REVOLT Insights Research Briefing March 2026 | Chaz Stevens

“Florida has, in its limited finite wisdom, passed a law banning the Greek Festival. I am not the problem here. I am the consequence.”

The Law They Didn’t Read

On March 10, 2026, the Florida Legislature passed SB 1134, the most sweeping anti-DEI bill to reach a governor’s desk in American history. The House voted 77-37. The Senate voted 25-11. Governor DeSantis is expected to sign it. It takes effect January 1, 2027.

The bill’s sponsors say it kills DEI. They’re right. It also kills the Greek Festival, the Italian Feast, the Caribbean Cultural Celebration, and every heritage event in Florida that touches a dollar of public money.

They just haven’t figured that out yet.

Last time, the Governor called my work “performative” and “political” — then signed a bill rewriting the law I broke. This time the problem is the same: they wrote a law so broad it eats the things they love. I didn’t write this law. I’m just reading it. Malicious compliance, here we come again. All aboard the stupid train.

What the Statute Actually Says

SB 1134 creates two new sections of Florida law — Section 125.595 for counties and Section 166.04971 for municipalities. Both contain identical operative language. The critical definition appears at subsection (1)(b):

“Diversity, equity, and inclusion” means any effort to:

1. Manipulate or otherwise influence the composition of employees with reference to race, color, sex, ethnicity, gender identity, or sexual orientation…
2. Promote or provide preferential treatment or special benefits to a person or group based on that person’s or group’s race, color, sex, ethnicity, gender identity, or sexual orientation; or
3. Promote or adopt training, programming, or activities designed or implemented with reference to race, color, sex, ethnicity, gender identity, or sexual orientation.

Read subsection 3 again. It does not say “designed to discriminate.” It does not say “designed to provide preferential treatment.” It says “designed or implemented with reference to ethnicity.”

A Greek Heritage Festival is, by definition, programming designed with reference to Greek ethnicity. An Italian-American Heritage celebration is programming designed with reference to Italian ethnicity. A Caribbean Cultural Festival is programming designed with reference to Caribbean ethnicity. The statute does not distinguish between a Pride parade and a Greek Festival. Under the plain text, both are prohibited.

Why Subsection 3 Is the Kill Shot

Oh, I love this, one wonders what’s in the Tallahassee water, bong water I surmise — this is why we have Courts, both Federal and the Court of Public Opinion.

They’ll say heritage festivals are open to everyone, so it’s not DEI. But that argument ignores how the law is written. The statute has three separate triggers. Subsection 2 covers preferential treatment. Subsection 3 — the one that matters here — independently prohibits any programming “designed with reference to ethnicity.” No preferential treatment required. No restricted access required. Just programming designed with reference to ethnicity.

That’s what the county’s own grant guidelines say they fund.

If subsection 3 doesn’t mean what it says, it has no reason to exist — and courts don’t read statutes to make provisions disappear. The county will try to collapse subsection 3 into subsection 2, arguing that “designed with reference to ethnicity” really means “preferential treatment based on ethnicity.” But if that were true, subsection 3 would be surplusage — a redundant restatement of subsection 2. Courts do not read statutes to render provisions superfluous. Subsection 3 must have independent meaning. And its independent meaning is: programming designed with reference to ethnicity is prohibited, full stop.

Using stress testing, the Constitution and I intend to find out which reading survives.

The Prohibition & Enforcement

Section 125.595(2) states that a county “may not fund or promote, directly or indirectly, or take any official action” as it relates to DEI. A mayor opening a heritage festival is direct promotion. A city website listing is indirect promotion. A tourism bureau advertising the event is indirect promotion. A county grant funding the event is direct funding.

Section 125.595(6) provides the enforcement mechanism: “An action in circuit court may be brought by a resident of the county.” Any county resident. Circuit court. Declaratory and injunctive relief, plus damages and costs.

The Carveouts Don’t Save Them

The bill’s sponsors wrote carveouts into Section 125.595(7)(b). They protect:

What’s Protected: Federal holidays under 5 U.S.C. § 6103 (MLK Day, Columbus Day, Veterans Day, etc.). State holidays and observances under Florida Chapter 683 (Confederate Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Florida Jewish History Month, etc.). Patriotic observances under 36 U.S.C. §§ 101–148 (Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month, etc.). Content-neutral event permitting and public safety services.

