ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis held a press conference in St. Petersburg Wednesday morning.
DeSantis spoke at the Urban Stillhouse where he signed five bills to crack down on sexual predators.
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The bills include legislation to increase sentencing and prevent would-be sexual predators from creating a pattern of lewd communications that could escalate to child sexual abuse and trafficking.
One of those bills, House Bill 1131, will facilitate online sting operations for sexual predators to protect children and requires the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to annually award grants and provide the necessary funding requirements.
“We’re going to crack down on the grooming of these minors, especially with most of these predators on social media and apps,” said DeSantis.
DeSantis also signed HB 1545 to protect children from adult groomers. The bill places the offense of harmful communication to a minor on the “severity ranking chart of the Criminal Punishment Code,” according to the Florida Senate’s website.
Another bill, HB 1235, “proposes modifications to registration requirements for sexual predators and offenders, including adjustments regarding the reporting of plans to relocate to different states,” a news release from the governor’s office stated.
The “Protection of Children and Victims of Crime” bill also known as Senate Bill 1225, enhances the Statewide Guardian Office’s authority and introduces additional training mandates to ensure that law enforcement accurately evaluate domestic violence incidents.
DeSantis also signed HB 305 which he said, “proposes an expansion of admissible evidence in child sex abuse cases, including the allowance of out-of-court statements made by child victims under specific circumstances.”
DeSantis was joined by the Florida Department of High Safety and Motor Vehicles Executive Director Dave Kerner.
Kerner called the newly signed bills “very commonsense to our criminal code.”
“It’s not fair to just call them perverts, he added. “They are the manifestation of evil.”
Watch the press conference here: