of Citrus County (LWVCC). We take seriously our role of educating voters and advocating for the well-being of all of our citizens.
Education: Safe Storage Saves Lives
LWV Citrus will continue to share a simple, non-controversial message: Safe Storage Saves Lives. Keeping firearms locked and unloaded not only helps to prevents injury and death, but it also helps to prevent gun theft.
We’ll keep working with law enforcement and community entities and agencies to educate our community members.
LWVCC offers tabling and presentations about safe storage at community events and local group meetings.
We speak to parents and caregivers about how to secure their own firearms and how to normalize conversations about guns in other homes.
At our tabling events, we provide parents and caregivers with free cable gun locks, courtesy of the Veterans Administration Suicide Prevention Outreach. We offer print materials and a friendly chat to those interested.
Please contact lwvcc2013@gmail.com for more information or to schedule a speaker.
Advocacy: Sensible Laws
LWV Citrus will also continue to advocate for gun violence prevention laws that respect our Second Amendment rights. We do this on multiple fronts:
We opposed HB 759, which would undo some of the protections created by the Marjorie Stoneman Douglas Act of 2018, following the Parkland shootings. This bill to lower the age for purchasing long guns from 21 to 18 was already passed in the Florida House in March. But similar bills have stalled in the Florida Senate, perhaps signaling less appetite for removing protections that are working for Floridians. The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the current law in March.
We’ve advocated that lawmakers refuse pressure to allow open carry in Florida and guns on college campuses.
Although the 2025 Florida legislative session ends soon, we’ll continue to request our state legislators to:
Provide funding for public awareness/education on secure firearm storage.
Provide incentives for buying gun locks and safes.
Strengthen laws regarding firearm storage in vehicles.
Strengthen Florida’s current “Red Flag” law to prevent purchase and possession of firearms by persons judged to be a danger to themselves or others.
LWV Citrus supports a community united around promoting the well-being of our residents. By working together to prevent gun violence, we can make our homes and communities safer and stronger for kids and adults alike.
Contact our legislators with your input:
Sen. Blaise Ingoglia: 352-666-5707 or 850-487-5011.
Email: Ingoglia.Blaise.web@flsenate.gov.
Rep. JJ Grow: 352-560-6075 or 850-717-5023.
Email: jj.grow@flhouse.gov
The League of Women Voters is a nonpartisan political organization, never endorsing candidates or parties. We work to educate voters on issues of importance to them and take advocacy positions only after careful study and consensus.
Have you heard about the federal SAVE Act? HB 22, the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act is being fast-tracked through Congress. It has generated lots of controversy!
What is the SAVE Act?
Simply stated, the SAVE Act would require all Americans who want to register to vote or update their voter registration to present documentary proof of citizenship, in person. Americans would have to provide a birth certificate, passport or other citizenship document. Government-issued driver’s licenses, military or tribal IDs, or even Real IDs would not be sufficient because they don’t show place of birth.
The SAVE Act requires states to establish an alternative process so that an applicant may submit other evidence to demonstrate U.S. citizenship. States would have to ensure that only U.S. citizens are registered to vote and remove noncitizens from their voter lists.
It establishes criminal penalties for registering a person without proper documentation. Read the SAVE Act at congress.gov.
Isn’t citizenship already required to register to vote?
Yes! It’s already a felony for non-citizens to register or vote. It is a felony to falsely claim to be a citizen for any purpose, including to register to vote or to actually vote.
Election officials are already required to verify a person’s eligibility to vote using state and federal data, including citizenship data from Homeland Security, the Social Security Administration, death data and USPS change-of-address data.
Under federal law, anyone currently registering to vote must also provide their driver’s license number or the last four digits of their Social Security number. Many states, including Florida, require picture ID at the polls to ensure only citizens can vote.
What is the rationale for the SAVE Act?
Congressional co-sponsors, including Rep. Gus Bilirakis, state that SAVE is designed to prevent foreign interference with American elections. He stated, “People will have to prove their citizenship before they can vote. And the states must clean up their voter rolls. Election integrity is at stake.”
The Heritage Foundation points out that there is no universal requirement for states to obtain proof of citizenship to enforce current laws, and that “such laws are essentially meaningless without a corresponding statute requiring states to prove citizenship. The SAVE Act corrects this gap in the law.”
How much voter fraud really exists?
Audits by election officials and numerous studies reflect that voter fraud by noncitizens is extremely rare. Even the Heritage Foundation’s Election Fraud Database identifies a miniscule percentage of noncitizens convicted for illegally registering and voting.
