Commission vets over 100 amendments
Changes would affect health, schools, taxes
TALLAHASSEE — More than 100 proposals to change Florida’s Constitution — ranging from restoring convicts’ civil rights to a ban on “vaping” in public places — are being vetted by a powerful commission that only meets once every 20 years.
Not all of the proposals — and more than likely few of them — will wind up on the 2018 ballot. While some deal with smaller issues, such as repealing a defunct high-speed rail provision, others could dramatically affect the rights of many Floridians.
Proposed amendments would ease class-size requirements in public schools, make it harder for lawmakers to raise taxes and colleges to raise tuition, expand charter school access, impose term limits on school board members and create bills of rights for crime victims and patients.
A sweeping proposal approved by a committee of the Constitution Revision Commission on Thursday would repeal the Blaine Amendment, which prohibits state tax dollars from being used
“directly or indirectly in aid of any church, sect or religious denomination.”
The amendment has been bashed by progressive groups for poking holes in the wall of separation between church and state. But it is supported by social conservatives and school choice advocates who say it could bolster existing voucher programs that offer tax credits for scholarships to private religious schools.
“Generally speaking, faith is a public good; it’s a common good,” said John Stemberger, a CRC member and president of the Orlando-based Florida Family Policy Council, a socially conservative group. “There’s an anti-religious kind of assumption in a lot of this.’’
Democrats and progressive groups also have criticized the CRC for being too partisan and for not including enough proposals from the public despite a series of hearings throughout the state held this year. The vast majority of the 37 members on the panel are appointed by the governor, the House Speaker and the Senate president, all of whom are Republican — the first time that’s happened since the first CRC met in 1978.
Sandy D’Alemberte, a former Democratic lawmaker who chaired that first CRC, said the purpose of the panel was to continually modernize the constitution after it was rewritten in 1968, which was its first overhaul since 1885.
He said that often means pushing proposals the Legislature can’t or won’t adopt — such as in 1998, when the CRC proposed and voters approved removing the secretary of state and commissioner of education as elected Cabinet positions.
“Look at the idea of reducing the size of the state Cabinet,” D’Alemberte said. “You could’ve never have gotten that through the state Legislature.”
Now, however, one of the proposals in the mix is to return the secretary of state position to an elected position in the Cabinet.
An amendment likely to gain traction would require a two-thirds vote of both chambers of the Legislature to approve tax and fee increases. It has been backed by both Gov. Rick Scott and House Speaker Richard Corcoran, R-Land O’ Lakes.
Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith, D-Orlando, said he sees the CRC as a “doublededged sword.” An amendment he supports to end greyhound racing was approved by a committee on Thursday, and he hopes it will get on the ballot next year.
“There’s still the potential for all types of problematic amendments to go in front of voters,” Smith said. “You’ve got people who really understand the political process who have been appointed to the CRC; they understand the importance of how you can carefully craft language to trick even the most discerning voters to voting for something that is against their interest.”
Progressives, such as Smith, also back an amendment to restore the civil rights of nonviolent felons. Felons seeking restoration of their rights in Florida must appeal to a clemency board that meets four times a year and has a backlog of more than 10,000 cases. Activist groups are also gathering petitions to place a similar measure on the ballot separate from the CRC process.
Another proposal would add electronic smoking devices that produce vapor, known as vaping, to the state’s ban on smoking in indoor workplaces.
To get on the ballot, each proposal must pass through committees and then be approved by 22 of the 37 members.
Sixty percent of the voters would have approve them next year to take effect. The CRC is scheduled to wrap up its work by May 10.
It could be difficult to get most of the proposals in front of voters.
Many CRC members are wary of the long lines that plagued voting precincts in Florida in 2012 due in part to a lengthy ballot, forcing judges to extend voting for hours. That ballot had 12 constitutional amendments on it.
“The 2012 long ballot election is a lesson for this commission,” said Don Gaetz, a CRC member and former Senate president. “A short ballot will give a better chance for proposals to be seriously considered and approved, a long ballot will probably make it more difficult for anything to pass.”
In 1998, when the last CRC met, it put nine amendments on the ballot. Voters approved eight of them.
“[The people] are the ultimate guardians of all these questions,” Stemberger said.