Help us improve in just 2 minutes—share your thoughts in our reader survey.

Florida Marijuana Legalization Initiative (2022)

From Ballotpedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Florida Marijuana Legalization Initiative
Flag of Florida.png
Election date
November 8, 2022
Topic
Marijuana
Status
Not on the ballot
Type
Constitutional amendment		Origin
Citizens

The Florida Marijuana Legalization Initiative (#16-02) was not on the ballot in Florida as an initiated constitutional amendment on November 8, 2022.[1]

On June 17, 2021, the Florida Supreme Court ruled 5-2, with the majority opinion written by Chief Justice Charles Canady, that the measure's ballot language was misleading and therefore could not appear on the ballot.

Measure design

The amendment was designed to legalize possession of up to one ounce of marijuana by residents at least 21 years old. Residents would have been allowed to cultivate up to six plants per household, but only three or fewer plants could be mature or flowering. The plants would have needed to be grown in “an enclosed, locked space,” and users would not hve been permitted to sell the plants they grow.

Under the amendment, marijuana would have been treated like alcohol—it would have been prohibited for residents under 21 years of age, consumers would have needed to show proof of age before purchasing marijuana from retail facilities, and it would have been illegal for anyone to drive while impaired or under the influence of marijuana. The amendment would also have outlined regulations for marijuana cultivation, retail marijuana sales, and manufacturing marijuana products.[1]

Text of measure

Ballot title

The proposed ballot title would have been as follows:[1]

“

Regulate Marijuana in a Manner Similar to Alcohol to Establish Age, Licensing, and Other Restrictions.[2]

”

Ballot summary

The proposed ballot summary would have been as follows:[1]

“

Regulates marijuana (hereinafter “cannabis”) for limited use and growing by persons twenty-one years of age or older. State shall adopt regulations to issue, renew, suspend, and revoke licenses for cannabis cultivation, product manufacturing, testing and retail facilities. Local governments may regulate facilities’ time, place and manner and, if state fails to timely act, may license facilities. Does not affect compassionate use of low-THC cannabis, nor immunize federal law violations.[2]

”

Full text

The full text is available here.

Sensible Florida, Inc. sponsored the initiative.

Background

Recreational marijuana in the United States

See also: History of marijuana ballot measures and laws

As of November 2020, 16 states and the District of Columbia had legalized marijuana for recreational purposes; nine through statewide citizen initiatives, and two through bills approved by state legislatures and signed by governors. Colorado and Washington both opted to legalize recreational marijuana in 2012. In a subsequent Colorado measure, voters enacted a statewide marijuana taxation system. The three ballot measures that passed in 2014 were Oregon's Measure 91, Alaska's Measure 2, and the District of Columbia's Initiative 71. Voters in California, Maine, Massachusetts, and Nevada approved recreational marijuana legalization ballot measures in November 2016. The Vermont State Legislature approved a bill in mid-January 2018 to allow recreational marijuana, and Gov. Phil Scott (R) signed it into law on January 22, 2018. Gov. Scott vetoed a previous bill to legalize marijuana in May 2017. On June 25, 2019, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed a bill into law legalizing the use and possession of recreational marijuana. Initiatives legalizing recreational marijuana were on the ballot in November 2018 in Michigan and North Dakota. The Michigan initiative was approved, and the North Dakota initiative was defeated. Arizona, Montana, and South Dakota approved legalization through initiatives in 2020. New Jersey approved legalization through a legislatively referred constitutional amendment in 2020.[3][4]

The map below details the status of recreational marijuana legalization in the states as of November 2020. States shaded in green had legalized recreational marijuana usage (the shades of green indicate the years in which ballot measures were adopted; light green indicates measures approved in 2012, medium green indicates measures approved in 2014, medium-dark green indicates measures approved in 2016, and dark green indicates measures approved in 2018 and 2020). The states shaded in dark gray had defeated ballot measures that proposed to legalize recreational marijuana. States in blue had recreational marijuana approved by the state legislature and signed by the governor. The remaining states (those shaded in light gray) had not legalized recreational marijuana.

Recreational marijuana legalization measures, 2012-2020

The following table provides information on the political context of the states that had voted on legalization measures as of 2022.

