The November Amendment-Palooza. Guest Blog by Ross Hancock

 Amendment 5 is a poison pill, crafted by Republicans to ensure that any future Democratic majority will be fiscally powerless 

Putman

Maybe it�s just me, but for all the talk of a Blue Tsunami in November, I�m more fired up to vote on 13 state constitutional amendments than most of the races for office. I�m just not feeling the Bern for Donna Shalala and Bill Nelson. And the leading Dem gubernatorial candidates have put everyone in the State to sleep.  Adam Putnam, a lightening rod attracting enormous ire, is a candidate on the Republican side who is the stuff of nightmares, not sleep. Even the race that I�m personally in, for State House 114, probably won�t set the world on fire, since there is an election for that seat every couple of months or so, and everyone knows they can always just catch the next one.

That�s why a ballot laden with a record 13 constitutional amendments has me so excited that I just can�t hide it.

Anything good that has happened in Tallahassee in the past decade has been the result of voter-approved amendments. Our electeds are mostly lobbyists and semiprofessional officeholders, and at the end of the day, we don�t have much to show for casting our votes for them. But amendment referenda have brought us smaller class sizes in schools, fairer voting districts, solar energy progress, and preservation of environmentally sensitive lands. At least in theory.

And there are a few really good, life-changing amendments this time. Tops is the voter-initiated Florida Amendment 4�the Voting Rights Restoration for Felons Initiative. It will bring Florida in line with most other states by extending voting rights to citizens who have served their felony sentences, except for the most serious crimes.

Also, be sure to support Amendment 12 on legislative ethics. It will prevent lobbyists from being public officials, and prevent public officials from becoming lobbyists for six years. It actually used to be illegal for lobbyists to serve in the legislature. Things have only gotten worse since we let the foxes into the chicken house. Nowadays, there are many races that don�t even have non-lobbyists running. That kinda cuts out the middleman between special interests and the government.

There are so many amendments on the November ballot that some unrelated (and potentially contradictory) issues were combined into about half of them, weirdly. For example, to vote against coastal drilling (Amendment 9), a ban on workplace vaping is included in the same measure, so you have to want both. Amendment 11 combines high-speed trains, a civil rights issue, and a rule on prosecution of repealed crimes. Amendment 6 mashes up a victims� bill of rights with increasing the retirement age for judges.

There are other examples of bundled issues. This is just nuts. Who is running this state?

So while there are 13 amendments on the ballot, there are really more than 20 issues, but it�s like a menu of combo meals that doesn�t allow substitutions.

On the ugly side, there is Amendment 5, a poison pill crafted by Republicans to ensure that any future Democratic majority will be fiscally powerless. It mandates a two-thirds vote of each chamber of the state legislature to raise any taxes or fees forever. Oddly, our local Democratic leader Rep. Kionne McGhee broke party ranks and voted to put this monstrosity on the ballot.

Still, if I have to hold my nose for a few candidates who will be the lesser of two evils, at least I am fired up about voting rights for felons, and especially for ridding the legislature of lobbyist officeholders. Be amendment-smart and study up�and plan on spending some time in the voting booth on November 6.