State appeals court rules in favor of citizens group
April 24, 2008 – People cannot take back their support once they sign petitions to get citizen initiatives on a ballot, an appeals court ruled Wednesday in a case over whether voters should have a say in changing infrastructure and development plans. The 1st District Court of Appeal said a law that lets voters revoke their signatures is unconstitutional, so it overturned a trial court’s ruling. The Legislature passed the law at the request of business organizations. They then used it to revoke 13,182 signatures obtained by proponents of Hometown Democracy, an initiative that would require voter approval of changes in plans laying out where new roads, homes, businesses and other development can be built. Hometown Democracy sued even before that campaign began. The appeals court’s seven-page ruling said revoking signatures burdens the initiative process with requirements not found in the Florida Constitution. Instead, the constitution gives citizens the right to propose amendments without legislative assistance. The law is one of several steps the Legislature has taken in recent years with encouragement from business leaders to make it more difficult to pass initiatives. They contend initiatives such as Hometown Democracy could slow growth and the harm the state’s economy. The issue may wind up being resolved by the Florida Supreme Court. Related: Marsha's blog | login or register to post comments | printer friendly version | Tags: hometown democracy | petitions
Submitted by Angela on Thu, 04/24/2008 - 8:05pm.
I am glad to see the State Appeals court protect the right of the citizens of Florida. The legislature sure don't seem to care. I guess they are too busy passing legislation for a few of their friends and protecting the rights of special interest.
Submitted by OneMann on Fri, 04/25/2008 - 7:50am.
This points out one of the problems when a citizens-based initiative is opposed by, as the news story called it, "business organizations." Citizens go about the laborious and expensive, to them, process prescribed by law in order to put the Hometown Democracy issue before the voters. But when it appears voters might actually get to make a decision for themselves, look at the steps "business" has taken to make sure that doesn't happen. First, "business" successfully lobbies (is that redundant?) the Legislature to enact an unconstitutional law. Second, the letter sent by "business" to voters asking them to unconstitutionlly rescind their petition signatures was cited in newspapers throughout the state for its inaccuracies, distortions and obvious attempt to mislead the public. Third, "business" has added yet another layer to initiative process - the court room battle. That strategy, designed to waste time and sap financial resources of an initiative's proponents, is successful to some extent regardless of a court's findings. "Business" formed the strategy against HDA. Seems like the same kind of strategy being used here in Clay County. One group opposes three amendment proposals. Instead of debating the merits of the issues, they choose to confuse and mislead, then offer proposals designed, not to improve the Charter, but to ultimately tie up everything in litigation. "Business" sure does put a lot of its time, effort and money into trying to keep voters from making decisions. Either they don't trust voters because they think we're too stupid to make an intelligent decision. Or they trust voters to make an intelligent decision - and can't let that happen. Michael S. Mann michaelsmann@comcast.net People are talking about ...Here are the recent blog postings with the most comments. |
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The issue may wind up being resolved by the Florida Supreme Court.
Which is where we may end up trying to figure out how many commissioners we have, how much they get paid and what % it takes to get rid of an elected position.
Change a few words and it kind of sounds like 5+2, 66% and 7% for petitions with 2% coming from each district.
Where have I heard all those ideas? They all came from one group didn't they?
Oops sorry, I forgot they're protecting my rights aren't they?
Mike Heemer http://24.23.126.8/ Petition for choice (5 or 7) in Nov.