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One of the big political questions in Florida this year will be whether to crack down on citizen petitions to amend the state Constitution.
It's possible the Legislature will ask the citizens to vote to give up some power.
Now, right off the bat, I think that the citizens need to impose two iron-clad demands on the Legislature in return:
Demand No.1: Any new rules for the citizens must apply to the Legislature, too, when lawmakers propose their own amendments.
If the citizens have to meet an earlier deadline or tougher court reviews, then the same should go for the Legislature.
Demand No.2: No way, ABSOLUTELY no way, does the Legislature try to sneak through this change on the Aug. 31 primary ballot, instead of the November general election.
That's what some people want. The Florida Chamber of Commerce, among others, wants to get a change passed on Aug. 31, and have the new rules apply to whatever's on the ballot in November!
That wouldn't be right.
It's wrong to use a primary to try to put a fundamental change past the voters.
With relatively low voter turnout on Aug. 31, the most likely voters are the most loyal party members - and those who want to crack down on petitions.
What's more, here's who is less likely to vote in the party primaries on Aug. 31: Somebody who doesn't belong to a big party.
That would be 1.8-million Florida voters who are neither Democrats or Republicans. They are the most independent-minded voters, and, I bet you, the most likely to be dissatisfied with the existing system.
Now, what kind of new limits on citizen petitions are we talking about?
Nothing is final yet. The Legislature is kicking around lots of ideas. The main ones:
Requiring that an amendment get a higher percentage of the vote to pass - say, 60 percent or even 67 percent, instead of a simple majority.
Earlier deadlines for getting amendments on the ballot, say Jan. 1 or Feb. 1, instead of 90 days before the vote.
Tighter reviews from the Florida Supreme Court, requiring petitions either to address "fundamental rights" or the "basic structure" of government. (No more choo-choo trains or pregnant pigs.)
Tougher rules for petition-gathering, such as a higher number of signatures, less time for gathering signatures, more financial disclosure and other ideas.
Maybe, maybe, some of these things aren't bad ideas (although the state wouldn't sink into the sea if we just left things alone).
Maybe it's okay that something as important as a constitutional amendment needs a higher passing percentage, although 60 percent seems more reasonable than 67 percent.
Maybe we should have earlier deadlines, so that citizens have more time to kick around ideas and their costs.
Maybe amendments should deal only with fundamental issues, not stuff that should be a mere law. (I wouldn't take that deal without creating a voter petition for laws, too.)
But, see, this isn't really about good ideas.
It's really about the nervousness of business groups. The business lobby is scared of citizen petitions for a higher minimum wage, closing off tax loopholes and tougher rules on development in Florida.
So that's what's behind this push - that, and the Legislature's own resentment of the citizens for bossing it around.
Only the mildest reforms will have much of a chance anyway. If the Legislature thinks it can get away with anything more, it will have another think coming.
Does House Speaker Johnnie Byrd really want to be the guy trying to crack down on the citizens, at the same time he is running for U.S. Senate?
Does Gov. Jeb Bush really want an ongoing controversy over citizen petitions, when he seems to be trying to tamp down every other dispute so his brother will have a nice, quiet race in Florida?
It may seem to our lawmakers, isolated in Tallahassee and surrounded by lobbyists, that "everybody" agrees something needs to be done about these petitions. That is not wholesale license to shut down democracy.