TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (NEWS SERVICE FLORIDA) - Republican lawmakers are trying to make it harder to amend Florida’s Constitution.
But amid the debate in the Capitol, backers of proposed constitutional amendments for the 2020 ballot continue to raise chunks of money and gather piles of petition signatures.
Newly filed finance reports and updated signature totals offer a glimpse of why GOP leaders might be focused on trying to change the amendment process.
Among the amendment ideas that are continuing to move forward: raising the minimum wage; expanding Medicaid; overhauling regulation of the electric utility industry; banning assault-style weapons and revamping primary elections.
It’s probably safe to say Republican legislative leaders wouldn’t support any of those ideas.
All of the proposed amendments still have a long way to go before they could get on the November 2020 ballot. Supporters of each initiative first need to submit 76,632 valid petition signatures to trigger a review of the ballot wording by the Florida Supreme Court. If justices sign off, each would then need to submit 766,200 valid signatures to reach the ballot.
But two of the proposals --- increasing the minimum wage and overhauling the utility industry --- have already cleared the first signature threshold and are ready for Supreme Court review.
Not only that, both have continued to raise money and collect signatures. Orlando trial attorney John Morgan is leading the minimum-wage effort, and The Morgan Firm PA plowed $373,000 into the effort in March, a new finance report shows. The proposal was up to 92,225 signatures as of Thursday morning.
Similarly, the political committee Citizens for Energy Choices, which is pushing the amendment that would largely deregulate the utility industry, brought in an additional $237,000 in March. It has submitted 188,404 valid petition signatures to the state.
As another example, the committee Ban Assault Weapons Now reported raising $170,000 in March, bringing its total in the past two months to about $360,000.
Bills are moving forward in the Senate and House that could place additional restrictions on the petition-gathering process, which could put another obstacle in front of the political committees.
Also, lawmakers are considering a proposal that would require support from two-thirds of voters to pass constitutional amendments, up from the current 60 percent. That proposal, however, would not affect the 2020 initiatives.
News Service of Florida staff writers Ana Ceballos and Dara Kam contributed to this report.