Governor Ron DeSantis signs first-in-the-nation legislation to protect against government surveillance over personal finances

Press release from the Office of Governor Ron DeSantis

FORT MYERS, Fla. — Today, Governor Ron DeSantis signed Senate Bill (SB) 7054 and SB 214 to protect the personal finances of Floridians from government overreach and woke corporate monitoring. SB 7054 prohibits the use of a federally adopted central bank digital currency (CBDC) by excluding it from the definition of money within Florida’s Uniform Commercial Code. Additionally, the bill prohibits foreign-issued CBDC to protect consumers against globalist efforts to adopt a worldwide digital currency. SB 214 prohibits credit card companies from using firearm-specific Merchant Category Codes and institutes a fine for violations of Florida’s consumer protections against gun owner registries.

“The government and large credit card companies should not have the power to shut off access to your hard-earned money because they disagree with your politics,” said Governor Ron DeSantis. “Biden’s Central Bank Digital Currency aims to increase government control over people’s finances, and we will not allow it. In Florida, we value personal freedom and won’t allow self-interested elites to chip away at our liberty.”

“The last thing our country needs is a federally controlled Centralized Bank Digital Currency weaponized by the Biden administration,” said Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis. “It’s just another way for Floridians to have their vital financial information surveilled and controlled by the federal government. No one asked for this, and Florida won’t let it stand. Every day, your privacy and financial freedoms are under attack, but thankfully we have leaders like Governor DeSantis fighting to Keep Florida Free.”

“We are all blessed to live in the Free State of Florida where our Second Amendment rights are valued and protected,” said Commissioner of Agriculture Wilton Simpson. “Today, Florida is taking another bold step to protect Second Amendment rights by drawing a line in the sand that tells progressive financial institutions they cannot covertly track, monitor, and report data on Floridians’ firearm purchases – or else. I thank Governor DeSantis, Senator Burgess, and Representative Snyder for their bold and determined leadership to deliver real protections to Floridians on this emerging threat.”

“Our Governor doesn’t sit around and wait for a problem to occur,” said Senate President Kathleen Passidomo. “He is proactive. He anticipates the steps we need to take to protect our state and he takes action. Here in the free state of Florida, we are not going to allow government surveillance and control of people’s hard-earned assets or their banking and credit card transactions. Under the leadership of Governor DeSantis, Florida will promote economic freedom and privacy from any potential overreach of the federal government or foreign governments, preserving the role of private commercial banks.”

“We will protect Floridians from an unprecedented government overreach that would jeopardize privacy rights and increase government control over their freedom to purchase goods and use services,” said House Speaker Paul Renner. “Floridians can count on Governor DeSantis and the Florida House to protect their hard-earned money from President Biden’s overlord state and a federally controlled central bank. Americans shouldn’t be discriminated against or tracked on a government database by bureaucrats who don’t agree with how a Florida citizen spends his or her own money.” 

In 2022, President Joe Biden issued an executive order to explore the creation of a U.S. CBDC. Unlike a decentralized central currency such as crypto or bitcoin, a central bank digital currency is directly controlled and issued by the government to consumers, providing the government direct access to consumer activity. Additionally, a federally sanctioned CBDC as proposed by the Biden administration would diminish the role of community banks and credit unions in our financial system as CBDC currency would be a direct liability of the federal government, rather than of a chartered financial institution, shrinking market lending power.

SB 7054 expressly prohibits the use of a federally adopted CBDC by excluding it from the definition of money within Florida’s Uniform Commercial Code, the state’s governing laws for commercial transactions. Through this legislation, Florida will remain the standard-bearer among states in supporting a free market approach to innovation in the financial technology space and protecting against government surveillance of personal finances through a centralized monetary policy.

SB 214 combats efforts by woke credit card giants to monitor the transactions of firearm retailers through unique Merchant Category Codes (MCCs) and imposes fines for violations of Florida’s consumer protections against gun owner registries. MCC codes are retailer-specific codes, and a business that sells firearms and sporting goods would be subject to this new code, regardless of their overall sales. The use of MCCs specific to stores that sell firearms would lead to inflated statistics for firearm sales reported by creditors given that all cumulative sales would be categorized. Three major credit card companies have said that the use of MCCs would allow them to “manage risk” and assist in “combatting gun violence” by tracking consumer behavior, which is an extreme overreach into the private purchases of a consumer.