Amending the Florida Constitution

We know proposing amendments to the state constitution is a Florida tradition. Remember all the pig amendment fuss in 2002?

Anyone can sponsor an amendment. Proposing an amendment allows the sponsor to take an issue directly to the voters when it is not getting addressed by lawmakers for political reasons. One criticism is that while a ballot item may be an honorable cause, it doesn’t belong in our constitution. According to Ballotpedia.org, Floridians pass a higher percentage of their ballot initiatives than voters in any other state.

This Year’s Never-Ending Ballot

If you have read a complete list of this year’s proposed amendments, it might have struck you as a bit long. The Florida Budget and Taxation Reform Commission met in 2007, which only happens every twenty years. It was the third time they had met and, instead of focusing on a critique of the Florida budget and, um, taxation, as it had done in the past, the Commission also focused on ballot initiatives. In fact, of the nine proposals originally qualified for the ballot, seven were sponsored by the Commission. Ultimately, three of the proposals they sponsored were removed by the Florida Supreme Court. We’ve noted those below.

Now to give some credit where it’s due:

• Summaries and full text of amendments can be found on the Florida Division of Elections site (that’s where we got it)
• For background and the list of sponsors, we relied on the League of Women Voters of Florida Web site (Note: This link opens a PDF file)

The Amendments Already

Amendment #1: Relating To Property Rights/ Ineligible Aliens

Summary: Proposing an amendment to the State Constitution to delete provisions authorizing the Legislature to regulate or prohibit the ownership, inheritance, disposition, and possession of real property by aliens ineligible for citizenship.

View a PDF of the amendment in its entirety

Constitutional reference: Article I, Section 2

Sponsor: The Florida Legislature

Background (as provided by the League of Women Voters): Article I, Section 2 of the Florida Constitution provides that equal rights are for all in Florida, but creates a glaring exception for “aliens ineligible for citizenship,” who can be stripped of the right to own property by the Legislature. The exception dates to the early 1900s and is common to many states’ law and was directed at Asian-American immigrants (the “Yellow Peril.”) Senate Joint Resolution 166, filed in 2007, proposed this amendment. Only New Mexico and Florida still have these provisions in their constitutions, and both states’ leaders are asking voters to remove the language this year.

PRO (Again, provided by the LWV):

• The amendment would remove an outdated and discriminatory passage from our Declaration of Rights.

CON:

• Constitutional action is not necessary at this time because there is no present Florida statute prohibiting ownership of property by aliens ineligible for citizenship.

Amendment #2: Florida Marriage Protection Amendment

Summary: This amendment protects marriage as the legal union of only one man and one woman as husband and wife and provides that no other legal union that is treated as marriage or the substantial equivalent thereof shall be valid or recognized.

View a PDF of the amendment in its entirety

Constitutional reference: Article I, newly proposed section

Sponsored by: www.Florida4Marriage.org

Background: A Florida statute already provides that marriage is only recognized between a man and a woman. An Orlando activist, John Stemberger, organized this ballot initiative, which is the only citizens’ initiative on the ballot.

PRO:

• Supporters say the amendment would protect children by ensuring that only one form of marriage, between a man and a woman, would ever be celebrated in Florida.
• The Florida statute that already provides for a single form of marriage could be overturned by a court on constitutional grounds.

CON:

• A statute already provides for a single form of marriage in Florida.
• Health care and pension benefit plans which cover unmarried couples living together and which are now legally valid may be adversely affected.
• Article I of the Florida Constitution, known as the Declaration of Rights, establishes rights, but this amendment would instead limit the right to marry.

Amendment #3: Changes And Improvements Not Affecting The Assessed Value Of Residential Real Property

Summary: Authorizes the Legislature, by general law, to prohibit consideration of changes or improvements to residential real property which increase resistance to wind damage and installation of renewable energy source devices as factors in assessing the property’s value for ad valorem taxation purposes. Effective upon adoption, repeals the existing renewable energy source device exemption no longer in effect.

