(1/29/2026) A Florida House panel voted Thursday to advance legislation that would give the state the power to label organizations as domestic terrorists — a bill that was filed exactly one month after Gov. Ron DeSantis asked lawmakers to codify his executive order targeting CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood.

The House Civil Justice and Claims Subcommittee approved HB 1471 on a 14-3 vote after nearly two hours of debate and public testimony. The panel also approved HB 1473, the companion bill that would shield the designation process from public records requirements.

House Civil Justice and Claims Subcommittee

The hearing drew extensive criticism from activist organizations, civil liberties advocates, and members of the public who argued that the bill is dangerously broad and threatens fundamental First Amendment rights. Several committee members questioned why Florida would create its own domestic terrorist list when no such list exists at the federal level.

Rep. Hillary Cassel, the bill’s sponsor, told the committee that the bill “designates conduct, not speech” and that Florida’s size — “the 15th largest economy in the world, surrounded by water, ports, military bases” — makes it “necessary to protect our state accordingly.” She emphasized that the FDLE commissioner would make the initial designation, which would then go to the Florida Cabinet for approval, with an appeals process allowing any designated group to seek judicial review within 30 days.

St. Petersburg Democrat Rep. Michele Rayner pressed Cassel on due process. “Prior to a group being notified, why does your bill not specify a due process to rebut that prior to a decision being made?” she asked. Cassel responded: “It’s not an adjudication, it’s a designation.”

The distinction matters. Under the bill, an organization can be branded a domestic terrorist group before it has any opportunity to challenge the label. The consequences — loss of state funding, criminal liability for supporters, expulsion of students, exclusion from the voucher program — take effect with the designation. The right to seek judicial review comes after the damage is done.

The committee vote is the first step in what Cassel and DeSantis have built as a coordinated campaign. On December 8, DeSantis signed an executive order designating CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood as “foreign terrorist organizations” — a designation with no federal legal basis. That same day, he posted on X: “Members of the FL Legislature are crafting legislation to stop the creep of sharia law, and I hope that they codify these protections for Floridians against CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood in their legislation.” He called the executive order “kind of the beginning.”

One month later, on January 9, Cassel withdrew her original “No Shari’a Act” and filed HB 1471 — a bill that does everything the original did and vastly more. Now, less than three weeks after that, it has cleared its first committee.

The bill’s journey to this point follows a pattern that has been building since October, when Cassel filed the “No Shari’a Act” on the anniversary of October 7 and framed it as an act of solidarity with Israel. Attorney General James Uthmeier and Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson called for stripping voucher funding from Islamic schools. Critics called the anti-Shari’a bill hypocritical, and Cassel called the upcoming hearings “fun.” DeSantis escalated with the executive order. CAIR filed a federal lawsuit. And now the legislative machinery is moving.

While criticism of HB 1471 was plentiful during Thursday’s hearing, most of the activist organizations who spoke asked that the legislation be clarified rather than killed — a sign that some see the bill as likely to advance regardless. Few public speakers voiced support.

The bill now moves to the House Education and Employment Committee. Its Senate companion, SB 1632, sponsored by Sen. Erin Grall, is on a parallel track.

For the organizations and communities that stand to be affected — and for the Muslim civil rights groups that are already fighting the governor’s executive order in federal court — the committee vote was not a surprise. The governor asked for this. The legislature is delivering it. And the bill is one step closer to becoming law.