Floridians Against Inequities in Rates (FAIR), led by former Senate President John McKay, has collected the required 61,109 signatures for Florida Supreme Court review, but failed to gain the required 611,009 signatures by Feb. 1 for placement on the Nov. 2006 ballot. Under this review, the Court determines if a proposed amendment deals with a single subject of law and if the ballot summary and title are accurate.

Two previous efforts to repeal Florida’s sales-tax exemptions and exclusions in 2002 and 2004 were removed from the ballots because the ballot summaries were flawed. In 2004, the Court determined the proposal violated the single-subject rule. 

The proposed amendments would:

• Repeal most existing sales and use tax exemptions unless affirmatively re-enacted by the legislature
• Impose a new tax on services that could be overcome by legislation
• Make it tougher to enact future legislation granting or renewing sales tax exemptions

The Coalition to Protect Florida’s Economy, of which the FICPA is an organizing member, is challenging amendments one and two. On Feb. 3, the Court postponed the oral arguments scheduled for Feb. 6. The Coalition’s legal team believes the postponement means the Court thinks it raised valid points in its recent motions. The FAIR group has until Feb. 13 to respond to the legal briefs.

Click here to view the amendments.

Click here to view the motions filed by the Coalition, case SC05-1564. Click here to view case SC05-1565.

Many lawmakers and organizations would like to change the ballot-initiative process including adopting a 60-percent vote threshold for approval, initiative-amendment timing, applying a content filter for initiative amendments, making grammatical corrections to the constitution, and improving the signature-gathering process.

The FICPA continues to support, “efforts to preserve the Florida Constitution as the principal framework defining the lawmaking abilities of the legislature, the basic rights of Florida citizens, and the structure of state government,” and participate in the VoteSmartFlorida.org Alliance, which includes partners ranging from trade and professional associations to community groups and business-community members.

The following are pending legislation concerning constitutional-amendment reform.

SB 26 – Constitutional Amendment/Initiatives

HB 773 / SB 1244 – Petition Process

SB 7086 – State Constitution