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The Florida Constitution The state's legal framework changes with changing times.
Overview - learn how this pivotal document protects you Florida’s Constitution is an organized system of fundamental principles for state government that is permanent and general in nature and originates from the people rather than the Legislature. As the framework for all state laws, it establishes rules and basic rights. Florida law touches every aspect of daily life, including where and how we build our houses, our safety and health, the taxes we pay, our ability to vote and participate in government, and the quality of our air, water, roads and environment. The Constitution consists of 12 articles, including a declaration of rights; suffrage and elections; judiciary; finance and taxation; education and amendments. Its Declaration of Rights covers such freedoms as religion, speech, press, assemblage, work and the bearing of arms. It also covers such issues related to government's actions as searches and seizures, habeas corpus, pretrial release and detention, excessive punishments, the rights of both victims and the accused, and the prosecution of criminals. The preamble to the Constitution states that it was established to secure the benefits of liberty, to perfect state government, to insure domestic tranquility, to maintain public order, and to guarantee equal civil and political rights to all. The Constitution provides the framework for all of Florida’s statutes, which are approved by legislators meeting annually and must be signed into law by the Governor. Those statutes comprise four published volumes that contain thousands of pages that form a permanent collection of the laws governing the state. The present Constitution is Florida’s sixth since 1838, when 56 delegates drafted the first one while seeking statehood, which was granted on March 3, 1845. The framers of the 1968 version recognized the potential for the state’s extraordinary 20th century growth and for the attendant change to create unexpected demands on state and local governments. To allow for needed governmental flexibility, the 1968 Constitution established a Constitution Revision Commission to be charged with reviewing and drafting any revisions to the document and submitting them to the voters in 1978 and every 20 years thereafter. In 1998, to help prepare citizens to vote on the latest constitutional revisions, the citizen’s guide "You and Florida’s Constitution Revision Commission” determined that "the single most important thing in this [1968] constitution is to recognize that conditions will change and that the people’s demands for government will change.” "Neither the Legislature nor the Executive should be allowed in the future to block constitutional amendment or constitutional revision,” said Chesterfield H. Smith in a speech to the Florida Legislature in 1967. "The people must be the repository of power to change the constitution.” Indeed, the Constitution’s preamble states, "All political power is inherent in the people.” It then establishes that "All natural persons, female and male alike, are equal before the law and have inalienable rights, among which are the right to enjoy and defend life and liberty, to pursue happiness, to be rewarded for industry, and to acquire, possess and protect property; except that the ownership, inheritance, disposition and possession of real property by aliens ineligible for citizenship may be regulated or prohibited by law.” It adds, "No person shall be deprived of any right because of race, religion, national origin, or physical disability.” With the amendments process, which provides five avenues through which to suggest to voters constitutional changes, the Constitution remains organic and responsive to a changing Florida. From a changing population to fluctuations in vehicular traffic to dwindling natural resources to a changing environment, Florida must have laws that reflect economic and social realities. Although citizens should not change the constitution lightly or short-sightedly, they must demand that governments and laws serve their interest. SOURCES: Online Sunshine: Official Internet Site of the Florida Legislature; the Collins Center for Public Policy and its You and Florida’s Constitution Revision Commission: A Citizen’s Guide to Proposing Changes for 1997-1998. Read Florida’s Constitution. (Return to top) The Articles of the Constitution
The state constitution has 12 Articles — independent, binding sections that deal with distinct subjects. Together they outline a framework for government and for citizens' rights. Article I — Declaration of Rights This is Florida's Bill of Rights. It includes freedom of speech, freedom of the press, equal protection of the laws, right of a jury trial, right to bear arms, freedom of worship and other traditional American liberties. Some additional rights include the right to work without having to join a union; the right to collective bargaining for public employees; the right to privacy; access to public records; open meetings; and a Taxpayers' Bill of Rights. Article II — General Provisions This section establishes the state's boundaries, designates three branches of government, authorizes a state seal and flag, and designates Tallahassee as the state capital. It also includes a code of ethics for state and local government officers and employees, designates English as the official language in Florida and requires state policy to protect and conserve Florida's natural resources and beauty. Article III — Legislature This establishes a House and a Senate, with House members elected for two years and senators for four. It requires an annual state budget and a planning process, including a budget stabilization or "rainy day” fund for shortfalls caused by economic events. Article IV — Executive This creates the offices of governor and lieutenant governor, and Florida's unique Cabinet, which includes a secretary of state, an attorney general, a comptroller, a treasurer, a commissioner of agriculture and a commissioner of education. It authorizes up to 25 executive departments supervised by the governor and lieutenant