Here are our recommendations for Florida’s six constitutional amendments | Editorial
Gov. DeSantis thinks it’s a terrible idea to stuff a state constitution with amendments that might look stupid with a year’s worth of hindsight.
He’s absolutely right.
And we couldn’t agree more with GrayRobinson lawyer Jason Zimmerman, who thinks it’s ridiculous that Florida’s 1968 Constitution has been the subject of more than 140 constitutional amendments, some of them “whimsical,” while the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1780, has been amended only 27 times, mostly with good ideas like abolishing slavery, repealing Prohibition and granting women the right to vote.
Everybody with a passing acquaintance with 7th-grade civics agrees that the passing fancies of the public should be dealt with in the Legislature, where laws can be easily enacted, and easily repealed.
Constitutions are built for bigger, longer-lasting things. Florida’s Constitution was built by some of the best legal and political thinkers of the 20th century. Like the vast majority of 21st century power players, the architects of the current Constitution, ratified in 1968, were white, male and not worried about where their next meal was coming from. Unlike today’s power players, they were serious about giving average citizens a real voice at every level of government.
The 1968 Constitution and the means of amending it were designed to extend to Floridians the chance to fully participate in civic affairs. But it didn’t take long for Florida’s amendment process to devolve in to its own subgenre of Florida political comedy, raising the profile of pregnant pigs, for instance.
The framers of our state Constitution marched to their own honorable drummers. They did not imagine a future in which Florida lawmakers danced to the tunes of their wealthiest donors.
Safe in gerrymandered districts, Florida lawmakers have had decades of practice thumbing their noses at voters seeking things like privacy, open government and the restoration of voting rights for the formerly incarcerated. Eventually, voters give up on the Legislature and work to cement their wishes into the Constitution. Florida’s leaders aren’t embarrassed to ignore that, too, as we are seeing every day with voter-suppression efforts, including among this year’s proposed amendments on the ballot. Here are the Editorial Board’s recommendations:
Amendment 1
If you’ve ever voted, you know that you must prove to your local elections supervisor that you are a U.S. citizen, a state resident and 18 years old. Florida law already says that “every citizen” can vote. Seems pretty clear. So why does John Loudon, an ex-lawmaker from Missouri who’s relocated to Palm Beach, want to “clarify” those requirements in Florida, and in two other states that are also not Missouri, so that the state Constitution says “only a citizen” can vote? Nobody knows, except for the donors he doesn’t like to talk about who coughed up $8 million for this unwelcome effort to copy-edit our Constitution. Loudon is a carpetbagging meddler. His proposal is unnecessary and redundant with, we can’t help but think, a little xenophobia on the side.
Vote NO on Amendment 1.
Amendment 2
The people who change diapers in daycare centers and nursing homes; wash dishes at five-star resorts; and stock shelves at grocery stores already know what life is like on the poverty wages that so many Florida jobs pay. The coronavirus gave the rest of us a once-in-a century chance to reflect upon what our lives would be like if we had to survive on the $17,800 a year we could earn at a full-time job paying Florida’s current minimum wage of $8.46. We didn’t have to think long. Amendment 2 would bring the minimum wage up to $15 by 2026.
Vote YES on Amendment 2.
Amendment 3
If the top dogs at both the Florida Democratic Party and the Republican Party of Florida are violently opposed to an idea, it’s probably an idea that benefits people who don’t make their living in politics. That’s the case with Amendment 3, which would boost voter participation in primary elections for governor, as well as those for attorney general, agriculture commissioner, chief financial officer and state legislators. In the current closed-primary system, you must be registered with a political party to participate in that party’s primary election. Winners of a partisan primary election advance to the general election, while the large and growing percentage of Florida voters with no party affiliation (NPA) have no voice at all. Amendment 3 would eliminate closed primaries in favor of placing all candidates on one ballot regardless of political affiliation; all voters can vote, and the top two candidates would advance to the general election.
Some critics have legitimate concerns that open primaries could dilute the power of African-American votes to choose Black elected representation. At the same time, however, Amendment 3 has the power to open the voting booth to young Black voters registered NPA in the state.
One defender of the status quo likened Democrats and Republicans voting in the same primary to “McDonald’s helping to choose the menu items for Burger King.” That’s a great analogy for those who like their politics as unwholesome as a daily diet of burgers, shakes and fries. Supporters of a healthy democracy will welcome Florida’s almost 4 million voters registered independent into the primary process.
Vote YES on Amendment 3.
Amendment 4
The odious goal of this proposal is to require constitutional amendments to be approved by the voters in two — two! — general elections in order to become effective. Currently in Florida, constitutional amendments work like weddings. People are presumed to know what they’re doing, and they are not required to come back and pay the preacher a second time.
Like weddings, constitutional amendments are hard work. It takes a nearly superhuman effort to secure the 60 percent supermajority required to pass an amendment.
The laughably named — and lavishly funded — campaign, Keep Our Constitution Clean says it all, doesn’t it? Its well-heeled backers want Floridians to have to vote twice, cynically betting on the real possibility that an amendment won’t get that supermajority the second time around. As bad faith goes, this is voter suppression at its finest.
Vote NO on Amendment 4.
Amendment 5
Taxation is high on the list of things best tinkered with in state law and not in state constitutions. You never know when an unbudgeted disaster will come along, forcing lawmakers to rifle under the couch cushions looking for nickels and dimes.
According to reporter Kirby Wilson, of the Herald/Times Tallahassee bureau, “This measure would clean up what some say is a loophole in the ‘Save Our Homes’ tax benefit available to Floridians.
“Currently, Floridians who move from one homesteaded property to another have two years from Jan. 1 of the year of the sale of the first home to claim the tax benefit. This would give homeowners an additional year to do so.”
Amendment 5’s opponents fret that approval would reduce local property taxes by as much as $10.2 million.
That’s shouldn’t be a crippling amount when spread statewide. But for average homeowners who likely need every dollar they can get their hands on, this amendment provides a small but welcome bit of relief.
Vote YES on Amendment 5.
Amendment 6
Florida already has a homestead property tax discount for disabled military veterans, but it expires upon their death. Amendment 6 would extend the discount to the veteran’s surviving spouse.
It’s a drop in the bucket, compared to the real needs of Florida’s military families. But it’s something we can do in support of people who have given their all for us.
Vote YES on Amendment 6.
This story was originally published October 11, 2020 at 6:00 AM.