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Election 2008
Constitutional Amendments: What You Need to Know
November's ballot includes six proposed constitutional amendments, from a ban on gay marriage to a tax break for working waterfronts. Here's a guide.
Amendment 1
Repeal of Alien Land Law
Title: Relating to Property Rights/Ineligible Aliens
What it does: Deletes an outdated provision of the state Constitution that authorizes the Legislature to regulate the property rights of “ineligible aliens.”
Background: In 1926, Florida voters amended the state Constitution to ban Asian immigrants from owning and inheriting property. Florida’s “alien land law” was typical of more than a dozen such state laws passed in the U.S. between 1862 and 1965. While the measure was intended to prevent Japanese farmers from leasing or owning property, it does not appear that the constitutional provision was ever enforced because it was never codified into the Florida statutes. Most states subsequently did away with such provisions, but a group of University of Cincinnati College of Law students discovered in 2001 that Florida, New Mexico and Wyoming still had anti-Asian land laws on the books. Wyoming and New Mexico repealed their alien land laws in 2001 and 2006, leaving Florida as the only state with an alien land law still on the books.
Proponents: Eighty-three state representatives and 39 state senators supported Geller’s push to delete the “bizarre” and “racist” wording from the state Constitution. Other supporters include the Organization of Chinese Americans, other minority rights advocates and immigrants rights advocates, and Florida TaxWatch.
Opponents: In a May 2007 vote, 31 members of the Florida House of Representatives opposed striking down the law. Anti-immigrant sentiment appears to have at least something to do with their thinking: Rep. Mitch Needelman (R) of Melbourne told the Miami Herald that lawmakers were giving up what could be a useful immigration-fighting tool. Financial impact: None
