Florida Supreme Court rules three amendments will stay on ballot
TALLAHASSEE — Floridians’ votes on three wide-ranging constitutional amendments will count after all, the state Supreme Court ruled Wednesday.
A lower court initially struck down Amendments 7, 9 and 11 after a lawsuit alleged the Constitution Revision Commission, a panel that meets every 20 years to recommend changes to the state charter, inappropriately bundled together issues in the same ballot measures.
But the unanimous high court opinion said the commission acted within its rules.
“Unlike proposed amendments that originate through initiative petitions, amendments proposed by the CRC are not bound by the single-subject rule limiting amendments to one subject,” the ruling states.
Amendment 7 would require a supermajority vote by a college board of trustees to increase tuition and would also increase death benefits for spouses of military members and first responders killed in the line of duty.
Amendment 9 would ban oil drilling within nine miles of Florida’s coastline and ban vaping workplaces.
Amendment 11 would remove obsolete wording in the constitution regarding high-speed rail and a provision barring “aliens ineligible for citizenship” from in indoor owning property that’s been ruled unconstitutional but remains on the books. It would also remove a constitutional provision that holds that changes to criminal statutes do not affect prosecutions for crimes committed before the changes were made.
Although the ruling was unanimous, Justice Barbara Pariente wrote an opinion slamming the CRC for bundling different issues in the same amendment.
“Voters beware! When amending our Florida Constitution, voters should not be forced to vote ‘yes’ on a proposal they disfavor in order to also vote ‘yes’ on a proposal they support because of how the Constitution Revision Commission (CRC) has unilaterally decided to bundle multiple, independent and unrelated proposals,” Pariente wrote.
Last month, the court struck Amendment 8 from the ballot, saying that it misled voters about its purpose. The measure would have imposed term limits on school board members, required civics education and allowed the state rather than school districts to control charter schools.