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Proposal May Make it Harder for Voters to Change Florida Constitution

Proposal May Make it Harder for Voters to Change Florida Constitution
Posted at 5:55 PM, Feb 24, 2017
and last updated 2017-02-24 13:39:09-05

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - A measure introduced in the Florida senate this month would make it harder for voters to change the Florida constitution.

The proposal is identical to one that passed its first house committee on Thursday.

It would require ballot measures to receive the support of two-thirds of voters before they could go into the constitution.

That would be tougher than the current 60-percent voter requirement to sign off on constitutional amendments.

Voters raised the threshold to 60 percent, from 50 percent, in 2006.

State senator Dennis Baxley is pushing the two thirds plan in the senate.

He says it's too common for groups to use the constitutional amendment process, when they don't get the answers they want from lawmakers.

If the higher standard had been used in the past, a 2012 amendment giving a "homestead property tax exemption" to the surviving spouses of military veterans and first responders, would have failed.