Case Name: In re ADVISORY OPINION OF the GOVERNOR REQUEST OF NOVEMBER 19, 1976 (CONSTITUTION REVISION COMMISSION)
Court: Florida Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 1977-02-15
Citations: 343 So. 2d 17
Docket Number: No. 50611
Parties: In re ADVISORY OPINION OF the GOVERNOR REQUEST OF NOVEMBER 19, 1976 (CONSTITUTION REVISION COMMISSION).
Judges: 
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 343
Pages: 17–29

Head Matter:
In re ADVISORY OPINION OF the GOVERNOR REQUEST OF NOVEMBER 19, 1976 (CONSTITUTION REVISION COMMISSION).
No. 50611.
Supreme Court of Florida.
Feb. 15, 1977.
John E. Mathews, Jr., and Jack W. Shaw, Jr., of Mathews, Osborne, Ehrlich, McNatt, Gobelman & Cobb, Jacksonville, and Donald M. Middlebrooks, Orlando, Gen. Counsel for the Governor, for Reubin O’D. Askew, Lew Brantley and Donald Tucker.
Thomas H. Barkdull, Jr., Miami, amicus curiae.
Richard T. Earle, Jr., of Earle, Earle & Forizs, St. Petersburg, amicus curiae.
Jon L. Mills and R. Lee Andersen, Gaines-ville, for Center for Governmental Responsibility, amicus curiae.
Edward J. Atkins, Miami, President, Louis de la Parte, Jr., Tampa, Chairman, Fla. Constitution Committee, and William B. Wiley, Asst. Staff Counsel, Tallahassee, for The Florida Bar, amicus curiae.
Robert L. Shevin, Atty. Gen., and James D. Whisenand, Asst. Atty. Gen., for amicus curiae.
Chesterfield Smith and Martha W. Barnett of Holland & Knight, Lakeland, for The League of Women Voters of Fla., ami-cus curiae.

Opinion:
The Honorable Reubin O'D. Askew
Governor, State of Florida
The Capitol
Tallahassee, Florida
Dear Governor Askew:
We have the honor to acknowledge your communication of November 19, 1976 requesting our advice, pursuant to Article IV, Section 1(c) of the Florida Constitution and Rule 2.1(h) of the Florida Appellate Rules, in regard to your executive powers and duties relative to the Constitution Revision Commission authorized by Article XI, Section 2 of the Constitution. Omitting its formal parts your letter reads:
"The Florida Constitution, 1968 Revision, was adopted at the general election held on November 5, 1968, and became effective on January 1, 1969. Article XI, Section 2, quoted in full below, established by constitutional mandate a Constitution Revision Commission:
(a) Within thirty days after the adjournment of the regular session of the legislature convened in the tenth year following that in which this Constitution is adopted, and each twentieth year thereafter, there shall be established a constitution revision commission composed of the following thirty-seven members:
(1) the attorney general of the state;
(2) fifteen members selected by the governor;
(3) nine members selected by the speaker of the house of representatives and nine members selected by the president of the senate; and
(4) three members selected by the chief justice of the supreme court of Florida with the advice of the justices.
(b) The governor shall designate one member of the commission as its chair man. Vacancies in the membership of the commission shall be filled in the same manner as the original appointments.
(c) Each constitution revision commission shall convene at the call of its chairman, adopt its rules of procedure, examine the constitution of the state, hold public hearings, and, not later than one hundred eighty days prior to the next general election, file with the secretary of state its proposal, if any, of a revision of this constitution or any part of it.
Pursuant to this section, the Governor has the express duty to select fifteen members of the Constitution Revision Commission and to designate its chairman, who in turn will convene the Constitution Revision Commission.
Due to an apparent conflict between Section 2 of Article XI and Section 3(b) and (d) of Article III, Section 5 of Article VI and Section 5 of Article XI, I am uncertain as to when the Constitution Revision Commission should convene and undertake its assignment, and therefore, when I should select fifteen members and designate the chairman. Intimately connected therewith is the question of when the final report of the Constitution Revision Commission is to be filed with the Secretary of State and whether it is to be submitted to the electors at the general election in November of 1978 or 1980.
The apparent conflict can be illustrated by a review of the respective sections of the Constitution referred to above. Article III, Sections 3(b) and (d), require the Legislature to convene its regular session on:
. the first Tuesday after the first Monday in April of each odd-numbered year, and on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in April, or such other date as may be fixed by law, of each even-numbered year .
to continue for not more than sixty consecutive days. At present there is no law fixing another date for the regular session of the Legislature in even-numbered years. Likewise, Article VII, Section 5, mandates that:
(a) general election shall be held in each county on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November of each even-numbered year .
Finally, Article XI, Section 5, requires
(a) proposed amendment to or revision of this constitution, or any part of it, shall be submitted to the electors at the next general election held more than ninety days after the . . . report of revision commission is filed with the secretary of state .
