Florida’s Constitution has not undergone a major overhaul in more than 50 years. Recently there has been some discussion of pushing a major rewrite while the GOP legislative supermajority can control the process.
This idea, at least as far as anyone knows, comes from Rep. Spencer Roach, who represents the Fort Myers area.
Although his stated reasons for the rewrite involves things like increasing the number of legislators and re-examining election laws, once there’s a decision to go forward with a rewrite everything inside the document is on the table for GOP legislators and their lobbying partners to go over.
That could include several environmental provisions enacted by citizen initiatives in recent decades in response to legislative inaction or outright hostility.
At the top of the list could be the 2014 amendment that required legislators to set aside a third of net documentary stamp revenue to the Land Acquisition Trust Fund to protect more of Florida’s native habitat for future generations. Ever since voters approved the amendment, the Florida Legislature has done everything it can thwart its enactment.
Then there are amendments that gave tax breaks for the installation of home solar devices to encourage alternative energy sources to reduce greenhouse emissions. Investor-owned utilities tried to undo some of this with a false flag amendment that voters rejected. The big utilities are not against solar; they simply want to control the market. They are big contributors to legislative campaigns and certainly would lobby to get rid of these amendments if the opportunity presented itself.
Then there was an amendment approved in 2002 that is often used as the poster child for topics that don’t belong in the constitution.
I’m speaking of the so-called “pregnant big” amendment that sets standards for this sector of the livestock industry. What this amendment actually accomplished was to make it unlikely that factory hog farms and their manure lagoons the size of phosphate industry waste ponds would be able to locate in Florida and threaten Florida water bodies with the kinds of spills other states have experienced.
Finally, there a section that was proposed by the Constitution Revision Commission and approved in 2018 that seeks to protect Florida’s natural resources and scenic beauty from air, water and noise pollution, supposedly made Everglades polluters responsible for cleaning up after themselves and banned offshore oil and gas drilling.
I can see some argue this an anti-business measure that does not belong in the Florida constitution. If there are problems, certainly the Florida Legislature can handle it.
The good news is that no changes in the Florida Constitution can go anywhere without voter approval, but it will be important if anything comes of this rewrite idea to look closely at ballot language to make sure no one is trying to pull a fast one or two.