Ron DeSantis vetoed Senate Bill 382 and House Bill 461 just before 8 p.m. Thursday, rejecting two bipartisan measures that passed the Legislature with unanimous votes earlier this year. SB 382, filed by Republican Sen. Keith Truenow, sought to create a statewide system for tracking e-bike and scooter crashes. Currently, local and state agencies record these incidents differently, leaving no consistent data for policymakers to assess the scale of the problem. The legislation would have established a task force to deliver recommendations by Oct. 1 on regulating micromobility devices. The bill also aimed to cap e-bike speeds at 10 miles per hour on sidewalks when pedestrians are nearby and require riders to yield on shared paths, with violations treated as non-criminal traffic infractions. DeSantis' veto comes weeks after an Orlando boy was killed on his e-scooter in Lake Nona when the 13-year-old cut in front of a truck while picking up flowers for Mother's Day.
DeSantis also rejected HB 461, which would have allowed high school students to volunteer as poll workers in exchange for community service hours for graduation requirements or Bright Futures scholarships. The bill, sponsored by Republican Reps. Kiyan Michael and Susan Valdés, would have loosened rules on privately funded election-related expenses to allow students to volunteer at polls before the August Primary. The measure was backed by the League of Women Voters and the Southern Poverty Law Center. The Governor additionally vetoed HB 4075, a local bill for the town of Davie in Broward County, sponsored by Democrat Rep. Michael Gottlieb, that would have exempted agricultural land from outdoor advertising laws.