If you want to be added, please FReepMail me.
Posted on 10/12/2004 7:21:29 PM PDT by NonValueAdded
This is a thread to consolidate all of the commentary on the Florida message board concerning the Constitutional Amendments up for ratification on November 2nd. Please keep this thread focused on the amendments but feel free to start other discussion threads. Help us all make informed decisions on election day!
PROPOSED CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS OR OTHER PUBLIC MEASURES
NO. 1
CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT
ARTICLE X, SECTION 22
Article X
Miscellaneous
Section 22. Parental notice of termination of a minor's pregnancy. The legislature shall not limit or deny the privacy right guaranteed to a minor under the United States Constitution as interpreted by the United States Supreme Court. Notwithstanding a minor's right of privacy provided in Section 23 of Article I, the Legislature is authorized to require by general law for notification to a parent or guardian of a minor before the termination of the minor's pregnancy. The Legislature shall provide exceptions to such requirement for notification and shall create a process for judicial waiver of the notification.
NO. 2
CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT
ARTICLE IV, SECTION 10
ARTICLE XI, SECTION 5
Constitutional Amendments Proposed by Initative
Proposing amendments to the State Constitution to require the sponsor of a constitutional amendment proposed by citizen initiative to file the initiative petition with the Secretary of State by February 1 of the year of a general election in order to have the measure submitted to the electors for approval or rejection at the following November's general election, and to require the Florida Supreme Court to render an advisory opinion addressing the validity of an initiative petition by April 1 of the year in which the amendment is to be submitted to the electors.
NO. 3
CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT
ARTICLE I, SECTION 26
The Medical Liability Claimant's Compensation Amendment
Proposes to amend the State Constitution to provide that an injured claimant who enters into a contingency fee agreement with an attorney in a claim for medical liability is entitled to no less than 70% of the first $250,000.00 in all damages received by the claimant, and 90% of damages in excess of $250,000.00, exclusive of reasonable and customary costs and regardless of the number of defendants. This amendment is intended to be self-executing. The direct financial impact this amendment will have on state and local government revenues and expenditures cannot be determined.
NO. 4
CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT
ARTICLE X, SECTION 19
Authorizes Miami-Dade and Broward County Voters to Approve Slot Machines in Paramutuel Facilities
Authorizes Miami-Dade and Broward Counties to hold referenda on whether to authorize slot machines in existing, licensed parimutuel facilities (thoroughbred and harness racing, greyhound racing, and jai alai) that have conducted live racing or games in that county during each of the last two calendar years before effective date of this amendment. The Legislature may tax slot machine revenues, and any such taxes must supplement public education funding statewide. Requires implementing legislation. This amendment alone has no fiscal impact on government. If slot machines are authorized in Miami-Dade or Broward counties, governmental costs associated with additional gambling will increase by an unknown amount and local sales tax-related revenues will be reduced by $5 million to $8 million annually. If the Legislature also chooses to tax slot machine revenues, state tax revenues from Miami-Dade and Broward counties combined would range from $200 million to $500 million annually.
NO. 5
CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT
ARTICLE X
Florida Minimum Wage Amendment
This amendment creates a Florida minimum wage covering all employees in the state covered by the federal minimum wage. The state minimum wage will start at $6.15 per hour six months after enactment, and thereafter be indexed to inflation each year. It provides for enforcement, including double damages for unpaid wages, attorney's fees, and fines by the state. It forbids retaliation against employees for exercising this right. The impact of this amendment on costs and revenues of state and local governments is expected to be minimal.
NO. 6
CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT
ARTICLE X, SECTION 19
Repeal of High Speed Rail Amendment
This amendment repeals an amendment in the Florida Constitution that requires the Legislature, the Cabinet and the Governor to proceed with the development and operation of a high speed ground transportation system by the state and/or by a private entity. The probable financial impact of passage of this amendment is a state cost savings ranging from $20 billion to $25 billion over the next 30 years. This estimate assumes the repeal of associated laws, the use of state bonds to finance construction, and could be reduced by federal or private sector funding.
NO. 7
CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT
ARTICLE X, SECTION 22
Patients' Right to Know About Adverse Medical Incidents
Current Florida law restricts information available to patients related to investigations of adverse medical incidents, such as medical malpractice. This amendment would give patients the right to review, upon request, records of health care facilities' or providers' adverse medical incidents, including those which could cause injury or death. Provides that patients' identities should not be disclosed. The direct financial impact this amendment will have on state and local government revenues and expenditures cannot be determined, but is expected to be minimal. State agencies will incur some additional costs to comply with public records requirements of the amendment, but these costs will be generally offset by fees charged to the persons requesting the information.
NO. 8
CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT
ARTICLE X, SECTION 20
Public Protection from Repeated Medical Malpractice
Current law allows medical doctors who have committed repeated malpractice to be licensed to practice medicine in Florida. This amendment prohibits medical doctors who have been found to have committed three or more incidents of medical malpractice from being licensed to practice medicine in Florida. The direct financial impact on state and local governments resulting from the proposed initiative would be minimal. There will likely be additional costs to the state of less than $1 million per year, but these costs will be offset by licensure fees.
