Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday signed several bills aimed at protecting children from exploitation and online predators, along with a domestic violence bill inspired by the killing of Gabby Petito.
DeSantis signed the five pieces of legislation during a news conference in St. Petersburg.
One bill signed was SB 1224, also referred to as the "Gabby Petito Act," requires law enforcement officers who investigate an alleged incident of domestic violence to administer a lethality assessment under certain circumstances.
It requires officers to ask a series of questions to determine if a domestic violence victim is at a higher risk of death or injury.
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The bill was inspired by the 2021 killing of Gabby Petito, who authorities said was slain by her fiancé, Brian Laundrie, who later took his own life.
Body camera footage captured Utah police responding to a reported domestic violence incident between Petito and Laundrie, just weeks before her death.
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Petito's father, Joseph Petito, pushed for the legislation.
Among the four other bills signed by DeSantis Wednesday is HB 1545, which targets child exploitation offenses.
It makes it a third-degree felony for adults who engage in a pattern of sexual communication with minors and increases penalties for child exploitation crimes.
DeSantis said it's part of the effort to crack down on the "grooming of minors" on social media, which he called a "playground for predators."
"This whole online stuff is a major, major cesspool," said DeSantis, who just last month signed a bill that blocks kids under 14 from having social media accounts.
Another bill, HB 305, expands the type of evidence that can be presented to juries in child sex cases and makes a first offense of specified sex trafficking involving minors require a defendant be designated a sexual predator.
HB 1235 imposes stricter guidelines for sexual offender registration and aims to prevent a loophole of offenders having a registered address in one place but living in another.
And HB 1131 provides a grant program for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to facilitate online sting operations.
"I think that this is going to offer good protection for the children of our state and people should just know that we are forthrightly committed, whatever we need to do to maintain Florida as the best place to raise kids, we're gonna do it and we're gonna make sure that we keep the bad guys at bay," DeSantis said.