If the quoted sections are interpreted to require the Constitution Revision Commission first to convene after the adjournment of the 1978 regular session of the Legislature ("the tenth year following that in which this constitution is adopted"), then its proposed revisions, if any, apparently should be submitted to the electors at the general election in November of that same year. Such a time frame appears to be a practical impossibility. If the Legislature convenes, as now required, on April 4, 1978, then the regular session will probably adjourn about June 3, 1978. Thus, if the Constitution Revision Commission is not convened until the 1978 Legislature adjourns, then the earliest date it could convene would be after June 3, 1978, but before July 3, 1978. But Article XI, Section 2(c) requires the Constitution Revision Commission to file its proposals with the Secretary of State at least 180 days prior to the general election in November of 1978, or on or before May 11, 1978.
It is of course theoretically possible to accomplish the constitutional revision envisioned by Article XI, Section 2, completely within the calendar year of 1978. However, to do so would require affirmative legislation providing for an early, regular legislative session in 1978 pursuant to Article III, Section 3(b). Additionally, advance preparation would obviously have to be undertaken by a legislatively established revision commission, or committee, or some other entity designated by law for that purpose. No such steps have been taken by the Legislature; indeed, no legislative implementation of the constitutional provisions relating to the Constitution Revision Commission are mandated by the Constitution.
It has also been suggested to me by constitutional scholars that Article XI, Section 2, can possibly be construed to require the Constitution Revision Commission first to be convened at any time during 1978 so long as it is convened no later than thirty days after adjournment of the regular session of the 1978 Legislature. Under such circumstances, its proposals, if any, would then be presented to the electors for acceptance or rejection either at the general election in November of 1978, which would require the simultaneous meetings of the regular session of the 1978 Legislature and the Constitution Revision Commission, and thus as a practical matter prevent legislators from serving as members of the Constitution Revision Commission contrary to the obvious constitutional intent that at least some present members of the Legislature do so; or at the general election in November of 1980, which to me seems contrary to the manifest constitutional intent that the people have an opportunity to review the Constitution at the general election held exactly ten years after its adoption at the general election held in November of 1968.
What otherwise appears, when viewed in isolation, to be the plain language of Article XI, Section 2, thus presents a serious and perhaps irreconcilable conflict with other sections of the Constitution when the document is considered as a whole. Faced with such ambiguities or conflicts, and in order to properly discharge my constitutional duties, I ask this Court to interpret such language so that it harmonizes so far as possible the related sections and effectuates the intent of the framers and the people adopting the Constitution.
Each of the two alternative constructions above outlined when considered in light of the task to be accomplished seem to me to be wrong, impractical and improper. If time constraints are imposed on the mandated constitution revision, such restraints will be both counterproductive to the sound deliberation essential to proper constitutional revision and contrary to the manifest intent of the people as expressed in the Constitution. The Constitution itself specifically indicates that the Constitution Revision Commission must be given broad time parameters for its work so as to foster a thorough and cautious review; the Constitution Revision Commission must have the opportunity to seek the advice and counsel of laymen, academicians, legislators, public officials, lawyers, judges and interested citizens, to hold the required public hearings, and to timely file its report with the Secretary of State.
A feasible alternative interpretation suggested to me by other constitutional scholars is that the members of the Constitution Revision Commission be appointed promptly after the adjournment of the 1977 Legislature and that the Constitution Revision Commission be convened at the call of its chairman within thirty days following the adjournment of the 1977 regular session. It would then have the balance of that year and the early part of 1978 in which carefully to consider constitutional revision and to timely present its proposal, if any, for a revision. Under such an interpretation, the electors would have at least 180 days before the general election in November of 1978 to decide whether to accept or reject such proposals.
Due to doubts above expressed about the proper constitutional interpretation of my duties, I request that you resolve the following specific questions relating to my responsibilities as Governor:
1. Do I have the authority to initiate the convening of the Constitution Revision Commission by appointing, not later than thirty days after the adjournment of the regular session of the 1977 Legislature, the fifteen members I am required to select and to appoint its chairman and direct that the chairman file with the Secretary of State the proposals, if any, of the Constitution Revision Commission for a revision of the Constitution or any part thereof, not later than 180 days prior to the general election to be held in November of 1978?
2.If the answer to the foregoing question is negative, when should I initiate the convening of the Constitution Revision Commission by appointing the fifteen members I am required to select and by designating its chairman; and further, when should I direct the chairman of the Constitution Revision Commission to file the proposals, if any, of the Constitution Revision Commission for a revision of the Constitution or any part thereof with the Secretary of State?
Constitutional revision is a matter of great moment and import to this state and its people. Therefore, I respectfully suggest that this Court under its rules of procedure permit all interested parties to be heard on the questions presented herein through both written briefs and oral arguments, and further that this Court favorably consider applications to do so by those persons, who because of their previous experience in constitutional revision and interpretation might be of assistance to this Court as amicus curiae."
