Board throws support behind Amendment 3: the November initiative would require a 60% passage rate to amend the constitution.

The Board of Governors has adopted a position supporting Amendment 3 on the November 7 general election ballot that would require broader support for amending the Florida Constitution.

Acting September 29 in Ponte Vedra, the board voted 42-1 to support the November ballot initiative that would amend Section 5 of Article XI to require that any proposed amendment to or revision of the state constitution--whether proposed by the legislature, by initiative, or by any other method--be approved by at least 60 percent of the voters rather than by the current simple majority.

President Hank Coxe said the constitution is the basis from which all other laws spring, and its preservation is something the profession should be committed to specifically in regard to Article V, which sets out the role of the judiciary.

The board took up the issue on the recommendation of the Legislation Committee. Chair Warren Lindsey of Winter Park said the panel decided to ask the board to act after noting many recent amendments passed by just more than the required 50 percent, and the committee "believed this is something that the Bar should not be on the sidelines for."

Board member Ed Scales of Key West said nothing should be more fundamental to the Board of Governors than its support of a fair and impartial judiciary, and it is the constitution that protects the courts.

"The organic document in the state of Florida that protects the independence of the judiciary is our constitution, and it is subject to assault," Scales said. "It is subject to change and addendum from very well-monied interests and it seems to me to be a natural step that if we are the protectors of democracy, if we are the protectors of the judiciary, that we would be the protectors of the Florida Constitution, which is the organic source of the separation of powers."

Coxe noted that two years ago the Bar considered, but ultimately did not act on, a position against a legislative proposal that the super majority apply to citizen initiatives, but not to legislative ones.

"The Bar was very uncomfortable taking a position in support of one and not the other," Coxe said, noting this year's proposed amendment would be applicable to all amendments.

The amendment was placed on the ballot by the legislature during the 2005 session, where it was required to pass both the Senate and House by a 60 percent vote.

Amendment 3 would not change the requirement that a proposed constitutional amendment imposing a new state tax or fee be approved by at least two-thirds of the voters.

By Mark D. Killian

Managing Editor