Click "Show" to expand the table.


Path to the ballot

See also: Laws governing the initiative process in Florida

The state process

In Florida, the number of signatures required for an initiated constitutional amendment is equal to 8% of the votes cast in the preceding presidential election. Florida also has a signature distribution requirement, which requires that signatures equaling at least 8% of the district-wide vote in the last presidential election be collected from at least half (14) of the state's 28 congressional districts. Signatures remain valid until February 1 of an even-numbered year.[5] Signatures must be verified by February 1 of the general election year the initiative aims to appear on the ballot.

Proposed measures are reviewed by the state attorney general and state supreme court after proponents collect 25% of the required signatures across the state in each of one-half of the state's congressional districts (222,898 signatures for 2024 ballot measures). After these preliminary signatures have been collected, the secretary of state must submit the proposal to the Florida Attorney General and the Financial Impact Estimating Conference (FIEC). The attorney general is required to petition the Florida Supreme Court for an advisory opinion on the measure's compliance with the single-subject rule, the appropriateness of the title and summary, and whether or not the measure "is facially invalid under the United States Constitution."[6]

The requirements to get an initiative certified for the 2022 ballot:

  • Signatures: 891,589 valid signatures
  • Deadline: The deadline for signature verification was February 1, 2022. As election officials have 30 days to check signatures, petitions should be submitted at least one month before the verification deadline.

In Florida, proponents of an initiative file signatures with local elections supervisors, who are responsible for verifying signatures. Supervisors are permitted to use random sampling if the process can estimate the number of valid signatures with 99.5% accuracy. Enough signatures are considered valid if the random sample estimates that at least 115% of the required number of signatures are valid.

Details about this initiative

  • As of June 18, 2021, the Florida Division of Elections showed that proponents had gathered 29,172 valid signatures. Proponents also collected 66,513 signatures that had expired after two years.[7]
  • Attorney General Ashley Moody argued that the measure's language was unclear. Moody said, "There is no way 10 pages of the law can be summarized clearly in 75 words or less and would adequately convey to the voters what exactly they will be voting on. That is why I will ask the Florida Supreme Court to seriously consider the sheer length and ambiguous language chosen by the sponsor when reviewing the legality of this proposed initiative."[8] The Florida Supreme Court heard arguments regarding the measure's ballot language on February 4, 2020. [9]
  • On June 17, 2021, the Florida Supreme Court ruled 5-2, with the majority opinion written by Chief Justice Charles Canady, that the measure's ballot language was misleading and therefore could not appear on the ballot.[10]
  
Lawsuit overview
Issue: Whether the amendment's ballot language is misleading
Court: Florida Supreme Court
Ruling: Ruled in favor of Attorney General
Plaintiff(s): Attorney General Ashley MoodyDefendant(s): Sensible Florida
Plaintiff argument:
The amendment's ballot language is misleading		Defendant argument:
The ballot language is not misleading

  Source: Florida Supreme Court

Attempt to qualify in 2016

This initiative was originally approved for circulation on March 17, 2016, targeting the November 2016 ballot. Supporters needed to collect a minimum of 68,314 valid signatures to have the petition reviewed by the Attorney General of Florida and 683,149 signatures to qualify the measure for the November 2016 ballot. The Regulate Florida campaign announced in December 2015 that it would not be able to obtain the required number of signatures. Campaign manager Michael Minardi said, “We had an uphill battle, honestly with getting a million signatures realistically from the end of August until December. We did believe with the movement and the momentum that we had that we could get this done, but unfortunately, we don’t think we’re going to at this point.”[11][12]