governor, as well as the Cabinet or individual Cabinet members. It also requires establishment of a Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission (renamed the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission in 1999), a Department of Veteran Affairs and a Department of Elderly Affairs. Article V — Judiciary Appeals This establishes four levels of state courts: County Court, Circuit Court, District Courts of Appeal and Supreme Court. It stipulates that county judges will be chosen in nonpartisan elections for four-year terms, and circuit judges to six-year terms. It specifies appointment of Supreme Court justices and District Courts of Appeal judges by the governor from a list prepared by the Judicial Nominating Commission. Voters decide to retain or not retain them for succeeding six-year terms. This section also provides for election of clerks of Circuit Courts, state attorneys and public defenders. Article VI — Suffrage and Election This specifies dates of general elections and qualifications to vote; disqualifies convicted felons and the mentally incompetent from voting; provides the form of an oath administered to persons registering to vote; and leaves to statutory law details of special elections and referenda. It also limits certain state officials, from the governor to senators and representatives, to no more than eight-year terms. Article VII — Finance and Taxation This requires all taxes and appropriations to be provided by the Legislature; most bond issues to be approved by voters; and borrowing authority to be limited; and gives various specifics for taxing authority and exemptions. It also restricts annual increases in state revenues to the rate of personal income growth and limits increases in assessment of homes to either 3 percent a year or the rate of increase in consumer prices, whichever is lower. This section prohibits state personal income tax, limits inheritance taxes and provides for a homestead exemption. Article VIII — Local Government This creates state authority to establish, abolish or change counties and municipalities, specifies their powers and requires that county officials include county commissioners and a separately elected clerk, sheriff, tax appraiser, tax collector and supervisor of elections. Article IX — Education This establishes a uniform system of public schools, institutions of higher learning and other public education programs as needed. The Board of Education, comprising the governor and Cabinet, supervises this system, which is administered by the education commissioner. This section also specifies one school district per county and district leadership. Article X — Miscellaneous This carries 27 sections, including the authority to have a state militia, protection from court seizure of one's home, a state lottery, public ownership of lands under navigable waters, a limit on saltwater net fishing, an Everglades Trust Fund, workplaces without tobacco smoke, parental notice of termination of a minor's pregnancy, and prohibition of medical licenses after repeated medical malpractice. Article XI — Amendments This creates five ways to amend Florida's Constitution, by: two forms of legislative proposal; a constitution revision commission; a citizens' ballot initiative; and a constitutional convention of elected delegates. It also establishes a Tax and Budget Reform Commission that meets, much like the revision commission, every 10 years. It reviews the state's tax and budget laws, including constitutional limits, so as to submit proposals for changes to voters at general elections. Article XII — Schedule Consists of 21 sections that provide for an orderly transition from the 1885 Constitution to the current one. (Return to top) Historical Snapshots
Since 1838, Florida's Constitution has known one constant: change. Its provisions have changed over time to address prevailing issues, from a strong affirmation of slavery to the wonders and challenges of the 21st century. Florida's Constitution contains much of the work of the five versions that preceded it, including an elected Cabinet system and a bicameral Legislature comprising a Senate and a House of Representatives. The early constitutions, dated 1838, 1861, 1865, 1868 and 1885, reflected the times in which their drafters lived. By 1968, the state, ever emerging from its frontier beginnings, established its sixth and current Constitution, a reflection of the extraordinary modernization faced by the state in the mid-20th century. A brief history of the Constitution 1838 Fifty-six delegates drafted Florida's first Constitution while seeking statehood, which was granted on March 3, 1845. The document established a system much like the federal and other state governments, and it strongly affirmed the system of slavery, prohibiting any legislation to emancipate slaves and authorizing legislation to prevent free blacks from entering Florida. Unusual features included its denial of many public offices to bank officers, clergymen and anyone who had participated in a duel. 1861 This version copied most of the provisions of the 1838 Constitution, but in order for the state to formally secede from the United States, it tied Florida to the Confederate States of America. With the Civil War looming, its militia provisions took on new importance. 1865 Adopted shortly after the Civil War, it never became law. Florida came under military rule before it could take effect. Although it acknowledged the abolition of slavery, it restricted jury service and even witness testimony to whites (unless the victim was black) and denied newly freed blacks and women the right to vote. 1868 Often referred to as the "Carpetbag” Constitution, it reflected the turbulent times of post-Civil War Reconstruction and military occupation. It extended voting and other rights to all males and allocated seats in both the state Senate and House to the Seminole Indians. It also centralized authority in the Governor, providing that all county officials be appointed by him, not elected locally. It required a system of public schools, a state prison and other institutions; required that taxes be uniform and protected the homesteads of debtors from forced sales. 