Overview
- Florida’s anti‑terrorism statute HB 1471 took effect July 1, 2026 and state officials say the FDLE recommended naming CAIR, the Muslim Brotherhood, Antifa and more than 90 foreign groups for designation under state law.
- Under the law the FDLE chief of domestic security makes recommendations but the governor and a majority of the Florida Cabinet must vote to finalize any designation before it triggers funding bans or other penalties.
- Hours after the July 1 announcement CAIR and allied civil‑rights groups filed a federal lawsuit seeking an injunction, citing prior court rulings that blocked DeSantis’s December executive order and arguing the statute lacks due‑process safeguards.
- Key practical questions remain unanswered, including how authorities will identify decentralized movements like Antifa, the exact criminal penalties for material support, and how schools and scholarship programs will apply the law.
- The move expands state-level labeling beyond the federal Foreign Terrorist Organization process, follows similar actions in other states, and could reshape which groups may lose public funding or contracts in Florida if the Cabinet approves the slate.