See also

External links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Florida Department of State Division of Elections, "Regulate Marijuana in a Manner Similar to Alcohol to Establish Age, Licensing, and Other Restrictions full text," accessed August 12, 2019
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
  3. ↑ The Hill, "Vermont governor vetoes marijuana legalization," May 24, 2017
  4. ↑ Associated Press, "Illinois becomes 11th state to allow recreational marijuana," June 25, 2019
  5. ↑ Before the passage of Florida Senate Bill 1794 of 2020, signatures remained valid for a period of two years
  6. ↑ Florida State Senate, "Florida Senate Bill 1794," accessed April 13, 2020
  7. ↑ Florida Division of Elections, "Initiative 16-02," accessed August 12, 2019
  8. ↑ WPTV, "Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody tries to scuttle marijuana amendment," accessed September 13, 2019
  9. ↑ WLRN, "Florida Supreme Court Set February Arguments On Assault Weapons, Pot," accessed September 24, 2019
  10. ↑ Patch, "Florida Supreme Court Blocks A Second Pro-Pot Citizens Initiative From The 2022 Ballot," accessed June 18, 2021
  11. ↑ “Initiative Information,” accessed September 10, 2015
  12. ↑ Florida Politics, "BID TO LEGALIZE RECREATIONAL MARIJUANA WILL NOT MAKE IT ON 2016 BALLOT IN FLORIDA," December 9, 2015
v • e
2022 ballot measures
I&R States
 • Alaska • Arizona • Arkansas • California • Colorado • Florida • Idaho • Illinois • Maryland • Massachusetts • Michigan • Missouri • Montana • Nebraska • Nevada • New Mexico • North Dakota • Ohio • Oregon • South Dakota • Utah • Washington • Wyoming
Non I&R States
 • Alabama • Connecticut • Georgia • Hawaii • Iowa • Kentucky • Kansas • Louisiana • New Hampshire • New York • Rhode Island • South Carolina • Tennessee • Texas • Vermont • West Virginia
Political topics
Abortion policy • 

Absentee and mail voting •  Administrative organization •  Administrative powers and rulemaking •  Age limits for officials •  Agriculture policy •  Alcohol laws •  American Indian issues •  Ballot measure process •  Ballot measure supermajority requirements •  Banking policy •  Bond issues •  Business regulations •  Business taxes •  Campaign finance •  Citizenship voting requirements •  Civil and criminal trials •  Civil service •  Collective bargaining •  Constitutional rights •  Constitutional wording changes •  County and municipal governance •  Crime victims' rights •  Criminal trials •  Death penalty •  Drug crime policy •  Early childhood education •  Early voting •  Election administration and governance •  Environment •  Ethics rules and commissions •  Executive official term limits •  Federal government issues •  Firearms policy •  Gambling policy •  Healthcare governance •  Higher education funding •  Highways and bridges •  Housing •  Immigration policy •  Impeachment rules •  Income taxes •  Initiative and referendum process •  Insurance policy •  LGBTQ issues •  Law enforcement •  Law enforcement funding •  Law enforcement officers and departments •  Local government officials and elections •  Local wages and pay •  Marijuana laws •  Military service policy •  Minimum wage laws •  Open meetings and public information •  Parks, land, and natural area conservation •  Primary election systems •  Private health insurance •  Property •  Psychedelic substances laws •  Public assistance programs •  Public economic investment policy •  Public education funding •  Public education governance •  Public health insurance •  Public transportation •  Race and ethnicity issues •  Ranked-choice voting •  Recall process •  Redistricting policy •  Religion-related policy •  Revenue allocation •  Revenue and spending limits •  Right-to-work laws •  Salaries of government officials •  Sex and gender issues •  State National Guard and militia •  State and local government budgets, spending, and finance •  State constitution ratification •  State constitutional conventions •  State executive branch structure •  State executive elections •  State executive official measures •  State executive powers and duties •  State judicial selection •  State judiciary •  State judiciary structure •  State legislative authority •  State legislative elections •  State legislative processes and sessions •  State legislative structure •  State legislative term limits •  Tax and revenue administration •  Taxes •  Telecommunications infrastructure •  Tobacco laws •  Transportation •  Utility policy •  Vehicle and driver regulations •  Veterans policy •  Voter ID policy •  Water •  Wildfire management

Other
Flag of Florida
v • e
State of Florida
Tallahassee (capital)
Elections

What's on my ballot? | Elections in 2025 | How to vote | How to run for office | Ballot measures

Government

Who represents me? | U.S. President | U.S. Congress | Federal courts | State executives | State legislature | State and local courts | Counties | Cities | School districts | Public policy

Retrieved from "https://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php?title=Florida_Marijuana_Legalization_Initiative_(2022)&oldid=8446137"