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Constitutional amendments discussed at Florida Capital

Constitutional amendments discussed at Florida Capital
Constitutional amendments discussed at Florida Capital
Posted at 5:39 PM, Oct 02, 2017
and last updated 2017-10-02 14:30:00-04

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - The Florida Constitution Revision Commission met at the state capitol, as it moves toward placing proposed constitutional amendments on the November 2018 ballot.

During the meeting, two commissioners decided to directly sponsor proposals presented by members of the public.

One would open partisan primary elections to all voters when a major-party candidate has only write-in opposition. The other would repeal an obsolete provision about high speed rail. In total, more than 1,400 public proposals were submitted for consideration.

Constitution revision commission chairman Carlos Beruff says many of the public proposals were similar, and he is unsure of how many plans will actually make it to the ballot.

"It's just a question of what makes sense that belongs in the Constitution and not in a statute somewhere," said Beruff. "The Constitution is a pretty fine document, and we don't need to muddle it."

Commissioner Chris Smith, a former democratic state legislator, says many commissioners will create their own proposals, using ideas from the public as a guide. For his part, smith has filed a plan to restore voting rights to non-violent felons.

"At every single meeting, you had at least 10 people get up and talk about that issue," said Smith. "A lot of the commissioners who didn't even know about the issue and it wasn't on their radar, it's on everybody's radar now because people came out and spoke about it so much."

This Friday, October 6th, is the deadline for a member of the public to submit an idea for consideration by the constitution revision commission.