Any voter fraud is unacceptable. Americans agree that even these few noncitizens should not be able to vote in federal elections.
Who would be impacted by changes to voter registration?
American citizens of all political stripes will be affected when they register or re-register to vote if the SAVE Act is passed. Millions will struggle to secure the proper documentation of citizenship and present it in person.
Many eligible voters don’t have easy access to necessary documents such as birth certificates, passports, naturalization certificates or certificates of citizenship. People lose their documentation in fires, floods, moves, breakups, domestic abuse situations, housing instability and other situations.
Ordering forms, paying $15- $50 for duplicates, taking time off work, finding transportation to government offices – may be easy for some, but are huge obstacles to many. Low-income, rural, and minorities are most likely to be disenfranchised.
Women are greatly impacted! Women who took their husband’s name when marrying would be unable to register or re-register to vote without making cumbersome changes to prove their citizenship. Impossible? No, but a huge, time-consuming, and possibly expensive barrier to our rights to vote!
It’s true that the SAVE Act requires states to make plans for such situations – but that could result in workable arrangements in some states versus minimal requirements in others. That’s why national voting rights laws were passed years ago!
There’s a direct relationship between the ease of registration and the number of voters on the rolls. Some American citizens – even those who can access citizenship documents – will not register if they can’t do it online or by mail and therefore will not vote.
Why oppose the SAVE Act?
The League of Women Voters was originally founded to promote and protect voting rights. The League is one of many groups that strongly oppose the SAVE Act.
Requiring applicants to present specific proof of American citizenship, in person, to register to vote in federal elections, adds hurdles and red tape. The SAVE Act would make it significantly harder, if not impossible, for millions of eligible Americans of all political parties to register and vote.
Whether intended or unintended, the consequence of the SAVE Act will be that too many Americans will struggle to participate in our democracy. That is unacceptable.
Voters are free to express their opinions on issues to their federal legislators:
Sen. Rick Scott: Tampa 813-225-7040. Washington 202-224-5274
Contact via Senate Website: www.rickscott.senate.gov.
Sen. Ashley Moody: Washington 202-224-3041
Contact via Senate Website: www.moody.senate.gov.
US Rep. Gus Bilirakis: Inverness 352-654-1004 Washington: 202-225-5755. Contact via House Website: bilirakis.house.gov.
The League of Women Voters is a nonpartisan, political organization, never endorsing candidates or parties. The League takes positions on issues of importance to voters only after careful study and consensus.
Citizen Initiatives are under attack
Remember voting in the November election? Our ballots contained six proposed amendments to the Florida Constitution. Two amendments came directly from the voters. This right to create proposals, called the Citizen Initiative process, is under attack by members of the Florida Legislature.
Most Floridians value our right to sign petitions, to bring important issues to the ballot, and then to vote directly on those issues. Over the years, successful citizen initiatives established the free voluntary Pre-K for children, protections for Florida’s environment, legalization of medical marijuana, a higher minimum wage, and restoration of voting rights to nonviolent felons who’ve completed their sentences and paid all fines.
Other citizen initiatives have failed at the ballot box. In 2024, amendment proposals to legalize recreational marijuana and to establish the right to abortion before viability came just short of the required 60% majority, with 56% and 57% of Yes votes, respectively.
What is a Citizen Initiative / Petition?
Florida voters have the right to directly propose amendments to the Florida Constitution through a petition process. Citizen initiatives are crucial when the legislature fails to respond to what the majority of voters want.
Getting an amendment by petition to the ballot is not easy! It takes time, money, staff, and meticulous organization to meet Florida’s very strict requirements. Sponsors must secure over 900,000 valid petition signatures from registered voters, including quotas from at least half of the congressional districts. Each voter’s signature must be verified by the local Supervisor of Elections (SOE), at a cost determined by the SOE. SOEs are required to maintain and report detailed records of numbers received and validated. Then the initiative faces tough state financial and legal scrutiny.
Many citizen initiatives fail to meet the criteria and do not reach the voters. Even when an amendment meets all requirements for ballot position, the final hurdle is the high bar of a 60% majority in Florida.
What changes are proposed?
HB 1205 and SB 7016 propose dramatic changes to the Citizen Initiative Process. Although not identical, these bills impose new, strict measures and fines on those who sponsor, gather, and submit citizen petitions.
A third bill, SB 1414 (Sen. Blaise Ingoglia), would eliminate third-party petition gatherers altogether, requiring each voter to submit his or her own (or family members) petitions directly to the SOE.
