Guest AuthorNot a word has been uttered. Not a campaign ad has been created. Not a single news story has been written. Yet, this will be one of the most important decisions the next Florida governor will make – and it only happens every 20 years.
And Democrats, in particular, should be very worried.
Either Republican Rick Scott or Democrat Charlie Crist will appoint 15 members to a new Constitutional Revision Commission. The last time the commission met was in 1997. When its work was done, nine constitutional amendments went to voters, including one that reduced Florida’s elected Cabinet from six members to three – increasing the power of the governor.
Thirty days before the start of the 2017 Florida Legislature, the members of the commission will be picked. The commission will hold hearings, examine ways to change the Florida Constitution, and then six months before the 2018 general election, place its proposed amendments on the ballot.
In addition to the 15 members chosen by the governor, the House speaker and Senate president will each pick nine members. Three members will be chosen by the chief justice of the Florida Supreme Court. The attorney general is an automatic member.
The governor picks one of the 37 members to serve as chairman of the commission.
When the 1997 commission was formed, Democrat Lawton Chiles was governor. Republican Toni Jennings was Senate president. Republican Dan Webster, now a member of Congress, was House speaker. The attorney general was Democrat Bob Butterworth.
With Chiles appointing 15 members, plus Democrat Butterworth, and the GOP legislative leaders appointing 18 members, the commission was politically balanced. The three appointees from the chief justice allowed a patina of impartiality.
In 2017, Democrats could have a huge problem.
The Legislature will remain in Republican hands, so those 18 appointments will come from the GOP. And while Jennings and Webster were conservative moderates, today’s legislative leadership is more conservative, less moderate.
Should Rick Scott win a second term, he would appoint 15 members, naming one of them chairman. That gives Republicans overwhelming control of the next commission with 33 appointments. Add Pam Bondi, who is likely to win a second term as attorney general, and the GOP total comes to 34. The remaining three commissioners would be appointed by the chief justice.
The 2017 Constitutional Revision Commission has the potential of allowing Florida Republicans to make significant changes to Florida’s constitution while the only thing Democrats could do would be to sit back and watch.
Of course, nothing happens without voter approval in November 2018 – when either Rick Scott is ending his second term or Charlie Crist is running for reelection.
In 1997, Webster and Jennings offered this advice to the newly appointed commission chaired by the late Dexter Douglass.
”Review carefully. Review rigorously. But revise cautiously. Maybe the best revision is no revision,” said Webster.
”We should not be predisposed to change,” said Jennings. ”Just because the constitution says we should have a Constitutional Revision Commission every 20 years, we should not immediately believe that it is important to change that basic document.”
The commission did make changes. Voters approved all but one.
Here are the key amendments that were on the1998 ballot:
Conservation of Natural Resources and Creation of Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission — Requires adequate provision for conservation of natural resources; creates Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, granting it the regulatory and executive powers of the Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission and the Marine Fisheries Commission; removes legislature’s exclusive authority to regulate marine life and grants certain powers to new commission; authorizes bonds to continue financing acquisition and improvement of lands for conservation, outdoor recreation, and related purposes; restricts disposition of state lands designated for conservation purposes. PASSED BY 72 PERCENT
Public Education of Children — Declares the education of children to be a fundamental value of the people of Florida; establishes adequate provision for education as a paramount duty of the state; expands constitutional mandate requiring the state to make adequate provision for a uniform system of free public schools by also requiring the state to make adequate provision for an efficient, safe, secure, and high quality system. PASSED BY 71 PERCENT
Restructuring the State Cabinet — Merges cabinet offices of treasurer and comptroller into one chief financial officer; reduces cabinet membership to chief financial officer, attorney general, agriculture commissioner; secretary of state and education commissioner eliminated from elected cabinet; secretary of state duties defined by law; changes composition of state board of education from governor and cabinet to board appointed by governor; board appoints education commissioner; defines state board of administration, trustees of internal improvement trust fund, land acquisition trust fund. PASSED BY 56 PERCENT
Basic Rights —Defines “natural persons,” who are equal before the law and who have inalienable rights, as “female and male alike;” provides that no person shall be deprived of any right because of national origin; changes “physical handicap” to “physical disability” as a reason that people are protected from being deprived of any right. PASSED BY 66 PERCENT
Local and Municipal Property Tax Exemptions and Citizen Access to Local Officials — Broadens tax exemption for governmental uses of municipal property; authorizes legislature to exempt certain municipal and special district property used for airport, seaport, or public purposes; permits local option tax exemption for property used for conservation purposes; permits local option tangible personal property tax exemption for attachments to mobile homes and certain residential rental furnishings; removes limitations on citizens’ ability to communicate with local officials about matters which are the subject of public hearings. FAILED AT 49.8 PERCENT
Ballot Access, Public Campaign Financing, and Election Process Revisions — Provides ballot access requirements for independent and minor party candidates cannot be greater than requirements for majority party candidates; allows all voters, regardless of party, to vote in any party’s primary election if the winner will have no general election opposition; provides public financing of campaigns for statewide candidates who agree to campaign spending limits; permits candidates for governor to run in primary elections without lieutenant governor; makes school board elections nonpartisan; corrects voting age. PASSED BY 64 PERCENT
Firearms Purchases: Local Option for Criminal History Records Check and Waiting Period — Authorizes each county the option of requiring a criminal history records check and waiting period of 3 to 5 days in connection with the “sale” of any firearm; defines “sale” as the transfer of money or other valuable consideration for a firearm where any part of the transaction occurs on property open to public access; does not apply to holders of a concealed weapons permit when purchasing a firearm. PASSED BY 72 PERCENT
Here is the section of the Florida Constitution requiring the commission:
SECTION 2. Revision commission.—
(a) Within thirty days before the convening of the 2017 regular session of the legislature, and each twentieth year thereafter, there shall be established a constitution revision commission composed of the following thirty-seven members:
(1) the attorney general of the state;
(2) fifteen members selected by the governor;
(3) nine members selected by the speaker of the house of representatives and nine members selected by the president of the senate; and
(4) three members selected by the chief justice of the supreme court of Florida with the advice of the justices.
(b) The governor shall designate one member of the commission as its chair. Vacancies in the membership of the commission shall be filled in the same manner as the original appointments.
(c) Each constitution revision commission shall convene at the call of its chair, adopt its rules of procedure, examine the constitution of the state, hold public hearings, and, not later than one hundred eighty days prior to the next general election, file with the custodian of state records its proposal, if any, of a revision of this constitution or any part of it.
Brian E. Crowley is editor of the Crowley Political Report. He spent more than two decades as one of Florida’s leading political writers covering local, state and national politics. A former political editor, metro editor, editorial writer and Tallahassee bureau chief for The Palm Beach Post. Brian has reported on every major statewide political race since 1980. Column courtesy of Context Florida.
