Amendments on the ballot 2008

[Kurt]

I'm hoping we can get some discussion about these. Let us know what you think and how you're voting.

Info posted below is from www.votesmartflorida.org

 

[Kurt]

Amendment #1

Official Title:
Relating to Property Rights/Ineligible Aliens

Official Ballot Summary: (Click here for a PDF of the full text.)Proposing an amendment to the State Constitution to delete provisions authorizing the Legislature to regulate or prohibit the ownership, inheritance, disposition, and possession of real property by aliens ineligible for citizenship. ​

 

[Kurt]

Amendment #2

Official Title:
Florida Marriage Protection Amendment

Official Ballot Summary: (Click here for a PDF of the full text.)This amendment protects marriage as the legal union of only one man and one woman as husband and wife and provides that no other legal union that is treated as marriage or the substantial equivalent thereof shall be valid or recognized. ​

 

[Kurt]

Amendment #3

Official Title:
Changes and Improvements Not Affecting the Assessed Value of Residential Real Property

Official Ballot Summary: (Click here for a PDF of the full text.)Authorizes the Legislature, by general law, to prohibit consideration of changes or improvements to residential real property which increase resistance to wind damage and installation of renewable energy source devices as factors in assessing the property's value for ad valorem taxation purposes. Effective upon adoption, repeals the existing renewable energy source device exemption no longer in effect. ​

 

[Kurt]

Amendment #4

Official Title:
Property Tax Exemption of Perpetually Conserved Land; Classification and Assessment of Land Used for Conservation

Official Ballot Summary: (Click here for a PDF of the full text.)Requires Legislature to provide a property tax exemption for real property encumbered by perpetual conservation easements or other perpetual conservation protections, defined by general law. Requires Legislature to provide for classification and assessment of land used for conservation purposes, and not perpetually encumbered, solely on the basis of character or use. Subjects assessment benefit to conditions, limitations, and reasonable definitions established by general law. Applies to property taxes beginning in 2010. ​

 

[Kurt]

Amendment #6

Official Title:
Assessment of Working Waterfront Property Based Upon Current Use

Official Ballot Summary: (Click here for a PDF of the full text.)Provides for assessment based upon use of land used predominantly for commercial fishing purposes; land used for vessel launches into waters that are navigable and accessible to the public; marinas and drystacks that are open to the public; and water-dependent marine manufacturing facilities, commercial fishing facilities, and marine vessel construction and repair facilities and their support activities, subject to conditions, limitations, and reasonable definitions specified by general law. ​

 

[Kurt]

Amendment #8

Official Title:
Local Option Community Funding

Official Ballot Summary: (Click here for a PDF of the full text.)Proposing an amendment to the State Constitution to require that the Legislature authorize counties to levy a local option sales tax to supplement community college funding; requiring voter approval to levy the tax; providing that approved taxes will sunset after 5 years and may be reauthorized by the voters. ​

 

[John R]

Amendment #1

Official Title:
Relating to Property Rights/Ineligible Aliens

Official Ballot Summary: (Click here for a PDF of the full text.)Proposing an amendment to the State Constitution to delete provisions authorizing the Legislature to regulate or prohibit the ownership, inheritance, disposition, and possession of real property by aliens ineligible for citizenship. ​

The first constitutional amendment on the Nov. 4 ballot will technically not effect anyone.

If approved by voters, it will remove an obsolete provision of the Florida Constitution called the ''Alien Land Law'' that was never enacted or enforced.

''What this does is eliminate constitutional discrimination,'' said Sen. Steve Geller, a Cooper City Democrat who worked to get the amendment on the ballot. Despite its high-minded goal, Geller predicts it won't be easy to win the 60 percent of the vote needed to remove it from the Constitution.

''The problem is, a lot of people are going to be confused and not really know what it does,'' he said.

The title of the amendment is ''Declaration of Rights'' and the summary says it will ``delete provisions authorizing the Legislature to regulate or prohibit the ownership, inheritance, disposition and possession of real property by aliens ineligible for citizenship.''