Upon receipt of your letter, we made a preliminary determination that your request was answerable and that we would exercise our discretion to do so. We then authorized interested persons to file briefs and participate in oral arguments. The following persons and groups appeared and presented their views:
(1) the Governor, jointly with the president of the Florida Senate and the speaker of the Florida House of Representatives;
(2) the Attorney General;
(3) the League of Women Voters of Florida;
(4) Judge Thomas H. Barkdull, Jr. and Richard T. Earl, Jr., members of the 1965 Constitution Revision Commission;
(5) the Center for Governmental Responsibility of the University of Florida College of Law; and
(6) the Florida Bar.
Counsel for some of the parties also served on the 1965 Commission.
All parties urged us to answer your first question in the affirmative, and in our opinion this is the proper response to your inquiry. We have gone further, however, since the need for guidance beyond the questions posed was brought to light during oral argument.
We do not deem it essential to review in detail the history of the 1965 Constitution Revision Commission, or the events which transpired between its formation in January 1966 and the adoption of our present Constitution on November 5,1968. All parties agree on four points basic to your inquiry:
1. The language of the Constitution in its present form is defective if read literally, in that all of its terms cannot be carried out in accordance with the time directives set out in the various sections of Article XI. Your letter makes clear the problems in that regard.
2. The technical errors in language were caused by the retention of language originally put into the proposed Constitution when it was scheduled for adoption in 1967, which the framers did not change when the original timetable was disrupted by Swann v. Adams, 385 U.S. 440, 87 S.Ct. 569, 17 L.Ed.2d 501 (1967), and adoption deferred to 1968.
3. This Court is the only place in which the inherent ambiguities of the Constitution can be resolved.
4. No matter what rationale we adopt or what interpretation we supply to the words in the Constitution, the fact of the matter is that we are being asked to re write one or more of its provisions in order to make the document work. (We are asked, of course, to make it work in the way-most consistent with the intent of the people of Florida at the time of its adoption, as that intent is now manifest through hindsight, recollection, and various documents.)
Our review of the constitutional materials supplied in this case, as well as our independent research, persuades us that the parties are correct in their assertion that the drafters of the 1968 Constitution simply failed to adjust the timetable set forth in Article XI, Section 2 of their proposal when the Legislature was inadvertently prevented from submitting the document for adoption in 1967. Additionally, we are persuaded by the parties and our own analysis that there is absolutely no way to reconcile without judicial gloss the disharmonious provisions which appear in that section. Under these circumstances, we must abandon as fruitless any notion that we can "interpret" or "construe" particular language within the Constitution to achieve a result which is not only workable but reasonably consistent with the intent of the people. We must, therefore, look outside the document to verify the intent behind mandatory periodic Constitution review, and then suggest those adjustments or accommodations which we believe are necessary. to the performance of your duties as chief executive.
The touchstone for determining the intent of a constitutional provision has always been the intent of the people at the time the document was adopted. The documents which were submitted to the voters of Florida in mid-1968 as explanatory material for the proposed Constitution uniformly indicate (to the extent they bear on the issue before us) an intention to create constitution revision commissions (i) which would act without intervention of the Legislature (ii) in the tenth year after the Constitution was adopted and (iii) in each twentieth year thereafter. It is persuasive to our conclusion that we can satisfy those intentions by answering your first question in the affirmative. It is also persuasive that such an affirmative answer will carry out the apparent goals of the framers of the Constitution (i) that the process of constitution revision should take place with commissioners selected in an odd numbered year (when there are no public elections to compete for the time of commissioners), and (ii) that the commissioners should have adequate time to perform the responsibilities assigned to them.
Militating against the creation of a commission in 1977 is the notion that the people of Florida obviously intended to have an initial ten years of experience under the 1968 Constitution before revisions were brought to them for consideration. If the commissioners first meet in 1977, they will not have the full benefit of that experience for their deliberations. Nonetheless, the voters of the state will have had éxactly ten years' experience at the time they are asked to pass on any proposals emanating from a 1977 commission, since the election would be held in November 1978. Thus/any governmental experiences not available to the commission before its report is filed (not later than 180 days before the November general election) will be known to the voters before they accept or reject the commission's proposals. It seems, then, that an affirmative answer to your first question is not necessarily inconsistent with the notion that the Constitution should "settle" for ten full years before revisions are considered at the polls.