For detailed bill language, go to https://www.flsenate.gov. Type in HB 1205, SB 7016 or 1414.
Why so many changes? In January, Gov. Ron DeSantis demanded reforms to address alleged signature fraud. Bill sponsors say constitutional amendments should be “sacrosanct,” claiming security concerns and a “broken” citizen initiative process.
The state already controls the authorization of petition sponsors. The state always entrusts signature validation to its SOEs, not just for petitions but for all aspects of voter participation.
If anything tainted the last election cycle, it was unprecedented influence by the state when the governor used millions of taxpayer dollars to help defeat both citizen-proposed constitutional amendments.
Keep in mind that each year, state legislators propose their own constitutional amendments. It’s a simple process for them. Their proposals appear on the ballot when 60% of legislators in each chamber approve. Last year we voted on their amendments about Partisan School Board Elections and the Right to Fish and Hunt. Currently, SB 802 (Ingoglia) proposes an amendment enshrining term limits for county commissioners and school board members in the Florida Constitution.
What will the impact be?
Many civic groups, including League of Women Voters, Common Cause, Conservative Women for Freedom, and State Voices Florida, have analyzed these proposals and point out the roadblocks they create for Citizen Initiatives.
HB 1205 and SB 7016 would:
- Require citizen committees to pay a $1,000,000 bond to even start collecting petitions – a massive financial barrier that favors wealthy interests over grassroots movements.
- Shorten the collection process to one election cycle. This would rush the process, taking away valuable time for Floridians to make their voices heard.
- Shorten the time period for citizen sponsors to submit petitions from 30 days to 10 days – and create large fines for each “late” petition.
- Fine initiative sponsors $50,000 if certain community members handle a petition.
- Threaten even community volunteers with criminal charges and massive fines for innocent mistakes – even though community volunteers submit the highest quality petitions.
- Create additional, burdensome procedures for SOE offices.
SB 7016 goes even further and would:
- Force citizens who volunteer to collect petitions in their community to register in a state database and go through state-mandated training programs.
- Allow political appointees from special interest groups to sit on what should be neutral boards to declare the cost of an amendment to taxpayers, and to write ballot language.
- Create more pathways for politicians and their appointees to remove amendments they don’t like from the ballot, and to nullify the results of an amendment even when it gets 60% of the vote or more.
- Create more ways for opponents to use the legal system to harass ballot sponsors and bog them down in lawsuits and litigation.
Thus, SB 1205, SB 7016, and SB 1414 would gut the citizen-led initiative process.
What can voters do?
Floridians value our right to bring important measures to the ballot, especially when state legislators won’t act. It’s no surprise that surveys show that both Republican and Democratic voters want to preserve this right, and oppose SB 1205, SB 7016, and SB 1414.
League of Women Voters supports voter engagement and opposes restrictive laws. Florida’s citizen-led amendment process is already the strictest in the nation. The “free state of Florida” should not meddle with our right to participate directly in democracy through Citizen Initiatives.
Voters are encouraged to express their views to our state legislators:
- Blaise Ingoglia, Dist. 11: Spring Hill 352-666-5707. Tallahassee 850-487-5011. Email: Ingoglia.Blaise.web@flsenate.gov
- JJ Grow, Dist. 23: Inverness 352-560-6075. Tallahassee 850-717-5023. Email: jj.grow@flhouse.gov
The League of Women Voters is a nonpartisan political organization, never endorsing candidates or parties. We work to educate voters on issues of importance to them, and take positions only after
The letter above was published in the October 30, 2024 Citrus County Chronicle.
Peg's article was published in the Citrus County Chronicle on September 30, 2024
Vicky’s article above was published in the Citrus County Chronicle on September 5m 2024
Should elected officials tell voters how to vote? Sounds like a silly question, doesn’t it?
And yet, a small but vocal group of citizens has been asking our local officials to do just that. How can that be?
Citizens are always free to ask elected officials to vote for laws, ordinances, etc. We call, visit and email our federal and state lawmakers to tell them how we’d like them to vote on issues like education, the environment, healthcare including reproductive healthcare, etc. We tell our BOCC and our municipal governments how we want them to act on local taxes, land use, budget, even library policies. It’s our First Amendment right to speak our minds, to share information and opinions with our elected officials.
But when a small group of individuals tells our local officials to pass a resolution to recommend that people vote “No” on Amendment 4, that’s out of line.
