The governor hates the citizen-led amendment process. Our dramatically gerrymandered Legislature hates the citizen-led amendment process. How else to explain their many attacks on Florida’s direct democracy process, as they seek to make getting a petition on the ballot harder and harder.
Florida already has an especially high threshold for passing amendments, with 60% of voters required to enshrine an initiative in the state constitution. And nearly 1 million signatures are required even to get a petition on the ballot. But apparently that is not enough. The governor and Legislature would like to completely stifle the people’s ability to put important issues on the ballot, with the most draconian effort reflected in the current session.
Both House Bill 1205 and Senate Bill 7016 would require anyone sponsoring an amendment to post a $1 million bond, limit citizens to sponsoring only one amendment at a time, require criminal background checks and citizenship status of signature collectors, require mandatory training for petition circulators, impose stricter penalties for any violations, and create outrageous fines for late submission of petition forms. Supervisors of elections will have less time to verify signatures on submitted petitions.
The bills also mandate state-generated financial impact statements on each initiative (aka taxpayer-funded anti-initiative propaganda) that supervisors of elections (SOEs) will be required to distribute at polling places. Most egregious, these bills would classify violations as “racketeering,” with the specter of the state’s vast law enforcement power levied against citizens who have the temerity to wish to amend our state constitution.
House Bill 1205 passed the House State Affairs Committee on Wednesday as it moves closer to an eventual vote on the House floor. That leaves the Senate Bill 7016, now before the Senate Fiscal Policy Committee, as the last best chance to stop this misguided and undemocratic legislation.
Sen. Joe Gruters of Sarasota County is the chairman of that committee. He literally holds the power to kill this bill and preserve direct democracy in our state.
Everyone who wishes to keep our petition-driven amendment process alive should immediately — and frequently — contact Sen. Gruters at 850-487-5022 to urge him to oppose this anti-democratic legislation.
Make no mistake: These bills are not just an attack on our amendment process. They are an attack on the citizens of Florida and the direct democracy that is popular across party lines. Please act now to preserve your rights as a citizen.