Florida Legislators Take on a Voter Right

[Eye and Monkey]

"We're not trying to deprive the citizens from their right to get into the Constitution. We just want to make it harder so that it doesn't happen all the time."


http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/26/national/26BALL.html

Published: April 26, 2004
MIAMI, April 25 — The phrase "pregnant pigs" may not mean much outside Florida, or even outside the Capitol in Tallahassee. But it has become a rallying cry in the legislative session that ends this week, signifying, for some, all that is wrong with the State Constitution and the process of amending it.

Florida is among 24 states that let residents bypass their elected leaders and put proposals to amend the Constitution directly on the ballot. Since 1968, Floridians have had the right to do that, provided they gather enough signatures on petitions, and have approved 16 citizen initiatives.

But lawmakers have long complained that the process unfairly burdens the state by mandating expensive new programs. They also argue it clutters the Constitution, which they say should be sacrosanct. For critics of the process, the watershed year was 2002, when voters approved a record five citizen initiatives, including one, heavily promoted by animal-rights groups, that banned the confinement of pregnant pigs in small cages.

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[dusty64]

1. That quote is VERY telling.

They certainly have made it extremely hard to have your Constitutional rights in Florida, I still can't believe a state as divided as them has such an extremist rightwing legislature. Why?

[seasat]

2. It's kinda coincidental that they are trying this reform...

Right when Jim McKay is trying to get a ballot initiative to reform Florida's tax system so it is more progressive. Florida Relies primarily on sales and property taxes. As a percentage of income, the bottom 20% over 14% in taxes while the top 1% pays 1 to 2% in taxes. Jim McKay, a rebelling state Republican tried to reform the sales tax system so that services (used by the wealthy) are subject to sales tax and remove some of the specialized exemptions. We actually live in a state where you pay sales tax on brake parts at Autozone but don't pay sales tax on brake parts for a privately owned aircraft.

I'd love for them to make a change where citizens have the right for ballot initiatives that result in laws and place a higher standard on ballot measures for constitutional amendments for both the legislature and citizens. However, I don't like limiting our imitative without giving us an alternative.

[dryan]

3. Florida doesn' t need this ****!!

In 2002 Floridians passed overwhelming a class size amendment and an amendment to restore the Board of Regents. I was a supporter of the first amendment and was on the commitee for Amendment 11 (Board of Regents). Unfortunately, jeb bush supported neither and has not done one blessed thing to do the will of the people of Florida. He in fact has openly criticized the class size amendment. I am now involved in the FAIR Committee which will reconfigure the sales tax schedule here in Florida. Hopefully, we will be able to get it on the ballot as well and it will pass. This is ******** of the highest level.