Finally, we are persuaded toward an affirmative answer to your first question by two other general considerations. First, since there is an acknowledged ambiguity it seems preferable to allow the people of the state to vote on proposals for change (which might include a correction of these problems for future revision commissions) at the earliest possible opportunity. That is, assuming there is doubt as to whether the commission process or the people's vote was intended to occur in 1978, it is, in our view, better policy to obtain a resolution of the ambiguity by an early vote of the people rather than one deferred until 1980. Second, we cannot ignore the fact that appointing authorities for 34 out of the 37 prescribed positions on the commission are represented in this proceeding and of the view that your first question should be answered in the affirmative. All of these appointing authorities will be in office whether the commission is convened in 1977 or 1978, so there is no unrepresented group of potential officeholders whose appointment rights could be affected by our response to your inquiry.
We recognize that an argument can be made in support of a 1978 commission and 1980 vote on its proposals, based on a con-. struction of Article XI which emphasizes the formation of the commission "in the tenth year" as prescribed in Section 2(a). Those of our colleagues who prefer that emphasis recognize they must construe Section 2(c) to postpone the electors' vote on constitution revision from the "next general election" after the commission convenes to the general election next following the conclusion by the commission of its constitutional responsibility to meet and hold public hearings. They would do so, however, in order to gain the "advantages" of longer deliberations, interim elections, votes on legislatively proposed constitutional amendments, and a change in governmental leadership. We sharply disagree with the view that these events are "advantages" to the revision process, let alone consistent with the rationale of having this process at all.
For one thing, by placing an emphasis on the time for convening the commission over the time for ending its deliberations, the effect is to free the commission from any time limitation on its very existence. The members could, under that construction of Section 2(c), hold public hearings indefinitely if a majority of members decide, for whatever reasons, to co-opt the public spotlight. This is obviously at odds with the Constitution's express directive for a vote on the commission's proposals, if any, at the "next" general election.
For another thing, it seems to be at odds with the intent of the people to infuse into a constitution revision process which was patently designed to bypass input from the legislative branch, the election of new legislators or an accommodation to the positions candidates for those offices may voice in their election bids. Elective political activity is antithetical to this constitutional review process, unlike the other two reserved in Article XI.
Finally, we view as disadvantageous, rather than advantageous, the addition of influences brought to the process by a second attorney general, governor, and set of legislative leaders. Sound constitution revision must stem from experiences which suggest the need for change. We fail .to see any advantage in making the last and most important phase subject to the influence of persons with no experience in office, over those who have had extensive practical experience as Florida's chief legal officer, chief executive, and legislative heads under the existing Constitution.
Without regard to'our view of the merits or demerits of these perceived advantages, however, we are satisfied that none of them can be traced to the evolution of the commission revision scheme which appears in Article XI of our present Constitution. We view our role as limited to providing advice to the governor consistent with the purposes for which the people adopted Article XI, without the expression of our philosophical approach to the revision process.
For the foregoing reasons, we respectfully advise you that in our opinion, the 1968 Constitution requires the following acts:
1. You should initiate the convening of a constitution revision commission by appointing 15 members and a chairman during the 30 day period following adjournment of the regular session of the 1977 Legislature ("within" that 30 day period, as the Constitution directs);
2. You should direct the chairman to file the commission's proposals, if any, for Constitution revision with the Secretary of State not later than May 11, 1978, which date is 180 days prior to the general election next succeeding the commission's convening in 1977;
3. The proposed amendments or revisions to the Constitution, or any parts of it, if any, shall be submitted to the electors of the state on November 7, 1978, in accordance with Article XI, Section 5(a) of the Constitution; and
4. Absent any intervening alteration of the provisions of Article XI, Section 2, the constitutional timetable for future commission revisions shall be that
(a) a constitution revision commission having the same composition as set forth in Section 2(a) should be convened during ("within") the 30 day period following adjournment of the regular session of the 1997 Legislature,
(b) the proposal for revision of the Constitution, if any, presented by that commission shall be filed with the Secretary of State at least 180 days prior to the general election scheduled in November 1998 and shall be voted on by the people of Florida at that general election, and
(c) the cycle for the commission revision process shall continue at 20 year intervals from the time frames set out in the preceding paragraphs.
Respectfully,
BEN F. OVERTON Chief Justice
JOSEPH A. BOYD, Jr.
ARTHUR J. ENGLAND, Jr.
ALAN C. SUNDBERG
JOSEPH W. HATCHETT
Justices
. "Great cases, like hard cases, make bad law. For great cases are called great, not by reason of their real importance in shaping the law of the future, but because of some accident of immediate overwhelming interest which appeals to the feelings and distorts the judgment. These immediate interests exercise a kind of hydraulic pressure which makes what previously was clear seem doubtful, and before which even well settled principles of law will bend." Northern Sec. Co. v. United States, 193 U.S. 197, 400-401, 24 S.Ct. 436, 48 L.Ed. 679 (1904) (Holmes, J., dissenting).
. E. g., In re Advisory Opinion to Governor, 243 So.2d 573 (Fla.1971); In re Advisory Opinion to Governor, 223 So.2d 35 (Fla.1969).