Opinion ID: 1570583
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Self Executing

Text: Article XI, section 3 is self-executing, [9] which means that this provision lays down a sufficient rule by . . . which the right or purpose which it gives or is intended to accomplish may be determined, enjoyed, or protected without the aid of legislative enactment.  Gray, 125 So.2d at 851 (emphasis supplied). On one hand, constitutional provisions are presumed self-executing to prevent the Legislature from nullifying the will of the people as expressed in their Constitution. See Gray, 125 So.2d at 851. On the other hand, the Legislature may provide additional laws addressing a self-executing constitutional scheme assuming that such laws supplement, protect, or further the availability of the constitutionally conferred right, but the Legislature may not modify the right in such a fashion that it alters or frustrates the intent of the framers and the people. See id. at 851; Notami Hosp. of Fla., Inc. v. Bowen, 927 So.2d 139, 144 (Fla. 1st DCA 2006), affirmed sub nom. Fla. Hosp. Waterman, Inc. v. Buster, 984 So.2d 478 (Fla.2008). Two fundamental principles of constitutional interpretation reinforce the limited role [10] that the Legislature and the executive branch occupy with regard to the initiative process: (1) The Constitution is the charter of our liberties. It cannot be changed, modified or amended by [governmental] fiat. It provides within itself the only method for its amendment, Thomas v. State ex rel. Cobb, 58 So.2d 173, 174 (Fla.1952); and (2) When a constitution directs how a thing shall be done, that is in effect a prohibition to its being done in any other way. Id. at 178 (quoting State ex rel. Murphy v. Barnes, 24 Fla. 29, 3 So. 433, 434 (1888)). For these reasons, we have previously held: In considering any legislative act or administrative rule which concerns the initiative amending process, we must be careful that the legislative statute or implementing rule is necessary for ballot integrity since any restriction on the initiative process would strengthen the authority and power of the legislature and weaken the power of the initiative process. The delicate symmetric balance of this constitutional scheme must be maintained, and any legislative act regulating the process should be allowed only when necessary to ensure ballot integrity. Tax Relief, 386 So.2d at 566 (emphasis supplied); see also Class Size, 827 So.2d at 962-63.