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Capitol power grab

If Florida lawmakers are truly interested in uncluttering the state Constitution, there are better ways to do it than by taking away voters' rights.

Gov. Jeb Bush and the Republican-controlled Legislature are not content with their iron-fisted control of Tallahassee. They want to take away your right to force the state to address issues they won't. Their effort to make it harder for citizens to amend the Florida Constitution is just another brazen power grab thinly wrapped in high-minded rhetoric.

Legislative leaders want to require a 60 percent approval of all amendments placed on the ballot by petition. They would limit those petitions to issues affecting residents' basic rights, the structure of government or issues already in the Constitution. Bush also wants to require any citizen initiative that costs money to include a source of funding. Taken separately, none of these proposals is worth limiting the ability of voters to help set the state's priorities.

Florida's citizen initiative process certainly has its flaws. There are valid concerns about fraudulent signatures on petitions and the tendency for the process to be hijacked by special interests with deep pockets. Last year, doctors and lawyers used constitutional amendments to jab each other while gambling interests bought a spot on the ballot to clear the way for slot machines in South Florida. Other issues also have been added to the Constitution over the years that don't belong there, from the smoking ban to fish nets to pregnant pigs.

But taking away voters' rights is too high a price for cleaning up the Constitution. Today's citizen initiative process was written into the 1968 Constitution because voters had not been fairly represented in Tallahassee. A small group of senators held all of the power until the U.S. Supreme Court broke their grip. There is a similar chokehold on Tallahassee today, because legislative districts are drawn to provide incumbents so much protection that they are free to do what they want with no fear voters will throw them out of office.

Requiring constitutional amendments to be approved by 60 percent is aimed at cutting off the voters' only real recourse, and it would be particularly unfair not to apply that higher standard to amendments placed on the ballot by lawmakers. Until last year, only two of 26 citizen initiatives would have met the higher threshold, term limits and a cap on revenue. Five of last year's six citizen initiatives would have passed; only the slot machines would have lost.

If legislators are serious about protecting the Constitution, there is a reasonable alternative. Florida could join Michigan, Massachusetts and several other states in allowing citizens to gather signatures to petition the Legislature to enact statutes on specific issues. This would reduce the clutter in the Constitution and provide an opportunity to hash out details that often are unaddressed in the current amendment process. If the Legislature failed to act within a specified time or the Florida Supreme Court ruled lawmakers strayed from the intent of the petition, the issue then would go on the ballot as a change in statutes. Lawmakers would have the flexibility to adjust voter-driven statutes after a certain amount of time passed. Then constitutional amendments could be reserved for higher purposes such as basic rights and government structure.

As former University of Florida law school dean and ex-state House Speaker Jon Mills told Times staff writer Joni James, it isn't reasonable to compare the relatively short U.S. Constitution with the messier Florida Constitution. They serve different purposes, and a long state constitution isn't the worst thing in the world. While there are reasonable ways to address the situation and preserve the rights of voters, the heavy-handed approach by the governor and the Legislature isn't one of them.

[Last modified February 20, 2005, 00:52:14]