Do you think twelve constitutional amendments, as it was in 2018, is excessive? Do you think too many interest groups are attempting to usurp the legislative process of our representative republic through a state constitutional amendment process? Are you simply tired of John Morgan's bankrolling pet projects each election cycle? If any of those speak to you, this proposed constitutional amendment might be for you.
I briefly touched on the other proposed amendment being advanced by the “Keep Our Constitution Clean” PAC when they first began their effort to raise the threshold for the passage for Florida constitutional amendments. This one is different. Under their other proposed amendment, a two-thirds vote would be required for a constitutional amendment to pass in Florida. That one hasn’t obtained the necessary signatures required to advance in the process to an official ballot review as of yet and with a February deadline looming to complete the process, it might be a long shot. Instead, the one that’s currently pacing towards potential inclusion is one in which we’d have to have two elections in which at least sixty percent of Floridians vote for a proposed amendment for it to pass.
This is the summary language, "Requires all proposed amendments or revisions to the state constitution to be approved by the voters in two elections, instead of one, in order to take effect. The proposal applies the current thresholds for passage to each of the two elections".
Specifically, we’d have to wait ten weeks after an initial 60% or higher vote in the first election to vote a second time on proposed amendments which would then have to achieve at least 60% support again to become final. I understand what’s in play here and I personally approve of the premise. In our system of government, we elect representatives to represent our interests and they’re to craft policy to reflect our desires.
Constitutional changes, the very foundation of our state should be held to an extremely high standard and shouldn’t be an easy target to hit with clever marketing campaigns aimed at lightly informed voters that struggle to understand the language in a voting booth. Yet, that’s what the process has turned into and it’s playing with fire. The bigger issue here is an important one. Eleven of the twelve amendments proposed last year passed. That’s added gas to the fire by special interest groups looking to bypass the legislative process to fundamentally change our state for their pet projects.
Studies have shown that when voters aren’t clear on how to vote on a ballot issue, they’re most likely to vote yes. This is being taken advantage of and I’m interested to see where this proposal goes. If it makes it to our ballot, you'll likely see interest groups and the John Morgan’s of Florida come out of the woodwork to oppose it. That would be telling unto itself.
Photo by: Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images