2006 Know Your Candidates

Propositions include a restriction on petitions

By JONI JAMES
Published October 25, 2006

Voters will face six questions on the November ballot asking them to change the Florida Constitution, including one that will make it harder to amend the document.

But this year's ballot measures include only one petition from citizens: a measure that would dedicate funding for antismoking initiatives.

The five other measures were put there by Florida's Legislature, including one that would require proposed amendments be approved by 60 percent of voters.

Other ballot measures would mandate more long-term financial planning by the state, make it harder for governments to seize private land, reduce property taxes for permanently disabled veterans and allow counties to provide deeper property tax cuts for low-income seniors.

Amendment 1

Requires Florida's Legislature to adopt long-term fiscal plans for the state and limit how lawmakers spend general revenue.

This ballot measure was the brainchild of Senate President Tom Lee, a Valrico Republican who is a candidate for the state's chief financial officer. Lee was dismayed by how often Florida's lawmakers used one-time funds to pay for recurring expenses, such as school operations. He believes such money should go for one-time expenditures, such as school construction.

Under the measure, the use of such one-time funds for recurring expenses would be capped at 3 percent of all of the state's general revenue, unless three-fifths of both the House and Senate agree to lift the cap.

The amendment also would require the Legislature to produce a long-range fiscal outlook every September, a long-range planning document every two years and require the state's emergency stabilization fund to have a balance as big as 5 percent of the previous year's general revenue receipts.

Amendment 3

Requires a 60 percent approval rate for future adoption of constitutional amendments.

Florida's Republican-led Legislature, increasingly unhappy with the ability of residents to make law that lawmakers didn't approve, wants to make it harder to amend the state Constitution by requiring supermajority approval.

Backing the Legislature's efforts are Florida's biggest business lobbies, including the Florida Chamber of Commerce, which says such mandates - like the 2002 class-size amendment - increase the likelihood of tax hikes.

Opposition to the measure is diverse: from antigrowth activists hoping to change the state's growth laws to social conservatives hoping to pass a gay marriage ban. They argue citizen petitions are necessary because the Legislature has declined to act on measures that have strong public support, including the 2002 ban on smoking in public places.

Amendment 4

Mandates the state spend roughly $57-million in 2007, and amounts adjusted for inflation after that, on antismoking programs and advertising. The only citizen petition on the ballot, the measure won its spot there with heavy backing from the American Cancer Society and American Heart Association.

Opponents argue the measure amounts to an earmark for one health prevention program, possibly at the expense of other state programs.

Amendment 6

Would allow local governments to double a property tax exemption for low-income seniors from a maximum of $25,000 to $50,000.

Amendment 7

Would provide a discount on property taxes for permanently disabled veterans age 65 or older. The discount would equal the percentage of the veteran's service-connected disability. The Legislature placed the measure on the ballot.

Amendment 8

Would further restrict governments' ability to seize private land for private use, such as commercial redevelopment.

The language mirrors a tougher state law lawmakers passed in May. The Legislature placed the measure on the ballot.

[Last modified October 24, 2006, 21:34:47]