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Voters to decide fate of constitution panel
Florida voters next year will decide whether to abolish a powerful commission that drew heavy criticism as it placed seven constitutional amendments on the 2018 ballot.
With sponsor Mike Beltran, R-Lithia, urging lawmakers to join him in “protecting” the Florida Constitution, the House voted 86-28 on Tuesday to give final approval to a proposal to abolish the state Constitution Revision Commission.
The Senate passed the measure (SJR 204) last month, meaning it is now headed to the 2022 ballot. Voter approval is required because the commission itself is included in the state Constitution.
The 37-member commission, which meets every 20 years, successfully proposed seven constitutional amendments in 2018, including high-profile measures designed to ban offshore oil drilling, prohibit vaping in enclosed indoor workspaces and outlaw greyhound racing.
But the commission drew widespread criticism, at least in part because it bundled unrelated issues into single ballot proposals. For example, it tied together the bans on oil drilling and workplace vaping. Critics argued such bundling was unfair to voters, who might have supported one issue in a ballot proposal and opposed another.
Lawmakers also contended that the commission proposed putting issues into the Constitution that should have been decided by the Legislature. During brief comments on the House floor Tuesday, Beltran said the Constitution is supposed to be a blueprint for state government but that the commission contributed to a “proliferation” of issues going into the Constitution.
“Some of them were good policy, but they didn’t need to be in the Constitution,” Beltran said.
Set up by voters as part of the 1968 Florida Constitution, the commission has unique power to place proposed constitutional amendments on the ballot. The 2018 version of the commission was mostly appointed by then-Gov. Rick Scott, then-Senate President Joe Negron and then-House Speaker Richard Corcoran.
Republican lawmakers and influential groups such as the Florida Chamber of Commerce have pushed repeatedly in recent years to make it harder to amend the Constitution.
Tuesday’s House vote on the proposed elimination of the commission came a day after lawmakers gave final approval to a bill (SB 1890) that would place a $3,000 cap on contributions to political committees trying to put citizens’ initiatives on the ballot. That bill, which will go to Gov. Ron DeSantis, could thwart costly efforts to collect hundreds of thousands of petition signatures required to put initiatives on the ballot.
The Legislature also regularly places proposed constitutional amendments on the ballot. For example, the Senate on Monday gave final approval to a proposed constitutional amendment (HJR 1377) that would provide a tax break to property owners who elevate their homes to address potential flooding. That proposal will go on the 2022 ballot.
