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If Florida legislators won't listen to people, give voters right to veto bills (Opinion)
TCPalm via Yahoo NewsThe U.S. Supreme Court has made the decision to kick many of the nation’s hotly contested political issues back to the state legislatures.
Let’s ask ourselves an honest question: Does anyone truly believe the will of the state legislatures is reflective of the will of the people? We need not to look any further than the last two decades of bad faith political decisions coming out of Tallahassee for our answer.
Let’s look at a couple of citizen ballot initiatives, how the Florida Legislature subsequently undermined the will of the people via those initiatives, and what should be done.
Let’s ask ourselves an honest question: Does anyone truly believe the will of the state legislatures is reflective of the will of the people? We need not to look any further than the last two decades of bad faith political decisions coming out of Tallahassee for our answer.
Let’s look at a couple of citizen ballot initiatives, how the Florida Legislature subsequently undermined the will of the people via those initiatives, and what should be done.
The Florida Water and Land Conservation Initiative, 2014
The Voting Rights Restoration for Felons Initiative, 2018
Time after time, the Florida Legislature has demonstrated that it will undermine the will of the people as long as it has the political majorities to do so.
Enough is enough. Florida voters must pass an amendment to the state Constitution that would give voters the power to veto state legislation via ballot initiative. This isn’t a radical idea, and in fact this right is enjoyed by the citizens of 23 other states, including Massachusetts, Maryland, Arizona, Ohio, and Michigan.
Floridians ought to have the authority to overturn acts of the Legislature that contravene our desires. This power could prevent overreaches of the Legislature, such as misappropriating taxpayer dollars designed for the affordable housing trust fund, passing laws to ban abortions after Florida voters overwhelming approved a right to privacy in the state Constitution, passing laws that ignore Florida’s fair districting amendment, or any of the other past instances in which the Legislature has ignored the will of the people.
Enough is enough. Florida voters must pass an amendment to the state Constitution that would give voters the power to veto state legislation via ballot initiative. This isn’t a radical idea, and in fact this right is enjoyed by the citizens of 23 other states, including Massachusetts, Maryland, Arizona, Ohio, and Michigan.
Floridians ought to have the authority to overturn acts of the Legislature that contravene our desires. This power could prevent overreaches of the Legislature, such as misappropriating taxpayer dollars designed for the affordable housing trust fund, passing laws to ban abortions after Florida voters overwhelming approved a right to privacy in the state Constitution, passing laws that ignore Florida’s fair districting amendment, or any of the other past instances in which the Legislature has ignored the will of the people.