Amendment 4 would take away one of the few direct powers Floridians have

Editorial Board
Florida's proposed constitutional amendments for 2020:  Amendment 4 would require two subsequent elections to pass constitutional amendments

The Daytona Beach News-Journal and the St. Augustine Record concur in recommending a "No" vote on Amendment 4. This editorial was produced by The Gainesville Sun.

A secretive group has spent millions of dollars in dark money putting a proposal before Florida voters that asks them to limit their power to pass ballot measures in the future.

Amendment No. 4 on the ballot this fall, “Voter Approval of Constitutional Amendments,” would require any future amendments to be passed in two separate general elections by voters before becoming part of the state constitution.

The measure purports to be a way to keep the state constitution from being cluttered, but is really about big-money interests taking power out of the hands of the people. Voters should reject the proposal.

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State lawmakers have already made it more expensive and time consuming for citizens to get initiatives on the ballot, and the amendment would further deter grassroots groups from even trying. The League of Women Voters of Florida is among those opposing the measure, arguing that it would significantly limit citizens’ ability to engage in direct democracy.

Voters head to an Orlando polling place March 17 to vote in Florida's primary election/

“No. 4 does nothing but add more time, expense and burden to Florida voters trying to participate in their democracy!” the group says on its website.

A group called Keep Our Constitution Clean is behind the measure, but is using "dark money" funneled through a nonprofit to hide who paid to get the amendment on the ballot. The League of Women Voters reports that the political committee sponsoring the amendment is run by Jason H. Haber, a Fort Lauderdale attorney and chairman of the Republicans Against Green Energy PAC.

As John Kennedy of the USA TODAY Network-Florida has reported, federal tax records show that some of the group’s earliest financing is linked to Associated Industries of Florida, which lobbies on behalf of utilities and other major business interests. But the group won’t disclose its contributors, with a spokeswoman for both Keep Our Constitution Clean and Associated Industries of Florida saying that “AIF does not discuss political activity.”

Backers of Keep Our Constitution Clean also declined to answer any questions about the amendment for this editorial. When a ballot measure’s backers refuse to even discuss it, voters know that someone is trying to pull a fast one on them. 

Florida already has a high bar for amending the state constitutions after business interests helped get a measure passed in 2006 that requires a 60% vote for amendments being approved. Nevada is currently the only state that requires citizen initiatives to pass in two elections before becoming constitutional amendments. 

Citizen initiatives have been a way for Floridians to pass policies that are popular with the public, but have been stymied by state lawmakers and their financial supporters. Voters would likely still be waiting for such changes as the legalization of medical marijuana and the restoration of voting rights to former felons if those issues had been left up to Tallahassee.

Amendment No. 4 on the ballot this fall would be the death knell for direct democracy in Florida. Voters should keep our state constitution free of this attempt by big-money interests to subvert the power of the people.