The power of the veto should not be exercised lightly, but it should
be used in times where the obvious limitations of one branch have
precluded the good will of the people. Senate Bill 900 is a prime
example of how those with money, power and influence overshadow the
voices of the citizens. The limitations to the initiative process
contained in this bill will serve no clear benefit to the public
interest.
We have also yet to see the effect that Amendment 3
will have on the ballot initiative process. This amendment was approved
by voters during the last election cycle to require a 60-percent
threshold on all future ballot initiatives. We should wait to see how
this dramatic change in Florida law will affect the process before any
additional burdens are placed on grass-roots efforts to amend our
constitution.
The groups opposing SB 900 are hoping that a strong
show of editorial and public opposition to the bill will encourage the
governor to follow through on that pledge and veto SB 900.
When
the Legislature is not responsive to voters or when industry lobbyists
exert an undue level of influence on the political process, the ballot
initiative process is the only tool Floridians have to directly address
important issues.
Eliminating the citizens' ballot initiative has
long been a priority for the Florida Chamber of Commerce, Associated
Industries of Florida, the Florida Retail Federation and other
big-business groups since the passage of the Class Size and the State
Minimum Wage amendments, two amendments they vigorously opposed but
were unable to stop at the ballot box. This bill represents another
part of a multi-stage strategy to end the initiative process.
Florida's
constitution is already the most difficult to amend among the states
with a ballot initiative, thanks to the 60-percent supermajority
required for amendment passage, the mandatory Supreme Court review of
ballot language, a strict single-subject rule, one of the highest
numbers of signatures required for ballot placement and a requirement
that signatures be gathered from at least half of Florida's
congressional districts. However, SB 900 would make that process even
more difficult, if not impossible, by placing new restrictions on the
signature-gathering process itself.
Several weeks ago, a letter
signed by 25 organizations representing about 2 million voters was sent
to Gov. Crist, urging him to veto SB 900. Groups signing the letter
included the American Cancer Society, Florida Common Cause, the Florida
Public Interest Research Group, the League of Women Voters, the
Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, the AFL-CIO and
a number of other groups with members throughout the state.
Florida
PIRG and other members of the Save the Voters' Voice coalition believe
that voters should have the right to amend their constitution. This
avenue of direct democracy is important in Florida partly because there
is no statutory initiative process allowing Floridians to create laws
rather than constitutional amendment, but also because elected
officials will not truly be accountable to the public through the power
of the vote until we address large systemic issues like our flawed
redistricting process and our campaign finance system.
Claims by
legislators that citizens are cluttering the constitution are largely a
way to deflect attention from the fact that legislators amend the
constitution almost three times as often as citizens through the use of
legislative amendments not subjected to the same scrutiny.
For
the last four years, our groups have fought to protect the initiative
process. However, industry groups emboldened by a strong
anti-democratic sentiment among lawmakers are driving legislation and
constitutional amendments through the state legislature each year.
Slowly but surely they are shutting the door on the ability of
grass-roots organizations to use the initiative process while doing
very little to prevent a well-financed special interest group from
using the process.
We urge Gov. Crist to protect the ballot initiative by vetoing SB 900.
