VoteSmarterFlorida.org

FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions

· What is the VoteSmarterFlorida.org Campaign?

VoteSmarterFlorida.org is a student-run information campaign directed at providing fair debate about citizen initiatives. VoteSmarterFlorida.org is committed to ensuring a better future for Florida’s citizens. We believe that citizen rights are at risk due to efforts taken by the legislature and business interests. We believe that the best way to protect ourselves as citizens is to inform each other of the danger presented to us by others.

· What is a citizen initiative?

In Florida, a citizen initiative is a proposed Constitutional Amendment. In general, citizen initiatives are laws or constitutional amendments that originate with the citizen and not with the legislature. They usually concern issues that have previously been neglected or ignored by the legislature. Citizens have to meet a signature threshold in order for their proposed legislation to be considered for a ballot and their proposal must also be examined by the Secretary of State as well as by the Florida Supreme Court. A citizen initiative may be proposed by an individual or a group.

· How do initiatives become laws?

Before an initiative becomes a law it must pass through a series of checks. First the proposed piece of legislation and petition must be submitted to the Secretary of State to review form. Petitioners circulate to collect about 10% of the total signatures, or roughly 50,000 valid signatures. Once this number is met the petitioner re-submits the initiative to the Secretary of State and the Florida Supreme Court to make sure that the content of the proposed laws meets all constitutional requirements. If the initiative meets these requirements, petitioners again circulate the petition and must collect 488,722 valid signatures (8% of the number of electors voting in the last presidential election), up until 90 days before the election. If the petitioners collect the correct amount of valid signatures the prospective amendment is put to the citizens for a vote. An initiative becomes part of the state’s constitution if a majority of citizens approve of the measure.

· Is there an alternative to constitutional amendments that preserves the citizens’ right to legislate?

Yes, statutory initiatives would be an effective alternative to maintain the integrity of the Constitution and citizens rights. Currently 21 states allow statutory initiatives and 18 states allow constitutional initiatives. Florida is one of only three states that only allows for amending the state constitution through the initiative process.

· What is the difference between a statutory initiative and a constitutional initiative?

In Florida there only exists a constitutional initiative process. A constitutional initiative, if passed, results in an amendment to the constitution. In order to reverse constitutional initiatives a counter-initiative must pass or the legislature must refer to the ballot an amendment with a 60% majority vote in each legislative chamber. A statutory initiative, if passed, would result in a new statute or new law. To reverse a statute the legislature would have to pass a counter-measure by simple majority.

· Why do Floridians need to maintain a citizen initiative process?

Special interest groups such as the Florida Chamber of Commerce, developers, and other lobbyists have control over the state legislature. Sometimes the legislature will not act on genuine citizen concerns, such as the ban of smoking in public places. In addition, the legislature will not regulate itself; the first initiative passed in the State of Florida was an amendment requiring “full public disclosure by state and county election officials and candidates.” Another citizen initiative established legislative term limits.

· How many citizen initiatives have there been in Florida?

Voters have approved 16 of the 21 citizen initiatives that have appeared on the ballot since voter approved the use of the initiative process in 1968. In contrast, 75 measures have passed that were put on the ballot by the legislature. Hence, the constitutional amendment “overload” is due primarily to the legislature and not citizens.

· I heard that there are over 50 petitions circulating in Florida this year. Is this true?

Yes, however, most proposed initiatives never make it to the ballot because petitioners have to collect 488,722 valid, geographically distributed signatures. In addition, since 1978, over 57 percent of initiatives never made it to voters because the Supreme Court ruled against their wording or signature gathering methods.