Domestic Terrorism Offense
Prohibits a person from committing a specified offense in furtherance of coercing government policy or affecting government conduct by mass destruction, assassination, or kidnapping. A specified offense includes murder, manslaughter, aggravated battery, assault or battery against a law enforcement officer, kidnapping, discharging a firearm in public, discharges a destructive device that is intended to be a weapon, use of a weapon of mass destruction, arson, an offense against a computer, or a combination to usurp the government of the state. The crime is a felony in the first degree punishable by up to 30 years in jail and a $10,000 fine. If the crime results in death or serious bodily injury is a life felony punished by life in jail without the possibility of parole.
*Note: Under HB 1471, enacted in 2026, Florida officials may designate an organization a “domestic terrorist organization,” creating potential criminal liability and other consequences for the organization’s leaders, members, and supporters. A group may be designated based on an administrative finding that it is engaging in “terrorist activity,” as defined by state law, that is an ongoing security threat. HB 1471 expands Florida’s “material support” offense, such that knowingly providing or conspiring to provide “material support” to a designated “domestic terrorist organization” is a first-degree felony punishable by up to thirty years in prison. Under HB 1471, a designated “domestic terrorist organization” also qualifies as a “criminal gang” under Section 874 of Florida Statues. Among other implications, under 874.10, anyone who “knowingly initiates, organizes, plans, finances, directs, manages, or supervises” an activity “committed with the intent to benefit, promote, or further the interests of” a designated group commits a first-degree felony. A designated “domestic terrorist organization” has thirty days to challenge the designation in Florida state court. Once legal challenges have been exhausted, the state can move to dissolve the organization.