And that’s exactly what’s been happening at local city and BOCC meetings. One after another, folks have stated their beliefs — in many cases based on false information or premises — and then asked local governments to pass resolutions against Amendment 4. Many openly request that governments urge voters to vote “No” on Amendment 4.
If passed by 60% of voters, Amendment 4 will “limit government interference with abortion.” The Florida Supreme Court approved the wording after nearly a million voters signed a petition to place the amendment on the ballot for all Florida voters to decide. Voters should educate themselves with factual information about the amendment. Our morals, religion and other factors also influence our decisions.
It is fine for elected officials to express their personal opinions on an issue. It is not fine for elected officials to pass a resolution that suggests how we should vote.
If you don’t agree, consider this: Would you like our BOCC to tell us how to vote for senator? Would it be appropriate for them to tell us how to vote on any of the other five Constitutional Amendments?
I commend those local officials who have said “No” to these persistent voices. They’ve pointed out that it is not within their purview to even suggest to citizens how to vote. They understand the role of local government, and they know where to draw the line.
Rosemary Nilles, published in the Citrus County Chronicle, August 2, 2024
Vote yes on Amendment 4: a physician’s perspective
Florida’s Amendment 4, “Amendment to limit government interference with abortion,” is about keeping government from interfering in personal healthcare decisions between Floridians and their health care providers. Physicians shouldn’t have to risk criminal prosecution to treat their patients. Politics should not be in pregnancies.
Our state government did not go to medical school. It has no experience or expertise in reproductive health care. Those of us that did go to medical school know that pregnancies can present enormous complexities, including ectopic pregnancies, hydatidiform moles (AKA: molar pregnancies), miscarriages that don’t complete, nonviable pregnancies, malignant cancers that occur during pregnancy and vice versa and pregnancies that may be fatal to the mother. A failed or deteriorating pregnancy destined for fetal fatality may threaten a mother’s future fertility and deny her the chance to bear a living child.
As an emergency physician I cared for pregnant women who suffered some of these complications, some critically ill when they arrived in my ER. My medical team and I had to provide immediate treatment to save these patients. If I were forced to transfer patients out of state to receive emergency care, many would have died. Our state government has no business interfering with these complex personal medical issues.
With frightening increasing incidence, our Florida government is encroaching on our freedoms. They control the books we read, dictate the version of history they allow our teachers to teach, restrict the sexual education and identity that children may learn, suppress intellectual freedoms on our college campuses, restrict voting registration and interfere with voting rights for felons that have served their debts to society.
And now, with the current extreme abortion ban, they control women’s access to health care. Stop! Enough is enough!
Amendment 4 limits government interference in our lives in this increasingly authoritarian state. This amendment will help to ensure safe access to health care for Floridians.
Vote yes on Amendment 4.
Elizabeth M. Orsay, MD
Crystal River
Retired, Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine, University of Illinois at Chicago
Dr. Orsay’s letter above was published in the Citrus County Chronicle on October 16, 2024
Education is no place for politics
Steve Steiner and the Citrus County Chronicle shared important community safety information in the article, As County grows, so will gun thefts? Crime is preventable (May 21, 2024. Mr. Steiner pointed out the recent FBI statistics showing that the number of gun thefts from unlocked vehicles has tripled in ten years. At least one firearm is stolen from a car every nine minutes in the US (all data from Everytown.org)
Vehicle gun theft has also increased in Citrus County, despite reminders from the Citrus County Sheriff’s Office. Stolen guns are often used to commit other crimes. These thefts are entirely preventable by keeping cards locked and keeping guns secure.
Securing firearms is essential for other reasons. Unsecured firearms and careless adults-are responsible for unintentional shootings by toddlers, kids, and teens. In 2023, Florida saw at least 30 unintentional shootings by children, resulting in 13 deaths and 20 injuries.
Sadly suicide with guns is also on the rise, with rising numbers of teens ending their lives in a moment of impulse. Each of these tragic events leads to ripple effects in the family, school, and community.
League of Women Voters of Citrus County (LWVCC), through our Safe Storage initiative, continues to remind residents and parents of the dangers of unsecured firearms. We work with law enforcement and community agencies to share this simple, non-controversial message; Safe Storage Saves Lives. We offer tabling and presentations at community events and provide information and free cable gun locks to parents and other adults. Please contact lwvcc2013@gmail.com for more imformation or to book a speaker.
By working together, we can keep our homes and communities safer.
Rosemary Nilles, published in the Citrus County Chronicle on May 24, 2024
Vicky’s article was published on August 26, 2023. It is also a LWV of Florida powerpoint presentation.
