Getting Ready for the 2024 Florida Ballot Amendments

It's about time to start thinking about the state-level referenda that will be on the 2024 general ballot along with the major races like President, Senator, Congress, and State legislators.

Ballotpedia does a good job of keeping track of these things, so I defer to the information they've got gathered for the six amendment offerings: 

Amendment One: Partisan School Board Elections

This one changes the county-level school board elections from the current nonpartisan (no party listed) to where a candidate has to establish affiliation. The debate around this is a question of transparency: While the ballot currently doesn't say which candidate's issues and ideologies are, you can judge by which company they'd keep if they were openly Republican (vouchers to private schools, doing nothing on teachers' pay, crowded classrooms, etc.) or Democrat (public money to public schools, improving teacher pay, smaller classroom sizes, etc.).

If you ever visit a state or county-level party website, you'll see listings for "Supported Candidates" that will include "recommendations" for school board candidates. They may pretend to be "nonpartisan" but they're really not.

I'm kind of on the fence on this one. You can't avoid the reality that there will be partisan candidates for school boards, especially as the fights over book censorship and transgender/gay rights move to the forefront. If you can tell which candidate is backed by either party, you can at least gauge which will better defend your interests. The problem will be the campaigning: If you make the school board elections officially partisan, the hostility and viciousness that comes with such campaigns could make the local elections more divisive.

On this one, I'm going to err on the side of "better to know which candidate is Republican and thus shouldn't be in office".

Amendment Two: Right to Hunt and Fish

While there is some hunting and fishing allowed in Florida, this amendment seems to expand that right to unregulated levels.

Florida is on a rare environmental stage: a diverse ecosystem relying a lot on water (shorelines, rivers, lakes) and on still-undeveloped geological areas like wetlands, swamps, and forests. There's a number of endangered animals still about - the Florida Panther for example - and a lot of dangerous wildlife - alligators and brown bears - facing more encroachment and threats from humans (not just the hunters). This amendment in my opinion would increase the risks towards a number of those endangered or dangerous animals to where we'll disrupt the Florida environment even more. Those who oppose the amendment also point to the threat of overfishing.

I've never gotten into hunting. My grandfather willed me a hunting rifle as a child and I never accepted it. I don't believe in hunting as a sport or as a natural part of the cycle (there are logical reasons to manage high-breeding animals like rabbits and deer in some places, but not for me). If I wanna stalk an animal I'm using my camera to take pictures, not lives.

Amendment Three: Legalizing Marijuana for adults

A previous amendment had legalized pot for medicinal purposes back in 2016, and this one looks to open the market to recreational use for those 21 and up.

This is coming at a moment when the Biden administration is pushing to reduce marijuana's Schedule status from Class I (dangerous, illegal, and criminal) to Class III (regulated/controlled by doctors). There's been more studies about the benefits and risks of using cannabis and essentially pointing to how it doesn't fit the Class I profile.

Reducing marijuana to Class III lowers it as a priority drug for law enforcement, which should reduce a lot of unnecessary arrests and prison time for otherwise non-dangerous users. Putting it at Class III still requires regulated control, and would encourage upholding penalties for things like Driving Under the Influence much like we do for alcohol.

I am not a drug user. I don't smoke anything. I don't drink alcohol (I've tried once or thrice). I don't begrudge those who do (except for smokers, I hate second-hand smoke, keep away from me ugh), although I advocate for moderation in all things. When I see how the War on Drugs has been a disaster - much like Prohibition that did nothing to stop alcohol consumption - anything that would reduce the prison rate in our nation and change policing habits is a good thing. If we can shift the focus on the War on Drugs away from punishment and towards health care (rehab and detox) we ought to see a reduction in drug use.

Amendment Four: Abortion Rights for Residents, setting a specific timeline and for cases where the woman's health is at risk 

This is the big one, now that the state court allowed for a restrictive six-week ban that essentially negated abortion as a choice for women no matter what.

Previous state court rulings upheld a right of privacy, but two decades of hard Far Right government allowed Republican governors to replace judges with anti-abortion advocates. Given that a solid majority of Americans agree that abortion should be a choice for the woman, this amendment is a strong effort to regain that choice and set the abortion deadline to a more viable 24 weeks.

This is where the Minority Party Rule obsession of the Republican Party is at odds with what the people want (and need). Without access to abortion as a health care right, more and more (poor) women are going to suffer from miscarriages, infections, stillbirths, and worse.

With the supermajority requirement of 60 percent approval for this amendment to pass, there's going to be a lot of fighting between the anti-abortion and pro-choice factions to get the vote out. Here's hoping the pro-choice side gets well above the 60 percent threshold to signal to the Far Right just how serious residents are in protecting their personal rights.

Amendment Five: Annual Inflation Adjustment to Homestead Exemption

This is where the Republican-controlled Legislature wants to add the Consumer Price Index to creating more tax cuts. Essentially adjusting on an annual basis more room for non-school related county/city millage rates. It probably won't be much for most homeowners as a tax savings, but the cities are opposing it because it will cut into their revenues.

I should mention as a city librarian employee, this tax cut could affect my library's budget, which affects all the steamy vampire romance novels we can add to the collection. You don't wanna lose your steamy vampire romance novels, do you? DO YOU?! Save the steamy vampire romance novels, and vote No on this amendment, thank ye.

Amendment Six: Repeal of Public Financing for Statewide Campaigns

There's currently a referendum amendment on the books from 1998 that set up public financing - and serious spending restrictions - for state-level offices such as Governor/Lt. Gov. The Republican-controlled state Legislature is looking - has been for a good while - for ways to undo that amendment and remove the restrictions.

The dangers of private, deep-pocket money getting into state-level elections are very real. The Republicans - deep in the tank for billionaires, land developers, and rich wingnuts - want more of that unregulated campaign money to finance themselves (and their consultant buddies eager for six-figure fees).

We've seen the effect of unregulated campaign financing at the federal level (fuck you, Citizens United). That's the LAST thing we need in the Sunshine State. This better be a hard No, Floridians.

So, to recap: Huge Yes to Amendment Four and abortion rights, Solid Yes on Three to allow marijuana use for adults, Middling Yes on One for Partisan School Board elections, Hard No on open Hunting/Fishing, Huge NO against inflation-adjusting property taxes and against the repeal of public-financed campaigns.

Get the vote out this November, Florida. Elections always matter. Especially the referenda, especially for our rights.