Warning: Constant ABSPATH already defined in /home/flanews/public_html/wp-config.php on line 34
Capitol News Service » Blog Archive

Welcome to

Capitol News Service

Florida's Best Political Coverage on Television

Legislature’s Amendments Kept of Ballot

September 1st, 2010 by flanews

As of right now, voters will be asked to vote yes or no on six proposed constitutional amendments in November. There were nine, but three placed on the ballot by the state legislature were ruled misleading, and removed. As Whitney Ray tells us, the issues taken off the ballot dealt with healthcare, property taxes, and the drawing of legislative districts.

Medicare recipient Bob Root doesn’t hide his distaste for the new federal health care laws.

“A majority of people didn’t want it to begin with and I think this state ought to have the authority to opt out,” said Bob.

Bob wanted to vote in November on an amendment aimed at blocking part of the regulations in Florida, but the Supreme Court ruled the ballot language drafted by the state legislature was misleading.

Besides health care, the high court also kept two other legislatively backed amendments off the ballot. A tax cut for first-time homebuyers, and an amendment thwarting proposals to limit lawmakers’ power when redrawing districting.

“You go around the state and you see a district that starts in West Palm Beach and goes over to the Naples area; that just doesn’t make any sense,” said Ron Meyer.

Former Democratic lawmaker and candidate for Chief Financial Officer, Loranne Ausley says the legislature is out of control.

“Time and time again they put things up and the Supreme Court says no. We take an oath to uphold the constitution; we probably need to be looking at that a little more closely as legislators are passing bills,” said Ausley.

The decision to keep the three amendments off the ballot comes just days before the printing deadline, but one amendment effecting school children will be on the ballot no matter what’s decided.

Next Wednesday a judge will hear the case to remove an amendment easing class size restrictions, which means it could be ruled misleading, yet stay on the ballot. If a judge removes the amendment after the ballots have already been printed, voters can still fill in a yes or no circle next to the amendment, but the outcome will have no impact on state law.

Posted in Elections, Legislature, Politics, State News | No Comments »

Leave a Comment

Please note: Comment moderation is enabled and may delay your comment. There is no need to resubmit your comment.

copyright © 2016 by Capitol News Service | Powered by Wordpress | Hosted by LyonsHost.com