What’s Conspicuously Absent: Greek Heritage. Italian-American Heritage. Caribbean Heritage. Haitian Heritage. Brazilian Heritage. The vast majority of ethnicity-based cultural programming that Florida’s counties and municipalities currently fund.

Italian-American Heritage and Culture Month exists only as a presidential proclamation — it is not codified in 36 U.S.C. §§ 101–148 and therefore is not protected by SB 1134’s carveout. The only safe harbor for heritage festivals is neutral permitting. Not promotion. Not sponsorship. Not funding. Not official endorsement.

This law was sold as a tool to eliminate progressive identity politics from local government. But the text doesn’t distinguish between a Pride parade and a Greek heritage festival. It doesn’t carve out Italian-American Heritage Month or Caribbean cultural celebrations. Wait until someone applies this to military appreciation events, church-funded community programs, or Blue Lives Matter proclamations — Blue Lives used to matter, I guess. Either the law applies to everyone equally, or it’s viewpoint discrimination.

The Smoking Gun in Broward County

Broward County — the same county Senator Yarborough cited on the Senate floor as his poster child for wasteful DEI spending — operates a Cultural Division that awarded nearly $6 million in grants to 91 cultural organizations in FY 2024.

The county’s own Cultural Festival Program guidelines describe fundable events as:

“…a day-long series of events designed to showcase various aspects of a given ethnic culture found in Broward County.”

That is Section 125.595(1)(b)(3) — “programming or activities designed or implemented with reference to ethnicity” — reflected back in the county’s own eligibility criteria. Broward County built a grant program whose stated purpose is the exact conduct SB 1134 prohibits.

Look, I’d rather be targeting ruby-red Pensacola and their Greek Festival — that’s the cleaner headline. But the statute requires county residency for standing, and I live in once-blue Broward. Sorry Stacy Ritter and Michael Udine — I think the world of you both — but the law doesn’t have a carveout for people I appreciate.

The Certification Trap

SB 1134 also creates Section 287.139, Florida Statutes, which requires that any potential recipient of a county contract or grant certify that the recipient does not and will not use county funds for materials relating to diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Starting January 1, 2027, every organization receiving a Broward County cultural grant must sign this certification. Organizations whose entire purpose is ethnic heritage programming will have to sign a form saying their programming doesn’t reference ethnicity. That’s either perjury or defunding. Those are the only two options the statute provides.

The Structural Defect

This is the core problem with SB 1134, and it is the same structural defect that brought down Florida’s book-restriction laws when they were applied consistently.

If the definition is broad enough to cover heritage festivals — which the plain text supports — then the law is politically untenable. It kills programming the bill’s own supporters love. Italian Heritage Month, Greek Festivals, Columbus Day celebrations, and Caribbean cultural programming all fall.

If the definition is narrow enough to spare heritage festivals — because they are “open to everyone” or “merely cultural” — then the same logic protects Pride events, DEI trainings open to all staff, and inclusive programming of every kind. The law becomes toothless against its intended targets.

Either the statute applies to everyone, or it applies to no one. There is no principled middle ground that reaches Pride parades but spares Greek Festivals. The text does not support that distinction, and the Constitution does not permit it.

The Mootness Problem Is Solved

I previously sued the Broward County School Board pro se in the Southern District of Florida. The case was mooted after the district changed its policies. I’ve since learned my lesson — citing Uzuegbunam v. Preczewski, 592 U.S. 279 (2021), I don’t expect mootness to be available moving forward should this file move to the Courts. Nominal damages keep the case alive even if the county rewrites its guidelines the day before trial.

What Happens Next

March 2026: Chapter 119 public records requests filed against Broward County Cultural Division, GFLCVB, and Broward County Attorney’s Office — engineered using the Stevens Method to force the county into a binary: either they reviewed the SB 1134 collision and have a legal position, or they haven’t and the admission is on the record.

March 2026: Formal demand letter served on the Broward County Attorney identifying the facial inconsistency between FY 2027 grant guidelines and SB 1134’s effective date, with a 30-day response deadline.

