Good, bad changes proposed to constitution

If it isn’t broken, break it. No, that’s not how the sage advice goes, but it describes a “victims’ rights” proposal that will be heard today by one of the Constitution Revision Commission’s committees.

The same goes for a sheaf of other proposed changes to the Florida Constitution, including those that would repeal the state’s prudent ban on state aid to religious institutions and dismantle the guarantee of a uniform system of public schools.

The list of good ideas is considerably shorter, led by proposals to restore the independence of Florida’s Judicial Nominating Commissions and establish a bill of rights for nursing home patients.

As for victims’ rights, the Florida Constitution already guarantees crime victims and their next of kin the right “to be informed, to be present, and to be heard when relevant.” We’ve heard nothing to say this isn’t being applied wisely by the courts. There’s no need to add six pages of burdensome changes as suggested in Commission Proposal 96.

“I view this as a solution looking for a problem,” says Bernie McCabe, the state attorney for Pinellas and Pasco Counties.

Actually, Proposal 96 would create a raft of new problems that could clog the courts and delay justice, rather than expedite it.

Among other things, it would entitle victims to refuse to give pre-trial depositions to defense attorneys, leading to longer trials, many more trials and many fewer guilty pleas.

“Discovery helps prepare a defense and it also helps to know there is no defense,” points out Howard Finkelstein, the public defender in Broward County.

Proposal 96 is almost word for word the text of a California initiative known as “Marsy’s Law,” named for Marsalee Nicholas, a murder victim whose billionaire brother financed the campaign and has taken it nationwide, persuading voters in five other states so far. Henry Nicholas has put up $50,000 so far in Florida.

Florida isn’t California. We don’t need a California solution to problems Florida doesn’t have.

Here are the major good proposals on today’s committee agendas:

• Proposal 88, a bill of rights for nursing home patients. It’s bitterly opposed by the nursing home industry. It would guarantee the right of nursing home and assisted living residents “to be treated courteously, fairly and with the fullest measure of dignity.” That includes “a safe, clean, comfortable and homelike environment that protects residents from harm and takes into account this state’s challenges with respect to climate and natural disasters.” After the disaster at the Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills, where 12 elderly patients lost their lives after Hurricane Irma knocked out electric power to the air conditioning, there can be no persuasive objection to this provision.

• Proposal 42 restores the independence of Florida’s Judicial Nominating Commissions. It requires the governor to share appointments with the Florida Bar. This is vital to the continued integrity of the courts.

• Proposal 73 requires prosecutors to obtain a circuit court’s permission to try children as adults. This reform is overdue. Now for the unwise ones: • Proposal 4 repeals Florida’s ban on public funds to religious institutions. This goes beyond the financing of church schools. It opens the door to every imaginable raid on the public treasury.

• Proposal 45 allows the state to make “other provisions” for education than the uniform system of public education presently required. This is meant to undo the Florida Supreme Court decision that struck down former Gov. Jeb Bush’s private school voucher program.

• Proposal 71 would let the state establish charter schools without consulting local school boards, which now have authority over them.

• Proposal 66 would have the lieutenant governor serve as secretary of state — presently an appointed position — and cast a tiebreaking vote in the Senate. There’s no need for this. The governor already has the authority to assign the lieutenant governor to other duties, and he doesn’t need any more influence in the Legislature. What IS needed, but not proposed, is an independent commission to oversee elections.

• Proposal 64 erodes Florida’s privacy provision to say it can’t be used to block a grandparent’s access to a child. It overrules a Florida Supreme Court decision that the state must have a compelling reason to interfere with the rights of mothers and fathers.

• Proposal 29 would require employers to use the federal employment eligibility verification system. This should be left to the Legislature. It doesn’t belong in the Constitution.

The Constitution Revision Commission meets every 20 years with the power to send amendments directly to the ballot, where approval requires 60 percent of the voters. It should not be used to craft elaborate laws in the guise of constitutional amendments, cater to anti-immigrant propaganda or serve narrow special interests such as the private school lobby.

If the commission overreaches, all of its labors are sure to be wasted.