1885 The framers were eager to impose checks on what they considered the abuses of Reconstruction governments. They were especially eager to weaken executive authority. They fragmented this authority by establishing an elected Cabinet and elected county officials, reducing elected state officials' salaries and limiting the Governor to one term. It authorized a poll tax, which remained until 1937, denying poor blacks and many poor whites the right to vote. This was the state's longest-lived Constitution. It was amended 149 times, swelling it to more than 50,000 words by 1968, compared with the U.S. Constitution of 6,000 words. 1968 The unwieldy Constitution of 1885 had grown hopelessly outdated. The writers of the new version saw a need for organized governmental change to keep up with a fast-moving Florida. The population had exploded, from 267,500 in 1880 to 6.7 million by 1970. A new century had brought challenges unknown in the old one. Motor vehicles swarmed across the state, a tourism industry had taken center stage, growth was rushing southward and the new Florida was feeling environmental impacts. Anticipating ever more change, the drafters established a Constitution Revision Commission to review and draft amendments to the Constitution. This new body was tasked with submitting proposals to the state's voters in 1978 and every 20 years thereafter. The provision sought to ensure that the state's laws reflect its economic and social realities. It was first tested in 1978, when the commission considered such changes as including the right to privacy in Florida's Bill of Rights, establishing the right to have an attorney present for witnesses appearing before grand juries, and limiting Cabinet officers' terms. The Commission suggested still more changes in 1998. But amendments may be brought before the voters by other means, including ballot initiatives and legislative proposals. Seven of the nine amendments proposed for 2008 were the work of the Florida Tax and Budget Reform Commission, which meets every 20 years, one decade away from the Constitution Revision Commission. While revisions should not be made lightly, they allow for a dynamic Constitution to serve a state that is grappling with 21st century change. The population, projected to grow to 17 million by 2010, is one guarantee that change will indeed occur. Florida's Constitution, which is permanent and general in nature yet fluid and flexible, continues to provide a fundamental framework for all the state's laws. SOURCES: The Collins Center for Public Policy and its You and Florida's Constitution Revision Commission: A Citizen's Guide to Proposing Changes for 1997-98; Florida State University's Florida Constitution Revision Commission site; and VoteSmartFlorida.org Changing Times and a Changing Document
A dynamic state demands a document that can keep up.
One of the most innovative features of Florida's present Constitution, the sixth since statehood in 1845, is the provision for amending it.
Before it was rewritten in 1968, the Constitution, a patchwork of pieces from documents adopted in the 19th century, was antiquated and unwieldy. Its provisions reflected the times in which their drafters lived. Yet Florida had grown from a frontier society of 267,500 people in 1880 into a growing, modern and increasingly urban state of almost 7 million. The Constitution had grown along with it, to more than 50,000 words. Big change had come to the Sunshine State, and more was coming. The population was booming, the prisons were filling fast, the tourism industry was exploding. A changing state needed a constitution that could keep up with it. Florida's extraordinary 20th century energy had the potential to create unexpected demands on state and local governments, a fact the constitution's drafters recognized. It was clear that the people of Florida would need the ability to adjust the document to fit the times, demanding that their government and laws serve their changing interests.
That is why a requirement for a Constitution Revision Commission (Article XI, Section 2) to meet from time to time was built into the document. How to Change Florida's Constitution The Constitution, including amendments since 1968, offers five ways to propose amendments to voters:
The Constitution, which should not be altered lightly, provides the framework for all of Florida's statutes, which are approved by legislators annually and signed into law by the Governor. The Constitution Revision Commission The Commission is charged by the Constitution with reviewing the document and drafting any revisions, except for matters relating to taxation or the state budgetary process, and submitting those proposals to Florida voters every 20 years. It will next meet in 2017.
Consisting of 37 members — the Attorney General, 15 members appointed by the governor, nine appointed by the Speaker of the House, nine by the President of the Senate and three by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court — it must conduct public hearings and file its proposals no later than 180 days before the next general election. It last proposed amendments in 1998, having completed its comprehensive review of the Constitution in 1997-1998, including traveling the state, identifying issues, conducting research and forming recommendations. The Taxation and Budget Reform Commission Florida voters created the Commission via constitutional amendment in 1998 and charged it with conducting a comprehensive review of Florida's tax and budget policies. It can make recommendations directly to the voters without prior legislative review.
The commission is charged with creating less expensive government and lower taxes while the state continues to offer improved roads, schools, economic development, health care and a healthy environment. It must meet at least every 20 years, and has until the month of May to put proposed constitutional amendments on the November ballot. The Commission comprises 29 members, 11 appointed by the Governor, seven by the President of the Senate, seven by the Speaker of the House and four non-voting ex officio members, all of whom are members of the Legislature. |