Day DeSantis Signs: Press release and media outreach announcing the first intended enforcement action under SB 1134 — targeting Broward County’s own heritage grants pipeline.

January 1, 2027: SB 1134 takes effect. Enforcement action filed in Broward County Circuit Court under § 125.595(6) by a Broward County resident.

Governor Ronrico should have me over for lunch and drinks. I’m the only person in Florida taking his silly law seriously. Like Janet Reno, I’ll be hitting the Florida roadways, teaching municipalities how to batten down the hatches when an adversary arrives.

Like my successful Bible Ban effort, here again I seek the extraordinary precise application of State law, be it silly or not. As I like to think, when the going gets stupid, I’m usually the first to go in.

For the record, I am pro-DEI, but like Nana says, when you gotta go, you gotta go.

UPDATE (1): The Stupid Train Has Left the Station

March 12, 2026 — Addendum to “Heritage Trap: How Florida’s Anti-DEI Law Eats Its Own”

When I published this briefing, I had one target: Broward County, its $6 million grants pipeline, and a Cultural Division whose own eligibility language reads like it was written by a DEI consultant on a deadline.

That was Tuesday.

It’s now Thursday. Three demand letters are in the mail. Nearly 20 custodians have records requests sitting in their inboxes. Three municipal attorneys are presumably staring at their phones and wondering what they did to deserve this.

Welcome to the statewide tour.

Fort Lauderdale: Coming for Your Black and Tans

Fort Lauderdale’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade has run since 1967. That’s 57 consecutive years of the City of Fort Lauderdale funding it, staffing it, insuring it, promoting it on social media, passing Commission resolutions endorsing it, and generally treating Irish ethnic heritage as a municipal priority.

Under SB 1134, effective January 1, 2027, all of that is potentially void.

I have served a formal demand letter on City Attorney Shari L. McCartney and filed an eight-custodian omnibus public records request targeting every office that ever touched this parade — the City Clerk, City Attorney, Special Events Office, Parks and Recreation, Budget Office, Communications Office, Economic Development Office, and Risk Management. Every contract. Every fee waiver. Every insurance certificate. Every “Happy St. Paddy’s Day” tweet sent on the taxpayer’s dime.

“Eight custodians is not a fishing expedition. Don’t mean to go all DEI here, but it’s a dragnet. Every office that touched this parade — every contract, every press release, every limerick, every brogue, every social media post saying ‘come celebrate Irish heritage on Las Olas’ — is now potentially evidence. Three for three. The law doesn’t grade on a curve.”

The City’s lawyers will argue the parade is open to everyone, so it’s not preferential treatment. I’ve already written the response to that argument.

“The statute has three independent subsections. Subsection 3 — the one that matters here — independently prohibits any programming ‘designed with reference to ethnicity.’ No restricted access required. No preferential treatment required. Just designed with reference to ethnicity. The St. Patrick’s Day Parade is literally named after a Catholic saint associated with Irish national identity. That’s not a close call. That’s the call.”

Fort Lauderdale will also try the recharacterization play — calling the parade a “tourism marketing exercise” and burying the budget line under economic development.

“If Fort Lauderdale wants to argue the St. Patrick’s Day Parade has nothing to do with Irish ethnicity, good luck on that. God be with you, my Son. Also, go ahead and make that argument to the Irish-American Heritage Society. Get ready to be roshambo’d. The statute regulates the nature of the activity, not the label the city puts on the budget line. Renaming the check doesn’t change what’s in the envelope.”

“Will we now refer to St. Paddy’s Day as ‘The Annual Gathering of Really Hammered People Wearing a Specific Shade of Visible Light (Green) in the Scorching Florida Sun for No Particular Reason Whatsoever?'”

The certification trap applies here too. At some point the Las Olas Greek Festival is going to receive a form from City Hall asking it to certify that its programming doesn’t reference ethnicity.

“The organization’s entire existence is referencing ethnicity. So they can either lie on the form — that’s potentially perjury — or they don’t get the money. The Governor signed a law that defunds the Greek Festival. I didn’t do that. He did. I’m just the one reading the fine print.”

