Does Florida’s Constitution Have a Bill of Rights?

Yes. Florida’s constitution contains its own Bill of Rights, formally titled the Declaration of Rights, in Article I. It runs 27 sections and covers individual liberties, protections for people accused of crimes, property rights, and several guarantees that go further than anything in the federal Bill of Rights.¹

Article I opens by declaring that all people hold certain rights the government did not create and cannot take away. Section 2 lists them: the right to enjoy and defend life and liberty, pursue happiness, be rewarded for industry, and acquire and protect property. The same section prohibits discrimination based on race, religion, national origin, or physical disability.¹

Speech, Religion, and Assembly

Section 4 protects freedom of speech and press. Every person may speak, write, and publish on any subject, though you remain responsible for abusing the right. No law can restrain or limit the freedom of speech or the press.¹

Section 3 guarantees religious freedom. The state cannot establish a religion or penalize its free exercise. The one limit is that religious practice cannot justify conduct that conflicts with public morals, peace, or safety. State revenue cannot be used directly or indirectly to support any church, sect, or religious institution.¹

Section 5 secures the right to peacefully assemble, instruct representatives, and petition the government for redress of grievances.¹

The Right to Bear Arms

Section 8 recognizes the right of the people to keep and bear arms in defense of themselves and the lawful authority of the state. The provision explicitly allows the legislature to regulate the manner of bearing arms by law, so Florida can impose restrictions on how firearms are carried while preserving the underlying right to possess them.¹

The Right to Privacy

Section 23 is one of Florida’s most distinctive provisions. It states that every natural person has the right to be let alone and free from governmental intrusion into their private life. The only exception is where the constitution itself provides otherwise, and the section does not limit the public’s right of access to public records and meetings.² This is a stand-alone privacy right written directly into the constitution, not something courts had to infer from other provisions.

Due Process, Searches, and Prohibited Laws

Section 9 guarantees due process of law. No person can be deprived of life, liberty, or property without it. The same section prohibits being tried twice for the same offense and protects against being forced to testify against yourself in a criminal case.¹

Section 12 protects people, their homes, papers, and belongings from unreasonable searches and seizures. Florida’s provision goes beyond the federal Fourth Amendment by explicitly covering unreasonable interception of private communications by any means. No warrant can issue without probable cause, supported by an affidavit that specifically describes what is to be searched, who or what is to be seized, and the nature of evidence sought. Evidence obtained in violation of this right is inadmissible.¹

Section 10 bans three categories of legislation outright: bills of attainder, which punish a specific person without a trial; ex post facto laws, which retroactively criminalize conduct or increase punishment; and laws that impair the obligation of existing contracts.¹

Rights of the Accused and Crime Victims

Section 16 is one of the longest provisions in the Declaration of Rights, and it protects both sides of a criminal case.

Anyone accused of a crime has the right to be informed of the charges, to obtain witnesses through compulsory process, to confront adverse witnesses at trial, to be heard in person or through counsel, and to receive a speedy public trial by an impartial jury in the county where the crime occurred.¹

Crime victims hold an extensive set of rights often called Marsy’s Law, adopted in 2018. Victims are entitled to due process and to be treated with fairness and dignity. They have the right to be free from intimidation and harassment, to be reasonably protected from the accused, and to have their safety and their family’s safety considered when a court sets bail. Victims can also request notice of and attendance at all public proceedings in the case, including trial, plea hearings, and sentencing, even if the victim will be called as a witness.¹ These protections are far more detailed than anything in the federal Bill of Rights.

Access to Courts and Jury Trials

Section 21 guarantees that courts are open to every person for redress of any injury, and that justice must be administered without sale, denial, or delay.¹ This provision has been used to challenge laws that eliminate or unreasonably restrict a person’s ability to bring a lawsuit.

Section 22 secures the right to trial by jury, requiring no fewer than six jurors. The legislature sets the specific qualifications and number of jurors beyond that minimum.¹

Right to Work and the Taxpayers’ Bill of Rights

Two provisions have no equivalent in the federal constitution.

Section 6, the right-to-work provision, prohibits denying or limiting a person’s right to work based on membership or non-membership in a labor union. It also preserves the right of employees to bargain collectively through a labor organization. Public employees do not have the right to strike.¹

Section 25 directs the legislature to adopt a Taxpayers’ Bill of Rights that, in clear and concise language, sets forth taxpayers’ rights and the government’s responsibilities when dealing with taxpayers under Florida law.¹ The constitution itself does not spell out specific tax protections; it requires the legislature to create and maintain that framework by statute.

How It Compares to the Federal Bill of Rights

The U.S. Bill of Rights sets a floor. Florida’s Declaration generally meets or exceeds it, and in several places pushes well past.

The explicit privacy right in Section 23 is the most prominent difference. The U.S. Constitution has no equivalent standalone provision; federal privacy protections have been pieced together by courts from the First, Third, Fourth, Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendments. Florida’s version is direct.² The right-to-work guarantee in Section 6 is another area with no federal analog.¹ Florida’s search-and-seizure provision explicitly covers interception of private communications, a specificity the Fourth Amendment lacks. The detailed victims’ rights protections in Section 16, the Taxpayers’ Bill of Rights mandate, and the access-to-courts guarantee are similarly unique to the state constitution.

Florida does not always grant broader protections, though. Section 12 explicitly ties search-and-seizure interpretation to U.S. Supreme Court precedent, which means Florida courts cannot independently expand those protections beyond what federal courts allow.

How the Declaration of Rights Can Be Changed

Florida’s constitution, including Article I, can be amended through five pathways: a joint resolution of the legislature, a citizen initiative petition, a constitutional convention, the Constitution Revision Commission, or the Taxation and Budget Reform Commission.¹ However an amendment reaches the ballot, it must receive at least 60 percent of the vote to pass.³ That supermajority threshold is higher than the simple-majority standard used in many other states.

1
Florida Senate. The Florida Constitution
2
Online Sunshine. Constitution of the State of Florida
3
Florida Department of State. Constitutional Amendments/Initiatives