Florida Administrative Code › 1 - DEPARTMENT OF STATE › 1S - Division of Elections › Chapter 1S-2 - ELECTIONS › Section 1S-2.009 - Constitutional Amendment by Initiative Petition

Current through Reg. 50, No. 138; July 16, 2024
(1) Forms. All forms referenced herein are
				incorporated by reference and are available online on the Division of
				Elections' website at
https://www.dos.myflorida.com/elections
under the header for forms, through the rule as adopted under
www.flrules.org
, or from the
				Florida Department of State, Division of Elections, Room 316, R.A. Gray
				Building, 500 S. Bronough Street, Tallahassee, 32399-0250,
				(850)245-6200.
(2) Initiative
				Petition Approval Process.
(a) Submission.
				Before a petition to place a proposed amendment to the Florida State
				Constitution on the ballot by initiative can be circulated for signatures, the
				sponsoring political committee must receive approval of the initiative petition
				from the Secretary of State. The sponsoring committee shall email a written
				request that includes the proposed language to
				DivElections@DOS.MyFlorida.com.
(b)
				Requirements.
1. The Secretary of State shall
				review the initiative petition form solely for sufficiency of the format and
				shall render a decision within seven (7) days following receipt.
2. The proposed language submitted by the
				sponsoring political committee shall consist of the following:
a. The ballot title, which shall not exceed
				15 words.
b. The ballot summary,
				which shall not exceed 75 words.
c.
				The article and section being created or amended in the Florida State
				Constitution. For each existing article and/or section being amended, the
				language shall be in the format "Amends Article [insert number], Section
				[insert number]." The article and section number provided must correspond to an
				existing section of the Constitution and must correspond with the full text of
				the proposed amendment. For each article and/or section being created, the
				language shall be in the format, "Creates Article [insert], New
				Section".
d. The full text of the
				amendment being proposed. If the proposed constitutional amendment amends an
				existing section or sections, the full text shall include the entire existing
				text of the section or sections being amended. Text that is being inserted into
				the Constitution shall be notated with an underline, and text that is being
				deleted shall be notated with a strike through.
3. Word Count. The following provisions apply
				to determine the word count for a ballot title and summary:
a. Hyphenated compound words count as two or
				more words.
b. A plus or minus sign
				shall count as one word.
c.
				Punctuation such as commas, periods, hyphens, question marks, parentheses,
				quotation marks or exclamation points, does not affect the word
				count.
d. Each word joined by a
				forward or back slash to another word counts separately as a word.
e. Each part of a date counts as one word.
				Example: January 1, 2025 shall count as three words.
f. Each word in a name is individually
				counted. Example: George Washington shall count as two words.
g. Each whole number shall count as a
				word.
h. Spaces do not affect the
				word count.
(c)
				Approved Petition Forms.
1. Upon approval of
				the format of an initiative petition, the Secretary of State shall assign a
				serial number to the petition. The serial number shall begin with the last two
				digits of the calendar year in which the petition form is approved followed by
				a number in numerical sequence. For example, the first petition form approved
				in 2021 is assigned the serial number 21-01. The serial number assigned and
				approval date will be printed in the designated location on the forms as
				described below.
2. Upon assignment
				of a serial number, the Division shall include, in the designated spaces:
a. On Constitutional Amendment Initiative
				Petition Forms: the ballot title, ballot summary, serial number and date
				approved, and name and address of the sponsoring committee on Form DS-DE 155A
				(
http://www.flrules.org/Gateway/reference.asp?No=Ref-13556
,
				effective 10/2021) entitled "Constitutional Amendment Initiative Petition Form
				- Volunteer." An electronic copy in PDF format, suitable for use by volunteers
				or directly by voters, shall be provided to the sponsoring political committee
				and made available on the Division's website. Paid petition circulators, as
				defined below, will obtain their forms, Form DS-DE 155B (
http://www.flrules.org/Gateway/reference.asp?No=Ref-13557
,
				effective 10/2021) entitled "Constitutional Amendment Initiative Petition Form
				- Circulator" directly online in PDF format once they are registered with the
				Division pursuant to subsection (6).
b. On Constitutional Amendment Full Text
				Forms: the ballot title, ballot summary, article and section being created or
				amended, full text of the proposed amendment, serial number and date approved,
				and name and address of the sponsoring committee on a supplemental Form DS-DE
				156 (
http://www.flrules.org/Gateway/reference.asp?No=Ref-13558
,
				effective 10/2021) entitled "Constitutional Amendment Full Text." An electronic
				copy shall be provided to the sponsoring political committee and made available
				on the Division's website. If the full text of the proposed amendment fits on a
				single page, it shall be clearly indicated with page numbers in the following
				format: Page 1 of 1" as indicated on the DS-DE 156 form. If the full text of
				the proposed amendment does not fit on a single page, the language can extend
				onto the reverse side of the paper or onto multiple sheets of paper. In such a
				case, the box entitled "Initiative Information" shall appear at the bottom of
				each page. In addition, it shall be clearly indicated that the form is multiple
				pages in length with page numbers in the following format: "Page [current page]
				of [total number of pages]" as indicated on the DS-DE 156 form. Wherever the
				DS-DE 155A or DS-DE 155B forms are circulated for signature, a copy of the full
				text of the associated proposed amendment on DS-DE 156 shall also be provided
				or displayed to show the voter before signing the
				petition.