Darn it! THAT part is extremely distressing. So if the FL Supremes legislate from the bench and make up whole new laws out of thin air, and the citizens succeed in rounding up enough signatures, that very SAME FL Supremes can just say:
I know I'm sounding pessimistic about the petition initiative (there's more info in this post that I didn't include in the previous one)and I don't intend to try to hamper efforts to accomplish this but I think that when the idea was proposed to a constituent that it was not clear to those interested exactly how many hoops have to be jumped through. If Jim King was out of there I think it would be much easier to get new legislation than it might be to get this passed.
This is from vote smart Florida..(Div Elections info after it)
http://www.votesmartflorida.org/initiative_process.asp
In order to place an amendment on Florida’s ballot, the following steps must be followed and met.
1. The sponsor of an initiative must register as a political committee with the Florida Division of Elections.
2. The person or group circulating the initiative petition must submit a format of the petition to the Division of Elections before the amendment may be circulated for signatures. The Division reviews the proposed petition for formatting only. By law, the ballot title may be no longer than 15 words and the summary no more than 75 words.
3. Proponents may begin circulating the petition once the format is approved. This can be done by volunteers, by firms that are paid to obtain signatures or by a combination of the two. The minimum number of signatures needed for an initiative to be placed on the ballot must equal 8 percent of the number of the ballots cast in the last presidential election. For 2006, this number is 611,223. In addition, the signatures must come from at least half of the state’s congressional districts (12).
4. When the petition receives 10 percent of the required amount of signatures in at least one-fourth of half the state’s congressional districts, the petition is submitted to the Supervisors of Elections in the appropriate counties for signature verification.
5. The Secretary of State, in turn, must automatically submit the petition to the Attorney General if: 1) the sponsor has complied with registration and submittal requirements and 2) the sponsor has obtained a letter from the Division of Elections confirming that the petition signatures have been verified by the appropriate Supervisors of Elections.
6. Within 30 days of receiving the proposed amendment, the Attorney General must petition the Supreme Court and request an advisory opinion regarding compliance with the proposed ballot and format requirements. The Supreme Court has no deadline for issuing an opinion.
If the Court approves the petition, the proponents must gather the rest of the signatures needed to place the initiative on the ballot. The Court may not rule on the content of the petition. They can disallow an initiative for two reasons. One reason is if the ballot summary does not accurately reflect what the amendment is proposing. The second is if it violates Florida's strict single subject requirement.
Div Elections info....
Initiative Procedures
* The first step in the process of qualifying as an initiative is to register as a political committee pursuant to section 106.03, Florida Statutes, with the Division of Elections.
* The person or group circulating the petition is then required to submit a format of the petition to the Division of Elections for approval prior to the proposed amendment being circulated for signatures. The division will review the proposed initiative petition form for sufficiency of the format only. The division will not review the form for legal sufficiency.
* The substance of the amendment must be an explanatory statement, not exceeding 75 words in length of the chief purpose of the measure. The substance of the amendment must be styled in such a manner that a "yes" vote will indicate approval of the proposal and a "no" vote will indicate rejection. The ballot title shall consist of a caption, not exceeding 15 words in length, by which the measure is commonly referred to or spoken of.
* The substance and ballot title of a constitutional amendment proposed by initiative shall be prepared by the sponsor and approved by the Secretary of State in accordance with rules adopted pursuant to section 120.54, Florida Statutes.
* The top of the petition form shall be clearly and conspicuously entitled "Constitutional Amendment Petition Form."
* The petition form must contain the full text of the amendment being proposed including the article and section being created or amended preceded by a title and substance.
* Adequate space must be included for the signee’s name, street address, city, county, voter registration number, or date of birth, change of address for voter registration purposes, date and signature of registered voter, and any other information deemed necessary by the division. If the text of the proposed amendment is printed on both sides of the form, it should clearly indicate that the text is continued or begins on the other side. "Each signature shall be dated when made and shall be valid for a period of 4 years following such date,…."
* If approved, the petition form may be printed by the person circulating the petition on cards or individual sheets of paper. The minimum size of the forms shall be 3 x 5 inches and the maximum shall be 8 l/2 x 11 inches. Each form shall contain space for only one elector’s signature.
* Additional materials supporting the proposed amendment or providing a method by which the petition form may be returned may be printed on the form; however, the division will not review the accuracy or content of such material.
* Each petition form is deemed a political advertisement as defined in section 106.011(17), Florida Statutes, and must contain the identity of the payor as required by section 106.143, Florida Statutes.
* Form DS-DE 19 [pdf, 11KB] as adopted by the Division of Elections may be utilized as a sample format for petition forms.
Yes, looks like it. I'm beginning to understand why their needs to be a recourse above a state government for when the state government becomes corrupt.
Did anyone ping the FL FReepers about signing the petition, telling their friends and most importantly, writing letters to editors about this?
Maybe if a voluminous amount of Floridians sign it, it will pressure the Supremes - long shot, but sometimes long shots win.
Well it does say
Within 30 days of receiving the proposed amendment, the Attorney General must petition the Supreme Court and request an advisory opinion regarding compliance with the proposed ballot and format requirements. The Supreme Court has no deadline for issuing an opinion.
If the Court approves the petition, the proponents must gather the rest of the signatures needed to place the initiative on the ballot. The Court may not rule on the content of the petition. They can disallow an initiative for two reasons. One reason is if the ballot summary does not accurately reflect what the amendment is proposing. The second is if it violates Florida's strict single subject requirement.
So no deadline for the Sups to issue an opinion. Theoretically one could go through all the motions, get the amendment on the ballot and approved by the voters of Florida 'then' they someone could challenge the constitutionality of the law.