Florida’s First Proposed Constitutional Amendments On 2022’s Ballot
Bottom Line: There are multiple ways a proposed Constitutional Amendment can make voter’s ballots. Ironically, one of the proposed constitutional amendments which will be on our 2022 ballots aims to eliminate one of the three. Currently, the ways to gain access are...
- Through citizen sponsored initiatives
- A referral by the Florida Legislature
- The Florida Constitution Revision Commission
In this year’s state legislative session two proposed Amendments were referred by the Florida Legislature. Those two are entitled:
- Prohibit Flood Resistance Improvements in Determining a Property’s Assessed Value Amendment
- Amendment to Abolish the Constitution Revision Commission
The summary of the proposed flood Amendment reads: This measure would authorize the state legislature to pass laws prohibiting flood resistance improvements to a home from being taken into consideration when determining a property's assessed value for property tax purposes. The idea being that homeowners shouldn’t been taxed at a higher rate for resiliency related improvements to property. The proposed amendment to abolish the Constitution Revision Commission is also straight-forward. Here’s the summary: Proposing an amendment to the State Constitution to abolish the Constitution Revision Commission, which meets at 20-yea intervals and is scheduled to next convene in 2037, as a method of submitting proposed amendments or revisions to the State Constitution to electors of the state for approval. This amendment does not affect the ability to revise or amend the State Constitution through citizen initiative, constitutional convention, the Taxation and Budget Reform Commission, or legislative joint resolution.
The Constitution Revision Commission came under harsh criticism after it referred eight proposed amendments in 2018, one of which was struck down by the Florida Supreme Court. At issue, were proposals which commonly confused voters as they combined multiple concerns into single proposals. It’s likely they’ll be additional proposals that make their way onto our ballots next year, those two are the first.
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