Florida Amendment 8, Reception of Governmental Support and Funding Based on Religion Amendment (2012)
| Florida Amendment 8 | |
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| Election date |
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| Topic Religion |
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| Status |
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| Type Legislatively referred constitutional amendment |
Origin |
Florida Amendment 8 was on the ballot as a legislatively referred constitutional amendment in Florida on November 6, 2012. It was defeated.
A “yes” vote supported prohibiting denials of governmental support on the basis of religious beliefs and allow the use of revenue from the public treasury to fund religious institutions. |
A “no” vote opposed prohibiting denials of governmental support on the basis of religious beliefs and allow the use of revenue from the public treasury to fund religious institutions. |
Election results
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Florida Amendment 8 |
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| Result | Votes | Percentage | ||
| Yes | 3,441,128 | 44.53% | ||
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4,286,376 | 55.47% | ||
Text of measure
Ballot title
The ballot title for Amendment 8 was as follows:
| “ | Proposing an amendment to the State Constitution providing that no individual or entity may be denied, on the basis of religious identity or belief, governmental benefits, funding or other support, except as required by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, and deleting the prohibition against using revenues from the public treasury directly or indirectly in aid of any church, sect, or religious denomination or in aid of any sectarian institution. | ” |
Full Text
The full text of this measure is available here.
Constitutional changes
The proposed measure would have amended Section 3 of Article I of the Florida Constitution to read:[1]
| Text of Section 3: Religious Freedom
There shall be no law respecting the establishment of religion or prohibiting or penalizing the free exercise thereof. Religious freedom shall not justify practices inconsistent with public morals, peace, or safety. No individual or entity may be discriminated against or barred from receiving funding on the basis of religious identity or belief. |
Lawsuits
Shapiro v. Browning
On July 20, 2011 the Florida Education Association (FEA) along with an inter-faith clergy group and some school administrators filed a lawsuit to block the proposed measure.[2] Also involved in the suit is Lee Swift, president of the Florida School Board Association, and Susan Summers-Persis, president of the Florida Association of School Administrators. Opponents argued that the measure's title and ballot summary are misleading. FEA described the proposed measure as an "underhanded attempt to legalize state tuition vouchers for private schools, including church-affiliated schools."[3] "This is designed to open up the state treasury to voucher schools, but that's not what the title of the amendment and the ballot summary say," said union president Andy Ford.[4]
Measure supporter Rep. Scott Plakon said, "They are trying to paint a picture that if this is repealed that the state is going to put a million dollar check in the offering of the Baptist Church and that is simply them being untruthful. All this does is make sure that our constitution does not treat people of faith differently than any others."[4]
In response, Rep. Scott Randolph said, "Throughout the 2011 legislative session, Republican legislators disguised the proposed constitutional amendment as one that would merely protect religious freedom and end religious discrimination. But in actuality, this proposal has one purpose: to allow the unlimited use of taxpayers’ money to send children to private schools instead of building a quality public school system."[5]
The filed lawsuit also challenged 2011 legislation that allowed for the Florida Attorney General's office to rewrite ballot summaries or titles after the Florida Supreme Court removed a certified measure from the statewide ballot. The lawsuit argued that authority for such a changes lies only in the Florida State Legislature.[6]
The lawsuit was heard on October 27, 2011.[7][8][9]
The case was heard by Judge Terry Lewis. The case (Shapiro v. Browning) number was 2011-CA-1892.
Court ruling
On December 14, 2011 Leon County Circuit Judge Terry P. Lewis ruled that the legislatively-proposed measure would no longer appear on the 2012 ballot. Specifically, Lewis ruled that the phrase "consistent with the U.S. Constitution" was ambiguous and misleading. The phrase, Lewis said, implied that it would make the Florida Constitution conform with the U.S. Constitution's 1st Amendment.[10]
The lawsuit also challenged 2011 legislation that allowed for the Florida Attorney General's office to rewrite ballot summaries or titles after Florida Supreme Court removed a certified measure from the statewide ballot. Lewis rejected that challenge. "The law under review does not, after all, give the Attorney General authority to re-write the amendment itself -- only the description of it," Lewis said.[10]
Because the 2011 state law was not overturned, the Florida Attorney General still maintained the authority to rewrite the proposal. This was done within 10 days, which was the allotted time to do so.
Path to the ballot
- See also: Amending the Florida Constitution
A 60% vote is required during one legislative session for the Florida State Legislature to place a constitutional amendment on the ballot. That amounts to a minimum of 51 votes in the Florida House of Representatives and 18 votes in the Florida State Senate, assuming no vacancies. Amendments do not require the governor's signature to be referred to the ballot. Amendments on the ballot must be approved by 60% of voters to pass.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedBallotText - ↑ The Miami Herald, "Teachers union aims to block attempt to lift ban on tax money for religious organizations," July 19, 2011
- ↑ Florida Capital Bureau, "FEA sues to block voucher amendment," July 20, 2011
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Associated Press, "Repeal of Fla. ban on religious funding challenged," July 20, 2011
- ↑ The Bradenton Times, "Rep. Scott Randolph Applauds Legal Challenge of HJR 1471," July 23, 2011
- ↑ Ocala.com, "Teachers sue over validity of proposed amendment to state constitution," July 20, 2011
- ↑ The Palm Beach Post, "Florida merit-pay law challenge is part of bigger fight by unions against GOP legislatures," September 14, 2011
- ↑ Associated Press, "Judge hearing challenge to Fla. religion amendment," October 27, 2011 (dead link)
- ↑ News-Press, "Court battle begins over ballot measure," October 27, 2011
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedPost12142011
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