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Today, the Florida Senate will consider proposals designed to make it harder for citizens to amend the state Constitution. A House committee will hear a companion bill on the matter tomorrow. Under the proposals before the Senate, groups wanting to change the Constitution by petition drive would need "a supermajority (60 percent) for passage and have their subject matter restricted to constitutional issues."
However, Dr. Glenn W. Knox, notes that Florida Constitution, Article I, Section 10, states: "No bill of attainder, ex post facto law or law impairing the obligation of contracts shall be passed". According to Knox, "this means that it is unconstitutional to pass a law to change a procedure while that procedure is actually occurring. So, since the amendment to cap attorney's fees has reached the Florida Supreme Court, I would argue that any law passed that would increase the number of signatures required for an initiative would not have any binding effect on this amendment, since it would be an ex post facto law." Stated one opponent of the Senate's proposals, "the legislators are not serious about reform...this is an attack on voters." Business groups like the Florida Chamber of Commerce adamantly support the legislative proposals and Senate President Jim King has made constitutional amendment reform one of his top priorities this session.
Glenn Knox MD, FACS
Board of Directors, Duval County Medical Society
Courtesy Clinical Associate Professor, University of Florida
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