Gov. Ron DeSantis says the state will abide by a Leon County Court’s ruling that the ballot title and summary for Amendment 3 are “clearly and conclusively defective.”
DeSantis said the state is in the process of recrafting the property tax ballot item’s language to the Judge’s specifications, ending mystery over the response.
Leon County Circuit Judge David Frank ruled that Attorney General James Uthmeier must rewrite the language. Frank said the ballot summary endorses the amendment and amounts to “political rhetoric.” He also objected to claims that the amendment protects core services, safeguards small businesses and ensures “fairness for Florida residents.”
Uthmeier said his Office was taking a “hard look” at the ruling, and DeSantis apparently has coordinated with his former Chief of Staff in the process.
“I’ve actually seen some of the draft. It’s a great draft. It is going to be very good. (It will) be very clear for voters what’s on there,” DeSantis said in Lehigh Acres.
While the Governor and AG “don’t necessarily agree with the legal analysis,” DeSantis is confident the revision will make a solid case for the proposal.
“It’s fine. It’s going to be a very good summary, very straightforward. People are going to know, you’re going to get tax relief. You’re going to get an increased homestead exemption if you’re for it. So that’s going to happen. That will, of course, be on the ballot. It will just be with a little bit different summary than what the Legislature passed, but I look forward to doing that.”
Thus, it appears that the proposal to raise the homestead exemption to $250,000 by 2028 is back on track.
Frank’s ruling capped three consolidated lawsuits brought by the nonprofit Save Our Voters From Misleading Ballot Language, former Stuart Mayor Thomas Campenni, former Key Biscayne Mayor Michael Davey, former South Miami Mayor Philip Stoddard, former Democratic U.S. Rep. Al Lawson and former Republican state Sen. Jeff Brandes.
DeSantis said he still backs the proposal, despite changes the Legislature made that include removing the trust fund for local governments and not increasing the homestead exemption for school taxes.
“I’ll vote for it. I’m enthusiastic about voting for it. Now, I was asked, are you going to lead a political committee and all this? And I said, no, if it was my thing, I would have felt an obligation to do it. Trust me, it’s not easy to do that. Like, it’s a lot of work and all this other stuff. I would have felt an obligation to do it. I don’t necessarily feel the same obligation, but I’m still for it, and I’m gonna let people know I’m for it.”
Without a prominent advocate for the proposal, its passage is in doubt, especially since the Florida Sheriffs Association, the Florida State Fraternal Order of Police and the Florida Professional Firefighters all have voiced concerns over the proposal.
Unions and other populist groups are also opposed. 1199SEIU Florida, AFSCME Florida, Catalyst Miami, Community Spring, EduVoter Action Network, Engage Miami, Equal Ground Education Fund, Families for Strong Public Schools, Florida AFL-CIO, Florida Education Association (FEA), Florida For All, Florida Policy Institute, Florida Rising, Florida Voices for Health, Florida Watch, League of Women Voters of Florida, Miami Workers Center, MomsRising, NAACP Florida State Conference, Pastors for Florida Children, Power U Center for Social Change, Progress Florida, SEIU 32BJ, SEIU FPSU, SEIU Florida State Council, Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), and UnidosUS all have joined the opposition coalition.
Recent polls from the James Madison Institute and the University of North Florida’s Public Opinion Research Lab show that if voters know what is in the proposal, it doesn’t get the necessary 60% support to pass. However, if voters are unaware of its impacts on local governments, the amendment could succeed.
A.G. Gancarski has been the Northeast Florida correspondent for Florida Politics since 2014. His work also can be seen in the Washington Post, the New York Post, the Washington Times, and National Review, among other publications. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter: @AGGancarski
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