Geller worries people will mistakenly interpret the words ''aliens ineligible for citizenship'' to mean ''illegal immigrants'' and come to the wrong conclusion. ''It has nothing to do with illegal immigration,'' he said.

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics/florida/story/739609.html

 

[Kurt]

Florida Amendment 1

Florida Amendment 1, also known as the Property rights and illegal aliens act, is a proposed amendment to the state constitution to limit the legislature's ability to regulate the property rights of ineligible aliens. It is a legislatively-referred constitutional amendment, and is therefore on the ballot for the general election in 2008 automatically. It was placed on the ballot on May 18, 2007.
Background

Article 1, Sec. 2 of Florida’s constitution contains regressive language that authorizes the Legislature “to regulate or prohibit the ownership, inheritance, disposition and possession of real property by aliens ineligible for citizenship.”[1] This measure is to remove that language.
Supporters

Supporters:

• The Organization of Chinese Americans, a non-profit group and minority rights advocate[2]
• Florida League of Women Voters[1]

Editorial Support:

• Gainesville Sun[1]

Arguments in Favor

• The measure would remove an outdated and discriminitory passage from Florida's constitution.[3]

Opponents

None Yet Identified
Arguments Against

• There is no present Florida statute prohibiting ownership of property by aliens ineligible for citizenship.[3]

 

[Kurt]

The Florida Marriage Amendment, also known as Proposition 2 and The Marriage Protection Amendment, is a proposed constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage in Florida. The proposed amendment to the Florida Constitution will appear on the November 4, 2008 ballot in Florida. In order to pass, the amendment will require a 60% majority of those voting in the election.
Polls

As of September 8th, 2008, 55% of Floridians support the ballot measure, and 41% oppose the measure. The measure needs 60% to pass.[1]
Background/Specifics

The amendment as written includes a clause prohibiting judges from overturning the law. This is a response to what happened in Massachusetts, where a judge overturned that state's law banning same-sex marriage.[2]
The ballot title for the initiative says, "In as much as a marriage is the legal union of only one man and one woman as husband and wife, no other legal union that is treated as marriage or the substantial equivalent thereof shall be valid or recognized."


Support

Supporters include:

• Florida4Marriage, sponsor[3]
• Florida Governor Crist[4]
• W. James Favorite, pastor of Beulah Baptist Institutional[5]

On Sep 30, a group of church leaders from around the country met outside the Miami-Dade County Courthouse to show their support of Amendment 2. In general, Florida's religious community is strongly in favor of the measure.[6]
Arguments in Favor

• Supporters say the amendment would protect children by ensuring that only the form of marriage between a man and a woman would ever be celebrated in Florida.

• The Florida statute that already provides for a single form of marriage could be overturned by a court on constitutional grounds.

Opposition

Opponents include:

• Florida Red and Blue[7]
• The NAACP[5]
• Rabbi Bruce Diamond[8]
• The ACLU[9]

Arguments in Opposition

• The petition as acting as bait for the Presidential election in order to draw out conservative voters; there is already enough legislation in place currently.[10]

• Health care and pension benefit plans which cover unmarried couples, even heterosexual older couples, living together and which are now legally valid may be adversely affected.

• Article I of the Florida Constitution, known as the Declaration of Rights, establishes rights, but this amendment would instead limit the right to marry.

Financing the opposition

Amendment 2 is one of three ballot measures that will appear on November ballots around the country to ban same-sex marriage. Of these, the highest profile battle surrounds California Proposition 8. According to Stephen Gaskill, a spokesperson for Florida Red and Blue, the focus on the California measure has complicated fundraising efforts for those fighting Florida Amendment 2.
Gaskill said, "Certainly if the California effort was not underway, it would be easier for Florida to raise money — that’s just a reality."[11]
Status

The initiative was able to collect enough signatures in order to qualify for the 2008 general election.[12] This was done by volunteer circulators gathering 92,000 signatures, roughly 7,000 a day, in order to ensure the qualification of the measure.[13]