Groups back ballot measure
New amendments would be tougher
Some of Florida’s biggest business-lobbying groups are lining up behind a controversial measure on the November ballot that would make it harder to amend the Florida constitution.
The Florida Chamber of Commerce has endorsed the measure, which is being sponsored by a secretive nonprofit called “Keep Our Constitution Clean” and would require any future proposed constitutional amendments be approved in two separate, statewide referendums. So has the Florida Farm Bureau.
Earlier this month, a think tank led in part by executives from Florida Power & Light and Publix
Supermarkets, released a “voter guide” recommending a “yes” vote on the amendment, which will be Amendment Four on this year’s ballot. And earlier this summer, a committee of tourism industry lobbyists and executives — including a lobbyist for Universal Orlando — told members of the Florida Restaurant & Lodging Association that “help may be coming ” if the amendment passes.
“We are in support of any constitutional amendment or any measure that makes the process to amend the constitution more deliberative. And that’s clearly what this does,” said Adam Basford, a lobbyist for the Farm Bureau, which represents the state’s agriculture industry.
On the other side of the controversial amendment is a patchwork of groups — from nonpartisan organizations like the League of Women Voters of Florida and the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition to labor unions, liberal activists and organizers of previous petition drives who have used the constitutional amendment process in the past to get around a Republicancontrolled Florida Legislature.
Opponents say requiring a second statewide vote for an amendment to pass — in a state with more than 20 million people and 10 separate media markets — would impose an expensive new barrier that would deter future petition drives from even starting.
“Amendment number four is an attempt to take away the rights of citizens, and we oppose it because we believe that direct democracy belongs in the hands of citizens or citizens’ groups,”
said Jonathan Webber, the deputy director of Florida Conservation Voters, the environmental group that led a successful campaign in 2014 for a constitutional amendment meant to force state lawmakers to spend more money on land conservation.
Some of Florida’s biggest businesses have spent decades battling petition drives — including proposals to tax the sugar industry to pay for Everglades cleanup, make it harder for developers to
build on rural land, and deregulate the electric utility industry. The tourism industry is currently campaigning against Amendment Two on year’s ballot, which would eventually raise the state minimum wage to $15 an hour.
For them, the Keep Our Constitution Clean amendment — which will appear on the ballot under the title “Voter Approval of Constitutional Amendments — could serve as something of a safety net. Opponents who fail to persuade voters to reject an amendment once would get a second chance.
Keep Our Constitution Clean itself has been shrouded in mystery since it launched more than two years ago. That’s because the leaders of the campaign organized themselves as a “dark money” nonprofit, which has allowed them to avoid disclosing their donors
As a result, even though Keep Our Constitution Clean Inc. has spent more than $9 million on its campaign so far, very little is known about where it gets its money — although the Orlando Sentinel reported last month that it has raised at least $150,000 from another dark money group with links to Associated Industries of Florida, a business-lobbying group whose members include Walt Disney World, Florida Power & Light and U.S. Sugar.
Businesses have financed similar campaigns in the past. In 2004, state records show an assortment of business and business-lobbying groups — from Disney and Florida Power & Light to health insurer Blue Cross Blue Shield and the Florida Home Builders Association — funded a successful campaign for a constitutional amendment that imposed earlier deadlines on petition drives.
Two years later, businesses and business groups underwrote another successful campaign for an amendment that required all future constitutional amendments to be approved by 60 percent of voters, rather than a simple majority.
And while it’s not clear who is donating money to Keep Our Constitution Clean, some of the business groups supporting its amendment have worked closely with the organization in other arenas. Earlier this year, for instance, Keep Our Constitution Clean and the Florida Chamber of Commerce lobbied side-byside in the Florida Legislature for a new law that adding further restrictions to petition drives.
In a written statement issued through a spokeswoman, the state chamber, whose biggest donors include Disney, FPL and Publix, praised the Keep Our Constitution Clean amendment.
“Amendment 4 provides the citizens of Florida with additional time and two opportunities to debate the pros and cons of any specific proposed amendment and reduces the chances that a bad idea finds its way into our most foundational document,” the chamber’s statement said.