“Way to go, Gov. Bushmills. Have your people call my people, we’ll grab a few Irish Car Bombs at McSorley’s.”

Bono could not be reached for comment.

Pensacola: The Mayor Surrenders the City. Now to DEI.

Pensacola surrendered to the Spanish in 1559. They’ve been celebrating it ever since.

The Fiesta of Five Flags — now operated as Fiesta Pensacola — is one of the oldest heritage festivals in Florida. The event’s own mission statement describes the celebration as a jambalaya of “Native American, African, Latin, European and Asian” heritage, “each adding to the richness of our shared heritage.”

That is not my characterization. That is the organizer, describing a program designed and implemented with reference to ethnicity and national origin, in their own words, on their own website, without any help from me.

Under § 166.04971(1)(b)(3), that description is the statute’s trigger. Verbatim.

I have served a formal demand letter on Pensacola City Attorney Susan Woolf.

“The Mayor literally surrenders the city every year in a ceremony celebrating five colonial powers, including the Spanish. Pensacola surrendered to the Spanish in 1559. Now, thanks to Tallahassee, they’re about to do it again — this time to a DEI statute they voted for. I’d find that funnier if it weren’t also true.”

The City’s exposure goes beyond a neutral permit. The Mayor of Pensacola participates annually in the official “Surrender of the City” ceremony — a formal municipal act performed in service of a program organized around national origin and ethnic heritage. The City absorbs police, fire, and sanitation costs. The Downtown Pensacola Improvement Board has made direct payments to the organization. Visit Pensacola promotes the event on publicly supported platforms.

Official action. Public funding. Municipal promotion. Three prongs. All present.

“Will we now refer to the Fiesta of Five Flags as ‘The Annual Gathering of People Celebrating Five Completely Random Historical Governments That Definitely Have Nothing To Do With Spanish, French, or British Ethnicity Whatsoever?'”

This Is Now a Statewide Campaign

Three letters. Two days. Fort Lauderdale. Broward County. Pensacola.

Kissimmee is next. Jacksonville is on the list. Melbourne. Others.

“Like Janet Reno and her red pickup, I’m working my way across the Sunshine State, one heritage festival at a time, applying the precise text of a law the Legislature apparently never read. This isn’t my first rodeo. It isn’t even my first DeSantis rodeo. Hopefully, this time, Ron’s not wearing assless chaps.”

“Every city in Florida with a heritage festival, an ethnic heritage month proclamation, an island cultural event at a city park, or a Juneteenth program at a local rec center is in the same position. The only question is which city gets the letter next. I have a list. It’s not short. No need to check it twice. Gonna be naughty, and not nice.”

The structural defect I identified in this briefing is now being stress-tested in real time, across multiple jurisdictions, simultaneously. Each demand letter creates a paper trail. Each records request forces a binary: either the city reviewed the SB 1134 collision and has a legal position, or it hasn’t and the admission is on the record. Either answer is useful.

“Same game plan. Same Constitution. Same result, eventually. Like my successful Bible Ban effort, here again I seek the precise application of State law, be it silly or not. Governor Monte Alban should have me over for lunch and queso fundido. I’m the only person in Florida taking his laws seriously.”

“Also, don’t blame me. I didn’t write the rules. I’m just the field test. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. And in this case, the prize is me — the human version of the unlubed dildo of consequences.”

“This train wreck is coming to your hometown, courtesy of the Malicious Compliance Express.”

Press Releases:

• Fort Lauderdale — Coming for Your Black and Tans
• Pensacola — The Surrender

Next update: PRR responses, 30-day demand deadlines, and whichever city is unfortunate enough to be first on the January 2, 2027 court docket.

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If you think SB 1134 should be applied consistently — to heritage festivals and Pride parades alike — or if you just enjoy watching the system explain itself under its own rules, your support makes this possible.

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FAQS

What is the Heritage Trap?

The Heritage Trap is a constitutional stress test of Florida’s SB 1134, the state’s sweeping anti-DEI law for local governments. Filed by civic activist Chaz Stevens, it applies the statute’s plain text against ethnicity-based heritage festivals — not Pride events or progressive programming — to expose the law’s structural overbreadth. The name references the fact that the statute’s broad definition of “DEI” inadvertently captures the heritage programming its own sponsors support.

