The rights of Florida voters to amend their constitution when the Legislature fails to address important issues were under fierce attack during the 2005 legislative session. Florida PIRG joined the Save the Voters’ Voice coalition, which fought to preserve the ability of citizens to play a direct role in shaping public policy.

Four measures to this effect overwhelmingly passed through the House, but only one passed through the Senate and will appear on the 2006 ballot. If approved, this amendment would make passage of future citizens’ initiatives into law more diffi cult by requiring a 60 percent voter approval rather than a democratic majority of 51 percent.

Other proposals, if passed, would have created criminal penalties for constitutional amendment petition gatherers who make clerical errors; limited the subject matter amendments can address; and required an even higher percentage of voter approval for initiatives bearing fi nancial impacts.

In contrast to the anti-democracy efforts by the state Legislature to limit citizen participation, a new statewide campaign is underway to create a 15-member independent commission that would draw the lines for federal and state legislative districts. The commission would reduce the infl uence of self-interest and partisan politics in Florida’s redistricting process.

Following each census, legislators and the political party in power are allowed to draw their own voting districts. This inevitably leads to non-competitive races and further entrenches the power of incumbency. Florida PIRG has joined the Committee for Fair Elections to gather over 600,000 signatures to put this much-needed reform measure on the ballot in 2006.