Florida Senate Passes ‘Anti-Riot’ Law. DeSantis Ready To Sign It.

Florida’s Senate has approved an “anti-riot” bill championed by Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis and sent it to him to be signed into law. The Senate passed the bill 23-17 on Thursday in a vote largely along party lines; on March 26, the bill passed the House 76-39.

The bill permits citizens to sue a local government if that government does not stop a riot and “defines ‘riot’ as a violent public disturbance involving 3 or more people acting with common intent resulting in injury to others, damage to property, or the imminent danger of injury or damage,” WFLA reports, adding that the bill “creates a new second-degree felony called an ‘aggravated riot,’ which occurs when the riot has more than 25 participants, causes great bodily harm or more than $5,000 in property damage, uses or threatens to use a deadly weapon, or blocks roadways by force or threat of force.”