SB 7096 — Constitutional Amendments

Florida Senate - 2019 SB(PROPOSED BILL) SPB 7096 FOR CONSIDERATION By the Committee on Judiciary 590-03710-19590-03536A-19 20197096__20197096pb A bill to be entitled An act relating to constitutional amendments;

requiring a compensated petition gatherer to register with the Secretary of State and to attest that he or she is a Florida resident for a specified period before obtaining signatures on petition forms;

requiring the Secretary of State to maintain a searchable database of such forms;

requiring the analysis to summarize the impact to the state and local economies;economy;

requiring a statement to appear on the ballot indicating whether the policy proposed by the initiative can be implemented by the Legislature;

requiring the Attorney General to make specified requests of the Supreme Court relating to proposed amendments by initiative;

prohibiting compensation for initiative petition gatherers or entities based on the number of petitions gathered;

invalidating petitions that are unlawfully gathered;

providing an effective dates.date.

3536 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:

3738 Section 1. Present subsectionsubsections (3) of section 100.371, Florida Statutes, is renumbered as subsection (4), present subsections (4) through (7) of that section are renumbered as subsections (6) through (9), respectively, newpresent subsections (3) and (5)(6) areand addedparagraphs to(a) thatand section,(e) andof present subsection (3),(5) paragraphsof (a)that andsection (e)are ofamended, presentand subsectionnew (5),subsections (3) and present(5) subsectionare (6)added ofto that sectionsection, are amended, to read:

procedure for placement on ballot.— (3) Before obtaining signaturessignatures, for compensation, a petition gatherer must register with the Secretary of StateState. on a form prepared by the secretary.

The registrant must provide his or her name, date of birth, residential address, and attestation that he or she hasis been a Florida residentresident. for at least 29 days before submitting the registration form.

(5) Upon determining that a constitutional amendment proposed by initiative has met the requirements to be placed on the ballot, the Secretary of State shall allow any interested person to file a position statement of notno more than 50 words outlining why the person supports or opposes the amendment.

(7)(a)(5)(a) Within(6)(4) The 60Secretary 45 days after receipt of aState proposedshall revisiondetermine orfrom amendment to the Statesignatures Constitutionverified by initiative petition from the Secretarysupervisors of State,elections the Financialtotal Impactnumber Estimatingof Conferenceverified shallvalid completesignatures an analysis and financial impact statement to be placed on the ballotdistribution of thesuch estimatedsignatures increaseby orcongressional decreasedistricts. in any revenues or costs to state or local governments and the estimated economic impact on both the state and local economies resulting from the proposed initiative.

Upon a determination that the requisite number and distribution of valid signatures have been obtained, the secretary shall issue a certificate of ballot position for that proposed amendment and shall assign a designating number pursuant to s.

101.161.

(7)(a)(5)(a) Within 60 45 days after receipt of a proposed revision or amendment to the State Constitution by initiative petition from the Secretary of State, the Financial Impact Estimating Conference shall complete an analysis and financial impact statement to be placed on the ballot of the estimated increase or decrease in any revenues or costs to state or local governments and the estimated economic impact on the state and local economy resulting from the proposed initiative.

The initiative financial information statement should describe in greater detail than the financial impact statement any projected increase or decrease in revenues or costs that the state or local governments would likely experience and the estimated economic impact on both the state and local economieseconomy if the ballot measure were approved.

(9)(7) No provision of this code shall be deemed to prohibit a private person exercising lawful control over privately owned property, including property held open to the public for the purposes of a commercial enterprise, from excluding from such property persons seeking to engage in activity supporting or opposing initiative amendments.

ballots.— (1) Whenever(1)(a) Whenever a constitutional amendment or other public measure is submitted to the vote of the people, a ballot summary of such amendment or other public measure shall be printed in clear and unambiguous language on the ballot after the list of candidates, followed by the word “yes” and also by the word “no,” and shall be styled in such a manner that a “yes” vote will indicate approval of the proposal and a “no” vote will indicate rejection.

In addition, for every amendment proposed by initiative, the ballot shall include, following the ballot summary, in the following order:, (a) The1. The name of the initiative’s sponsor and the percentage of total contributions obtained by the sponsor from in-state persons.

(b) A2. A separate financial impact statement concerning the measure prepared by the Financial Impact Estimating Conference in accordance with s.

100.371(7)100.371(7). s.

100.371(5).s.

(c) If100.371(5) 3. If the financial impact statement estimates increased costs or decreased revenues, a range that includes increased costs or decreased revenues, or an indeterminate economic impactimpact, athe following statement in bold printprint: describing the impact of the initiative on both the state and local economies.

194207 TheTHE ballotFLORIDA titleCONSTITUTION shallREQUIRES consistA ofBALANCED aBUDGET. caption, not exceeding 15 words in length, by which the measure is commonly referred to or spoken of.

ThisTHIS subsectionPROPOSED doesCONSTITUTIONAL notAMENDMENT applyIS toESTIMATED constitutionalTO amendmentsRESULT orIN revisionsINDETERMINATE proposedOR byINCREASED jointCOSTS resolution.OR INDETERMINATE OR DECREASED REVENUES, WHICH MAY REQUIRE INCREASED TAXES OR A REDUCTION IN GOVERNMENT SERVICES THAT ARE CURRENTLY FUNDED.

214 4. The following question, with an accompanying yes or no answer provided by the Supreme Court pursuant to subparagraph (b)1.:

218 CAN THE PROPOSED POLICY BE IMPLEMENTED BY THE LEGISLATURE WITHOUT THE NEED FOR A CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT? 222 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.

This paragraph subsection does not apply to constitutional amendments or revisions proposed by joint resolution.

(b) When the Attorney General requests an advisory opinion of the Supreme Court to review a proposed constitutional amendment, the Attorney General shall include a request for the Court to:

1. Address whether the proposed policy can be implemented by the Legislature without the need for a constitutional amendment and indicate a yes or no answer, which must be printed on the ballot summary.

2. Identify any undefined terms within the proposed amendment which will have a substantive impact.

Section 4. Effective4. Section 41 days after the effective date of this act, section 104.186, Florida Statutes, is created to read:

prohibition on compensation based on the number of petitions gathered.—A person who compensates an initiative petition gatherer or entity based on the number of petitions gathered commits a misdemeanor of the first degree, punishable as provided in s.

A petition gathered in violation of this section is void.

however, this act does not affect the validity of any petition gathered before or within 40 days after this act’s effective date.

Section 6. Except6. This as otherwise expressly provided in this act, this act shall take effect upon becoming a law.