View a PDF of the amendment in its entirety

Constitutional reference: Article VII, sections 3, 4, and a new section

Sponsored by: Florida Budget and Taxation Reform Commission

Background: Increased value of residential property based on improvements designed to improve hurricane safety could not be assessed as taxable increased value.

PRO:

• Hurricane safety may be improved in residential property.
• Residential property values may be increased.
• The amendment may relieve the burden on non-renewable energy sources.

CON:

• Local revenues could suffer.
• Individuals’ savings may be minimal.
• The amendment does not apply to new construction.

Amendment #4: Property Tax Exemption of Perpetually Preserved Land; Classification and Assessment of Land Used for Conservation

Summary: Requires Legislature to provide a property tax exemption for real property encumbered by perpetual conservation easements or other perpetual conservation protections, defined by general law. Requires Legislature to provide for classification and assessment of land used for conservation purposes, and not perpetually encumbered, solely on the basis of character or use. Subjects assessment benefit to conditions, limitations, and reasonable definitions established by general law. Applies to property taxes beginning in 2010.

View a PDF of the amendment in its entirety

Constitutional reference: Article VII, sections 3, 4, and Article XII, a new section

Sponsored by: Florida Budget and Taxation Reform Commission

Background: Numerous provisions of federal estate and tax law favor landowners who preserve their property in its natural state. This provision would provide further tax benefits to those landowners.

PRO:

• The amendment may encourage further conservation of land in its natural state.

CON:

• Local revenue will be decreased.
• Existing policies already favor those who preserve their land.
• The amendment would not require public access to the lands to which it applies.

Amendment #5: Eliminating State Required School Property Tax and Replacing With Equivalent State Revenues to Fund Education

Removed

Amendment #6 : Assessment of Working Waterfront Property Based Upon Current Use

Summary: Provides for assessment based upon use of land used predominantly for commercial fishing purposes; land used for vessel launches into waters that are navigable and accessible to the public; marinas and drystacks that are open to the public; and water-dependent marine manufacturing facilities, commercial fishing facilities, and marine vessel construction and repair facilities and their support activities, subject to conditions, limitations, and reasonable definitions specified by general law.

View a PDF of the amenment in its entirety

Constitutional reference: Article VII, Section 4, and Article XII, new section

Sponsored by: Florida Budget and Taxation Reform Commission

Background: Access to public waterfront has been reduced as marinas and the like cannot afford to resist developers’ offers to convert the land into condominium towers or other private buildings. The amendment would require those properties to be taxed based on their current use rather than on their “highest and best” use.

PRO:

• Access to public waterfront areas would more likely remain at current levels rather than continuing to diminish.
• This measure may reduce property taxes on working waterfront properties and thereby reduce pressure to sell those properties to developers.

CON:

• Local revenues would suffer.
• The measure allows the Legislature to define terms and impose conditions and limitations on any tax break working waterfront owners receive.

Amendment #7: Religious Freedom

Removed

Amendment #8: Local Option Community College Funding

Summary: Proposing an amendment to the State Constitution to require that the Legislature authorize counties to levy a local option sales tax to supplement community college funding; requiring voter approval to levy the tax; providing that approved taxes will sunset after 5 years and may be reauthorized by the voters.

View a PDF of the amendment in its entirety

Constitutional reference: Article VII, section 9

Sponsored by: Florida Budget and Taxation Reform Commission

Background: The Legislature has allowed Miami-Dade County to levy a local-option sales tax to assist that area’s community college.

PRO:

• Community colleges serve as a gateway to the university system and to greater employment opportunities; this amendment could increase their funding.
• Voters would have the option of denying any proposed local-option sales tax increase under the proposal.

CON:

• Sales taxes impose a greater burden on lower-income families.
• The measure shifts the burden of funding community colleges from state to local authorities.
• The amendment could create unequal opportunities for Florida residents based on the economy in their county of residence.

Amendment #9: Requiring 65 Percent of School Funding For Classroom Instruction; State’s Duty For Children’s Education

Removed