What is SB 1134?

SB 1134 (CS for CS for SB 1134) is a Florida law passed on March 10, 2026 that prohibits counties and municipalities from funding, promoting, or taking official action related to “diversity, equity, and inclusion.” It defines DEI to include any effort to “promote or adopt training, programming, or activities designed or implemented with reference to race, color, sex, ethnicity, gender identity, or sexual orientation.” The law takes effect January 1, 2027 and includes a private right of action allowing any county resident to sue in circuit court.

Does SB 1134 ban heritage festivals?

Under the plain text of Section 125.595(1)(b)(3), the statute prohibits programming “designed or implemented with reference to ethnicity.” A Greek Heritage Festival, Italian-American Heritage celebration, or Caribbean Cultural Festival is programming designed with reference to a specific ethnicity. The statute’s carveout provisions protect only federal holidays (5 U.S.C. § 6103), state holidays (Florida Chapter 683), and patriotic observances (36 U.S.C. §§ 101–148). Greek heritage, Italian-American heritage, Caribbean heritage, and most ethnicity-based cultural programming are not listed in any of those carveouts.

Who is Chaz Stevens?

Chaz Stevens is a Deerfield Beach-based civic activist, municipal governance consultant, and IMLA CLE Faculty member known for constitutional stress-testing of public forum neutrality. In 2022, he filed Bible ban challenges in dozens of Florida school districts using the state’s own book-restriction law, forcing Governor DeSantis to sign new legislation scaling it back. DeSantis’s office named Stevens as the sole cited reason for the change. Stevens is the founder of REVOLT Insights and previously made national news for installing a Festivus pole at the Florida State Capitol.

What is the Broward County smoking gun?

The Broward County Cultural Division’s Cultural Festival Program guidelines describe eligible programming as “a day-long series of events designed to showcase various aspects of a given ethnic culture found in Broward County.” This language mirrors SB 1134’s prohibition on programming “designed or implemented with reference to ethnicity.” The county’s own eligibility criteria use functionally identical language to the statute’s trigger provision.

What is the subsection 3 argument?

SB 1134’s definition of DEI has three independent triggers. Subsection 2 covers preferential treatment based on protected characteristics. Subsection 3 independently prohibits programming “designed or implemented with reference to ethnicity” — without requiring any showing of preferential treatment, special benefits, or restricted access. If subsection 3 were merely a restatement of subsection 2, it would be surplusage. Courts do not read statutes to render provisions superfluous. Subsection 3 must have independent meaning, and its independent meaning reaches heritage festivals on the plain text.

What is the Section 287.139 certification trap?

Starting January 1, 2027, Section 287.139 requires every county grant recipient to certify that it does not use county funds for DEI-related materials as defined by the statute. Organizations whose programming is “designed to showcase ethnic culture” — the county’s own description of funded events — may be unable to truthfully sign this certification without contradicting the purpose of their own programming.

Can Broward County avoid this by changing its grant guidelines?

If Broward County modifies its guidelines to remove ethnicity-referenced language before January 1, 2027, that may prevent a facial challenge. However, the demand letter already served on the County Attorney creates a paper trail establishing that the county was on notice of the inconsistency. If the county changes the language but continues funding the same programming under a neutral label, the Chapter 119 records requests will document that the substance did not change. Additionally, citing Uzuegbunam v. Preczewski, 592 U.S. 279 (2021), a claim for nominal damages can keep a case alive even if the government voluntarily ceases the challenged conduct.

What is the Stevens Method?

The Stevens Method is an applied institutional stress-testing framework developed by Chaz Stevens. It uses public records laws, administrative procedures, and formal complaint systems to force institutions to account for themselves in writing — or to admit that required processes were never followed. The Heritage Trap is an application of the Stevens Method to SB 1134.

How can I support this work?

Constitutional stress testing is funded entirely by supporters who believe laws should be applied consistently. Donations to REVOLT Insights fund records requests, demand letters, statutory analysis, and litigation preparation. Visit revolt.training/donate.