Opinion ID: 1659480
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Proposed Revenue Limits Amendment

Text: This proposal seeks to amend article XI, section 3, of the Florida Constitution. The full text of the proposed amendment provides: Insert the underlined words in Article XI, Section 3, immediately after voters approve, for amendments effective thereafter: INITIATIVE.  The power to propose the revision or amendment of any portion or portions of this constitution by initiative is reserved to the people, provided that any such revision or amendment, except for those limiting the power of government to raise revenue, shall embrace but one subject and matter directly connected therewith. The ballot title for the proposed amendment is: Revenue Limits: May People's Amendments Limiting Government Revenue Be Allowed To Cover Multiple Subjects? The summary for the proposed amendment provides: This provision would expand the people's rights to initiate constitutional changes limiting the power of government to raise revenue by allowing amendments to cover multiple subjects. This provision is effective immediately after voter approval for amendments effective thereafter. This proposed constitutional amendment would eliminate the single-subject requirement of article XI, section 3, for initiatives that deal solely with limiting the power of government to raise revenue. The single-subject requirement would remain for all other types of initiative petitions and for petitions that combine revenue limitation and other subjects. The Attorney General does not suggest that this initiative violates the single-subject requirement, but does note that the ballot title and summary may not give the voter fair notice of the initiative's purpose. He asserts that the ballot title and summary do not inform the voter that the real objective of this initiative petition is to permit log-rolling, at least in the context of initiatives that limit revenue. He further notes that the initiative would effect a fundamental change in the procedures for amending the constitution by the voters and that the title and summary fail to mention log-rolling as a collateral consequences of the initiative. The League of Women Voters, and other opponents, argue that the proposal violates the single-subject rule in that it presents three distinct subjects under the broad heading of revenue coupled with a fourth subject pertaining to amending the constitutional amendment process. With regard to the ballot title and summary, the opponents assert that each are misleading because neither mentions that the initiative will alter the single-subject rule in article XI, section 3. They contend that the true purpose of the proposal is to abrogate the constitutional protections of the single-subject rule and that nowhere in the ballot title or summary is this purpose revealed. As a result, the opponents contend that the title and summary are misleading. We reject the contentions that this initiative violates the single-subject requirement, and conclude that it substantially alters just one section of the constitution. The one significant question for the Court to resolve is whether the ballot title and summary are misleading, as suggested by the Attorney General and other opponents of the initiative. While the use of a question in the ballot title is not per se misleading, it does, particularly in this context, raise an issue of whether the title is sufficiently informative. Nevertheless, we conclude that, while the format and content of this ballot title bring it exceedingly close to being misleading, we find that it is not such that we should remove the initiative from the ballot. [4] Accordingly, we find that the initiative entitled Revenue Limits complies with the single-subject and ballot title and summary requirements and should retain its place on the ballot.