00:00HB 905 is titled the Foreign Interference Restriction and Enforcement Act, and I'll be signing that into law momentarily.
00:10It does a lot of different things, but particularly with respect to Cuba.
00:15It authorizes local governments and tax collectors to revoke business tax receipts for businesses operating in Cuba in violation of
00:24federal law.
00:25It creates accountability for false declarations regarding business activities in Cuba.
00:33Knowingly submitting a false declaration related to unlawful activity involving Cuba will now constitute a third-degree felony in the
00:41state of Florida.
00:42Additionally, the federal government changes Cuba's diplomatic status.
00:45The bill provides limited temporary authority for Florida to suspend certain restrictions while allowing the legislature to review long-term
00:54policy decisions.
00:56Additionally, this legislation prohibits pre-planned adoption agreements and surrogacy contracts involving citizens or residents of foreign countries of concern.
01:07China ships people here for birth.
01:11It's really a seedy thing, and I'm glad that we were able to do that.
01:15I know we're hoping that the Supreme Court is going to interpret the 14th Amendment so that we can put
01:21a stop to some of the people that are coming here for a month having birth and then going back
01:26to China.
01:27That's part of an operation.
01:29Why would we let that happen and grant citizenship under those circumstances?
01:35The bill also creates enhanced criminal penalties for crimes committed to benefit foreign governments or foreign-owned terrorist organizations, as
01:43I mentioned, charitable organizations.
01:45It prohibits those organizations from accepting contribution or support from designated terrorist organizations, including the Council of American Islamic Relations
01:55and the Muslim Brotherhood, which we have done in the state of Florida with our most recent bill cracking down
02:02on the expansion of Sharia.
02:03The bill also requires the Department of State to maintain and publish a list of all foreign consulate offices and
02:10all sister city and sister state affiliations in Florida.
02:14I mean, Alex may talk about it a little bit, and maybe Jenna will.
02:19We have cities that have, like, sister agreements with some really bad spots.
02:23And so this bill addresses that, but, you know, it's one thing to do it, but to do it, you
02:29know, if you're doing a sister agreement, we have the Adam Smith Center at Florida International University.
02:36And you do a sister agreement with, like, his hometown, okay, fine.
02:39But to talk about some of these countries of concern, again, that allows them to have influence over our way
02:48of life here in Florida, that we don't want to do that.
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