From what I've heard, all the ammendments are expected to pass.
Bump for later reading.
This might be a good thread for the FL ping list.
No. 1 - YES
No. 2 - Anybody know what the implications of this are?
No. 3 - YES (unless you're a trial lawyer)
No. 4 - Anyone have thoughts on this?
No. 5 - NO
No. 6 - YES
No. 7 - NO (unless you're a trial lawyer)
No. 8 - NO (unless you're a trial lawyer)
Does #2 make it tougher to put Constitutional Amendments on the ballot? Still reeling from the Pregnant Pig Amendment, I was hoping for a 75% super-majority for these blasted things.
Check out this site, http://www.flchamber.com/home/default.asp
We need to get an amendment on the ballot that requires a super majority to pass future constitutional amendments.
No pigs on the ballot this year but several pigs in a poke.
I agree with MTOrlando's aseessment, with the addition of voting YES on 2 and NO on 4.
My ballot:
No. 1 - YES
No. 2 - YES
No. 3 - YES (save the docs, screw the PI lawyers)
No. 4 - NO
No. 5 - NO
No. 6 - YES
No. 7 - NO (Put on the ballot by PI attorneys)
No. 8 - NO (Same as 7)
I also hate seeing the constitution being prostituted like this, but I think the citizens need a way to circumvent the legislature when they refuse to implement the will of the people. Some states have a system where the voters can put proposed statutes on the ballot, and the constitution stays clean. The legislature could still repeal the law, but the press would be all over it. For issues like amendments 1-3 that must be addressed via the constitution, either 60% or 75% should be required. Just my two cents.
| Amendment # | NVA's short title | NVA's vote | NVA's rationale |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Parental notification |
YES |
Another stab, probably futile, at parental notification. |
| 2 | Initiative petition | YES | Sets time limit at 9 months to birth a proposed amendment, SCOFla review within 2 mos. I could be persuaded differently on this one. I see some comments already about "no more pig amendments" and I agree |
| 3 | Contingency fee limits | YES | No more windfalls for the ambulance chasers. Don't like the misleading advertising I see from those against. While it might be harder to find a lawyer to take your case for "peanuts", conversely lawyers will need lots of peanuts to maintain their current lifestyle. Lawyers and juries will soon learn how to calculate in a lawyer's fixed fee (since amendment only applies to contingency fees) and give big awards. Under the proposed amendment, lawyers on contingency get 250K for the first mil and 100K for each mil thereafter. Still a tidy sum. |
| 4 | Broward / Miami-Dade slots | NO | A local tax that supplements funding statewide? Something sounds fishy. Also, I don't like using education as an excuse for gambling devices. Again, the commercials have that ring of scam about them. |
| 5 | Fla minimum wage | NO | Just no. |
| 6 | Repeal bullet train | YES | Yes, a boondoggle for sure. Didn't like what I heard about exclusivity of stops, especially those favoring Disney. Wasn't it to stop at Disney and NOT the OC Convention center? There is no way the fares could ever recover the cost. Besides, maybe they'd hire Mikey Dukakis away from Amtrak to run it! |
| 7 | Adverse med incident look-see | NO | Malpractice is not defined. Does this mean that if Ins. co's settle nuisance claims, it would count as a hit? Sounds more like a fishing expedition for trial lawyers. I'm not against some form of disclosure, but this should be handled legislatively and not in the constitution. Otherwise we're back with repealing amendments like #6 if there are problems. |
| 8 | 3 strikes, doc is out | NO | Again, what is the definition of malpractice? Heaven forbid you end up with a high-risk condition and a doc with 2 hits - justified or not - decides to pass on you as a patient. Once more, this does not belong in the constitution IMHO. Too hard to adjust |
FL FRiends: Just learned about the following site...Julie
To help you make an informed decision on your votes...... information on all proposed Florida Amendments can be viewed at:
http://www.votesmartflorida.org/voterguide.asp
Check it out, fellow FReepers ... you don't want to hold the same position as moveon.org, do you?
Excellent summaries and analysis..All Florida conservatives need to read this before voting!
I was also curious as to why the Chamber of Commerce isn't supporting amendment 3. I found out from a source at the FMA that the AFTL had 5 amendments ready to be put on the ballot this November. They already have two amendments on the ballot (7 & 8), and they threatened to put three more on the ballot which were anti-hospital, anti-insurance, and anti-small business. They blackmailed the hospitals, insurance companies, and chamber of commerce into opposing amendment 3. In return, the AFTL agreed not to pursue these other three amendments. So now, it's just the doctors (alone) taking on the trial attorneys.
There is your reason to vote YES on Amendment #2, setting a Feb. 1 cutoff for submitting amendments. Special interests like the Trial Lawyers threaten to flood the process with last minute amendments.
We need to put as much energy into exposing these amendments as we do for candidates.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.