Public forum on direct democracy in Florida set for Monday

October 4, 2007

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — With the fight heating up over the gay marriage and “Florida Hometown Democracy” amendments, five of Florida’s foremost experts on ballot initiatives will discuss the past and future of direct democracy in the Sunshine State on Monday.

The forum, set for 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. in the Keene Faculty Center at Dauer Hall on the University of Florida campus, will be moderated by UF associate professor of political science and direct democracy expert Daniel Smith.

“Getting initiatives on the ballot and passed by voters has become much harder, thanks to several recent quote-unquote reforms regulating the process,” Smith said. “Participants in this forum will discuss the consequences of these changes, whether they have gone too far, and whether there are any unintended consequences. They’ll also talk about the proposed ban on gay marriage and Hometown Democracy and what they could mean for Florida.”

The so-called “Marriage Protection Amendment,” which would enact a state constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, appears headed for approval for the November 2008 ballot. The “Florida Hometown Democracy” amendment seeks to slow development by requiring voter approval of land-use changes. Advocates have collected more than half of the required 609,000 signatures to get that amendment on the ballot.

Since 1976, when voters approved the Sunshine Amendment allowing constitutional amendments, Floridians have considered 28 citizen-initiated constitutional amendments and approved 23 of them – including amendments related to pregnant pigs, bullet trains, class size reductions, smoking bans and raising the minimum wage.

Critics, however, have claimed that special interests rather than citizens dominate the process. In an effort to add controls, the Florida Legislature approved several new hurdles, including requiring an earlier filing deadline for signatures, a fiscal impact statement on the cost of proposed measures, as well as a procedure to allow citizens to revoke their signatures from petitions they’ve signed. In 2006, Floridians OK’d an amendment requiring all future constitutional amendments to exceed a 60 percent supermajority vote at the polls.

The forum participants will be Rod Smith, former state senator and gubernatorial candidate; Mark Wilson, executive vice president of the Florida Chamber of Commerce; Damien Filer, consultant for the 2002 class size amendment and opponent of the gay marriage ban; and Mark Herron, attorney for Hometown Democracy.

UF’s Graduate Program in Political Campaigning is sponsoring the event.