Court Upholds Florida Lobby Law

A Florida law that bans lobbyist gifts to state legislators and requires that lobbyists disclose who pays them and how much, is not unconstitutionally vague or overbroad, a federal appeals court said.

A three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a ruling by a federal district court judge in Florida, which said the state has “a compelling interest in imposing regulations on paid lobbyists.”

The ruling came in a lawsuit filed by the Florida Association of Professional Lobbyists and two lobbyists.

The judges, in an opinion filed April 23, affirmed the ruling on the portion deal with the U.S. constitutional issue. They deferred to the Florida Supreme Court questions of whether the law violates the state’s separation of powers doctrine, was properly enacted under Florida law, or infringes upon the state high court’s jurisdiction.