Florida’s Amendment 3

Amendment 3 is on the Florida ballot this November, and most of you have probably never heard of it. It asks voters whether or not they want to make it harder for lawmakers to amend the constitution of the state by requiring a 60% approval for all future constitutional amendments. As with anything there are two sides to every story, the pros and the cons for the measure, and with most people not even knowing what the bill is about, it could go either way. Supporters of the ban are trying to get it a little better known and will start advertising it soon with a $1.2 million budget to do so.

Those that support the bill, such as Governor Jeb Bush, believe that the constitution is too easily changed the way it stands now. They say that it should be up to the voters as to whether or not they want something in their state, and puts the power of law in the people’s hands, not in the legislature’s hands. They say that special interest groups can influence lawmakers, whereas the people won’t be affected by their whims. They say that things like the “high speed train” and the vote to allow slot machines in South Florida are examples of things that should be left up to the voters, not to government officials.

The opposition thinks that this is just a tactic to keep others from changing the citizen’s petition process now that larger groups have gotten what they wanted. They say that things like the Florida Education Association have gotten their class size measure passed, and now they want to make sure it can’t be amended or changed in any way. They say that this just ads to the Legislature’s power, and since they haven’t responded fairly to citizen’s concerns up until this point, with the passing of this Amendment it just makes it harder. They say things like the reduction in class size would never have gotten on the ballot without a citizen’s initiative. They think that by taking the process a different way, it is actually going to be harder for citizens to have their voices heard.

slot machine, slot machine, slot machine, slot machine

Back to October Archive or Slot Machines